PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs
A look at the upcoming PIHL playoffs, which are scheduled to begin Monday. All stats and seeds are for games played through Tuesday.
Class 3A
Leading scorers: Mitchell Geinzer, Upper St. Clair (19 goals, 22 assists, 41 points); Connor Chi, North Allegheny (14-23-37); Aaron Stawiarski, Upper St. Clair (17-16-33); Dylan McElhinny, Peters Township (26-23-29); John Camp Jr., Peters Township (13-1528); Carles Mill, Pine-Richland (17-11-28)
Leading goaltenders (Min. 10 decisions): Mario Eafrati, Canon-McMillan ( 15-5-0, 1.71 goals-against average, .925 save percentage); Zach Ott, Bethel Park (5-6-0, 2.08 GAA, .902 sv. pct); Josh Bailey, North Allegheny (11-5-1, 2.31 GAA, .892 sv. pct.); James Saber, Pine-Richland (12-5-0, 2.49 GAA, .891 sv. pct); Austin Martin, Mt. Lebanon (46-1, 2.75 GAA, .892 sv. pct).
Top seeds: Peters Township is first, Canon-McMillan second, Pine-Richland third, North Allegheny fourth
Winner will be: Peters Township. Though the Indians were in second place in the standings, they benefited from their final game against Upper St Clair being canceled because of a COVID-19 issue. Without that game, the final seeds were determined by points earned per game and Peters Township edged CanonMcMillan, 1.58-1.55. It may appear Peters Township backed into a No. 1 seed — and maybe it did to an extent — but the Indians put themselves into that position with a pair of late-season victories against the Big Macs. There aren’t any players left from the 2017 team that won the state title, but coach Rick Tingle always has a few surprises in store for the postseason. Goaltender Tanner Ringwald has split time with three other netminders, so he didn’t have 10 starts, but his 7-1-0 record, 2.33 GAA and .916 save percentage put him among the best in the classification. The team can also put the puck in the net as its 88 goals were second only to Pine-Richland (95).
The scoop: Take out the entire month of January and Upper St. Clair could easily be the favorite. The Panthers are 8-2-0 since a Feb. 1 loss to Canon-McMillan, but will go into the tournament as the No. 6 seed. Upper St. Clair had one fewer point than Mt. Lebanon in one less game and, with points-per-game format, their tie at 1.00 was settled by penalty minutes per game. Pine-Richland now has a more difficult path to the semifinals as it split with Upper St. Clair, but had swept Mt. Lebanon. North Allegheny is the defending champion (2019) but the Tigers are stumbling into the postseason after losing two of their last three games and, in the season finale, it took overtime to get past Mt. Lebanon. Though they swept first-round opponent Seneca Valley, both were one-goal games. CanonMcMillan led the classification for most of the season and swept its first-round opponent, Mt. Lebanon, by an aggregate score of 8-0 . The Big Macs have the best defense in Class 3A having allowed only 39 goals in their 20 games and will go as far as senior goaltender Mario Eafrati takes them.
Class 2A
Leading scorers: Hunter Fairman, Thomas Jefferson (34-28-62); Eddie Pazo, Thomas Jefferson (22-32-54); Alex Schall, Latrobe (28-14-42); Maddox Rearic, Armstrong (23 -17-40); Michael Felsing, Montour (18-17-35).
Leading goaltenders (Min. 10 decisions): Eddie Nowicki, Baldwin (17-1-0, 1.12 GAA, .960 sv. pct.); Luke Ripepi, Thomas Jefferson ( 11-1-1, 2.31 GAA, .880 sv. pct.); Gavin Grafton, Armstrong (7-40, 2.64 GAA, .881 sv. pct.); Gunner Fulton, Franklin Regional (9-4-0, 2.92 GAA, .865 sv, pct.); Vinny Amatucci, Latrobe (5-6-0, 3.01 GAA, .893 sv. pct.)
