The Central PA Wolves junior high team took the third game of the best of three playoffs with Ligonier Valley to claim the Central Pennsylvania Ice Hockey Association (CPIHA) Laurel Highlands Division championship.
The two foes exchanged wins in the first two contests, before Central PA controlled the middle of the game to post a 6-2 win in the rubber match at Galactic Ice in Lakemont on Thursday.
The junior high Wolves opened the scoring at the six-minute mark of the first period when Adam Erlichman (Bedford) scored with an assist from Ryan Ferguson (Bedford).
Ligonier Valley came right back to knot the score less than a minute later.
Then the Wolves took over to score the next six goals before Ligonier Valley put the final score in the net.
Craig Timoney (Bedford) put the Central PA squad up 2-1 at the end of the opening period on an assist from Jamin Solensky (Cambria Heights).
The Wolves then scored the only two goals of the middle period. Erlichman added his second goal on another assist from Solensky and Chris Matish (Penn Cambria) scored unassisted midway through the stanza.
Erlichman continued his one-goal-a-period schedule with a score at the 7:05 mark of the third period on Solensky’s third assist of the night. Solensky scored the final tally for the Wolves off an assist from Tyrone’s Justin Howard to build the Central PA advantage to 6-1.
Ligonier Valley put one last goal into the Wolves’ net with just a minute and a half remaining in the game.
Central PA goal keeper Kody Martin (Allegany County, MD) stopped 12 0f 14 shots on goal to claim the win.
The same two teams fought in the 2004 championship series last year, with Ligonier Valley pulling the win in a hard-fought finals series and the Wolves reversing that decision this year.
Wolves 6 Ligonier Valley 2
Score by period
1 2 3 Total
Visitor: Ligonier Valley 1 0 1 2
Home: Central PA 2 2 2 6
Goals and Assists by period
Pd Team Goal scorer (Assists) Clock Time
1 Central PA Erlichman (Ferguson) 6:06
1 L. V. Hendrick (Ludwig) 5:29
1 Central PA Timoney (Solensky) 4:45
2 Central PA Erlichman (Solensky) 11:17
2 Central PA Matish 5:46
3 Central PA Erlichman (Solensky) 7:05
3 Central PA Solensky (Howard) 4:04
3 L. V. Tantlinger (Ludwig, Burns) 1:30
Goal Tending
Team Goalie Shots-Saves
Ligonier Valley Ryan Donahue 11-5
Central PA Kody Martin 14-12
