Archbishop Ryan Raiders

HARMARVILLE – Franklin Regional lost a ton of seniors from last year’s squad, many of whom competed in the 2002 Penguins Cup AAA final loss to Meadville and head coach Jim Damp departed to take the Fox Chapel post, many in Pa Hockeyland felt the Panthers would be in for a down season. Maybe to some people, but not this person! Head Coach Jim Daugherty is a hockey person and he is a builder and after watching FR in the pre-season, one could notice the balance, the unselfish play and the work ethic would make this a team which if it finds timely scoring and goaltending would challenge division champ Penn Trafford for the top spot in the East. Shaler head coach Ron Steedle is the dean of coaches in Western Pennsylvania and has coaches over 20 seasons of High School Hockey and is trying to rebuild the Shaler program, which has competed for 34 consecutive seasons, who along with Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair, are the only programs who can make that claim. The Titans have been successful on 17 consecutive opening nights dating back to 1987 and their streak would receive a severe test in Franklin. Shaler lost 12 players to graduation and those who chose to take up other activities resulting in 7 freshman in the opening day lineup and the remaining players are holdovers from last years playoff team. In a scoreless first period, Franklin Regional held the territorial advantage as Shaler killed of four penalties yielding just seven shots to the Panthers. A 5th penalty at the end of the first period would put FR on another power play to start the second. Brian Dunford would open up the scoring on the power play just 33 seconds into the middle period for a 1-0 lead at 14:27. The Panthers would extend the lead at 8:51 as Tom Abraham scored from close range and beat Ben Burns. Franklin would go on another power play a little over two minutes later, but a great effort by Shaler’s P.J Domski to beat the Franklin defense to the puck resulted in a goal and a slim 2-1 lead for FR with 4:34 left in the 2nd. Shaler began to carry the play late in the middle frame and the Titans went on the power play at 2:14 and had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but it was the Panthers who struck as Joe Ferriero made a super play to gain the zone and thread a perfect pass to Joel Sirianni behind the Shaler defender, who beat Ben Burns to give FR a huge insurance goal with 1:32 remaining in the 2nd period and a 3-1 lead. The same two players combined early in the 3rd period to extend the lead as Sirianni pinballed an odd angle shot through the pads of Ben Burns for a 4-1 lead at 13:53 of the 3rd. Shaler could not take advantage of several power plays over the final minutes of play as Adam Treml stopped several good opportunities for the Titans to secure a 4-1 opening night victory for the Panthers.