Archbishop Ryan Raiders

North Allegheny 2 Central Catholic 1 [2 OT] CRANBERRY – The entrance of Mr Who’s Who Bobby Montana, with his trusty camera and Lebo contingent of Head Coach Paul Taibi, Dave ‘the Chocolate Milk Man’ Dorsey, Ron ‘Tom’s Father of Lexington’ Valerino, Bethel Park’s Jim ‘Mort’ McVay with his expert cameraman Dennis Bannon, Meadville coaches Dr. Jamie Plunkett and Dickie ‘this Old House’ Holabaugh. Pine Richland’s Jim Adams, NA Announcer Don Vandergrift, the ‘svelt’ Billy Zuri, Current NA Concerned Citizens Jim Pekins, Dennis Sheran, Ken McGlumphy and former ‘Head Concerned Citizen Tom Pandolfo’ among a jammed packed Cranberry BladeRunners, which is the only place in America you can buy Strawberry Water in an ice rink. North Allegheny (19-3-0) and Central Catholic (14-7-2) are perennial participants in the Penguins Cup playoffs and over the past few years have been in the hunt to move forward in the process of challenging to win it. The Vikings started the playoffs off with a 9-3 hammering of Franklin Regional, but coach Kevin Zielmanski knows that his team must excel against top opponents to be able to get to the promised land. CC is very capable of being a that team and the keys are getting strong goaltending and a consistent effort for 45 minutes, which will be a pre-requisite to entertaining any thoughts of defeating # 3 seed North Allegheny. The Tigers got a taste of what its all about a year ago coming within one goal of capturing the championship of Western Pennsylvania AAA in 2005 losing to eventual Pennsylvania Cup AAA State Champions Bethel Park in the Penguins Cup final. What is different for NA is that they are not the favorite to win the 2006 Cup, which is a double edged sword, because the underdog role gives the Tigers a looser attitude than a years ago, but as a part of this process of contending for a State Championship, every shift, every goal, every mental mistake becomes magnified the further along we get into the playoffs. One emotional lift for the Tigers could be the presence of Chris Simanic, who was a key ingredient to the Tigers winning the 2005-06 Director’s Cup over Bethel Park in December. If anyone hopes to supplant Mt Lebanon, the # 1 or Bethel Park, the defending champion, it will take a monumental effort to get to RMU Island Sports Center. Central Catholic looked to take the lead early in this contest as Chris Urso could not beat NA’s Max Richards at 14:31. Joe Kerr hit the post of an open net at 10:20 after being set up on a nice feed from Chris Urso. The Tigers had the games first power play at 8:41 and could not capitalize, but struck first with 4:02 left in the opening period as Josh Herbert beat Bobby Magyarics with a wrsit shot high over the stick side after a pass from behind the net from Matt Lancaster to give North Allegheny a 1-0 lead. Alan Halapin set up Chris Gilson streaking down the slot, but shot hit the crossbar and the Tigers held a 1-0 lead after the first. On to the second period and Central Catholic was the recipient of another 2 on 1 due to some lax backchecking by the Tigers off the opening faceoff as Chris Urso beat the defenseman at the blue line and found Joe Kerr, who deposited the puck behind Max Richards to tie the score at one apiece just 17 seconds into the second. The game settled into a tight checking affair at both ends as both the Vikings and Tigers looked to seize the lead. With 2:22 remaining in the period, CC went on the power play but could not score. The third period was a very tight checking affair with limited chances at both ends. Central Catholic enjoyed some good pressure for the majority of the period, but the Tigers came on as the game hit the 5 minute remaining mark. Ian McGlumphy had the best chance for NA with 4:14 to go as he hit the side of the net. The Tigers got a golden opportunity with a power play with 3:57 to go, but the Vikings dug in and killed the first minute. Then it happened a penalty against the Tigers with 2:39 to go created a 4 on 4 and a CC power play but we moved on into overtime with a 1-1 score. The first overtime was action packed and end to end as both team have several chances the best coming as Magayrics stopped Matt Lancaster and the rebound by Josh Herbert at 5:57 of the first overtime. In the second OT, North Allegheny had the second great chance as Wes Waldschmidt was stoned from right in front again by the Central goaltender at 9:39. Bobby Magayrics did everything he could to help the Vikings pull off the upset. But it would not be enough this evening. As the Tigers didn’t get a bounce in last year’s Penguin Cup final when they needed it, North Allegheny made their own break as the play started from the Tiger end as Alan Halapin made a nice pass out of the zone up the boards to Chris Gilson, who has been a solid player for the Tigers for several years, who drove the Viking defenseman deep in his own zone and slid the puck over to a streaking Joey Camut, who deposited the game winner past the Viking keeper and to send the Tigers to the Penguins Cup semi-finals next Wednesday.

