PITTSTON TWP. – Brendan Lee had lost four straight Blue/Gold games to Pittston Area.
The Wyoming Area center was not about to let this year’s standings convince him to take his last chance at a win in the series lightly.
Lee provided two of the quick strikes that allowed Wyoming Area to take control on the way to a 7-4 victory in the 18th annual game Friday night at the Revolution Ice Centre.
Seniors from both teams were honored in ceremonies prior to the game, which drew a packed house at the ice rink.
“They always step up when they play us,” said Lee, who has been in the Wyoming Area lineup since eighth grade, something that is possible in ice hockey because it is not sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Wyoming Area entered the night in second place in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Hockey League while Pittston Area was winless. The Warriors were finally able to end Pittston Area’s seven-year dominance of the game.
“I told the boys in the locker room that it wasn’t going to be easy, that we couldn’t take their skills lightly,” Lee said.
Pittston Area made the game competitive, outshooting Wyoming Area, 27-26, but the Warriors got the better quality chances early.
When Lee scored 17 seconds into the second period, Wyoming Area had its second three-goal lead at 4-1.
Pittston Area got to within two goals twice, but a newcomer to the series, Wyoming Area freshman Jakob Switzer scored goals 44 seconds apart late in the second period to put the game away.
Switzer broke a stick in between and scored the goals with two different sticks.
He knocked in an Alex Chronowski rebound with less than two minutes left in the period. Switzer connected again, floating a shot past the goalie’s blocker while moving left to right through the slot, with 56.9 seconds left for a 7-3 lead.
“I wasn’t really trying to score there,” Switzer said. “I was trying to get off a low shot because I saw Brendan cutting to the net.”
Switzer’s goals came during a lengthy closing stretch of the second period when referees issued 56 minutes worth of penalties over the final 5:56 as the rivalry began getting heated.
“I was waiting for that in the first period, but it came a little later,” Lee said. “Things settled down.
“The refs really took control of the game.”
Wyoming Area took control on the scoreboard midway through the first period.
Alex Hawk turned a steal into an unassisted goal to open the scoring with 8:38 left in the 16-minute period.
Lee scored 47 seconds later, and just seven seconds into Wyoming Area’s first power play, when he took it himself off a faceoff and beat the defense down the left side.
Caleb Travis deflected in a C.J. Rome shot just five seconds into another first-period power play for a 3-0 lead.
Chronowski and Hawk each finished with a goal and an assist for Wyoming Area. Patrick Musinski also had an assist.
Jacob Urban made 25 saves in the win.
“I was very proud of our defense,” Wyoming Area coach Bill Weiss said. “Aaron Dobbs, who’s our assistant captain, and Nick Perry played a helluva game.”
Joseph June scored twice, including once shorthanded, for Pittston Area.
Geoffrey Walton and Mark Malvizzi had the other goals. Tyler Mackell and Austin Kleinberger had assists.
Fundraising efforts, in conjunction with the game, generate funds for a different local cause each year. Proceeds from this year’s game will benefit Pittston Area students Christopher Gentner, a ninth-grader, and Aidan Wardell, a sixth-grader, who are battling Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and are confined to power chairs.
Gentner and Wardell dropped out the ceremonial first pucks before Friday night’s game.
