CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Pine-Richland might not technically be the defending champion — and juniors outnumber seniors on its roster — but the Rams looked every bit the poised playoff veterans in a 4-1 defeat of Canon-McMillan in the Penguins Cup quarterfinal round.
Junior Charles Mill scored twice Tuesday night at Printscape Arena and seven Rams registered at least a point as last year’s Class AA title winners claimed their first postseason game after earning their way back into Class AAA.
Fifth-seeded Pine-Richland will face regular-season champion North Allegheny next Thursday, March 12, in the semifinals. Faceoff at the RMU Island Sports Center is set for 7 p.m.
Despite starting the playoffs on the road, the Rams (13-6-2) never looked out of sorts against the Big Macs, who earned a home playoff game for the first time in three years. Senior sniper Josh Hrip scored the lone goal for Canon Mac, striking in the third.
Pine-Richland junior defenseman Liam Varmecky started the visitors’ fun 11 minutes into the game with an absolute bullet from 40 feet that sailed over goalie Mario Eafrati’s shoulder. Twenty-three seconds later, Mill converted a rush pass from Griffin Roth, sniping short side from the left circle.
Mill tacked on his 15th of the season about a minute into the second, jamming in a rebound opportunity from the top of the crease. Canon Mac got into penalty trouble from there, taking four in the middle frame and allowing Pine-Richland to play with the puck more often than not.
When, in the final minute of the second, Rams junior Dominic Desjardins rifled a wrister top shelf to cap a 2-on-1 rush, the result seemed secure.
While junior Eafrati will get another crack at contention next season, the nifty Canon Mac senior forward trio of Hrip, Logan Ford and Daniel Garver wrap their high school careers in unsatisfying fashion.
Hrip finished second in Class AAA with 23 regular-season goals, but he didn’t get much against a collapsing Pine-Richland defense until connecting on Canon Mac’s second power play with seven minutes gone in the third.
Garver probably had the Big Macs’ best look of consequence with the game still in the balance, only to see Rams senior goalie Daniel Stauffer shrug off the slot chance in the dying moments of the first period.
Next week, the Rams get another crack at North Allegheny after sweeping their North Hills rivals in the two-game regular-season series.
