To say that Pine-Richland came flying out of the gate to start the season would be an understatement.
In their first two games, the Rams put up 15 combined goals on 2021 Penguins Cup playoff teams Peters Township and Canon-McMillan. Despite a loss to Seneca Valley, though, they still lead the classification with 16 goals coming into the week.
“I think we’re coming together really well because we have a lot of juniors and seniors on our team with a few others mixed in, so the leadership is definitely there,” Pine-Richland coach Jordan Yoklic said. “I know, on the ice and off the ice, as a coach, you’re always looking for that bond and, if you can generate that early, those kids will play for each other throughout the year.”
Pine-Richland made it through to the Class 3A Penguins Cup semifinals last season until they were upset in a 3-2 loss to Mt. Lebanon. And there are plenty of players back who want nothing more than to erase that loss.
Among the players back for Pine-Richland this year are Carson Kalpakis, who is coming off an eight-goal, 21-point season and already has four goals this year. Alex Erlain was the team’s No. 2 scorer last year and the team captain already has four points in three games.
Having that kind of scoring capability will be in the backs of the minds of a lot of teams Pine-Richland faces as it heads through the season, but maybe even more significant will be the 2-1 loss to Seneca Valley in which that squad was shut down. The Rams are hoping to use that loss as a teaching tool for the team moving forward.
“With our forecheck, we definitely want to be aggressive and make teams earn every single inch of the ice and put pressure on their ‘D’ as much as possible,” Yoklic said. “I think in the first two games we did that and it showed on the scoresheet, but Seneca Valley made it hard on us. A lot of the shots we got were coming from the outside and the perimeter instead of ‘in the house,’ which is where we try to get.”
Perhaps the best indicator of how well Pine-Richland will do is if it can continue to keep teams from getting ‘in the house’ in its defensive zone. Yoklic classifies that part of the ice to be in the crease and low between the circles.
To make sure the Rams don’t get hurt in that area, they’ve turned over their goaltending duties to junior Daniel Mooney. Though he was 2-1-0 in a couple of spot starts with a 4.0 goals-against average and a .842 save percentage a year ago, he’s already 2-1-0 with a 1.33 GAA and a .959 save percentage.
Indiana
At some point, Indiana will take the ice as a new member of Class 2A and attempt to become one of the rare programs to win back-to-back titles in different classifications.
That hasn’t happened yet.
In a quirk of scheduling, the Little Indians are the last team in the PIHL to play a game. The league officially began its season Oct. 4, but Indiana won’t play until Oct. 21 when it hosts Hempfield.
And, to be fair, it may have been a blessing in disguise.
“It’s not a problem at all because we played a tournament in late September to get back in the swing of things and we may have been lucky not playing until later,” Indiana coach Jordan Haines said. “We have a lot of kids on the squad playing football and soccer, so we haven’t really had a full squad at practice, so it’s kind of nice to start a little later.”
Still, challenges also remain on the ice, where Indiana will be lumped into a division with powerhouses Franklin Regional, Latrobe and Armstrong.
“We’re just going to play our same game; we’re going to be physical and play with speed,” Haines said. “We still have a great group of kids where we’ll play a team game.”
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Team rankings
(Records through Sunday)
Class 3A
1. North Allegheny (2-0-0)
2. Upper St. Clair (2-0-0)
3. Pine-Richland (2-1-0)
4. Baldwin (1-0-1)
5. Peters Township (2-1-0)
Class 2A
1. Franklin Regional (2-0-0)
2. Thomas Jefferson (2-0-0)
3. Latrobe (2-0-0)
4. Armstrong (2-0-0)
5. South Fayette (2-0-0)
Class 1A
1. Fox Chapel (3-0-0)
2. Quaker Valley (2-0-0)
3. Moon (2-0-0)
4. North Catholic (1-0-0)
5. Norwin (2-0-0)
First Published: October 22, 2021, 10:00 a.m.