Pee Wee AA

Archibald and Cronenworth power Flags 6-3 win over Troy

Port Huron’s Alex Archibald and Jacob Cronenworth each scored a hat trick, and the Flags held off a late comeback charge to beat the Troy Sting, 6-3, in the final of the Pee Wee AA state tournament on March 4 at a jam-packed Midland Civic Ice Arena.

Port Huron jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Sting scored with less than a minute to go in the second period on a goal from Johnathan Lekosiotis, who took a perfect cross ice pass from Ryan Collinsich. Then Troy’s Shane Cuckovich made a spectacular end-to-end rush scoring on a low wrist shot to the far side at 9:21 to close the gap, 4-3.

But that was as close as the Sting would get as Gronenworth, with 6:20 remaining, put the finishing touch on his hat trick, converting a two-on-one break from Jacob Mineau for the insurance tally. Minutes later, Archibald ended the scoring for Port Huron with his third goal.

"The kids played their hearts out,” said Flags coach Robert King. "Troy is a very talented team and I knew it would be tough facing them a second time, but our kids just played excellent and I am real proud of them.”

Alex Archibald, who was named MVP, said it was a total team effort.

"It wasn't just one guy that played well,” explained Archibald. "We all came to play and there was no panic when they got close.”

The Sting controlled the first period territorially but Port Huron took advantage of their scoring chances. Archibald got the Flags off and running, coming up with neutral zone turnover and racing in alone on a breakaway to score the first goal of the game at the 56 second mark, with Nick Hartig drawing the assist. The Sting got the equalizer on the powerplay at 5:10. Ryan Collinsich scored the goal but it was Quin Mestagh-Clogg's hard work that led to the goal, coming up with a loose puck near center ice and with a beautiful deke to set up Collinsich with a tape-to-tape pass.

Port Huron reclaimed the lead with less than four minutes to go in the period, on a shorthanded goal from Cronenworth.

"We had a lot of chances in the opening period but they scored on their chances and that was the difference,” said Troy head coach Rich Wodnicki. “We accomplished a lot this season and it was a pleasure to coach these players.”

The win earns the Flags a trip to Buffalo (NY) for the national tournament from March 28-April 1.

Pee Wee AA Notebook

Both finalists needed an extra session to win their semifinal matchups. Port Huron defeated Keweenaw 4-3 in overtime on a goal from Tyler Motte and Troy eliminated Midland 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Parker Ward to advance to the finals . . . Scott Schueneman had a goal and an assist in Kensington Valley's 2-1 win over Allen Park whose lone goal was scored by Tyler Groat… Port Huron’s Tyler Motte scored two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win over Chelsea . . . Nick Mammel scored a pair of goals and Will Vosejpka had two assists in Midland's 3-0 win over Keweenaw…Traverse City's Cooper MacDonell scored two goals in a 5-4 win over Troy… Zack Jones assisted on both goals for Allen Park in a 4-2 loss to Keweenaw who were led by Ben Storm's hat trick… Craig Gilewski scored three goals and Jeremy Carrell chipped in with four assists in Port Huron's 7-0 win over Traverse City… Kensington Valley's Jake Taiarol scored two goals in a 4-3 win over Midland… In Troy’s 7-0 win over Chelsea, Shane Stockwell (3 goals, 1 assist), Matt Bowery (1 goal, 2 assists), Quin Mestagh-Clogg (1 goal, 2 assists) and Parker Wood (2 assists) had multiple point games…Alan Vanwagner scored four goals for Keweenaw in a 5-3 win over Kensington Valley…Travis Wever had a hat trick, Ryan Sete scored a pair of goals and William Topp added three assists to lead Chelsea to a 6-1 over Traverse City… Will Vosejpka and Gary Majka each had two assists in Midland's 4-1 win over Allen Park… Jeremy Carrell had three assists in Port Huron's 4-3 semifinal win over Keweenaw, who had a pair of goals from Alex Vanwager… Matt Gurin had a goal and an assist in Troy's semifinal 5-4 win over Midland.

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