NA Opens Season With 5-2 Win Over Mt. Lebanon
North Allegheny opened the 2023-2024 season on Thursday night at the Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale with a 5-2 victory over Mt. Lebanon. Junior Marc Joyson netted a hat trick to pace the Tigers offense as the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and never looked back.
Just 13 seconds into the season, Ed Scherer stunned the visiting Blue Devils with an immediate goal and a 1-0 lead. Luke Walkauskas and Owen Logan assisted on the Schered marker. Joyson added back-to-back goals, the second of which coming at the 8:34 mark, to extend the NA lead to 3-0. Both of Joyson’s goals were assisted by Jake Fritz. Sophomore Ravi Desai, fresh off his sterling performance at the WPIAL Class AAA boys’ golf championships, added a helper on Joyson’s first marker of the night.
Mt. Lebanon’s Conner Ribstein scored with 53 seconds left in the first period, but the goal did little to thwart North Allegheny’s momentum. At the 5:31 mark of the second period, Brendan White fed a pass to Walkauskas for his first goal of the season to grow the Tigers lead to 4-1.
North Allegheny’s three-goal lead stood for much of the remainder of the game before Griffin Krupp trimmed the score to 4-2 at the 15:26 mark of the third period. The Tigers put the game on ice with 38 seconds left in regulation on Joyson’s third goal of the night, assisted by Ryan Jackman and Evan Kerber, to close out a 5-2 victory.
Goalie Andrew Long made 20 saves to earn the win. Mt. Lebanon’s Quinn Lynam made 21 stops in a losing effort.
Following the season opening win, North Allegheny will try to make it two wins in a row with a visit to Southpointe to take on the Peters Township Indians in a rematch of last year’s Penguins Cup semifinals.
Ice Hockey Summary vs. Mt. Lebanon, 10-5-23
GAME SUMMARY | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
SCORE BY PERIODS | 1 | 2 | 3 | FINAL |
Mt. Lebanon | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
North Allegheny | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |