While both goalies were terrific and both sides were even, two third-period goals were the back breaker for the Hollidaysburg hockey team.

That’ how the Golden Tigers’ bid for a second Laurel Mountain Hockey League Championship in the last three years came up short. Top-seed Westmont Hilltop ended up taking home the Ann Harris Smith Cup, 4-2, at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria War Memorial one year after missing the playoffs altogether.

“We gave them everything we could,” Hollidaysburg coach Joe Duey said. “We told our guys you got to play a perfect game. We knew what type of team they are. Unfortunately we made a couple of mistakes, they capitalized. In the end, we just couldn’t get it done.”

The Tigers struggled to solve Hilltop netminder Ben Curry stopped 26-out of-28 shots on goal.

Photo for the Mirror by Roger Kerekes At right, Hollidaysburg’s Cole Hartman (left) and Westmont Hilltop’s Camden Brant mix it up along the boards.

“Having a goalie back there that we can rely on and make saves is huge,” Westmont Hilltop coach Kris Carlson said. “If we make a mistake, we know we have him back there to bail us out when we need it.”

Kris Carlson was concerned that there would be an emotional letdown after his club survived a double overtime marathon on Tuesday night when they dethroned defending champion Central Cambria.

“That was in the back of my mind,” he said. “Double overtime, that’s draining mentally, physically. I wasn’t sure how the boys were going to come out and play. They stepped it up and they did what they had to do.”

Hollidaysburg opened the scoring with 1 second left in the period as Ben Shoeman on a feed from Cole Hartman and beat the Hilltopper goalie blocker side to make it 1-0 Golden Tigers at the first intermission.

But the Hilltoppers waste no time flipping that script as on a rebound Ethan Downey tied the game at 1 just 22 seconds into the second.

Duane Doty had an answer as from the point he went top shelf to give the Golden Tigers the lead back at 2-1 with 11:07 left in the period.

But Westmont played keep away off a turnover as Cullen Carlson found the back of the net to level the game at 2.

“We kept telling the boys to stick with it, don’t panic, there’s a lot of hockey left,” Kris Carlson said. “Trust the systems, trust what we’ve done all year and they did. It got us a couple of goals. Our system is a defensive style system where it causes turnovers.”

But the levee broke for good midway through the third as Downey struck on a one timer for a second time to give the Hilltoppers a 3-2 lead.

Cullen Carlson added one more as he took a feed from Ian Harbaugh to put the game on ice.

Noah Breton was valiant in defeat as he stopped 38-of-42 Hilltopper shots. Including the Tigers semifinal win over State College, he stopped 84-out of-91 shots for save percentage of .923 between both contests.

“Noah again stood tall, did what goaltenders have to do in the playoffs,” Duey said. “He played an incredible game, had an incredible week for us. Just unfortunate, we just needed a couple of more goals. Their goaltender stood really tall today. He did a great job.”

The Golden Tigers will now say goodbye to seven seniors who were a part of their 2024 championship club.

“I think these guys learned a lot from the last group from two years ago,” Duey said. “That was a big group that graduated 10. They learned a lot about the game. They showed how to lead, how to run a team, how to behave in a locker room. They were huge for us.”

He is also proud of how far his team has come.

“In the beginning of the season, we had to really wrangle them in. They were taking a lot of penalties, doing a lot of things that we don’t want them to do. Once we got them to settle down, and made them realize they can play in a championship game, we just had to start winning games to get to it.”

SCORE BY PERIOD

Hollidaysburg 1 1 0 – 2

Westmont Hilltop 0 2 2 – 4

First Period: 1,) H – Shoeman (unassisted), 16:59 Penalties: Westmont Hilltop (Roughing), 12:38; Hollidaysburg (Slashing), 13:44, Westmont Hilltop (too many men on the ice), 14:53

Second Period: 2,) WH – Downey (Cu. Carlson), :22; 3,) H – Doty (unassisted), 5:03; 4,) Cu. Carlson (unassisted), 5:43 Penalties: Westmont Hilltop (interference), 16:05.

Third Period: 5,) WH – Downey (Co. Carlson), 8:52; 6,) WH – Cu. Carlson (Hoffman), 15:41. Penalties: Hollidaysburg (roughing), 2:30, Hollidaysburg (Head contact), 16:30

Power Play: Hollidaysburg 0-for-3; Westmont Hilltop 0-for-2

Goalies: Breton, H, 38-42; Curry, W, 26-28.