Pittsburgh Hornets defeat Belle Tire 3-2 in TRIPLE OVERTIME to advance to the Tier 1 USA Hockey National Championship Semi-final round !!

The hearts of all Hornet fans are still pumping and fluttering as the Pittsburgh Midget Majors won a game for the ages, defeating Belle Tire by a score of 3-2 in TRIPLE OVERTIME to clinch a spot in the final four for the USA National Hockey Championship.

Furman South scored the first goal in regulation, off of a beautiful passing play from Polidor and Jake Dellavalle, though Belle Tire tallied later as the score was 1-1 at the end of the 2nd period. After the ice cut, Belle tire started the third period off quickly and lead by a score of 2-1. These Pittsburgh Hornets though don’t understand the meaning of the word “defeat” and battled back to score with about 5 minutes left in regulation.

And WOW, what overtime sessions these where! Eyewitness reports confirm that many of the spectators at the packed rink had never seen such end to end action, with breakaways for both sides being stopped as the action was thick and furious. The battle went on and on throughout the first overtime, and then into the second overtime, the action just wouldn’t end as the spectators were on their feet screaming and getting hoarse in the process!

The Hornets play in particular lead to some thrilling moments as they were forced to kill off a penalty at the end of the 2nd period which then carried over into the 3rd period. As everyone in the rink steeled themselves for another exhilarating, exhausting and amazing third overtime period of hockey.

The Pittsburgh Hornets proved they were up to the task of competing for a national championship as they came out flying throughout the 3rd period, swarming shift after shift, line after line, over a determined, but tiring group of players from Belle Tire. The fatigue and exhaustion finally caught up to Belle Tire as one of their players let loose with a vicious spear on Pittsburgh Hornet Furman South.

The Hornets had to take a medical time out as South writhed in pain from the spearing incident and need time to recover from such an attack. But it was Furman South and the Pittsburgh Hornets that had sweet revenge after the spearing incident as it placed the Hornets on a power play, where Pat Gaul’s initial shot was stopped, then Gerry Raymond’s 2nd shot was blocked, then Pat Gaul poked the rebound to Furman South who banged home the winning goal, spearing Belle Tire and hurting them where it hurts the most-on the scoreboard, and ensuring that the Pittsburgh Hornets will advance to the final four, semi-final round action tonight against their arch nemesis, the Chicago Chill (67-7-3).

And a final note of congratulations to the goaltenders for both teams. Nagel for Belle Tire was outstanding, making save after save to keep his team in contention throughout the game. Goaltender Nagel should be extremely proud of his play and so should the entire Belle Tire organization. And as good as Goaltender Nagel was, word was, again, that Pittsburgh Hornet Goaltender Rob Madore was simply amazing and entering another stratosphere of excellence, earning accolades from the swarms of major college scouts and juniors in attendance, and even NHL management present at the game, on his outstanding play as well.