Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Bethel Park 3 McDowell 2 ERIE – The Bethel Park Hockey program has made a bold step to separate themselves from the rest of Class AAA in 07-08. Not only does the majority of Jim McVay’s club play on the Phantoms Split Season team, but the Hawks have made a huge commitment to play in the best competition possible on the weekends, including several trips to Cleveland and Western NY to hone their run for the 2007 Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania State Championship. Bethel is now 16-0-1 and ranked # 1 in Western Pennsylvania and appears to have the inside track on the 6 other contenders, who will occupy seeds 2-7 in the Class AAA playoffs. McDowell’s Nels White had a goal for 2007 to become part of the exclusive club, which includes Bethel, Mt Lebanon, Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Meadville and Upper St Clair, who have dominated the Class AAA landscape over the past half to a dozen years and seem to have their programs ready every year for a playoff run. The Trojans have not tasted the Penguins Cup Semis since the PIHL was founded in 1999 and would really like to become an annual contender. McDowell has made some significant strides in their play in the league and outside of the league this season and appears ready to make a move in the Class AAA. Tonight’s contest with Bethel Park would be one more test to measure their progress over this season and maybe give the program confidence that it can compete with the big boys when it counts a little less than three weeks from now. The Trojans opened the scoring early in the first period as freshman Shane Reese threw the puck to the net and Jimmy Martin beat the Hawk defenseman to the puck and chipped it past Pete Cosentino to give McDowell a 1-0 lead. The Hawks tied it with 7:43 of the first period as Graham Cohen picked up a rebound and beat Ericcson on a typical BP goal with hard work to make it 1-1. In a very evenly played opening period, shots were eight apiece. On to the second and McDowell continued to gain confidence against # 1 Bethel with action at both ends. The Trojans would take the lead at 8:55 of the middle period as Nick DiSanti cashed in on a rebound from right in front of the net beating Pete Cosentino to give McDowell a 2-1 lead. With 5:56 to go in the 2nd period, the Trojans had a golden opportunity to extend their lead on the power play, but took a penalty to nullify that chance. The Hawks took advantage of that momentum swing as Bryan Brown made a real nice play from the right point to wrist the puck to the net through traffic, which appeared to hit something in front and found the outside corner of the net just inside the post to tie the game 2-2 with 2:38 to go in the period. McDowell held the advantage in shots at 11-8 in the period, but Bethel held the territorial advantage late in the period and took the lead as Tommy Whetsel’s rebound was gathered by Matt Quigley, who deposited the go ahead goal behind Ericcson to give Bethel Park a slim 3-2 lead heading to the ice cut with just :28 remaining before the break. On to the third period and McDowell was looking for the equalizer and almost got it as Shane Reese had Cosentino beat but his shot just glanced off the side of the net and the score remained 3-2 in favor of the Hawks. The Trojans next big chance came on the power play with 7:48 to go, but Bethel Park dug in and with great corner work would not let the Trojan have any room nor any chances. McDowell pulled the goalie, but BP played excellent defense and the Trojans could not get close as Bethel Park earned a very impressive 3-2 win at the Erie Civic Center and remained unbeaten and locked down the # 1 seed in the upcoming playoffs. For McDowell, a close call, which might mean the Trojans will more than likely be on the road for round 2 of the playoffs in a very tight race for seeding that will transpire over the closing weeks.