Archbishop Ryan Raiders

NEVILLE ISLAND - South Park Larry Locante could not have scripted a start to the 2004-2005 season much better than the Eagles 3-0-0 start, most notably, with wins over Kittanning and Somerset. SP has done it with scoring from a lot of different players, played some pretty solid defense and been the recipient of some consistent goaltending from Shane Bickar. Conversely, Montour coach Dan Siegel may have wondered where his team has gone as the expectations of a great season for his club echoed through the pre-season and seemed to be just a formality. The reality is the Spartans were defeated by Greensburg CC and Indiana in their first two games before rebounding against a very weak opponent in Johnstown. Montour would face a must win situation against an undefeated South Park team and maybe this would be the motivation that Montour needed to get back to work and implement their hard working reputation. The first period was well played on both sides as Montour’s Aaron Williams and South Park’s Shane Bickar traded several key saves in the opening ten minutes. Montour had the best chance of the opening period to take the lead as Dan Shiwarski drilled a shot which hit the crossbar, but Shiwarski disagreed raising his arms and the goal was waived off and play kept going at 5:22. South Park would strike first as Tommy Vaughn scored on a wrist shot to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 2:03. Montour almost tied the game on the power play at 12:21, but Zach Perry was robbed on a diving stop by Shane Bickar. The Eagles were whistled for a penalty after the stoppage, putting the Spartans on a 5 on 3 advantage. Montour finally broke through at 8:04 of the middle period, as Joe Clarke scored on a nice passing play with linemates Ross Polk and Chad Talotta to even the score at one apiece. The Spartans gained the lead as Zach Perry walked off the far boards and buried a wrist high over the stick side of Shane Bickar at 1:39 to give Montour a 2-1 lead. The turning point of this hockey game came with just 23 seconds left as South Park looked to tie the game in the period’s final minute as Tim Ryan drove to the net. A big collision ensued and Ryan fell on top of Aaron Williams, who was injured and taken off on a stretcher. The leading scorer for the Eagles, Ryan was given a penalty on the play, which could have gone either way. The Spartans would never look back in the third period as just as the penalty was ending, Mario Panucci found the puck at the top of the circles in the South Park defensive zone, beat a SP defenseman and made his wrist shot count through the 5-hole for a huge insurance goal at 13:37 and a 3-1 Montour lead. It would get better for the Spartans at 8:37 as Ross Polk found the net on a great feed from linemate Chad Talotta and a close game now was a 4-1 Spartan lead. Kevin Bishop closed out the South Park frustration with a power play goal with just 59 seconds remaining and an impressive 5-1 victory for Montour.