The Wheeling Park Patriots hosted the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights Monday for a hockey night in Wheeling. Always being a big-time rivalry game this one certainly lived up to expectations. Both teams came out ready to play. They looked disciplined and well coached throughout the night.
Park did open up the scoring early when Captain Gian DeGenova scored a couple minutes into the game to give Park a 1-0 lead.
Strong defensive play and stealer goaltending on both ends kept the scoring at bay until Central finally gets on the board with 4:38 left in the first. When Landon Jaquay scores, with an assist by Aden Cooey, knotting the score at 1-1.
With about a minute left in the first Central puts another goal in the net, courtesy of Logan Pielech. That took the score to the end of the first period with Central leading 2-1.
Park answers the bell about 30 seconds into the 2nd period on a highlight style goal from Freshmen standout Luke Simonetti knotting the game at 2-2.
Both teams battled back and forth with the goalies and defense making their presence known. That is until Park’s Ian Richard gets a scrappy goal, with an assist from Cooper Abraham, at the 4:16 mark of the second. Park now leads with a score of 3-2 and takes this lead to the end of the 2nd period.
The final period seen Park start to pull away a bit when Landon Szazynski puts in a goal early in the third, with assists from Luke Simonetti and Luke Dunaway, making the score now 4-2 in Parks favor.
Central less than a minute later shows they are not done yet and continues to fight when the puck finds its way into the back of the net thanks to Logan Pielech. Assisting on the goal was Landon Prager and Ethyn Taylor. Central is now back within a goal 4-3.
A couple minutes pass with both teams playing physical, getting looks, and pressure on the goal. That is when Park’s Luke Dunaway blasts the puck passed Central’s goalie for a monster goal to get the momentum back on Parks side. Assisting on the goal was Ian Richards. This now gives Park a 2-goal lead (5-3) late in the 3rd period. Putting the pressure on the Maroon Knights.
With a couple minutes left in the game Wheeling Central pulls their goalie to try and make a run when Park’s Luke Simonetti hits the open net, his second goal of the night, to seal the victory for the Patriots with a final score of 6-3.
This was a relatively penalty free night, given it’s a Park Central rivalry game. If you have been to past games, you understand! Both teams played physical, but also clean and hard. You could tell both teams were well coached.
When asking Park’s Head Coach, Marcus Black, his thoughts on the game tonight he states, “Kudos to our guys, they played really well and played strong”. He also adds “Wheeling Central is a good team; they are defending state champs. We look forward to playing them as much as we can as we prepare for the state tournament”.
Park’s goalie, Noah Britton, had a sensational night in goal facing a total of 36 shots and only giving up 3 goals on the night. He truly stood on his head in net this evening, making some spectacular saves.
Central’s Goalie, Aston Glover, also made some impressive saves on the night giving up 6 goals on 17 shots.
Park plays Linsly tomorrow night, November 15th at Wesbanco Arena at 7:15 pm. Central’s next game is Thursday at Wesbanco Arena, November 17th vs Indiana, PA at 7:20 pm.
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