2006 Nailers Cup Semi-Finals WHEELING - Story provide by the Carrick Hockey Club Abbott, Hennon, Kelly lead way The Carrick Cougars travelled to Wheeling, West Virginia to face the Wheeling Central Catholic Knights in the Nailer Cup Semi-Finals last night. It is the first step of three that the Cougars must travel to become the Open Class Champions. But this step would not be an easy one. The Cougars barely escaped their first encounter with the Knights in early February, and were outshot and outworked in stretches when they defeated WCC on Feb 20th at Rostraver. It would be the first game Coach Chuisano's boys would play in nearly two weeks and they would have to do it without Senior forward TJ Gault who was serving the final game of his suspension. But the Cougars have faced and defeated nearly every challenge placed in front of them this season, and they would get an opportunity to do it again on Wheeling Central's home ice. The first period saw over ten minutes of the Cougars dominating the puck in the WCC defensive zone, but they were unable to beat Knight goalie Tommy Pie. Then, with 4:53 left in the period defenseman Nick Kelly jumped on a loose puck in the slot and blasted a slap shot over Pie's right should to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. But Wheeling Central was not about to lay down for Carrick and with just under a minute remaining, the Knights would fire a series of shots at Cougar goalie JT Kohnen. Kohnen was up to the task making several tough saves and keeping his team ahead as the period ended. When the second period opened up the Cougars were looking to create some breathing room. It took Justin Hennon only 1:10 to bounce on a Mitchell Faust rebound and ram it through Pie. Sophomore Jay Kass earned an assist on the play and Carrick was on it's way with a 2-0 lead. After a series of penalty kills the Cougars' captain Matt Abbott scored to make it 3-0. The assists went to junior Aaron Hahne and Kass. Just :46 later Kelly would get his second of the night. This one was a power play goal and was assisted by senior Justin Deery. The Cougars appeared to be going into the third period with an impressive 4-0 lead, but took a late penalty leading to an unassisted goal by the Knight's Cory Palmer. Carrick had the 4-1 lead, but managed to lose momentum late in the period by taking several penalties and giving up the late goal. WCC had outshot the Cougars 11-9 in the period and were only down by three because Kohnen managed to stop two break aways and a number of point blank shots. The momentum carried into the third period period for WCC was quickly negated when Abbott scored on a breakaway just 23 seconds into the final frame. What made the Abbott goal even more deflating to the Knights was that it occurred on a 5 on 3 WCC power play. As Abbott has done all year, he managed to bail his team out of a tough spot. The Cougars, with Kohnen being very sharp, now had commanding lead. Just When WCC thought it could not get worse, the Cougars managed to kill the penalties, and Hennon netted his second goal just :53 after the sides were even to make it 6-1. Junior center Chris Larkin was then set up with a nice pass from Hahne with just over three minutes remaining to make it 7-1. Then, with only :14 left, Abbott would complete his first Nailer Cup hat trick with a breakaway goal to put Carrick on top 8-1 and send the Knights home for the season. The first step was complete. The Cougars have made it to the Nailer Cup finals. Wednesday at 7pm at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, the Cougars will face the winner of the Wheeling Park/Morgantown game. They will be at full strength for the first time in weeks, and Coach Chuisano's boys will be looking for the Nailer Cup tropy. It will be the second step toward the Open Class Championship. NOTES--Both Carrick and Wheeling Central were called for 13 penalties a piece. It is the second highest total for the Cougars this season (Linsley was 14). Aaron Hahne had 3 assists for the Cougars while Faust and Kass had two each. Coach Chuisano got at least one goal from each of the top three lines. Kohnen stopped 21 of 22 shots as the Cougars outshot the Knights 27-22. The defense gave up only 5 shots in the third period. Although the game was played in Wheeling, Cougar fans outnumber WCC fans by at least 2-1 giving Carrick the true home ice advantage. Carrick's only loss this season came to Wheeling Park. The Patriots scored 4 goals in two minutes of the second period and won despite being outplayed by Carrick for most of the game. The Cougars managed to beat Wheeling Park in the final seconds earlier in the season at Ice Castle, but did so without Hahne and Kelly. Carrick defeated Morgantown twice in two close games (6-4 and 4-3) and were outshot in Morgantown. GAME INFO--The player and family bus will leave the Carrick shopping plaza at 4:30 sharp on Wednesday. Anyone wishing to take the bus should call Terry Delehenty or contact an Executive Board member. We will consider ordering a second bus, but the demand must make it feasible. Game prices are $7 for adults and $5 for students. The bus will cost $13 per seat. The ride to Wheeling (even at 4:30 rush hour) is just about one hour. Anyone wishing to follow the bus is welcome.

