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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
JOHNSTOWN -- Altoona entered the Laurel Mountain Hockey League playoffs on a tear, but exited them with a heartbreak.
The Mountain Lions, who had lost only one game since late December entering the playoffs, closed a 10-9 season when State College freshman forward Ryder Steidl scored 26 seconds into the second five-minute overtime period Tuesday night, giving State College a hard-fought 3-2 quarterfinal-round victory at the First Summit Bank Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
"Horrible ... heartbreaker,'' Altoona coach Don Burgmeier said of the sixth-seeded Mountain Lions' cruel fate. "We had our chances tonight, we just didn't finish them.
"There were two really good teams out there, and you've got to tip your hat to State College -- they made the most of their opportunities.''
Especially in overtime, when Steidl dug a loose puck out of the corner, waltzed into the slot near the edge of the left wing faceoff circle, and snapped a shot past outstanding Altoona sophomore goaltender Seth Conrad and under the crossbar for the game-winner.
"He's a big kid who has gotten progressively better as the season has gone on,'' State College coach David Lee said of Steidl. "He's now on one of our top two lines all the time. He's a really good player.
"I tell him, and all the other players, to shoot the puck when they have the opportunity,'' Lee added. "You can't score without shooting the puck.''
Behind Conrad's 32 saves and some excellent defensive play, the Mountain Lions did everything that they could do to win Tuesday night.
They killed off a two-man disadvantage that lasted 32 seconds in the second period, when two Altoona players drew separate crosschecking penalties.
Third-seeded State College (12-7) outshot Altoona, 35-20, but State College goaltender Carter Fozzard made some stellar saves late in the game that forced the second overtime period.
Both coaches saluted the goaltenders.
"Their goalie played really well -- it could have gone the other way,'' Lee said. "Our goalie made some very good saves, and we were able to get one more than they did at the end of the day.''
Altoona opened the scoring when senior forward Dominic Della found some open space, broke in toward the goal, and fired a wrist shot past Fozzard with 1:03 left in the first period.
Altoona maintained the slim 1-0 lead until State College tied up the game on the first of two goals by Derek Peltzer, who flipped home a shot from the right point through traffic with just 51 seconds left in the second period to create a 1-1 tie.
The Mountain Lions regained the lead, 2-1, when freshman Carter Panick snapped home an assist from Ricky Crum with 9:33 left in the game, but State College managed to tie the score, 2-2, on Peltzer's second goal of the game with 4:07 left in regulation.
"We were just trying to hold on when we got the lead again in the third period,'' said Burgmeier, who said that he will return 10 players on next year's team who will be seniors. "From Christmas on, we had lost only one game. We were on a roll and playing pretty well, but we couldn't seem to finish tonight.''
State College moves on to the semifinal playoff round Thursday night against second-seeded Forest Hills, while unbeaten top seed Hollidaysburg faces Richland in the other game. Both games will be played at Penn State University's Pegula Ice Arena, with the winners advancing to next Tuesday night's league championship game at the War Memorial.
"Winning here tonight against a really good Altoona team is huge for us,'' Lee said. "It means a lot to our players.''
SCORE BY PERIOD
State College 0 1 1 0 1--3
Altoona 1 1 0 0 0 --2
First period: A--Della (Sassano, Conrad), 15:57.
Second period: SC--Peltzer (unassisted), 16:09. Penalties: State College (crosschecking), 5:02; Altoona (crosschecking), 7:50; Altoona (crosschecking), 9:19
Third period: A--Panick (Crum, Piper) 7:27; 4, SC--Peltzer (Jacobs, Schrenk), 12:53. Penalties: Altoona (crosschecking), 7:56.
First overtime: No scoring. Penalties: State College (too many men on the ice), 3:06.
Second overtime: SC--Steindl (unassisted), 0:26.
Shots on goal: State College 35, Altoona 20. Saves: Fozard, SC,18; S. Conrad, A, 32.
Records: State College (12-7); Altoona (10-9).