CRANBERRY TWP., Pa — The North Catholic Trojans improved to 4-0 with a 6-2 win over North Hills Tuesday night at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in a game that featured 18 minor penalties, a major penalty, and multiple misconducts.
The battle of the north did started off as a back-and-forth effort. Despite several minor penalties, the teams moved the puck up the ice with ease and the penalty kill units were able to keep the score deadlocked at zero. Akezhan Melis finally broke the scoreless tie almost six minutes into the first period by sniping a shot past North Hills goaltender Tyler Manfred to give North Catholic a 1-0 lead. It wasn’t until 14:39 of the first period when Brock Varley got one to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.
Derek Pietrzyk scored just a minute into the second period on an Indians power play to get North Hills on the board. A few minutes later, Melis got his second goal of the night and Dominic Dezort scored 42 seconds later to take the commanding 4-1 lead for North Catholic. It was later in the second period when things started to get rough. North Catholic forward Mario Smith was issued two minor penalties – one for cross-checking and one for head contact – as well as a 10-minute misconduct for the head contact. Not to be outdone a few minutes later, North Hills forward Zach Miller received a 5-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for head-butting. Despite all of the chaos, Trojan goaltender Chris McFayden made several key saves during the end of the period to keep the three goal advantage heading into the ice cut at the intermission.
The third period was no different than the first two. Just over a minute in, Ryan Kosylo for North Hills and Jonathan Felouzis for North Catholic received incidental minor penalties for roughing. Kosylo’s roughing minor, though, turned into a 10-minute misconduct.
The Trojans did not allow the chaos and penalties to derail their game, though. Despite a North Hills power play goal by Connor Burik, to trim the Trojan’s lead to 4-2, North Catholic proved to be too much for the Indians, scoring two more goals by Quinten Shaffer and Michael Manuppelli to seal the 6-2 win.
Chris McFayden made 29 saves on 31 shots for the Trojans for his fourth win of the season. His counterpart Tyler Manfred made 16 saves on 22 shots for the loss.
North Catholic will next face Beaver on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8:15 p.m. at Brady’s Run Ice Arena.
North Hills fall to 1-2 and will face Thomas Jefferson on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. at Ice Castle Arena.
MAJOR FOCUS: Catholic takes down Hills in the battle of the Norths
