KITTANNING — Canon-McMillan coach Dave Fryer saw it from the mental side. Butler coach Joe Honzo saw it from a physical angle.

Either way, Thursday's varsity hockey matchup at the Belmont Ice Complex was a tale of two games.

Butler saw a 2-0 lead late in the second period fall by the wayside as the Big Macs erupted for five third-period goals en route to a 6-2 PIHLClass AAA victory over the Golden Tornado.

Canon-McMillan (1-3) used a two-man advantage to open the third period with two goals in the first 53 seconds, then added another 1:53 later to take a 4-2 lead with 12:14 left.

"That two-man advantage, that obviously was the turning point," said Honzo. "We knew it would be a tough kill."

"It was not so much technical, but mentally," said Fryer. "In the second period, the penalties started being called.

"I told the kids between the second and third periods, 'Cut down on distractions. Focus on execution,'" he added.

Butler enjoyed a 2-0 lead, thanks to a shorthanded goal by Beau Bechtel in the closing seconds of the first period after Zach Pennington took the puck near mid-ice and rifled a shot to the net.

Big Macs goalie Mike O'Neill made the deflection, but Bechtel was able to knock it through.

When Steve Stepanian scored 34 seconds into the second period, Butler (1-3) doubled its lead and looked to be in good shape.

The Big Macs, however, pressed on and created many opportunities, including three breakaways in the period, but Butler goalie Justin O'Donnell made saves in all three instances.

Canon-McMillan finally broke through with 2:49 left in the period when Corey Griffith scored in front of the net to make it a one-goal game.

In the final 15 seconds of the second period, Butler was hit with two separate penalties that carried over into the third period.

C-M's Erik McKown scored just 21 seconds into the frame and Griffith followed 32 seconds later for a 3-2 Big Macs lead. McKown added another goal for C-M's third in a 2:25 span and were on their way to the win.

"They started beating us to the loose pucks and winning the battles," said Honzo.

Bryan Dadum and Joe Mottique added goals late in the period to close out the scoring.

"What makes (the win) more gratifying is we were 0-3 and down 2-0 on the road and these kids really responded," said Fryer. "Some of the bad energy needed to be channeled in the right direction."

Notes: Butler was 0-for-8 on the power play while Canon-McMillan was 2-for-8 ... O'Donnell made 28 saves while O'Neill finished with 16.Kittanning 9, Knoch 1In this Class AA game Thursday, the Wildcats used a five-goal second period to win handily over the Knights, who are playing in their first season on the varsity level.Knoch's Chris Dowling scored a goal off an assist from Evan Gorse with one second left in the first period to cut Kittanning's lead to 2-1.But Kittanning (3-2) scored two goals in a 2:37 span early in the second period, and goals by Colin McKelvey, Jurgen Koster and Ethan Zimmerman in a 1:25 spurt late in the period sealed the Knights' fate."We're still getting our varsity legs," said Knoch coach John Nicholas. "Not one guy on the team has varsity experience."We've played Thomas Jefferson, Moon and Kittanning in our first three games, and the third-place team in the state is in our division," he added.Zimmerman and Nicholas Troup each had two goals and two assists, while McKelvey had a goal and four assists, Koster had one goal and two assists and K. Dieter Koster had four assists to lead the Wildcats.Knoch goalie Cameron Lang made 24 saves while his counterparts, Joseph Mercurio made three saves in the first two periods and Loretta Mundy made six in the third period."Cam's been through it all. He's a gamer," said Nicholas. "This game will not affect him."