St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Moon 4 Montour 1 Coraopolis – Moon is off to a 3-2 start after dropping a close 5-3 decision to Kittanning last night and to Cathedral Prep 4-3, but are right in the thick of the Class AA race and for coach Craig Bioni knows that the Tigers will have to make hay against teams in front and behind the to elevate the playoff seeding. Moon came on at end of 2006 and looks to be a team who could spring an upset or two in the playoffs with a core group of seniors. Montour has opened with a 3-1-2 mark and stands alone in 1st place in the West Division. Head Coach Dan Siegel’s club looks to be in the Penguins Cup AA mix although dropping a contest at Indiana last week. The Spartans are ranked 4th in Class AA, but face a very challenging schedule where every night will be important to decide the playoff seedings in March. The Spartans will face the toughest part of their schedule in December with Moon twice, Franklin Regional and defending Class AA Pa State champions Pine Richland in that stretch. The rivalry between Moon and Montour drew a standing room only crowd at the Airport Landslide Landside rink. After a scoreless opening half of the first period, at 7:14of the opening period, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead as Cedric Brazeau snapped a wrist shot over the stick side of Matt Skoff. On to the 2nd period and after a delayed penalty call and an apparent whistle, Montour scored as # 11 scored on a slapshot and it was ruled no goal, so the Tigers maintained a 1-0 lead but would be facing a penalty kill as Montour would have the man advantage. Greg Clarke scored on a rebound with 2:18 remaining to knot the score at one apiece. The Spartans went on the power play with 11:51 to go in regulation but was nullified by a Montour penalty with 10:49 left. With 9:16 remaining Moon’s Matt Reese beat Matt Skoff on a lazy slap shot from the right hand boards, which eluded the Montour goaltender and gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Montour went back on the power play moments later but failed to score. The Tigers came back at 6:12 and scored a huge insurance goal as John Davis shot and Misha Kleynjans scored on the backhand to give Moon a 3-1 advantage. With 2:05 remaining, John Davis hit Dan Clark on a long lead pass who eluded the Montour defense almost beat Matt Skoff, but Joe DeNardo was there to bang home the rebound and give Moon a 4-1 lead and victory.