La Salle tops Shaler, 6-4, repeats title
Ross Denczi's hat trick led the Explorers, who lost 11 players from last year's AAA champions.
After losing 11 players from last season's state championship ice hockey team, La Salle was not expected to make major noise in the 2008-09 campaign.
"We were kind of the underdogs," senior forward Ross Denczi said.
As it turned out, Denczi and company parlayed the underdog card into another state title. Yesterday, with Denczi producing a hat trick, the Explorers downed Shaler of suburban Pittsburgh, 6-4, in the Class AAA final at Ice Line in West Chester.
The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Denczi scored a goal in each period. He finished the season with a team-best 19 goals and 15 assists.
"In my mind, he's the best two-way player in our league," La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner said. "For him to score three goals in the championship game was deserving."
Denczi, of Norristown, will continue his hockey career at Drexel, where he will join former La Salle teammates Dan Pyne (goalie) and Kyle Zoldy (forward). The Dragons have a club program.
Of his performance against Shaler, the Penguins Cup champion, the soft-spoken Denczi said, "It feels great to help the team out and get a win."
In the second period, after the Titans took a 3-2 lead, the Explorers responded with three goals (Denczi, Matt Catanese, Mark Schnupp) in a span of 1 minute, 57 seconds.
For this La Salle team, coming from behind was something of a regular occurrence.
"It's kind of been our way all year," Muehlbronner said. "A lot of times, we just stuck together and did what we had to do to win games."
The Explorers' Gabe Antoni, a junior, stopped 38 of 42 shots. After yielding two goals to Shaler in the first period and one early in the second, he was solid down the stretch.
Midway through the second period, when Catanese's unassisted goal gave La Salle a 4-3 advantage, Shaler coach Curt Hetz pulled starting netminder Steven Weilersbacher. That was not the problem, as Schnupp proved with a quick tally.
The Explorers (25-9-5) won their third state championship. The Titans (23-3) were trying for their first title in their 38-year history.
Shaler 2 2 0 - 4
La Salle 2 3 1 - 6
Goals: S-Drew Martz 3, Brian Stein; LS-Ross Denczi 3, Dan Menerich, Matt Catanese, Mark Schnupp.
Saves: S-Steven Weilersbacher 16, Oscar Prom 15; LS-Gabe Antoni 38.