CRANBERRY TWP., PA — Scotty Allan scored the golden goal just :46 into the overtime period and the Thomas-Jefferson Jaguars came out on top in a wild Penguins Cup Class-2A final at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, defeating Franklin Regional 6-5 on Tuesday night.
It is the first Penguins cup for the Jaguars since Zeiler’s junior year at Thomas Jefferson in 2000.
16:14 OT: It happened. @TJJaguarsHockey finishes the comeback and are Penguins Cup Champions for the first time since 2000. pic.twitter.com/6gkjl34oFR
— Mitch (@PHD_Mitch) March 23, 2022
Head Coach John Zeiler returned to the program with three Penguins Cup Championships as a player, and after a stint at Elizabeth-Forward he earned his fourth ring as a coach. He wasn’t shy about which one was his favorite.
“The one as a coach.” Zeiler said. “I’ve never had this feeling as a coach, it’s a dream for me to come back and be a part of this program. To show these kids what it’s like and to give them an opportunity in that situation.”
.@TJJaguarsHockey head coach John Zeiler talks about coming back to TJ and winning ring 4 pic.twitter.com/hsYk0YJ4BK
— Mitch (@PHD_Mitch) March 23, 2022
The Panthers held a 5-1 lead at the end of the second period, only to watch it whittle away as a Chase Williams misconduct proved costly :17 into the third with the Jaguars scoring four goals to tie the contest before its expiration.
Zach Abdallah gave the Panthers the lead with a power-play goal on a skate redirect at 2:19 of the first period, and the two teams increased the level of physicality.
Max Rutkowski opened up the second period with a bullet, firing the puck over Billy Siemon at 1:17 after picking a puck at the blue line clean and scoring the second Panthers goal from the top of the circle. Ryder McGurik’s gutsy redirect :53 seconds later cut the Franklin Regional lead back to one before a scrum in the crease led to Abdallah’s delay of game crease infraction that gave Colby Bilski the chance to tie the contest up.
— Mitch (@PHD_Mitch) March 22, 2022
Bilski’s miss led to an immediate reaction from the Panthers, who seemed to amp up their physicality to match the Jaguars and throwing Thomas-Jefferson off their game. Matty Knizner’s pickup of a bouncing puck and subsequent goal restored a two-goal lead for Franklin Regional before a Luke Beatty snipe and Ben Yurko power-play goal gave the Panthers a four-goal lead at the end of the second.
The Jaguars took advantage of a false sense of security by the Panthers as Franklin committed four consecutive penalties to begin the frame, led by a two minute minor and a ten-minute misconduct by Chase Williams with Thomas-Jefferson scoring two consecutive five-on-three penalties. The first was a Rayman gutsy effort play in front, the second a Bilski set play off a face-off from the left circle. Lance Smith cut the lead to one at 7:49 before Sidun tied the game at 4:47.
UP NEXT
Thomas plays the winner of the Flyers Cup Class-2A final between Pennridge and Castle Rock South on Saturday at Ice Line in West Chester, PA.
GALLERY BY JARED TODHUNTER AND ED MAJOR:
