Hockey Notebook: Playing champions stirs Moon senior
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Austin Siebert has saved his best games this season for the defending Class AA Penguins Cup champions.
The Moon senior has scored 10 goals in seven games, with seven of those goals coming in two games against West Allegheny.
"I love playing against West A," Siebert said. "They knocked us out of the playoffs last season and we get to play in front of a big crowd when we face them. It gets the adrenaline going and you get that extra hop in your step."
Siebert scored three goals in a 7-4 Moon win against the Indians on Nov. 1, then netted four goals in the team's 9-2 win against West Allegheny on Dec. 6. He also has four of his six assists on the season against the Indians.
"Austin has been good all season, and just brings a bit more to those games," Moon coach Craig Bioni said.
Siebert had seven goals and 12 assists all season for the Tigers last year playing as a defenseman, but was switched to forward this season and the team has taken advantage of his extra scoring opportunities.
Siebert said he often plays on a line with Jake Coleman and Koby Uhrig, and the trio has combined to score 21 goals and 36 points this season.
"We have meshed pretty well together," Siebert said.
Heading into Thursday, the Tigers (4-2-1) were in first place in Section 1-AA with nine points, one point ahead of North Hills and six points ahead of West Allegheny. Moon's next game is Monday against Gateway at 7:30 p.m. at Airport Ice Arena.
Golden Lions scoring big
Through its first seven games of the season, the Greensburg Salem hockey team had scored more than 10 goals four times, with a season-high of 13.
But in Monday's game against Ringgold, the Golden Lions took it up a notch.
Greensburg Salem (6-2) scored 17 goals in the first two periods on its way to a 21-3 win. The 21 goals were the most by a team in the PIHL this season, eclipsing the 20 Ford City scored against Ringgold earlier this season.
The Golden Lions had 11 different players score a goal, with Jonathan Finger leading the way with six goals.
With the 21-goal outburst, Greensburg Salem now leads all PIHL teams with 82 goals.
Quakers fire away
Quaker Valley coach Kevin Quinn has been the coach of the varsity program since it started. He saw something from his team Monday that he had never seen before.
The defending Class A state champion Quakers (7-0-0) finished with 69 shots on goal in a 5-0 win against Thomas Jefferson (6-3-0).
"I can't remember us every having that many shots," Quinn said.
The Quakers had 46 shots through two periods, and usually in similar situations, Quinn said the team would be so far ahead it would ease up in the third period.
But Thomas Jefferson goaltender Nick Ripepi allowed only two goals on those 46 shots, so Quaker Valley continued to fire away in what was a close game throughout despite a 52-shot difference between the teams.
"We had to keep coming," Quinn said. "Had [Ripepi] not played so well, it could have been ugly."
This week's top matchups
• Bishop Canevin at Hampton, 7:10 p.m., Monday, Ice Connection
Bishop Canevin (6-0-1) is the only team in PIHL Class AA without a loss, while Hampton (4-1-0 heading into Thursday) dropped its first game Monday to Plum. The Talbots' coach, Anthony Scolieri, played for Bishop Canevin coach Kevin Zielmanski when both were at Central Catholic.
• Seneca Valley at North Allegheny, 6:30 p.m, Tuesday, Bladerunners Warrendale
The first of two matchups between the top two teams in Section 2-AAA. North Allegheny (6-2-0) will enter the contest on a two-game losing streak. Seneca Valley (6-0-1 heading into Thursday) has already doubled last season's win total of three.
First Published December 14, 2012 12:00 am
