Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Penn Trafford 5 Fox Chapel 4 (OT) HARMARVILLE – Penn Trafford has won two consecutive Division championships under Todd Purvis and appears to be a program both in numbers and talent to step to the forefront in Class AAA. The Warriors are off to a 4-2 start with a big win over Meadville under its belt and losses coming tat the hands of McDowell and the freshest one, an 11-1 pounding at the hands of # 1 Mt Lebanon last week. Penn Trafford is looking to get back on track minus starting goaltender Joel Sterniak, serving a suspension. PT is led by a strong nucleus of returning players including Chris Cerutti, Dan Sidle and Nick Whaley. Fox Chapel is off to a 4-1-1 start under Jim Damp and its only blemish was a 2-0 setback to North Allegheny. The Foxes look to challenge NA for the North Division crown and have been led by the scoring of Kyle Misour and Joe Budz along with the goaltending of Eric Thiessen, who has established himself early on as one of the top goaltenders in Class AAA. Tonight’s matchup although early in December represents two teams, who will battle for playoff positioning and home ice advantage come the end of February. Penn Trafford struck first at 13:34 as Nick Whaley beat Eric Thiessen from in tight for a 1-0 lead. The Foxes went on the power play with 4:00 remaining and an opportunity to tie the score. It didn’t take long as Joey Budz walked out of the corner and snapped a shot beating Bill Taylor on the glove side at 3:27 to knot the score at 1-1. Penn Trafford continued to press the attack outshooting the Foxes in the first period 14-7. At 13:07 of the 2nd period, Taylor made two consecutive stops on Justin Kreps, who stole the puck from the PT defense. The Foxes went on the power play with 12:22 remaining in the 2nd , but for Penn Trafford, Dan Sidle would get the gate for and additional ten minutes for a misconduct, putting Warriors at a disadvantage. Taylor made several nice stops, but the Foxes would cash in at 11:05 at Steve Bartynski re-directed a Dan Umanski’s shot from the right point to give FC a 2-1 lead, even though Uminski was credited with the goal. Fox Chapel began to pour the shots on the Warriors with an 11-2 barrage only five minutes in and Dan Uminski scored the goal this time on the power play with a wrist shot that sailed over the shoulder of Taylor through a screen at 9:23 and all the sudden FC now had a 3-1. Penn Trafford would get their first opportunity on the power play in the 2nd at 7:55 of the period and another at 5:37, which without Sidle would make it that more difficult to get back in the game. What made it more difficult was the hustle and hard work, which was continued by Fox Chapel. One thing that the Foxes didn’t count on came at 2:20 as Chris Cerutti scooped up a long lead pass off the boards by Eric Likar and was in all alone and beat Thiessen on the backhand to pull the Warriors back to a 3-2 disadvantage. Moments later at 1:58, PT went back on the power play with a chance to tie the game, but the Warriors evened up with a very undisciplined penalty late in the period, which possibly would break their momentum going to the third period. Kyle Misour made them pay just 17 ticks into the 3rd period, ripping a slapshot past Taylor to extend the lead to 4-2. Back came the Warriors at 11:39 as Dan Sidle picked up a turnover in the FC zone and backhanded over the shoulder of Thiessen to make it 4-3. Penn Trafford tied the score at 11:39 as David Brammell re-directed a shot through traffic, which eluded Eric Thiessen and tied the game 4-4. Thiessen made a nice stop on an odd man break at 6:21 off the stick of Chris Cerutti. At 5:02 of the third, Chris Cerutti was dancing and Justin Kreps wanted to lead the dance and was sent to the box for holding. Bill Taylor made a nice stop on Kyle Misour’s shorthanded attempt at 4:34. With 49 seconds remaining, Fox Chapel took an ill-advised penalty putting the Warriors on the power play, which was nullified at 4:46 of overtime. Billy Taylor made a great stop on Joey Budz at 4:06 of OT. With Clock King [League Rep Steve Sturm] threatening to end the game at 9:50 on his Swiss Time Piece, Chris Cerutti made ‘the less Concerned Citizens of Penn Trafford’ happy campers as his high wrist shot handcuffed Eric Thiessen at 1:37 of overtime and gave the Warriors an exciting 5-4 victory over the Foxes.