Mar 20, 2015 4 min read

Terry Virtue entered his first season as Canon-McMillan’s head hockey coach in 2013 without any knowledge of the high school game in Western Pennsylvania. It wasn’t the overall strategy he was unaware of, but the competitive nature of the PIHL.

It does not matter if you’re facing a team at the top or the bottom of the standings, most have at least one forward who can take over a game at any given time or a goalie who can steal a win. Attention to detail is critical.

The Big Macs lost in the first round of the PIHL Class AAA playoffs last season and finished with an 11-8-1 record.

Things have changed.

Canon-McMillan (14-7-1) has won five consecutive games, including its 4-0 victory over Butler at Consol Energy Center, to claim the program’s second PIHL Class AAA Penguin Cup.

The win advanced the Big Macs to the state championship game against Holy Ghost Prep (15-8-1) today at Penn State University’s Pegula Ice Arena. Opening faceoff is 4 p.m.

In the regular-season finale, Canon-McMillan defeated Peters Township, 4-3, despite missing three seniors. The Big Macs opened the playoffs with a victory over Seneca Valley before knocking off top-seeded North Allegheny, 7-0, to advance to the championship game.

“If we play that way, there aren’t many teams that can beat us at this level,” Virtue said of the win over North Allegheny. “We were so much better in that game. I was really pleased we won against Butler, but that wasn’t the team that we were the Tuesday before. I don’t know if it was nerves, the crowd or that we were in Consol. We were really tentative and really nervous.”

A four-goal victory did not tell the full story. Butler had several scoring chances in the second period, but Canon-McMillan added two late goals before the third period to grab a 3-0 lead.

It helps the Big Macs have three of the top six scorers in PIHL Class AAA: Austin Tonkovitch, Jack Clendaniel and Luc Lavella.

The team’s growth since the victory over Peters Townhip has been clear. Defensive breakdowns are few. Fundamentals are evident from the first line to the third. Players bought into their detail-oriented coach’s strategy.

“We’ve had a great attention to detail. Before the playoffs started, we were just going out and playing,” Virtue said. “I really tried to teach them to close off passing lanes, forecheck a bit harder, and the last three weeks have been all those things. We aren’t just chasing the puck.”

They won’t be able to chase against Holy Ghost Prep, which dominated the Flyers Cup playoffs. Virtue tried to find information on the opponent but had no luck.

Virtue noticed his team tends to struggle when overthinking during games.

“I had to slow things down, explain things better and practice them more often than I did last year so they aren’t thinking so much when they come on the ice,” Virtue said. “You ask some of the younger guys why they stand around during games and they say they are thinking too much. That’s part of having success at this level. You have to adapt.”

The basketball coaching carousel continued to turn when two more local high school coaches decided to resign.

Waynesburg boys coach Dave Sarra submitted his letter of resignation at Monday’s school board meeting. Sarra took over the Raiders’ program after former head coach Drew Schifino left unexpectedly in mid-September.

Sarra led Waynesburg to the WPIAL Class AA playoffs and the Raiders lost to Laurel in the first round. Waynesburg finished with a 14-8 record.

At Carmichaels, the school board accepted the resignation of girls coach Jim Lane at its meeting Thursday night.

Lane was the Mikes’ head coach for 18 seasons and led the program to the WPIAL playoffs 16 times. His career record was 230-166.

Canon-McMillan junior Allie Thomas, a standout for the Big Macs’ soccer team last fall, committed to Winthrop University.

Thomas, a center midfielder for Canon-McMillan, which made its first state playoff appearance, was key on both ends of the pitch for the Big Macs. C-M head coach Dave Derrico had plenty of praise for Thomas, who was one of the team’s captains.

“She was the best player overall on our team this past season, outside of (goalkeeper Kyra Murphy),” Derrico said. “She was outstanding the entire time, especially in the playoffs. She is tremendous with the ball in the air and she distributes so well. She’s our leader. I’m really happy for her.”