Chartiers Valley trying to finish off perfect title run
Four PIHL titles on the line Monday, Tuesday at Lemieux Sports Complex
There are certainly a few surprises as the PIHL heads into its annual two- day championship fiesta Monday and Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
This year, the league flipped the normal order of things. The finals will open with Class 2A on Monday at 6:15 p.m. followed by the Division 2 final, with the Class 3A championship game on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. and the Class 1A game to follow.
Only teams from Class 1A, 2A and 3A receive Penguins Cups and are eligible for the state finals, which will be Saturday at Skatium in Haverford, PA.
Here is a complete breakdown of the semifinals:
Class 3A
It’s no secret Pine-Richland (17-4-1) and North Allegheny (16-4-2) have no love for each other. The two have a great rivalry in almost every sport in which they compete.
But in one of the strange and anomalous happenstances that make sports so intriguing, the two have not met in the hockey playoffs since the first tournament in 1975.
Back then, it was Richland — the ‘Pine’ wasn’t added until 1993 when the
Richland High School building officially shuttered — of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, which defeated North Allegheny of the Ohio Valley High School Hockey League, 3-2, in the preliminary round of the playoffs.
Over the years Pine-Richland floated between classifications and has won titles in both Class 2A and Class 3A, which is one of the reasons the two have not renewed postseason acquaintances in almost half a century. The other was the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Allegheny and Pine-Richland were slated to play in the 2020 Class 3A Penguins Cup semifinals the night the league postponed and later canceled the tournament because of the pandemic.
The two programs have had successes, but mostly in the past 20 years. Both have won four Penguins Cups with Pine-Richland taking home the trophy in 2006, 2007 and 2019 in Class 2A and 2008 in Class 3A, while North Allegheny won its four in Class 3A in 2007, 2013, 2019 and 2022.
Now, one of the two will win its fifth championship.
Pine-Richland, the top seed, won both regular season meetings against No. 2 North Allegheny, but both games could have gone either way. In the first meeting, Zachary Howard scored two goals in a 5-4 Rams victory on Oct. 19 and the second was a 4-3 shootout win.
In the playoffs, both teams have been about as even as it gets. Each has scored seven goals and has allowed three.
Class 2A
It might seem like a walkover for second-seeded Thomas Jefferson (20-2-0) when it plays No. 8 Penn-Trafford (9-9-4) when they meet in the finals. Statistically, it all leans the Jaguars way.
Thomas Jefferson, the 2022 champion, scored a classification-best 124 goals in the regular season, had the best goal differential (plus-75) in Class 2A and allowed the second- fewest goals (49) behind only topseeded South Fayette (39). The Jaguars are also coming off a 9-3 blowout victory against Franklin Regional in which Scott Allan and Jake Stock each had hat tricks.
Penn- Trafford, meanwhile, had a sub-.500 record in the regular season, had a minus-10 goal differential and went 1-5-2 in its final eight games heading into the postseason, including a 5-1 loss to the Jaguars.
But the Warriors, who have never played in a championship game much less won it all, are also one of the two teams that handed the Jaguars a loss this season, a 3-2 defeat behind two Bryce Kropczynski goals on Dec. 7.
They have also been this year’s Cinderella story as they are the first No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 since CanonMcMillan pulled it off in 2010 on its way to the Class 3A title.
Class 1A
Chartiers Valley has an opportunity for a historic season.
Few teams have won the Penguins Cup as an undefeated team, but the Colts (220-0) have the opportunity to be the first to accomplish the feat since Indiana took the Class 1A crown in 2021.
Chartiers Valley has had an incredible run, led by freshman Noah Callender, who has three goals and five points in two playoff games. The Colts have allowed a total of 25 goals in 22 games, including one in the postseason in their 2-1 semifinal win against Indiana.
But though Chartiers Valley is undefeated and a huge favorite in its first final since 2021, Greensburg Salem (165-2) has proven to be a giant killer in the playoffs.
The Golden Lions, the last qualifier out of the Gold Division, is technically a No. 11 seed and already knocked off one division champion in Quaker Valley.
Greensburg Salem has been playing shutdown defense in the postseason and allowed just three goals in two games. The Golden Lions held Shaler, which led the PIHL with 132 goals, to one in a 2-1 semifinal win.
Division 2
Neshannock won back-toback Division 2 titles in 2021 and 2022 but was knocked out in the semifinals by Bishop Canevin last year. This time, the Lancers have an opportunity to become the first team to win three championships in the developmental division.
To do that, they will have to get past Burrell, which has never won a title. Neshannock and Burrell split their matchups during the regular season.