A six-goal second-period explosion proved to be the difference Monday night as Avonworth overpowered Moon Area, 9-4, in the quarterfinals of the PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs at RMU’s Island Sports Center.
The Antelopes were relentless on the attack, peppering Moon goaltender Tyler Zeigler with 57 shots on the night. Moon managed just 23 shots on Avonworth netminder Andrew Hetcko.
Avonworth took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from Richard Malsch and Owen Stiers, but Moon rallied to score two of the first three second-period goals – one from Eric Hartman and the other from Clayton Foster – and that trimmed Avonworth’s lead to 3-2.
But just 15 seconds after Foster’s shorthanded goal, the Antelopes – still on the power play — answered with a goal from Randy Bevan at the 4:07 mark, and that widened their lead to 4-2.
Bevan’s goal also ignited a five-goal outburst over the next 11 minutes that resulted in an 8-2 lead.
Austin Dzadovsky, Luke Ermlich, Joey Moore and Linus Jesionowski all followed with goals – two even strength, one on the power play and one shorthanded.
Moon’s Jordan Rieke got one back on a power play goal with a little over a minute to play in the second period, cutting the deficit to 8-3, but that proved too much to overcome.
Avonworth’s Cooper Powell added his team’s final goal in the fourth minute of the final period and Rieke’s second goal of the game for Moon closed out the scoring.
Moon coach Koby Uhrig said there was no mystery as to what happened.
“We just got beat (Monday night) — flat out,” he said after the game. “We knew we couldn’t compound mistakes and play shorthanded and we did both o f those things. They’re a championship team and those types of teams will take every advantage they are given.
“We simply didn’t make it hard enough on them. We’d love another shot at them but that’s not how it works. Credit to them and good luck the rest of the way. I hope they win it.”
Malsch finished with a pair of goals for Avonworth, which will move on to play the winner of Tuesday’s game between Butler and Canon-McMillan in the Varsity A semifinals on Wednesday, March 11.
This marked the second straight year that Avonworth eliminated Moon from the Varsity A playoffs. Last year, the Antelopes defeated the Tigers in the semifinals on their way to the Penguins Cup.
In addition to his two goals, Rieke also assisted on Hartman’s power play goal.
Gio Thompson picked up two assists for Moon while David Gallup, Logan Rieke and Hartman also contributed assists in the loss for Moon, which finished the regular season 14-3-1-1 and then beat North Hills, 5-1, in their playoff opener last week.
Photos by Mike Longo Jr.
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