WILKES-BARRE – Wyoming Area finished an unbeaten week in the Casey Classic with its first title in the high school hockey tournament and half the individual awards that were available.
Jacob Urban stepped into the spotlight Friday by returning from an illness to make 41 saves in a 6-1 championship game victory over Crestwood at the Mohegan Sun Arena, but in the aftermath, three teammates were recognized for their efforts throughout the week at the Toyota Sports Plex.
Alex Chronowski and Brendan Lee were named to two of the three forward spots on the All-Scholastic Team. Chris Hartmann was selected as the goalie on that all-tournament squad for his efforts as Wyoming Area went 3-0-1 throughout the week at the Sports Plex to earn its shot at playing at the arena and avenging an overtime loss to Crestwood in last year’s championship game.
“It was a very exciting night,” Warriors coach Bill Weiss said of the championship game. “Jake (Urban) came back and did a wonderful job after being out for 30 days with (mononucleosis).
“The whole team rallied around him. It was a wonderful team effort. They took it from start to finish. They didn’t back off until the end when it was 6-0.”
Urban came within 26 seconds of a shutout.
Defenseman Caleb Travis completed a strong tournament by scoring the first two goals, then adding an assist. He opened the scoring off a Brendan Lee assist 2:43 into the game and scored unassisted 6:19 into the second.
Lee followed the second Travis goal by scoring 49 seconds later for a 3-0 lead.
Chronowski opened the third-period scoring, then assisted a Hawk goal.
Patrick Musinski also scored. C.J. Rome had two assists and Jacob Switzer had one.
Wyoming Area 9
Hazleton 6
Alex Hawk had a hat trick and Alex Chronowski scored twice when Wyoming Area opened the tournament with a victory Monday.
Wyoming Area 11
Pittston Area 1
Alex Chronowski scored goals six and 19 seconds into Tuesday’s game to spark the rout of rival Pittston Area.
“My line was talking about how right off the faceoff, we were going to push it forward,” said Chronowski, who went on to finish with four goals and two assists. “We pushed it forward, I went around the kid and scored five-hole.”
Caleb Travis, C.J. Rome and Alex Hawk all added four points.
Travis had a hat trick and an assist. Rome had two goals and Hawk had one to go with their assists.
Wyoming Area 3, Wyoming Valley West 3
The Warriors ended any doubt about their playoff qualification when they rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to force a tie Wednesday.
Caleb Travis scored two goals and Alex Chronowski had the other.
Alex Hawk assisted all three scores.
Wyoming Area 5
Wyoming Seminary 2
Wyoming Area trailed by a goal after one period in Thursday’s semifinal, but then scored two goals each in the second and third periods to rally for the win.
Brendan Lee scored the tying and game-winning goals in the second period.
Alex Chronowski, who had two assists, and Alex Hawk, who had one assist, each had third-period goals. C.J. Rome had the other goal. Patrick Musinski and Nick Perry also had assists.
Back Mountain 8
Pittston Area 3
Pittston Area fell in its tournament opener Monday.
Hazleton 9
Pittston Area 3
Pittston Area lost again Wednesday to go 0-3 and finish last in the tournament, which features seven teams from the Northeastern Pennsylvania High School Hockey League.
Ryan Winters scored twice for Pittston Area.