Division champions: Baldwin (top seed), Hempfield, Montour and Armstrong
Winner will be: Thomas Jefferson. It may seem like a huge stretch to pick a No. 5 seed to win it all, but this is not a typical fifth seed. The Jaguars lost their first two games, then rolled to 16 consecutive wins, including handing top-seeded Baldwin its only loss of the season. The Jaguars could have won Class 1A last year and were set to play in the title game against Indiana. The Jaguars have a solid squad led by Hunter Fairman and Eddie Pazo, who finished 1-2 in the classification in scoring and lead an offense that generated a PIHLleading 128 goals. Senior goaltender Luke Ripepi is a four-year starter and has been in these high-pressure playoff situations before. Thomas Jefferson has not won the Penguins Cup since its 2000 three-peat victory.
The scoop: This tournament will likely be decided in the semifinals if and when Baldwin and Thomas Jefferson square off as neither team lost a game outside the Southwest Division. The Highlanders only allowed 20 goals in 18 games and posted six shutouts, but six of those goals came in their two games against the Jaguars (1-1-0). Hempfield won the Southeast Division, but stumbled mightily down the stretch. The Spartans finished the season with five consecutive losses — including three shutouts — and will have their hands full with a resurgent Latrobe squad that posted a 2-0 win against them on March 1. The Wildcats have also apparently switched netminders as Logan Byrd (61-0, 2.52 GAA, .913 sv. pct.) started the final two games. Montour played in a weak division, but the team also had to struggle through not having leading scorer Michael Felsing for an extended period of time. The Spartans are dangerous with him in the lineup and threw 46 shots at Baldwin in a loss in their only meeting. He did not play in a 10-1 loss to Thomas Jefferson. Montour could also still be the No 2 seed if it defeats South Fayette in its season finale Thursday. Penn-Trafford needs a win against Shaler Thursday, or a West Allegheny loss to Moon, to clinch the eighth and final postseason slot and set up a date with Baldwin.
Class 1A
Leading scorers: Greg Kraemer, Chartiers Valley (1921-40); Danny Williams, Indiana (17-23-40); Zach Eisenhower, Indiana ( 19-18-37); Owen Tutich, Greensburg Salem (19-16-35); Ben Nettleton, Indiana (17-17-34).
Leading goaltenders (Min. 10 decisions): Logan Marnik, Chartiers Valley (8-3-1, 1.94 GAA, .943 sv. pct.); Tyler Lang, Freeport (15-3-0, 2.09 GAA, .909 sv. pct.); Seamus O’Connor, Indiana ( 17-0-0, 2.19 GAA, .867 sv. pct.); Evin Brice, Kiski Area (15-2-0, 2.43 GAA, .876 sv. pct.); Tyler Manfred, North Hills (11-5-1, 3.13 GAA, .853 sv. pct.)
Division champions: Indiana (top seed), Kiski Area, Chartiers Valley, McDowell
Winner will be: Indiana. It’s amazing that the Little Indians have been around as long as they have and never won a Penguins Cup title They had an opportunity last season when they made it into the finals, but would have had a tough go against Thomas Jefferson. This year’s version led the classification with 116 goals — second to the Jaguars in the entire PIHL — and allowed the fewest goals in the classification with 36. Indiana finished the regular season as the only undefeated team in the PIHL and has three players, Danny Williams, Zach Eisenhower and Ben Nettleton, averaging more than 2.00 points per game.
The scoop: Indiana may have been undefeated, but because of a quirk in the schedule, the team never faced either Freeport (15-3-0) or Kiski Area (15-3-0), which needed a coin flip to determine the Northeast Division title and the No. 2/No. 5 seeds. Chartiers Valley and North Hills may have one of the more intriguing first-round matchups as the two have already played twice this season and the Colts lost the second goround, 4-0, on Feb. 25. Chartiers Valley also lost a pair of 52 decisions in their last three games, one each to Kiski Area and Freeport. North Catholic might seem like a team to sleep on as the No. 8 seed, but the Trojans problem has been their inability to win onegoal games as evidenced by their 3-4 record. What’s intriguing is North Catholic won its first three one-goal games in overtime/shootout and lost the last four — two each to Kiski and Freeport — which means Indiana, which won their only meeting, 3-1, on Jan. 28 will have to be ready. The Trojans are 0-6-0 against Freeport and Kiski, but 11-1-0 against the rest of the classification. Freeport may have lost the coin toss for the division title to Kiski, but the Yellowjackets got the easier first-round draw against No. 4 McDowell (7-11-1) rather than against No. 7 Greensburg Salem (116-1).