NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — Thomas Jefferson teammates Eddie Pazo and Hunter Fairman combined for five goals to lead Blue to an 8-5 victory over Gold in the 2020 PIHL Class-A All-Star Game at RMU Island Sports Center on Sunday.
Pazo scored three goals for a second-period hat trick, with Fairman assisting on one, Wheeling Catholic’s Caleb Karnell on two and Bishop McCort’s Adis Ultanbekov on all three.
In the third period, that combination struck twice more. Fairman scored with Pazo and Ultanebekov assisting at 6:51 of the third and then again at 12:09 of the final period.
The forward line was linked by Fairman, high school teammates with Pazo and travel squad teammates with Ultanbekov.
“We had fun playing with each other,” Fairman said. “We found each other.”
Putting the three together seemed like a no-brainer for Blue coach Jon Hoffmann (North Catholic), but the players didn’t leave anything up to chance.
“We just kind of told them we’d like to at the beginning and they were all for it,” Pazo said.
North Catholic’s Quinten Shaffer also recorded a hat trick for Blue, scoring a goal in each period.
North Hills goaltender Ethan Isaly recorded a first-period shutout for Blue and Fox Chapel’s Colby Zmenkowski scored the game-winner in the third period.
Chartiers Valley’s Greg Kraemer scored twice in the losing effort for Gold.
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