Ice Hockey Game Summaries

For the third straight season, the North Allegheny Ice Hockey Team played an overtime game in the quarterfinal round of the PIHL Class AAA playoffs.  However, unlike last year’s 2-1 overtime win over Canon-McMillan, the Tigers were on the short end of the score as the defending champions were eliminated by the Penn-Trafford Warriors on Thursday night, 5-4, at the BladeRunners in Warrendale.  Jacob Miller’s hat trick, including the game winning goal in overtime lifted the fifth-seeded Warriors to the victory.

In the see-saw affair, Penn-Trafford opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Patrick Cortazzo and Miller. Late in the opening stanza, NA’s Marty Hubert let loose a slap shot that trickled off the glove of PT goalie Eric Phelps and leaked into the net to cut the score to 2-1, Warriors, with 32 seconds left in the period.  The bleeder by Hubert swayed the momentum as North Allegheny grabbed a 3-2 lead in the second period on markers by Dawson Richard and Joe Zappia. However, the Warriors Jordan Eisenstat answered with an equalizer with 16 seconds remaining in the period sending both teams to intermission in a 3-3 deadlock.

In the third, Miller struck for his second goal of the night with just 5:12 left in regulation to push the Warriors ahead, 4-3. In desperation mode, the Tigers pulled goalie Bradford Thornburgh in the final minute of the game for an extra attacker and the strategy paid off as Hubert evened the score with a wrist shot to force overtime. North Allegheny seemed poised to survive and advance but the Warriors staved off an early Tigers power play and numerous scoring chances in the first five minutes of the extra session. With 4:02 left in OT, Miller notched his third and final goal of the night to vault the Warriors into the PIHL semifinals for a meeting with the second-seeded Peters Township Indians.

Along with his hat trick, Miller, the leading scorer in Class AAA in the regular season, finished with a four point performance.  North Allegheny was led by Hubert’s two goals and assist.  Hubert, North Allegheny’s top scorer in the regular season, was the catalyst for the Tigers on offense, including his huge gut-check goal to force overtime. For his efforts, Hubert was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.

The Tigers concluded the regular season with a 12-7-1 record and Section 2 champions in Class AAA. With a wealth of returning talent next season, North Allegheny will once again vie for a PIHL title in 2014-2015.

Ice Hockey Summary vs. Penn-Trafford 3-6-14

Ice Hockey Individual Scoring vs. Penn-Trafford

The North Allegheny Ice Hockey Team dropped the regular season finale to the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings on Tuesday night, 3-1, at BladeRunners USA.  The Tigers scored their first and only goal of the game on an Erik Chidester tally, assisted by Dawson Richard and William Rahenkamp, at the 10:55 mark of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Central Catholic tied the score with a Matthew Stalter goal in the second period and took the lead with a pair of goals in the third.  Ryan Haag and Antonio Misiti earned markers in the final period to give the Vikings the two goal win.  Misiti’s goal was a short-handed empty net tally in the last minute of the game.

With the loss, Section 2 champion North Allegheny closes out the regular season with 12-7-1 record.  With one more regular season remaining, Central Catholic improves to 11-7-1 and can win the Section 4 title with a victory Butler tonight. Both teams will compete in the PIHL Class AAA playoffs which begin next week.  

Ice Hockey Summary vs. Central Catholic 2-25-14

Ice Hockey Individual Scoring vs. Central Catholic

The Fox Chapel Foxes surprised the North Allegheny Ice Hockey Team on Sunday night and skated to a 4-2 victory over the reigning PIHL champions.  The Tigers bombarded Fox Chapel goalie Chad Veltri with 48 shots, but the enemy net minder was unrelenting and made 46 saves.

North Allegheny was able to beat Veltri at the 3:42 mark of the second period when Tyler Wilson scored a power play goal to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  Later in the period at the 13:26 mark, a man advantage situation allowed Fox Chapel an opportunity to tie the game.  Jonathan Rice netted a power play marker to even score, but more importantly, initiate four consecutive goals scored by the Foxes.

Brian Beal added a goal with 1:41 remaining in the second period, and Benjamin Friedland garnered back-to-back goals in the third to give Fox Chapel a 4-1 lead with 1:17 remaining.  Erik Chidester scored for the Tigers with two second left to play to bring the final to 4-2, Foxes.  Joe Huber was in net for the Tigers and stopped 24 shots.

North Allegheny drops to 12-6-1 with the loss while Fox Chapel, who’s already been eliminated from playoff contention, improves to 3-16-0.  The Tigers will visit the Central Catholic Vikings on Tuesday night in their regular season finale.  The opening faceoff is slated for 8:30 pm.

Ice Hockey Summary vs. Fox Chapel 2-23-14

Ice Hockey Individual Scoring vs. Fox Chapel

Marty Hubert’s three point performance paced the North Allegheny Tigers past the State College Little Lions on Friday night, 3-1, and locked up the Section 2-AAA crown for the reigning PIHL champions.  The Tigers fell behind 1-0 when State College’s Andrew Skipper scored at the 9:17 of the first period.  North Allegheny answered with just 23 seconds remaining in the first as Hubert set up Christian Louria for a tally to even the score, 1-1.

North Allegheny didn’t waste the momentum from Louria’s goal, netting the go-ahead marker less than two minutes into the second period on Hubert’s first goal of the night. Hubert added another goal in the third period to bring the final score to 3-1, Tigers.

The Tigers outshot State College 33-25.  Senior Bradford Thornburgh earned the win in net with 24 saves. Chris Rosselot took the loss for the Little Lions, making 30 saves on 33 shots.

With the win, North Allegheny secures the Section 2 title and jumps to 12-5-1 on the season.  State College falls to 8-10-1 on the year. The Tigers visit Fox Chapel on Sunday night at 8:00 pm.

Ice Hockey Summary vs. State College 2-21-14

Ice Hockey Individual Scoring vs. State College

Cameron Fisher and Marty Hubert scored a pair of goals apiece to lead the North Allegheny Ice Hockey Team over the Mt. Lebanon Blue Devils, 4-2, on Monday night.  Joe Hubert got the start in net for the Tigers and made 33 saves for his fourth victory of the season.  Joe Hubert outdueled Mt. Lebanon’s Ryan Wessbecher who stopped 26 of 30 North Allegheny shots on goal.

Reed Farber put the home standing Blue Devils in the lead at the 4:32 mark of the first period, but the Tigers answered back a minute later on Fisher’s first goal of the night to knot the score at 1-1.  Just 1:42 into the second period, Marty Hubert gave NA a 2-1 lead with assists going to Dawson Richard and Nathon Taylor on the marker.

In the third period, Fisher scored at the 3:29 mark to expand the Tigers advantage to 3-1. With 4:49 remaining in regulation, Farber struck again to give the Blue Devils some late life, trimming the score to 3-2.  North Allegheny put the game away with a little over two minutes to play on Marty Hubert’s final goal of the night to bring the final score to 4-2, Tigers.

With the win, North Allegheny now sits at 11-5-1 overall and widens its lead in the Section 2-AAA standings, sitting three points ahead of second place Seneca Valley.  Mt. Lebanon drop to 6-11-1 overall and is 10 points off the pace in the section standings. The Tigers move on to host State College on Friday night at 7:20 in Warrendale.

Ice Hockey Summary vs. Mt. Lebanon 2-17-14

Ice Hockey Individual Scoring vs. Mt. Lebanon