WILKES-BARRE — Wyoming Area had plenty of goals.
There were still points, however, to be earned.
Wyoming Area got the goals it needed in the first 19 seconds and had much more than necessary as it came to the final few minutes of Tuesday’s 11-1 Casey Classic rout of rival Pittston Area at the Toyota Sportsplex.
The tournament standings format, which will determine and seed the top four teams in the seven-team field following Wednesday’s action, gives points for not only games won, but periods won. It also awards a point for a shutout and for keeping the penalty count down.
Wyoming Area carried an eight-goal lead into the third period, but was giving away potential points.
“Every period counts as a separate game, so you have to make sure,” Wyoming Area coach Bill Weiss said of the need to push to the end, looking for more goals, even with a big lead.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing a call late in the second period while already up by seven goals had cost the Warriors one standings point.
“It was stupid penalties,” Weiss said. “ … When you open your mouth with the refs, they’re not going to stand for it.
“The extra two minutes cost us a point.”
When Pittston Area broke up the shutout on Joseph June’s backhand move off a partial breakaway during a power play with 2:44 left, it threatened to put a lot of Wyoming Area’s work to waste.
Breaking the shutout cost Wyoming Area one possible point and allowed Pittston Area to tie the third period, up to that point, putting another in jeopardy. Still another was at stake because Wyoming Area reached the brink of losing a point for excessive penalties after another unsportsmanlike call had created the power play.
“The hard part is the points,” Weiss said. “That goal to end the shutout and the penalties cost us two points. That could throw you out of the tournament.”
The Warriors settled down and locked up the rest of the six points that were still available. They answered with two more goals, including one just 28 seconds after losing their shutout, and managed to control their checks and their mouths enough to avoid any other penalties.
“Once we let in that first goal, we knew we had to come back strong,” said senior center Alex Chronowski, who led the way with four goals and two assists.
Chronowski scored twice on the opening shift, added two more goals in the second period, then assisted two goals in the third.
Defenseman Caleb Travis offset four penalties, including the two unsportsmanlike conducts, by scoring three goals and assisting another.
C.J. Rome and Alex Hawk also had four points. Rome had two goals and two assists while Hawk had a goal and three assists.
Chronowski scored six and 19 seconds into the game.
“Right before the game started, my line was talking about how right off the faceoff, we were going to push it forward,” Chronowski said. “We pushed it forward, I went around the kid and scored five-hole.”
The Warriors needed one more pass off the next faceoff, but Chronowski scored again and they were off and running.
The win allowed Wyoming Area to join Crestwood, the team it lost to in last year’s overtime final, as the only teams to start 2-0.
Crestwood, the only team to play twice on Monday’s opening day of the event, had a 12-11 edge over Wyoming Area in standings points earned from the first two wins. Crestwood improved to 3-0 after topping Hazleton 6-2 on Wednesday.
The tournament semifinals are set for Thursday at 4:26 and 6:10 p.m. and the final is scheduled for the Mohegan Sun Arena Friday at 4 p.m.
Wyo. Valley West 7,
Back Mountain 3
Jimm Dravage recorded a hat trick and assisted on three goals in the Spartans’ win.
Teammate Dan Rolackek had two goals and two assists.
Trevor Kevezok scored two goals for Back Mountain.
Wyoming Seminary 6,
Valley West 4
Will Zeigler and KC Medico each scored two goals for the Blue Knights.
Hassison Kayton recorded two assists in the win.
Crestwood 6,
Hazleton 2
Sky Swavely had two goals as the Comets improve to 3-0.
Crestwood led 4-0 at the end of the first period.
CASEY CLASSIC
Pittston Area`0`0`1`—`1
Wyoming Area`3`5`3`—`11
First period — 1. WA, Alex Chronowski (Alex Hawk) 0:06; 2. WA, Chronowski (C.J. Rome) 0:19; 3. WA, Caleb Travis (Dave Alberigi) 11:34.
Second period — 4. WA, Chronowski (Hawk) 3:26; 5. WA, Travis (Jakob Switzer) 4:09 power play; 6. Travis (Matthew Romanowski) 4:33; 7. WA, Chronowski (Travis) 11:14; 8. WA, Rome (Neal Wanko) 13:54 shorthanded.
Third period – 9. WA, Rome (Chronowski, Hawk) 4:19; 10, PA, Joseph June 12:16 power play; 11, WA, Hawk (Chronowski, Rome) 12:44; 12, WA, Patrick Musinski (Brendan Lee). 14:35.
Goalies — WA (Chris Hartman, Matthew Benton); PA (Joseph Stella). Penalties – WA 9 for 18 minutes; PA 5 for 10 minutes. Power plays – WA 1-for-4; PA 1-for-8.
