Deer Lakes is happy to return to varsity level
Tri-State Sports & News Service
After two games this season, Deer Lakes perched atop the PIHL Class 1A standings, tied with Thomas Jefferson with wins in its first two games.
It might not seem like a stretch for the Lancers to be in early season contention. Afterall, this was a team that played in the 2015 Penguins Cup semifinals and lost to eventual champion Mars in overtime. Then again, that was also the last time Deer Lakes took the ice for a varsitygame prior to this year.
After that semifinal finish, Deer Lakes would have been forced to move up to Class 2A as part of the PIHL’s annual realignment. The problem was the Lancers were about to graduate almost the entire team and would have been cannon fodder for the rest of the classification.
Rather than take its lumps, Deer Lakes took the only option it felt best suited the situation. The Lancers dropped down and played a junior varsity schedule for two years until they got their numbers and skill level high enough to compete at the varsity level.
“It feels great to be back,” Deer Lakes coach Todd Luniewski said. “It just feels good.”
Deer Lakes only has three players — forwards Ryan Murdock and Dylan George and defenseman Brad Luniewski — back from that 2014-15 squad. But they are the rock that the Lancers need to help rebuild the programinto a contender.
“They’re our leaders in the locker room, our leaders on the ice and on the scoreboard, too,” Luniewski said. “They’re a good group. We have skill, the effort is there and I feel real good about the team.”
One of the problems Deer Lakes will face is a lack of familiarity. Not only did it play in junior varsity for two years, but because of Bishop Canevin and Serra Catholic dropping their programs, the PIHL was forced to put all 21 Class 1A teams into one conference where all teams play each other once for a 20-game slate.
“I’m not sure what the competition is like because we were in JV the last two years, but we’ll see,” Luniewski said. “We’ll take it game to game.”
Mt. Lebanon
Things did not start out well for Mt. Lebanon when it made its reappearance in Class 3A after spending two years playing Class 2A.
It didn’t help that the Blue Devils faced the team with the best regular-season record in 2016-17 and summarily dropped a 5-4 decision to Central Catholic on opening night. Then again, the defeat did nothing to dissuade the Blue Devils.
“It’s where we should be as far as Mt. Lebanon goes and the hockey history that they have,” Mt. Lebanon coach Gary Klapkowski said. “Every school is going to have their ups and downs as far as the numbers and the talent, but this is where we should be and we’re happy to be back up.”
On Monday, the Blue Devils also picked up their first victory in Class 3A since a 4-3 victory against Central Catholic on Jan. 15, 2015, with a 4-1 decision against Bethel Park. Junior Wyatt George led the way with a goal and three assists and now leads the classification in scoring with three goals and six points.
“He’s just doing really well for us already,” Klapkowski said. “Last year he was just amazing for us.”
Pine-Richland
Pine-Richland was the next-to-last Class 2A team to make its debut this season, but the Rams kicked it off in a big way with a 10-2 romp against North Hills to open the campaign.
“The kids played pretty well and it’s nice to get off to a pretty good start,” PineRichland coach Jim Black said. “Waiting a week, it gave us a chance to balance out our roster and get some line combinations. It was kind of nice to have that little bit of a delay.”
Last year, Pine-Richland played in Class 3A, but after missing the playoffs each of the past three seasons, it dropped down to the lower classification. Though it might seem to be something of a disappointment to move down, the Rams are looking at it as another challenge.
“In all the time I’ve spent with the kids I never heard that mentioned,” Black said. “I think they’re just looking at it as an opportunity to play against different opponents that we haven’t played.”