Central Catholic hoping time off heals its wounds

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Central Catholic opened the season like the team that finished 2016-17 with the best record in Class 3A and made it into the Penguins Cup finals.

Not only did the Vikings win their first two games, they scored 10 goals and, in the process, put up a rare five-spot on a North Allegheny squad that only surrendered 21 in its other seven games.

That was then, this is now.

Central Catholic (2-6-1-0) quickly fell on hard times and is now near the bottom of the standings, one point ahead of last-place Plum and one behind Bethel Park for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We got off to a pretty decent start and then we lost a couple of key players to some longer-term injuries,” Central Catholic coach Bill Connelly said. “With a team that’s already looking to find some chemistry and some rhythm in new roles after losing so many players [last year], we kind of set the clock back a little bit.”

Central Catholic lost junior forward John Null after the first two games of the year and newcomer Michael Sewecke, a sophomore, has been out for three games. Null scored goals in each of the two games he played.

One thing that may help Central Catholic is that they have a lot of time to work on things right now. Because of a quirk in the schedule — likely from when Moon opted to drop out of Class 3A and play Division 2 — the Vikings are in the midst of a month-long layoff.

They lost their previous game on Dec. 4, an 8-3 home blowout by Cathedral Prep, and will not take the ice again until they host North Allegheny on Jan. 2.

“I haven’t experienced this, but I can’t say that it’s not welcome because we get to press the reset button a little bit,” Connelly said. “We need to work on some things and be ready come the new year.”

Just because Central Catholic isn’t playing games doesn’t mean the team isn’t working. The Vikings are trying to get as much ice time as they can in an effort to practice and form some type of cohesion moving forward..

“We’re kind of spending this time focusing on minor details because we’ve lost a couple of one-goal games

PIHL rankings

(Records through Monday) Class 3A 1. Peters Township (8-0-0-1) 2. North Allegheny (6-1-1-0) 3. Seneca Valley (5-1-1-0) 4. Cathedral Prep (6-3-1-0) 5. Butler (5-4-0-0) Class 2A 1. Armstrong (7-1-0-0) 2. Latrobe (6-3-0-0) 3. Franklin Regional (7-3-0-1) 4. Hampton (5-2-0-0) 5. Hempfield (6-2-0-1) Class 1A 1. Bishop McCort (10-0-0-0) 2. Meadville (10-0-0-0) 3. West Allegheny (9-2-0-0) 4. South Fayette (7-2-1-0) 5. Thomas Jefferson (8-2-0-0) and a lot of little things add up to the chances for and against,” Connelly said. “We’re just trying to work on some of those details.”

Mars

Central Catholic isn’t the only team to hit the skids after a fast start.

Mars jumped out of the gate like a house of fire with five wins in its first six games, including shootout victories against Hampton and North Hills, that catapulted the Planets into first place in the Class 2A North/ West Division.

Just as quickly, however, they flamed out.

After Monday’s 4-1 loss to Hempfield, Mars has now dropped five in a row for the first time in more than a decade. The Planets (5-6-0-0) have also given up the fifthmost goals in the classification (36) and only Penn-Trafford (19) has scored fewer than their 25.

Moon

Before the season, Moon took a long, hard look at its program and realized that it didn’t have the numbers or the skill to play in Class 3A. Instead, the Tigers took the only road they felt was open to them and opted to play in Division 2 for a year until they could replenish their dwindling numbers.

So far, it appears they made the right choice.

Not only is Moon (9-0-0-0) the only undefeated squad in the classification, the team is doing it its own way, with a staunch defense and just occasional scoring.

In their nine games, the Tigers have surrendered just 15 goals (1.67 per game) and have apparently found their goaltender for the next three years as sophomore Lukas Konecsni (8-0-0, 1.42 GAA, .946 save percentage) has been lights out between the pipes.