Announcement
Somerset holds off McCort rally in the third for huge Class A win !
JOHNSTOWN –
Over the mountain and through the woods to the friendly confines of the Cambria County War Memorial we went on a cold and blustery Thursday evening for a double header with Serra Catholic and the mighty Hilltoppers of Westmont and the nightcap between Somerset and Bishop McCort. The opener was a tough pill for King Arthur’s Hiltoppers as they were thumped by a pretty good Serra club 10-0. Much of the game was a good time to debate some hockey with a couple of 6 year old Mites who will be the future as Lane McQuillan, son of the Hilltopper Head Coach and Matthew Sliva, son of the Eagle Head Coach were bringing me up to speed of the happenings of the Warriors and Badgers, their teams. A breath of fresh air in what has become a pretty stale hockey community over the past five years and you wonder what lies ahead for these two youngsters in seven years, when they don the uniforms of Westmont and Serra.
A great example of this is Bishop McCort, who for the past 15 years have dominated the Class A landscape along with Serra Catholic. The Crimson Crushers made it to the 2005 Pennsylvania State final, only to lose to Penncrest in a very good hockey game. So it has been nine years since the Crimson Crushers have tasted victory in the States and the toll on the Johnstown Hockey community as a whole has been very noticeable. Once proud and strong hockey programs such as Forest Hills, Johnstown, Richland Cambria and even Westmont Hilltop have become minor players in the Penguins Cup chase. McCort, this season with five losses is off to one of its worst starts in their history going back nearly 20 years at 9-5-0.
The reason is pretty simple and was one of the fears of the Unification, which is now known as the PIHL. The Open Division, which is a conglomeration of co-op schools, West Virginia and some pure schools with no home has cause the scheduling of Serra Catholic for six trips to Johnstown and is absolutely unnecessary. Furthermore, the cost structure in the PIHL is way out of line and the Board of Governors of the league is unable to have ANY influence nor impact on a League Administration that is out of control, been around way too long and has its hands on all of the money that they are hemorrhaging from the schools, many whom can no longer afford to pay and are losing players fast to amateur and travel hockey, because of the poor product on the ice in the PIHL.
Somerset, who plays their home games nearly an hour away in Johnstown at Planet Ice has a program which is teetering again on extinction. The Eagles advanced to the Penguins Cup one time in 2004 and this year’s squad has rebounded from an 0-5 start with seven wins in their past eight games, including a win over Serra Catholic, and is right back in the playoff hunt at 7-6-0. Head Coach Matt Cavrack’s Eagles, after being bounced around in Class AA and then exiled to the Open Division, after their only Penguins Cup appearance, last beat Bishop McCort back in 2004, were out to avenge an early season loss to the Crimson Crushers.
McCort broke out on top in the opening period as Matt McIntyre scored the opening goal of the contest. Somerset tied the game late in the period on a goal by Hunter Specht.
Chad James gave the Crimson Crushers a 2-1 lead early in the 2nd period. Back came the Eagles to tie the game again as Craig Eddy took a drop pass from Alladin Faily and blistered a wrist shot past Danny Mock and we were tied at two apiece. The two culprits were back at it again with 5:10 to go in the period as Faily patiently waited on a two on one and feed the puck across to Eddy who buried it to give Somerset it’s first lead 3-2. The Eagles had an opportunity on the 5 on 3, but McCort killed it off prior to the ice cut.With 13:47 remaining in the third period, Craig Eddy completed the hat trick beating the McCort defense with speed and Mock to give the Eagles a 4-2 advantage. Back came the Crushers as Chad James came down the left side and lofted a wrist shot high over the glove hand of Somerset’s freshman goaltender Caroline Barth to cut the lead to 4-3 with 10:37 to play. With 6:55 to go, Danny Mock came up big for McCort stopping Eddy, but a half a minute later at 6:25 Eddy would score again through the 5-hole to make it 5-3. The Crushers lost their composure and took a couple of untimely penalties digging a bigger hole, but Todd Thomas had other ideas shorthanded as he danced with the puck just inside the Somerset zone and buried a wrist shot up high over the glove of Barth and McCort was backing the game 5-4. The Crushers pulled the goaltender but could not get the equalizer as Somerset held on for a 5-4 victory over Bishop McCort.
