NEVILLE TWP, PA — Ryan Saginaw registered a hat trick and Cole Evans scored a shorthanded and a power play goal in the second period and as the Bishop Canevin Crusaders defeated the Wilmington Greyhounds 5-1 in the class on Thursday Night at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Saginaw opened the scoring at 15:42, taking a cross-crease pass and firing a one-timer past Dom Serafino. The two teams skated to a scoreless remainder of the stanza.
Andrew Cartwright scored on a carbon-copy of the Saginaw goal at 14:56 of the second period before Evans fired home a shorthanded goal at the 4:10 mark and a power-play tally at 2:08.
Saginaw’s second at 10:45 of the final frame sealed the contest for the Crusaders while the exclamation point came at 8:42.
UP NEXT
Bishop Canevin plays Neshannock for the PIHL Division-2 Championship, which takes place at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Tuesday, March 22 at 8:45pm.
When asked post game, Bishop Canevin head coach Eric Glover made it clear on his preference of opponents while ‘keeping it realistic’.
“No. We’ve beat both of these teams twice, but that means nothing. Playoffs are a whole different thing. Either one we are ready to play.”
The Crusaders, who won the 2016 Class-2A championship before a short hiatus and a return in Division-2, will make their first appearance in the open class championship.
After the finals, Bishop Canevin will head to Dallas, TX to compete in the 2022 USA Hockey Nationals Division-II Tournament March 24-28. The first game of Nationals will be on Thursday, March 24th at 4:00pm against the Mitchell Mustangs from Florida, just under 42 hours from their championship contest a mere 1,242 highway miles away on Tuesday.
