Archbishop Ryan Raiders

3/22/04 ~ Somerset does it & moves on to Penguins Cup final PITTSBURGH – The Somerset hockey program has taken their lumps over the years with a 73-142-13 record, but hidden in that record is the past four years with a record 59-21-4, including an outstanding 20-2-0 regular season under Cliff Zeigler. Despite all of this, the Eagles had never won a State Playoff game until last week’s 4-0 victory over Sewickley Academy. So anyone who predicted that this team would go a long way in the playoffs, would know a lot more than I would because the playoff experience of three straight losses in three years does not indicate this was a team ready to make a big run. Furthermore, in their two biggest games late in the season, the Eagles fell hard to Bishop McCort 7-3 and blew a 3-0 lead on the season’s final night to Quaker Valley, tonight’s opponent only to lose 5-3 in giving up five goals in the third period. So if Somerset was going to dance at the big dance, it would have to get their big guns Bret Zeigler, Cullen Eddy and Matt Rouch to figure in the scoring and then play solid defense and get some clutch goaltending from Wes Cramer. Quaker Valley opened up the playoffs with an impressive 6-0 victory over Forest Hills, in a game in which Jed Michael stopped 33 shots and big guns Furman South, Sam Hairston and Ben Herring figured in on five of the six Quakers goals. Coach Kevin Quinn’s program compiled a 19-3-0 campaign with five straight winning seasons and five straight Penguins Cup playoff appearances. If there is an achilles heel with QV, it is their inability to move on past the 2nd round of the playoffs, but if there was a year when it could happen this could be a golden opportunity for the Quakers and especially with Ben Herring, who is considered one of the top players in Class A, back in the lineup for full-time duty. Quaker Valley owns a couple of big wins over Somerset, Serra Catholic and Blackhawk during the regular season, which makes them a very appetizing pick to possibly go a long way with clutch scoring, key goaltending and a very disciplined team. Somerset came out in the first period like a team on a mission as freshman Cullen Eddy overpowered Jed Michael with a slapshot for a 1-0 Eagle lead at 12:15. Quaker Valley had some partial breaks, but could not find the handle as Ben Herring just missed tying the game at 12:18. At 8:21 of the first period, Matt Rouch walked the puck off of the far boards and beat Michael down low on the forehand and Somerset held a 2-0 lead. Jed Michael made a huge save on Bret Zeigler from the high slot at 4:35 as the Eagles held a 9-1 shot advantage at this point and a 10-4 edge for the first period. On to the 2nd period and Jed Michael held the Quakers in the hockey game making several key saves early on. The Somerset defense spearheaded by Chad Pritts, Bill Hoffman and Jonathan Davies continued to frustrate the big guns for Quaker Valley by simply clearing the zone and playing solid fundamental defense. Somerset went on the power play at 7:23 and Michael snared a bullet delivered by Bret Zeigler with a great glove save. Somerset took an ill-advised penalty at 5:43, which brought Quaker Valley to life. Herring made a great move beating the Somerset defense and almost backhanded past Cramer but somehow the Eagle goaltender got a piece of it and the Somerset defense cleared the puck from danger with 4:51 left in the 2nd. It was all Quaker Valley late in the period as Sam Hairston walked around a pair of Eagle defenseman, but could not beat Wes Cramer, who made a great leg save at 2:40. With 11 seconds remaining, Ben Herring had another great chance, but it was Cramer again who robbed Quaker Valley. The Quakers showed their frustration pouring 11 shots on the Somerset goal, with nothing to show for it as the game stood 2-0 at the end of two periods. Somerset started the 3rd period on the power play thanks to a very undisciplined penalty by the Qaukers with 1.3 seconds left in the second. Cullen Eddy made them pay as he buried a one-timer past the stick side of Michael off a nice feed from Chad Pritts, who won the battle along the boards for the puck with teammate Bret Zeigler at 13:25 to make it 3-0 Somerset. Wes Cramer and the Eagle defense kept up the frustration on Quaker Valley as the netminder stoned Ben Herring and Sam Hairston at 8:46 on simultaneous chances. With 7:28 remaining in regulation, Brett McBee-Wise shot the puck from the left point which had eyes on it and found its way through traffic and behind Cramer for a huge goal and cut the lead to 3-1. Back came the Eagles and the player who many consider the beast all-around player in Class A Bret Zeigler delivered a crushing blow to Quaker Valley as he scooped up a rebound of a Matt Rouch shot and deposited behind Jed Michael for a 4-1 Somerset lead with 6:33 remaining. Quaker Valley did not quit and Jeppe Boldsen scored on a slapshot after a perfect pass from Ben Herring with 4:19 remaining and enough time to rally. Quaker Valley poured on the pressure and owned the Somerset end, but at 3:34 it would be Wes Cramer who would steal the show as he made a terrific diving save on Ben Herring, who was stationed alone on the back door to keep the lead at Somerset 4 Quaker Valley 2. The Quakers pulled the goalie for the games final minute and it would be Jordon Woy who would send Quaker Valley packing as the quick little Somerset forward calmly gathered the puck at Center Ice and made no mistake putting the puck through the QV defenseman and into an empty net with 1:07 remaining to send the Somerset hockey team to its first ever Penguins Cup Final to face Serra Catholic on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena at high noon.