Steel City Ice Renegades, Selects hockey teams capture national championships
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The Steel City Ice Renegades boys Tier II 16U 3A and Steel City Selects girls Tier II 19U A hockey teams were not to be denied Monday as they finished title runs at their respective USA Hockey national championship tournaments.
Both teams played six games. The Ice Renegades finished 5-1, and the Selects went 6-0.
The Ice Renegades claimed their title in Troy, Mich., with a 2-0 victory over the previously undefeated Chicago Hawks (5-1), who had scored 27 goals in their five wins leading up to the championship game.
“It really hasn’t set in yet, even after the fact,” said goaltender Tyler Lang, who also was a key member of the Freeport hockey team that earned a spot in this year’s PIHL Class A playoffs.
“It’s fantastic. The biggest thing for this team in winning was using all the experiences and adversity throughout the season in the tournaments and other high-level games to bond and really pick up the pace for these games.”
Lang stopped 37 shots in the championship game against the Hawks and helped second-period goals from George Acklin and Matthew Knizner (Delmont/Franklin Regional) stand up. The Ice Renegades tallied a total of 21 shots.
“The Hawks were a very good team overall, and their offense was spectacular,” Lang said. “They moved the puck really well. We hung in there, played together as a team and also capitalized on our chances.”
In addition to Knizner, other local team members included Ben Chen (Jeannette), Brett Bowser (Murrysville), Colten Humphrey (Greensburg), Damian Dynys (Harrison City), Dante Scalise (Oakmont), Josh Goldberg (Trafford), Liam Alexander (Apollo), Roman Cicco (Export) and Ryan Clinger (Apollo).
The Ice Renegades, based out of Alpha Ice in Harmarville, who finished the season 57-8-6 overall, scored 16 goals over five national tournament games and allowed seven.
Knizner led the way with four goals in the tournament. He also assisted on Acklin’s winner in the championship game.
“It was an amazing feeling to be on the ice after the game to celebrate,” Ice Renegades coach Patrick Martin said.
“That Chicago team was ranked No. 1 all season. We probably got outshot only in a handful of games out of the 71 games we played. The emotions were almost overwhelming. It was hard for me to hold those emotions back at the end of the game. I was just in awe of those kids and the effort they showed throughout the tournament.”
Martin said this group was determined after having its shot at nationals at the 14U level taken away two years ago.
The team won the Mid-Am District tournament, but nationals was canceled amidst the early stages of the covid pandemic.
“It was tough to watch that get taken away from them,” Martin said. “That season, they came together from a number of different organizations with the goal to be able to compete at the national level. It was impressive to see them continue with that goal, stick together and work hard this year to achieve it. To see them win the whole thing was just tremendous.”
Members of the Steel City Selects were no strangers to playing at nationals.
Some of the team members experienced heartbreak in overtime of the 16U final last year, and the returning 19U players suffered a loss in the national semifinals.
Coach Jim Black said that was motivation for this year’s group to get back to the national tournament and bring home the title trophy and banner.
It was mission accomplished as the team outscored opponents 15-6.
“This is such a great group of girls,” Black said. “They love each other and had each other’s backs throughout the season. With this, they will have a common bond forever.”
The team had each other’s backs through the pressure-packed championship game against the Arizona Kachinas.
After 51 minutes of scoreless regulation, Svetlana Yarosh (Cecil Township/Canon-McMillan) scored on a breakaway just 23 seconds into overtime to give Steel City the championship.
Laura Crnarich (Wexford/Pine-Richland) assisted on the winner.
Steel City, which included local products Lillian Johnson (Natrona Heights), Miranda Naylor (Lower Burrell) and Abigail Manzewitsch (Murrysville), allowed eight shots in the title game.
“A main thing all season was our commitment to defense,” Black said. “That was all the way through the lineup on the ice. We were under a goal a game from a goals-against standpoint (51 goals/54 games). When you have strong goaltenders and a solid defensive group, it’s easy to build off of that.”
It was the third time in the tournament Steel City needed extra time to win.
In its round-robin game against Team South Dakota, it won 2-1 on the fifth shooter of a shootout.
Steel City rallied against the Adirondack (N.Y.) Northstars in the quarterfinals. Trailing 4-2 in the third period, it scored twice to send the game into overtime. Crnarich scored the winner off assists from Amanda Sokol (Scottdale) and Lillian Relyea (Moon).
“Just having experienced going into overtime really helped the girls be ready for it in the championship game,” Black said. “The nerves really weren’t there.”
Black was excited to see Manzewitsch, who had missed a majority of the season with a concussion, earn two goaltending wins in the national tournament.
Casey Frank (Cranberry Township/Seneca Valley) got the start in the other four games.
Steel City, based out of the Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale, finished the season 44-5-5 and punched its ticket to nationals with four wins at the Mid-Am District Tournament. It topped rival Armstrong in a shootout final to advance.
“Steel City and Armstrong go back a long way. It is a great rivalry for 19U Tier II,” Black said. “They usually schedule us for the last game because it usually comes down to our two teams.”