Big Macs last, certainly not least
Canon-McMillan to face Peters Township after upset victory vs. Butler
Canon-McMillan finished last in Class 3A, but one game into the Penguins Cup playoffs and the Big Macs are still alive.
In a preliminary-round game Monday, Canon-McMillan pulled out a 5-1 victory against Butler to advance into the bracket. Joshua Hrip scored a pair of goals and added an assist in the win, while goaltender Mario Eafrati stopped 33 shots to pick up the win.
Now things get a lot more difficult. With the victory, Canon-McMillan (612-1) will take on top-seeded Peters Township (14-3-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Printscape Arena at Southpointe.
And things definitely did not go well for the Big Macs in their two regularseason matchups with the Indians.
Peters Township knocked off CanonMcMillan, 6-4, in the season opener, then beat the Big Macs again, 4-1, in their most recent game Dec. 11.
Ryan Luppe, Torrey Schwartz and Nico Watsula each scored two goals for the Indians against Canon-McMillan, while Hrip was the leading scorer for the Big Macs with two goals and an assist, all in the first meeting.
Canon-McMillan has lost its past five games against Peters Township, including the playoffs. Furthermore, the Big Macs have not beaten the Indians since a 5-2 victory Feb. 21, 2017, in the regularseason finale.
Class 2A
• Franklin Regional and Mars are no strangers to postseason meetings.
In fact, the two teams danced in the preliminary round last season when Franklin Regional grabbed a 5-2 victory against the Planets before getting knocked out by eventual champion Armstrong.
Both teams were also perennial contenders in Class 1A and won the Penguins Cup in that division the year before they moved up to Class 2A.
Mars won its previous title in 2015, and Franklin Regional took the crown in 2016 and 2017 before jumping up a level.
This year, the two will renew their acquaintance Monday when they meet at Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale in what could be a memorable matchup.
Mars took the only meeting in the regular season, 3-2, in a shootout thanks in large part to the Planets’ William Foley, who scored the tying goal with 7:51 remaining in regulation.
• Latrobe and Hampton have been postseason contenders for years, but, amazingly enough, since the Talbots first moved up to Class 2A for the 201213 season, they have never met the Wildcats in the playoffs.
That will change at 7:15 p.m. Monday when Latrobe and Hampton will face off at Kirk S. Nevin Ice Arena in Greensburg.
Hampton has never won a Penguins Cup title, while Latrobe will be seeking its fifth overall and first since 2013.
Though the two never have met in the tournament, they did have one regular-season meeting this year, a 6-4 Hampton victory on Nov. 26.
In that game, Latrobe scored the first three goals before the Talbots answered with two in the final 1:46 of the first period, part of a string of five consecutive goals that had them up, 5-3, early in the third period.