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Tuesday, March 18, 2025, TRIB-LIVE
Tucker Cullen sat in the locker room Monday night at UPMC Lemieux Complex bawling next to Fox Chapel senior forward Dom Casile. Cullen, a sophomore, wanted to help Casile be a part of the first Foxes team to lift the PIHL’s Class 2A Penguins Cup.
Cathedral Prep forward Ethan Cuningham brought everything crashing down. Cunningham took a pass from Michael Corritore and completed his hat trick in overtime by snapping a shot over Fox Chapel goalie Grant Watson’s shoulder to give the second-seeded Ramblers a 5-4 win.
The Foxes also lost in the Class A final in 2023 to Kiski Area.
“I feel terrible for him,” Cullen said. “Throughout the years, we’ve grown, and this year was the cherry on top. This year, we’ve had so much fun. We’re sad it’s over, but we are grateful it happened.”
Casile and Cullen scored all four goals for the Foxes. That should have come as no surprise. Casile finished the regular season with a league-high 32 goals in Class 2A, and Cullen was right behind him with 28.
Cullen gave Fox Chapel (18-4-0-1) a spark early. He got loose in the Ramblers’ zone and put home a shot 70 seconds into the game.
Fox Chapel finished with a 47-34 edge in shots on goal.
“We were able to get shots throughout the game,” Fox Chapel coach Ryan Loebig said. “They weren’t always able to go in.”
Cathedral Prep (16-4-2) evened the score with a goal by Cunningham nine minutes later.
Fox Chapel responded with a pair of goals by Casile to extend the lead to 3-1.
“When I was in sixth grade and he was in eighth grade, we won a middle school championship together,” Cullen said. “Throughout the years, we had good chemistry. We finally got an opportunity to show it on the big stage.”
This was Cathedral Prep’s fifth Pens Cup victory and first since 2016. The Ramblers had to battle back several times to earn the title. Cunningham started the comeback with a goal with 4 seconds left in the first period.
“They were the ones on the bench calming each other down,” Ramblers coach Mark Sprickman said. “We didn’t have to say anything to them. They were telling them we got this. They looked at each other and started picking each other up.”
Tucker Kinnear evened the score for the Ramblers in the second period with another wrister that went fluttering by Watson.
“They never give up,” Sprickman said. “They played for each other. … They are a family from the start to end and it shows.”
Cullen again answered a minute later to give Fox Chapel a 4-3 lead entering the third period.
In the third period, the Foxes opened up by killing off a penalty. Liam Wiseman drew a penalty shot but saw his effort go over wide.
“I think we were a little less aggressive than I would like us to be,” Loebig said. “We know they like to get the puck behind the net and push it up the wall. We tried to slow that down.”
Cathedral Prep forced overtime when Kinnear scored with 1:09 remaining. The Ramblers had just pulled their goaltender, and Kinnear launched a wide shot that found its way in.
“That was all luck,” Sprickman said. “Right time, right place and right situation. That’s the game of hockey. You get lucky sometimes. I’m not against puck luck.”