Peters Township swept season series: 6-4 on Oct. 2, 3-2 on Nov. 27, and 4-1 on Dec. 11
Peters Township: The Indians started the season 2-2, only to rattle off eight straight wins- including a victory over North Allegheny and two over Bethel Park. Ryan Luppe, Torrey Schwartz, and Jeremy Anthos finished 4-5-6 in scoring in the classification.
Why I like Peters Township: 12-1-1 over their last 14. By far the most postseason experience of the teams remaining. What’s not to like?
Canon-McMillan: The Big Macs are lead by Johnny MacDonald, Joshua Hrip and Logan Ford offensively, and Mario Eafrati has been the bona-fide starter in a down season for the squad.
Why I like Canon-McMillan: Who doesn’t like a rivalry game? Two close games and a game that was lead by Canon-McMillan until the second half of the game show that the Indians have a fight ahead.
Bethel Park swept season series: 5-2 on Oct. 18, 3-2 in overtime Jan. 8
Bethel Park: After a start where the Black Hawks were floating above .500, Bethel Park rang off eight straight wins and only dropped the finale to Peters Township. Jeffery Bele led all scorers in AAA with 32 points (tied with Cathedral Prep’s Jacob Kruszewski).
Why I like Bethel Park: As the hottest team down the stretch, Bethel Park’s only loss in 2019 was the finale. The taste of blood on the postseasons doorstep does strange things to a team.
Central Catholic: The Vikings come in to the postseason on a streak of 2-8, a stark contrast to their first-round opponents. John Null, Ronan Junker and Claudio Simione led Central Catholic in scoring this past season, while Norbert McDermott sports an .898 sv% with the lion’s share of the time in net.
Why I like Central Catholic: The streak can be deceiving, as the majority of those losses were to teams that were involved in the run for the top-four spots. The one loss that sticks out like a sore thumb? A 3-2 overtime loss to Bethel Park.
Seasons series tied, Mt. Lebanon won 2-1 on Oct. 29, Cathedral Prep won 6-2 on Jan. 24
Mt. Lebanon: The Blue Devils started out the season tough, only to drop 5-of-6 at the end of the regular season, including a 6-2 loss to the Ramblers on Jan 24. Senior captain Wyatt George finished third in scoring in the conference, behind Jacob Kruszewski and Bethel Park’s Jeffery Bele.
Why I like Mt. Lebanon: What better time to get out of a funk than to put out the fire that is a rolling Cathedral Prep squad.
Cathedral Prep: The Ramblers were in 8th place at the beginning of the final week of the season and jumped three other teams, but put themselves in the 4/5 matchup with a win over Central Catholic in the final game. Kruszewski was on fire down the stretch.
Why I like Cathedral Prep: As long as the freight train keeps moving, stay out of the path. Making a late season push shows that the Ramblers mean serious business, and
North Allegheny swept season series: 5-0 on Nov. 26, 5-0 on Dec. 13, 2-1 on Feb. 11
North Allegheny: A veteran Tigers squad lead by Aaron Miller, Tyler Duderstadt and Richard Karapandi in net has been a tough beat all season for a majority of the teams in AAA. Back-to-back losses to Peters Township and Bethel Park as the calendar changed to 2019 haunted their No. 1 seed chances.
Why I like North Allegheny: Tyler Lamark scored both goals in the win against Seneca Valley on Feb. 11, but also registered four assists in the first two games. Six of his 15 points come against the Raiders. Two of Karapandi’s three shutouts were against Seneca Valley.
Seneca Valley: The defending AAA champions have experienced a down year, starting out the season strong but dropping 10-of-11 to end the season. The offense has been anemic, and a goaltender-by-committee approach has yielded fewer close games than the previous year.
Why I like Seneca Valley: Aidan Campbell can steal a game, but has been absent for stretches of the season with the US developmental team. If Campbell is available, this could be another stalemate.