Park, Carrick To Meet in Final By JOSH STROPE Wheeling Intelligencer WHEELING - Wheeling Central coach James Rae knew his young team would be facing an uphill battle in effort to top Carrick during their semifinal game of the Nailers Cup Monday at WesBanco Arena. The Maroon Knights put up a gallant fight, but were no match for top-seeded Cougars as Carrick defeated Wheeling Central 8-1 for the right to play for the PIHL¡¯s Nailers Cup Wednesday against Wheeling Park, a 6-1 winner over Morgantown in the nightcap. ¡°We were pretty unlucky tonight,¡± Rae said. ¡°We came out and committed some silly penalties and they just took advantage of us. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good hockey team over there.¡± The Maroon Knights hung around in the first period, despite being outshot 7-0 in the early going. Wheeling Central¡¯s first shot on goal was one of its best chances to score as Matt Pockl raced down the ice on a breakaway, only to be denied by Carrick goaltender J.T. Kohnen. More good chances game the way of Wheeling Central as the Maroon Knights had two wide open shots in front of the net, but great saves by Kohnen got the play moving back up ice. During a scrum for the puck, Carrick¡¯s Nick Kelly found himself wide open in front of the net and buried the puck past Central goalkeeper Tommy Pie. Wheeling Central had more chances in the first period, but whiffs on one-timers and Kohnen¡¯s stopping of a Eric Baker breakaway as time was running out kept the designated home team with a one-goal advantage after the first period. ¡°We started real slow, and I thought we played real well as the game went on despite the score, but once they started scoring, we couldn¡¯t recover,¡± Rae said. Just more than a minute into the second period, the Cougars struck again. Kohnen made a diving save on Baker to knock the puck away, and Carrick¡¯s Justin Hennon found himself racing up ice and put the puck past Pie for the game-winner. The scoring didn¡¯t stop there as the Cougars erupted for two more goals in the period, one by Kelly and Matt Abbott. Down 4-0, Wheeling Central needed a spark to get some momentum heading into the final period. With 1:38 remaining in the second period, the Maroon Knights finally got on the scoreboard with a power-play goal by Cory Palmer. But as soon as the momentum came, it left just as suddenly. Carrick struck early in the third period, despite having being shorthanded with two men in the penalty box. Abbott took a rebound and raced up ice, putting the puck past Pie for his second tally of the game. It wasn¡¯t long before Carrick scored again, getting another just 1:43 later as Hennon collected his second goal. After game misconducts and numerous penalties, Carrick was now the recipient of a 5-on-3 advantage and cashed in. As Chris Larkin left the penalty box, teammate Aaron Hahne sent the puck across the ice where Larkin was waiting with a one-timer past Pie for a 7-1 lead. Abbott finished up the scoring on another breakaway with 14 seconds remaining, deking Pie one way, before collecting his hat trick. ¡°Abbott¡¯s a player that is always good for two or more goals a game, and is one of those kids you love to coach, but hate to play against,¡± Rae said. The Maroon Knights took 22 shots in the contest, eight by leading scorer Baker. ¡°Eric¡¯s a good kid but he was a little unlucky tonight,¡± Rae said. ¡°It¡¯s really unlucky because it was his last game.¡± Pie finished the game with 19 saves, while Kohnen collected 21. While Rae will lose Baker, he sees plenty of good things for the coming seasons. ¡®¡®We are all kind of shell-shocked right now, but we¡¯re a young team and we¡¯ll bounce back,¡¯¡¯ he said. ¡®¡®The future is very bright here.¡¯¡¯ Wheeling Park 6, Morgantown 1 Luke Sonnefeld scored two goals to lead the Patriots to a win over Morgantown in the second semifinal game of the Nailers Cup and a date with Carrick in the championship game. Adam Lewton, Christian Lewton, Jason Pelinsky, and Zach Davis scored the other goals for the No. 2 ranked Patriots. Matt McWilliams made 10 saves in the game for Wheeling Park. ¡Ò¡Ò¡Ò Carrick 8, Wheeling Central 1 C ¡ª Goals: Abbott 3, Kelly 2, Hennon 2, Larkin; Assists: Faust 2, Kass 2, Hahne 2, Deevy; Goalkeeper: Kohnen (21 saves); W ¡ª Goals: Palmer; Goalkeeper: Pie (19 saves). Wheeling Park 6, Morgantown 1 W ¡ª Goals: Sonnefeld 2, A.Lewton, C.Lewton, J.Pelinsky, Davis; Assists: S.Pelinsky 2, Brown 2, Schutz 2, A. Lewton, C.Lewton, Sullivan; Goalkeeper: McWilliams (10 saves); M ¡ª Goal: Hart; Goalkeeper: Levelle (29 saves).

