Archbishop Ryan Raiders

CORAOPOLIS – West Allegheny 14-4-1 and Montour 14-4-0 squared off with a division title on the line, a possible first round bye and possibly two home playoffs games…..and as Carpet says ‘let the players play, the coaches coach and lets all behave ourselves and have a good time’ or something like that ! So if you’re looking for analysis ….go to Discussion Forum, because all the experts are there and PA Hockey is at the game ...so let the game begin !!! Before a packed house standing room only crowd to see a rematch of a 4-3 Montour victory in December with the West Division title on the line. Maybe out of this game comes two, one or no teams ready to challenge for the Class AA Penguins Cup next month. Early on Zach Perry’s centering pass took a fortuitous bounce and almost ended up behind Dan Kuzio in the opening minute. Montour made a mental mistake being caught with too many men on the ice at 13:57, putting West A on the power play employing 5 forwards on the first unit. At 12:09, Mario Panucci made them pay with great speed outraced the Indian defense to the puck and rifled a slapshot which beat Kuzio on the stickside giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Montour went on the power at 10:41 and converted as Brian Dugan’s rocket from the center point found the net at 10:22 over the glove of Kuzio for a power play goal and a 2-0 Montour lead. West Allegheny had their best chance to get on the board as Mark Polidor rung one of the pipe at 9:39 and Aaron Williams stopped Ryan Kumpfmiller moments later. Williams made another nice save at 3:21 on Tony Lutz just getting the leg down to keep West A off the board. With 51 seconds left in the first, a shot by Ed Jankoski handcuffed Aaron Williams and bounded behind the Montour goalie to cut the lead to 2-1 after 12 shots on Montour and put the Indians right back in the hockey game. West Allegheny came out flying off the bat in the 2nd and Ryne Savisky converted a loose rebound off the stick off Mark Polidor at 14:41 and all the sudden the 2-0 Montour lead evaporated into a tie game. Ross Polk scored a huge goal at 10:39 on a wrist shot to give Montour the lead 3-2. At 8:58, Norm Cook made a bold move as freshman Kyle Mortimer replaced Kuzio between the pipes and moments later West Allegheny went on a 5 on 3 power play at 8:33. Williams stopped Savisky at 7:58, Sarachene at 7:45, but Mark Polidor scored on a slapshot at 7:33 and the game was tied at 3-3. Chad Talotta just missed at 6:22 and West Allegheny was whistled putting the Spartans back on the power play at 6:15. At 5:47, Mortimer stopped Joe Clarke from just in front. Montour went on the power play late in the 2nd at 1:16, but did’t score. At 10:56, Zach Perry walked down the slot, but Mortimer stopped him. At 10: 19, Steve Sarachene and Chad Talotta raced for the puck and Talotta pulled him down, resulting in an Indian power play and a chance to take the lead. At 9:47, Montour got caught out of position and Mark Polidor found a streaking Ryan Kumpfmiller, who beat Aaron Williams to give WA a 4-3 lead. At 8:18, Zach Perry picked the pocket of the West A defense and fed Mario Panucci, who buried a snap shot upstairs on the blocker side of Kyle Mortimer to tie the game again. At 7:15 West Allegheny got caught in a bad line change and defnseman Ed Elbel found Joe Clarke, who got off a clean shot and Ross Polk pounced on the rebound and gave the Spartans the lead 5-4. Danny Shiwarski scored a big insurance goal at 4:52 on a pass from Mario Panucci to give the Spartans a huge two-goal advantage 6-4. At 2:19, Williams made a great save on Kumpfmiller from point blank range and Montour would hold on for a 6-4 comeback victory.