Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Pennsylvania Cup ~ Class A – Penncrest 5 Bishop McCort 3 HERSHEY – Not a lot of people knew anything about Penncrest coming into the 2005 Pennsylvania Class A State Finals, with the exception of the folks in the Central Division of the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League, Breakaway Magazine’s Matt Sacks and the teams they steamrolled to win their first ever Flyers Cup including an undefeated Central Bucks West squad 6-2. Head coach Steve Mescanti knew as the Lions compiled a 20-1-4 record that he had something special and this may be the team in his 12 years at Penncrest that could do it. In the path of the Lions for their opportunity was Bishop McCort, who has captured 5 Class A State Championships and had never lost in a State Championship game in their previous 5 appearances in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. In fact, the Crimsom Crushers have had laughers in 4 of those 5 State Championship games, the exception against a gritty St Pius X at the Cambria County War Memorial in 1996 in a 7-5 victory before the largest crowd ever to watch a Interscholastic Hockey game in Pennsylvania estimated at 3700 patrons. Crusher head coach John Bradley was so elated about the Serra Catholic victory after five appearances, he was very concerned about a let down in the final against Penncrest and looked to get a great start. McCort came out early on in this State Final and jumped all over Penncrest in the opening minutes, who were obviously nervous being that this was their first State Championship game and the biggest game in their program’s history. Crimson Crusher’s veteran defenseman Cory Mock finished off a 2 on 1 taking a feed from Marc Domonkos and beating Lion keeper Ryan McElhenney cleanly with a great move on the forhand at 12:24 of the opening period. Bishop McCort’s Zac Seidel caught McElhenney off the post and fired a wicked shot waist high past the Penncrest goaltender to give the Crushers a 2-0 lead with 7:23 left in the opening period. If their was a play that woke up Penncrest and got it back in the game, it was the play be defenseman Rob Rottensteiner, who anticipated a clearing attempt which got by the Bishop McCort player along the boards. Rottensteiner gathered the puck and threw an accurate shot through traffic where a dangerous Flyers Cup MVP Dave Bixler tipped through the legs of Ron Stenger to put the Lions on the board and bring their fans to life with 4:32 left. Penncrest had renewed confidence and turned the tables on this hockey game with a goal late in the period as Nick Kusturiss threaded a pass to Bixler, who was wide open in front and buried a shot past Stenger with just 11 ticks left in the first to tie the game at two apiece. The second period wage the battle as both teams opened up play and their was end to end action. Nick Kusturiss gave Penncrest the lead on a transition goal at 10:43 of the 2nd as he blistered a wrist shot high over the glove hand of Stenger to give the Lions their first lead 3-2. McCort would show their resilience at this point as Marc Domonkos scored off a faceoff on a rebound in the Penncrest end to tie the game at 3-3 with 6:18 left in the middle frame. The Lions would be the ones who became the aggressor on offense and a crafty heads up play late in the period would prove to be the game winner as Brad Ryan gathered the puck on the near boards and whipped a shot toward the net catching the Bishop McCort goaltender Ron Stenger off guard with just 11 seconds remaining in the period an gave Penncrest a 4-3 lead to take to the ice cut. Penncrest held the lead for much of the third period as Stenger made several nice saves to keep the Crushers within striking distance. The play of steady and calm Penncrest goaltender Ryan McElhenney would prove to be the difference as the junior stopped all 8 shots in the finals period of regulation including a two golden opportunities with under two minutes to play. When the Crushers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, Kevin Vanaman found the empty net with 44 seconds left to give Penncrest a huge insurance goal and theLions captured their first ever Pennsylvania Class A title, making it three consecutive years for Eastern Pennsylvania at the Class A level. The difference in the hockey game was the personality of the Penncrest team, who had several great components for a championship team including a steady goaltender, some solid defenseman, notably the play of Rottensteiner, freshman Tim Paulson and Bryan Chacosky and a creative offense including snipers Dave Bixler and Nick Kusturiss and crafty players like Brad Ryan and John Mowry, who played a very strong game at both ends of the ice and a coach who believed and relied on the players who made it happen. Congratulations to the Penncrest Lions – Pennsylvania Class A Champions for 2005