USC Hockey Looks To End Playoff Trend

Here's an interesting piece of history: In two of the last three seasons, the Stanley Cup Finals and PIHL Finals took place in the same building. But in each of the last two seasons, the Upper St. Clair hockey team has played — and lost — in the semifinal round in the same building.

Now they're looking to wipe that slate clean in the PIHL Championships' new home. The Panthers (14-6-1) will face Section 3 champion Fox Chapel (19-2-0) with a shot at the Class AAA championship on the line at the CONSOL Energy Center.

Make no mistake about it, this is familiar territory for Upper St. Clair, but they don't expect familiar results.

"There's probably four or five teams that can beat anybody on any given night," said head coach Larry Marks. "They have to remain focused, they have to do the little things and they have to go out and play as a team, not as individuals."

The Panthers are powered by an offense that led the classification in goals, led by AAA's second-leading point-scorer, captain C.J. Murray (30 goals, 29 assists).

"C.J. is just a remarkable player," Marks said. "He just makes things happen."

Murray is one of five double-digit goal scorers, tied with Canon-McMillan for the most in AAA.

"We have two good lines, and if one of them isn't scoring, the other one can," Marks said. "It's a good problem to have."

"I think we our top two lines are very talented and we have one of the best top two lines in the league," Murray said after a on February 25.

Also hot of late has been the goaltending of sophomore Michael Ambrose, who stopped 30 of 32 shots in Upper St. Clair's 4-2 quarterfinal win over North Allegheny last Wednesday.

"That was so impressive," said forward Justin Selep about Ambrose's performance in the quarterfinal. "We're building confidence in him and he's playing very well."

"He's very good at squaring up to the puck and playing positionally," Marks said. "He played a great game [Wednesday] and hopefully he can carry it forward."

The six seniors on this team — Murray, Selep, forwards Michael Segerdahl and George Asrian, and defensemen Ben Herman and Parker Phillips are all too familiar with the recent postseason history, but Murray sees it as beneficial.

"The thing is we have great experience," Murray said. "The majority of our forwards have been there, our defense has been there, and we're very skilled too. We have high-performing players so it'll help us out in the locker room."

Ambrose is one of the newer additions to this group and says he expects that recent string of disappointment to come to an end.

"I watched that team lose [at Mellon Arena] twice, and I don't think it's going to happen this year," Ambrose said. "We realize that if we play the way we're capable of playing there isn't a team that can come close to beating us."

Coach and players agree that they must take a unified approach into their next game, focusing on their goals and not on their surroundings.

"They know what they have to do," Marks said. "Some of the kids in the locker room said, 'It's just another ice surface. Go out, play our game and have fun.'"

"Don't even look up at the crowd," Ambrose said. "Just look at the ice because then it's not intimidating at all once you do that."

But the Panthers won't be alone; they will have the support of their parents and fans who have provided a strong showing every step of the way.

"Upper St. Clair is a sporting school," Murray said. "It's great because we get to show off in front of our family and our friends what we can do on the ice."