Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Peters Twp puts an exclamation point on second straight Class AA State Championship! ICELINE ~ Holy Ghost Prep has been ranked # 1 in the Pa Hockey elite 8 poll for most of the 2002-2003 season. Coach Tibbels team went 19-1-4 during the regular season and then defeated Neshaminy in the LBCSHL Championship for their first ever title. The Firebirds then carved through the Flyers Cup defeating Freedom [LVIHL], Archbishop Wood [SHSHL] and Abington [SHSHL] by a margin of 20-4 to reach the Flyers Cup final against West Chester Henderson. HGP ran into a hot goaltender in WC Henderson’s O’Neill and fell behind 3-1 late into the Flyers Cup final. The Firebirds fought back to tie the game with under five minutes to go and then got a goal from Steve Biasini in overtime to capture their first ever Flyers Cup. So now Pa Hockey’s # 1 ranked Class AA team would move onto the PA Final against the # 2 ranked team and defending State Champ Peters Twp. Peters Twp went through the regular season in an almost disinterested state and looked to be vulnerable position, but maybe they were just lulling their foes into believing that they were beatable. After capturing the # 1 seed in the Penguins Cup, the Indians smashed Hampton 9-2 and Greensburg CC 8-0 to reach the Penguins Cup against Kittanning. In the finals, Peters struck early and often to defeat the Wildcats 6-3 to capture their 2nd straight Penguins Cup and move on to play # 1 ranked Holy Ghost in the finals. Head Coach Mark Cooper used the battle cry of no respect for the defending State Champions and funnel it toward Holy Ghost. More importantly the Indians had an opportunity to establish themselves as one of the most dominant Class AA teams in State History. The game would be played in front of a partisan Holy Ghost Prep crowd and a huge student section, which filled the end zone and showed their patriotism by joining in a stirring rendition of ‘God Bless America’ which would have made Kate Smith proud. The first period turned into a penalty fest as the teams took a total of 14 penalties as Peters established a physical presence, particularly on super the scoring tandem of Paul Worthington and Ryan Gunderson. The second order of business was to test the Firebirds goaltending, who have not faced an onslaught like Peters all season. The Indians pounded Holy Ghost for a 14-4 shot advantage on goaltender Dave Monteith in the 1st with a balanced attack and broke open the game early with four goals from Matt Clackson [8:02], Mike Papciak [7:23], Matt Schwartz [2:56] and Brandon Rubeo [2:22] for a 4-0 lead at the end of one. Peters Twp displayed their penalty killing by killing two 5 on 3’s late in the first period. On to the second and Peters continued its onslaught with the penalty box filled again with 15 more penalties. Matt Schwartz added his second goal at 12:56 and Mike Sherer beat Andrew Golin on the slapshot at 3:51 to spur Peters Twp to a 6-0 lead. Holy Ghost finally took advantage as Ryan Gunderson [2:54] and Paul Worthington [1:02] took advantage of the Firebirds power plays and cut the lead to 6-2. If their was any chance for HGP, the Peters line of Christian Minella, Matt Schwartz [who finished the game with 2 goals & 4 assists totaling six points] and Matt Clackson would put an end to it with one of the prettiest passing sequences and a great backdoor finish by Minella with 33 seconds left in the 2nd period to put the Indians on top 7-2 at the end of two periods. The third period was pretty much academic as Peters added two more goals by Minella and Kevin Kustron, who took a great pass from Mike Papciak [who had a goal & three assists for four points] and HGP’s Worthington added a tally at 11:21 to make the final outcome 9-3 and a second straight Pennsylvania Class AA Championship. Kyle Kittleberger stopped several Firebird chances with some spectacular goaltending throughout stooping 23 shots. The win by Peters Twp put this team in the company of the best Class AA teams who have ever captured the Pennsylvania State Class AA Championship and opened a debate that this may be the best team in the state at any level. HGP Head Coach Brian Tibbels called Peters “better than any AAA teams in the state”. Holy Ghost had a great year, but may have just picked the wrong year to make it to the State Finals as Peters showed why many consider them the top team in the state at any level. Senior captain Matt Schwartz was very pleased that his line along with Minella and Matt Clackson accounted for five goals in his post game remarks “Early in the game it was our job to pick up our game and seize the moment” for the Indians. Kyle Kittleberger was thrilled on the defensive end admitting that the defense was looking forward to the challenge of stopping the high scoring tandem Gunderson and Worthington, he added “we really wanted to limit the time and space of Gunderson and Worthington” and was very proud of the play of his defensive unit. Coach Mark Cooper summed it up best by claiming his team had really molded through “personalities which make our team a loose bunch of guys and a very tight-knit group, which was the key to the team’s success”.