CASTLE SHANNON, Pa. — South Park took care of business on its home ice on Monday in the first round of the 2019 Class-A PIHL playoffs, defeating Sewickley Academy 7-3 at Ice Castle.
The Eagles started the game slowly, allowing Sewickley to show off some adept passing as the Panthers tried to push the puck up the ice. Fortunately for South Park, the Eagles defense never let Sewickley possess much in the offensive zone to take advantage of that passing.
Ryan Miller then broke the scoreless tie for South Park just over four minutes in. Sewickley answered on a power play, the only one of the first period, three minutes later off the stick of Jack Duggan. The first period came to a close with the teams evenly matched and trading shots. Sewickley goaltender Thomas Sykes, in particular, looked solid at tracking his rebounds and loose pucks and not giving South Park many second chance opportunities.
The second period was all Eagles. Jeffrey Remark pushed one through 1:12 into the period to take the lead for his team. Garrett Brecosky added his own two minutes later. Just when Sewickley started to calm down, South Park captain Justin Hickey went 200 feet end-to-end for his own goal. Thomas Quirin, And Ryan Malacki added two more to take a 6-1 lead after two periods.
South Park continued to dominate throughout the third period, even though Sewickley got two goals back, by netting one more of their own to seal the 7-3 win.
South Park will move on to face the Montour Spartans, who won their own first round game 14-1 over Greensburg Salem,on Monday, March 4 at 9:10 p.m. The game will be played on neutral ice at Mt. Lebanon Ice Center.
MAJOR FOCUS: SOUTH PARK VS. SEWICKLEY ACADEMY
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