This year’s Beaver Area hockey team looked to make their mark on Bobcat sports history by finishing with an impressive record and qualifying for the PIHL playoffs.
The last two regular season games for Beaver Area came against tough opponents. For the first game, the Bobcats faced off against the 12-6-1 Plum Mustangs. Earlier in the season, the Cats fell 3-1 to the Mustangs. This game was an opportunity for Beaver Area to improve their ranking in the section for a better playoff seed.
The game started strong for the Bobcats with junior Zach Masters scoring a goal in the first period assisted by sophomore Gabe Forney. Unfortunately, the Mustangs scored quickly in the first and second periods to bring the score to 4-1 going into the final 17 minutes.
Despite a goal from junior Trevor Schmidt, the Bobcats ultimately fell 5-2.
The final game for the Bobcats also served as senior night. Beaver Area had eight seniors this year who all contributed to the team greatly. The seniors are Caleb Berardelli, Ian Cogis, Tanner Nicol, Braydon Dawson, Carson Cuddy, Roman DeDominicis, and captain Carter Denelle.
The game started hot for the Cats as they took on the Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights. It was clearly a special night for the graduating class as three different seniors scored during the first period. The first goal was scored by senior Carson Cuddy, then senior Roman DeDominicis, and finally Nicol to make the score 3-0 at the end of the first.
The second period began in the same fashion with Masters scoring two goals early on. After some penalties and insults from the student section, the Maroon Knights tightened the score to 5-2 going into second intermission.
This was no problem for the Cats, however, as they turned it around in the third period with four more goals scored. Cuddy had the first tally of the period, followed by junior Trevor Schmidt and Masters who recorded a hat trick for the night. Schmidt had one more goal near the end of the period to make the final score 9-4.
This win solidified the team’s regular season record at 10-8-0-1-1, the best in many years. This record qualified the Bobcats to the PIHL playoffs.
The big win over the Maroon Knights gave the Bobcats momentum going into the first round of hockey playoffs. Beaver Area was seeded sixth which landed them a game against the third seeded Shaler Titans. Shaler finished their season second in their section with a 15-3-0-1-1 record, just behind the Quaker Valley hockey team.
The exciting game started off as a great match up with no goals and only one penalty committed in the first period.
The second period was when the game started to derail. The Knights scored three goals within the first three minutes of the second period to make the score 3-0. These goals and a multitude of penalties from the Bobcats in the second pretty much killed any momentum the Cats could gain.
Shaler scored one time at the beginning of the third period to make the final score 4-0. In what feels like a missed opportunity, the best Beaver Area hockey team in years was not able to make it past the surprisingly good Knights.
Despite this upsetting loss, the team still is proud of the season they put together and looks to build off of it next year.
Team captain Carter Denelle said about the season, “Our last few seasons have been let downs. So to be able to go out my senior year having an even record and a playoff spot was exciting. It’s hard to go out on a loss, but I’m proud of the team and the work we did this season.”