Bishop McCort rips Indiana, advances to Penguins Cup final

Bishop McCort is one of the few teams in PIHL history that has won four championships in a row, but the Crimson Crushers haven’t held the Penguins Cup aloft in more than a decade. That could change Monday.

Matsvei Kurylovich erased an early deficit with two firstperiod goals while goaltender Cole Bradley made it stand up with 32 saves as topseeded Bishop McCort (22-00) knocked off 2017 finalist Indiana, 7-2, at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. The Crimson Crushers have won six titles all time, but none since 2005.

“Those first two goals were so important because I think those goals changed everything,” Kurylovich said. “Our team believes in ourselves, and we’re playing good.”

Bishop McCort showcased its firepower early and often against the Little Indians. In addition to the two goals from Kurylovich, Cameron Bunn had a hat trick and Alexander Kornov chipped in a goal and three assists.

“I just wanted to get the ‘W’ and this was my first high school career hat trick, but I don’t care about that,” Bunn said. “Once we’re down and we get those two goals, we just kind of catch on fire.”

Despite being outplayed most of the first two periods, Indiana was only down, 3-2, after Tyler Barker scored with 9:00 remaining in the second. The Little Indians (17-60) appeared to have tied it with 4:16 left in the period, but the referee immediately waved off Vincent Sherry’s goal, stating the net came off its moorings and moved the faceoff outside the offensive zone.

“I don’t know if it was a momentum-hanger. I don’t feel that we had any momentum at all,” Indiana coach Jordan Haines said.

Bishop McCort then put it away with two goals 1:04 apart to take a 5-3 lead into the intermission.

More Class 1A

Meadville 3, South Fayette 1: Nick Frantz has scored the first six Bulldogs goals of the postseason, including the first two against the Lions, but Alec Gizzie gave them some muchneeded insurance with a power-play goal at 7:29 of the third period to help Meadville move within one win of its 10th Penguins Cup title.

Class 2A

Upper St. Clair replaced Hampton in the PIHL Class 2A semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Armstrong. According to PIHL commissioner Craig Barnett, the Talbots self-reported that they had used an ineligible player in their 6-2 victory against the Panthers last week. The league declared the game a 1-0 forfeit win for Upper St. Clair.