NEVILLE Twp., Pa. — After a clean, even game for the first two periods, the Neshannock Lancers survived a chippy third to defeat the Wilmington Greyhounds 5-2 at the RMU Island Sports Center Thursday.
After Drake Tomak tied the game 1-1 early in the second, the game settled down. Both teams had chances in front of the net, and with neither taking any penalties, it was destined to be a struggle until someone broke through.
Enter Tino Multari. With just under three minutes to play in the second period, Multari sniped a puck over the blocker of Dom Serafino to give Neshannock the lead back. Just over a minute later, Tommy Malvar did the same thing to extend the lead to 3-1.
That’s when things got exciting. Malvar scored his second of the game just under three minutes in to extend the lead to 4-1, but Tomak got his own second on a power play for Wilmington to cut the lead back to two goals. But after Andrew Cartwright went to the box for tripping on the ensuing faceoff, Davey Cochenour made it 5-2 Neshannock on the power play.
Neshannock goaltender Riley Mastowski shut down Wilmington the rest of the way, making 35 saves on 37 total shots, to preserve the 5-2 victory and a date with Ringgold in the Class-B Championship on Tuesday, Apr. 20 at 9 p.m. at the RMU Islabd Sports Center.