Bishop McCort 3 Mars 0 JOHNSTOWN – Bishop McCort [18-3-1], the defending Penguins Cup champions and Mars 13-9-0, represent two of six teams in the 12 team Class A with a winning record. This is a far cry from the last time that the Crimson Crushers, were Penguins Cup champions in 1999, when it was prestigious just to make the Penguins Cup playoffs, let alone the Elite 8. In today’s Western Pa Hockey, the playoff committee is looking for warm bodies just to suit up for games as evidenced by Conemaugh Valley, with just four wins entering the playoffs against # 1 seed Quaker Valley. This opening round game between the Crimson Crushers and the Planets is an opportunity for an upset in round one for several reasons including goaltending, which is decidedly in favor of Mars with four-year starter Bryan Ross. Bishop McCort head coach John Bradley is well aware that his team will more than likely face Serra Catholic if they defeat the Planets, which is why this game is intruiging, since the Crushers and Eagles have been battling for the Penguins Cup supremacy for each of the past seven seasons. The Crushers owned the first period territorial play and the shots 15-6, but Bryan Ross was particularly sharp as he stopped several McCort opportunities. The first came as Matt Cooper got behind the Planets defense at 9:11 of the opening period but the Mars goaltender stopped him. Chad James had the next chance at the eight-minute mark, but Ross gloved it. At 5:54, the Planet’s keeper stopped # 9 with a sliding save. Maybe the best opportunity came on a give and go in front of Ross, but the Planet’s netminder kept the game scoreless. Mars had a chance to open up the scoring on a bang bang play as both Bryan Reel and Mike Kenitz could not beat Crusher netminder Brent Troyan On to the second period in a scoreless game and Domonkos walked out of the corner to the net and Ross held his ground at 12:06. At 7:11 of the second, McCort’s Christian Ternchanik had multiple chances, but Bryan Ross made a sprawling save. Now the Mars goaltender was looking almost unbeatable as he stopped Mike Kiely from point blank as the ice tilted to McCort. Mars snuck Bryan Reel behind the Crusher defense at 3:27 and Troyan made the initial stop and again on the rebound on Mike Riefner. The Crushers finally found the net with 1:52 remaining in the 2nd as Steven Polonkey’s bullet from the left point beat Ross high over the glove hand side to give McCort a 1-0 lead. Zac Seidel found Shawn James alone behind the defense, but Bryan Ross made his best save yet at the buzzer and the teams headed to the ice cut with Bishop McCort holding a slim 1-0 advantage, despite the Crushers holding a 29-13 shot edge. The Crushers started the 3rd on the power play and converted as Zac Seidel found a loose puck and an empty net on the doorstep with 14:16 left in regulation from a puck that Shawn James shot from the right face-off circle. The Crusher’s just kept on coming and piling up the shots and with 8:00 to go Marc Domonkos jammed home his won rebound to make the count 3-0. Mars went on the power play with 5:54 to play but Brent Troyan made a nice stop on Bryan Reel to maintain the shutout. The Crimson Crushers held on for a hard fought 3-0 victory. So for the 14th time in 15 years, Bishop McCort advances on to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals with an opportunity to advance to their 12th trip to the Penguins Cup.

