UPDATE: USC Hockey Reacts After Winning the State Title

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: in overtime of a championship game Michael Ambrose makes a critical save on a breakaway. Moments later, Upper St. Clair gets the game-winning goal to set off a celebration on the ice after winning the Cup for the first time since before any of the players on the team were born.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It does to the Upper St. Clair hockey team, who won the Penguins Cup a week ago with a 4-3 overtime win against Canon-McMillan.

But then, to quote Yogi Berra, it was “déjà vu all over again” as the Panthers beat LaSalle College, 4-3, in overtime — again — to win the Pennsylvania Cup Saturday afternoon at the Ice Line Rink in West Chester, Pa.

The state championship win is the first for USC hockey since 1987.

”It’s still sinking in,” head coach Larry Marks said. “It still hasn’t hit me yet. It’s a feeling you can’t describe.”

This time the hero in the extra period was senior captain C.J. Murray, whose game-winning goal capped off a hat trick to win a state championship in his final high school game.

”I knew this was my last game in a USC jersey, so I had to come out with a bang,” Murray said.

“When you’re in that situation like that, it’s incredible how the cream rises to the top and the great players cherish the moment,” Marks said. “He just put the team on the back and he was a one-man wrecking crew. He was the best player on the ice, hands down, no questions asked.”

Murray gave the Panthers a scare in the first period when he took a hard hit after the whistle and lay on the ice for a few moments.

“That’s scary to see – let alone your best player – but your best friend get hit like that,” senior forward Justin Selep said. “But he responded really well, didn’t let it get into his mind and scored three huge goals plus the game-winner in overtime.”

Murray answered a first-period goal by LaSalle’s Nick Popoff with power play goals in the first and second periods to give Upper St. Clair a 2-1 lead.

LaSalle came back to tie it up at 8:50 of the third on a goal by Sean Orlando, but Upper St. Clair junior forward Steve Gielarowski scored 28 seconds later to give the Panthers the lead again. Gielarowski also recorded assists on both of Murray’s goals.

When Upper St. Clair defenseman Tim Shoup was charged with a cross-checking penalty at 10:38 of the third LaSalle had a window to try to stay alive, and they made the best of it as Ron Greco cashed in on the power play for one of his two points in the game.

The stage was set yet again: overtime and a championship on the line. Here we go again.

”There was no panic, no nervousness,” Marks said about the team’s demeanor. “They knew what they had to do, and it was almost like in the back of their mind they knew they were going to win.”

“[Marks] said, ‘We’re the best team and we’ve got to go prove that,” Selep said. “When he was calm and collected it just ran down to all the lines and to Ambrose. He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for.”

Ambrose’s breakaway stop in overtime added another to a volume of clutch postseason saves, having already turned away another breakaway attempt in the second period with a poke check, similar to the one he used to turn away Canon-McMillan’s Brett Oldaker in overtime in the Penguins Cup championship game.

”I didn’t really feel nervous at all throughout the game,” Ambrose said. “I just tried to stay calm and play the game I usually play.”

“From the middle of the season on, he’s been our backbone, our life support,” Murray said. “He makes key saves at key times. Whenever he makes a big save we tried to make his big save into a big play.”

Ambrose’s save gave Murray the opportunity to score the golden goal and cement Upper St. Clair’s place at the top of the mountain that is Pennsylvania high school hockey’s largest classification.

”I got a lucky bounce and just put it into an open net,” Murray said. “It was a dream come true.”

“I was just in shock because we had just won the state championship,” Ambrose said. “I’ve never screamed so loud in my entire life.”

Senior forward Justin Selep said after the Penguins Cup victory that he couldn’t wait to see the championship banner hanging in the Upper St. Clair gymnasium. Now he’ll get to see two.

”That’s going to be the greatest feeling in the world,” he said. “Every time I step in that gymnasium from now on I’m going to have a huge smile on my face.”

“We will always be the state champs,” Murray said. “When we walk into the school and see the two trophies – the Penguins Cup and the State Cup – it’ll bring back memories of those games. It’s just a great feeling.”

“I will never forget the effort, the joy, the smiles and the jubilation from every one of these kids and the parents,” Marks said. “It’s something no one will ever take away from us.”