Pine-Richland's offense came alive in the third period Wednesday night, just in time to win the PIHL Class AAA championship, 5-3, against Bethel Park at Mellon Arena. Pine-Richland will take a 23-0 record into the Pennsylvania Cup title game March 29 in Johnstown against the Flyers Cup champion. The Rams' Brandon Saad scored two of his three goals in the third period to rally Pine-Richland from a 2-1 deficit after two periods. His third goal with 6:26 left in the game broke a 3-3 tie and gave Pine-Richland a lead that it did not surrender. Eric Febert's goal about five minutes later set the final score. Assistant coach Troy Loney, a former Penguins player, made a plea to his players before the final period. "I told the guys to start playing from the heart," Loney said. "We played well, but I told the kids it's really time to reach down and play." Saad was amazed by his good fortune. "Scoring a hat trick in a game like this at Mellon Arena is unbelievable," he said. "It's something I thought I would never feel playing hockey." The game was a clash of Pine-Richland's physical play and Bethel Park's patient, finesse style. But Saad made it a point to put the game on his shoulders and lead Pine-Richland to the Penguins Cup Championship. "This game was huge for us," Pine-Richland coach Bob Kennedy said. "We worked hard all year to go undefeated. We didn't want to lose in the Penguins Cup finals." Saad scored the Rams' first goal on a power play midway through the second period. Then, he tied the score, 2-2, only 29 seconds into the third. Pine-Richland took a 3-2 lead when Febert scored his first of two goals 25 seconds later on a behind-the-back pass from Reed Loney. Bethel Park (16-5-2) fought back, with Tyler Trocano scoring his second goal of the game and tying the score, 3-3. He deflected Thomas Whetsel's shot from the point at 7:10 of the third. Trocano gave Bethel Park a 1-0 lead when he stuffed Zack Blake's rebound into the net at 10:52 of the first period. Bethel Park went ahead, 2-0, after Matt Quigley scored an unassisted goal three minutes into the second period.

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