Penn Trafford 5 Kiski 3 - DELMONT Kiski [20-1-0] entered the first round of the Penguins Cup playoffs after defeating Baldwin 7-6 on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers play in the Open Division and will continue in the Open Playoffs regardless of the outcome of tonight’s contest. Penn Trafford [16-6-0] has captured three straight division titles and has also been bounced from the playoffs for three consecutive years by Bethel Park, who interestingly enough could match up for a 4th consecutive year in the playoffs as the Hawks are the # 4 seed and the Warriors are the # 5 seed in the Class AAA playoffs Penn Trafford didn’t take long to get on the board as B.J. Zagorac pounced on a Chris Cerutti rebound at 13:06 to give PT a 1-0 lead. Kiski got their first opportunity on the power play and Cerutti strip the puck from the defenseman and raced 120 feet and buried a backhand past Luke Mohamed with 7:49 remaining for a 2-0 Warrior lead. Kiski could not score on a 5 on 3 power play. On to the second period and with the Cavaliers on the power play, PT struck again as Garrett Sodrosky appeared to score another shorthanded goal for the Warriors although Chris Cerutti was announced as the goal scorer at 14:52. Then this contest took a wild turn as Jeremy Zvonkovich scored on the power play which appeared to be re-directed into the goal with a skate, but the referee awarded the goal making it 3-1 in favor of PT with 14:28 to go in the 2nd. Chris Cerutti argued the call and was given a ten minute misconduct penalty. Kiski found momentum and new life in this game and the Warriors were now backpeddling and Josh Horvath made them pay for it just 23 seconds after the misconduct by beating Joel Sterniak on a rebound high over the stick side to cut the lead to 3-2 with 14:05 remaining in the 2nd. Just 28 seconds later, the Cavaliers struck again as Adam Bowman scored on a wrist shot and at 13:37 making it 3 goals in less than a minute and a 3-3 hockey game. With 11:07 remaining in the middle period, Kiski went on a 5 on 3 power play and the Warriors penalty killers Nick Whaley and Erik Likar did a tremendous job killing off the disadvantage. With 4:33 remaining in the period, Jeremy Zvonkovich had a great opportunity to give his team the lead by Joel Sterniak got a glove on it keeping the puck out. Luke Mohamed made two nice saves on Sidle at 4:01 and Chris Cerutti at 2:47 to keep the game tied. Cerutti would strike on the power play with just 37 seconds left in the period as he beat Mohamed on a backhand to give Penn Trafford a 4-3 lead. After PT’s Dan Sidle and Kiski’s Dustin Schrecongost engaged in a quarrel on the ice and were given 10 minute misconducts, they continued the fights near the locker room area and Sidle and Cerutti headed off to the Penguin’s Hornet Reindeer practice and potentially watched their high school careers end if Kiski could mount a comeback. But its would be the other Penn Trafford players who would step up and win this hockey game as Joel Sterniak stopped the Cavaliers chances in the third period. Erik Likar and freshman Robbie Maier provided a solid defensive effort and Nick Whaley played both ends of the ice including a huge insurance goal with 5:53 remaining on a great individual effort as he got his own rebound and beat Luke Mohamed and made the final count 5-3. For Kiski, a valiant effort and now they can go back to playing in the Open Division, but they should have played AAA all season and maybe they could be moving on, but it will be Penn Trafford moving forward to play in the Elite 8 for the 3rd straight year.