Archbishop Ryan Raiders

MEADVILLE - Mt Lebanon entered the House of Chills as the # 1 ranked team in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll and have gone unchallenged in the opening three games waltzing through Central Catholic, Cathedral Prep and Gateway by a combined score of 21-2. So Coach Paul ‘the professor’ Taibi knew a little stiffer test awaited the untested Blue Devils in Meadville in a match-up of two of the pre-seasons top teams. Meadville has not been as convincing defeating McDowell, Seneca Valley and Baldwin but dropped a 2-1 decision to Penn Trafford in the games final 1:18 for a 3-1-0 record. The Bulldogs also know that this contest will be a barometer for its club going forward if its hopes to compete for the Penguins Cup in March. Head Coach Jamie Plunkett’s teams usually peak in time for the playoffs, which does not underestimate the importance of this game in the final standings for seeding 1-5 in the playoffs, which is critical for home ice advantage in rounds one and two and matches lesser opponents in those rounds. Mt Lebanon 1-0 1st period as Jon Wilen scored on the power play as Tyler ‘the Terminator’ Murovich and Josh ‘they are finally letting play’ Mandic at 6:20 of the opening period. Meadville tied the game as Casey Rogers unleashed a slapshot just inside the post past Matt Vaughn with 2:32 remaining in the opening period. A very evenly played first period saw both teams register 6 shots on Vaughn and the Bulldogs Brian Danczak. The Blue Devils took the lead with 11:32 remaining in the 2nd as Josh Mandic one-timed a Tyler Murovich cross ice pass on the power play that beat Brian Danczak high over the glove hand side. Mt Lebanon pressed the attack late in the second period but Brian Danczak kept the goals out and the teams went to the ice cut with the Blue Devils held a 2-1 lead. Coach Paul Taibi was looking to play defensive in third period, but took it to the extreme as assistant coaches Dave ‘the Milk Man’ Dorsey and Bobby ‘Who’s Who’ Montana locked Tyler Murovich and Josh Mandic in the locker room. Fortuntely, ‘the Terminator’ had his cell phone and called the Bat Phone to summon Professor of Egyptology King Tut fka Bob Sebastian representing the ‘Concerned Citizens of Mt Lebanon’ to fetch the key and release the young men to return to play at 14:32. At 13:36, Danczak robbed Jon Wilen from point blank range to keep it a 2-1 game. The Bulldogs had an early season mental mistake at 9:36 wit h a too many men on the ice penalty giving the Blue Devils a huge opportunity to go up by two. Brian Danczak came up big on Josh Mandic at 8:57 with a cross crease save. Sean McDermott would get a rise out of the Mt Lebanon faithful and his bench as he pounced on Shane Ferguson rebound to give Lebo a 3-1 lead. Meadville showed their frustration by taking another penalty and again in was McDermott who finished Josh Mandic pass at 6:39 and all the sudden in a little over two minutes a tight 2-1 contest was now a 4-1 Mt Lebanon advantage. At 4:08, Meadville etched a little closer as Mike Noonan beat the Mt Lebanon defense and deked Matt Vaughn to pull the Dawgs to within 4-2. Meadville started to mount a little pressure on Mt Lebanon in the waning moments of the third period prompting Meadville to pull the goalie with 1:40 to play. Shane Ferguson warmed up the bus with an empty netter with 31 ticks remaining for a convincing 5-2 victory for the Blue Devils.

The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey team fell to Greensburg Central Catholic Thursday night 3-1 at the Kirk Nevin Rink in Greensburg. Adam Rusiewicz had the lone goal for the night at 11:30 in the third period unassisted. Mike Kennedy stopped 28 of 31 shots by the Centurians, while Indiana had 27 shots on goal. Greeansburg CC Ryan Homanics stopped 26 of 27 Indiana shots and got scoring from Evan George in the 2nd Period at 4:33 and two goals in the 3rd period from Alfonso Arevalo at 8:36 and again at 6:04 for a 3-0 Centurian advantage. Marc Perez picked up two assists for GCC. Thank you to Indiana and Greensburg CC for contributing to this report !

Thanks to NA for this report 1 - NA 12:55 Wes Waldschmidt 1 - NA 11:05 Matt Lancaster 2 - NH 3:23 Nick Rostek 2 - NA 1:49 Matt Lancaster 3 - NA 9:41 Dylan Rohar 3 - NH 7:32 David Hansell 3 - NA 6:15 Joe Camut 3 - NH 4:32 David Hansell SHOTS ON GOAL: NA 32 North Hills 17

ERIE - Special Report provided by McDowell Hockey Club Quite often in high school hockey, a coach hopes to win early in the season while his team searches for an identity and they slowly jell into a finely tuned unit. Although the results aren’t always favorable when a team is not clicking on all cylinders, the McDowell Trojan Varsity Hockey team found a way to post a tense 2-1 victory over the Seneca Valley Raiders Thursday night in a PIHL contest played at the Erie Civic Center. The game started out on a slow note as both teams fought for territorial advantage. Seneca Valley speedster Matthew Jarrett sprinted towards the games first scoring opportunity on a partial breakaway early in the game, but Trojan defenseman Andrew Sitek hustled over to make a diving play on the puck at the 9:55 mark. McDowell would counter with a 2 on 1 of their own as Nick DiSanti fed Andy Kohler who’s shot just missed it’s mark at the 8:20 mark. Brandon Oathout would come close to scoring less than a minute later as he made a diving attempt at an open net on a loose rebound but was not able to find paydirt. With the game still scoreless, Seneca Valley would get the first break of the game as the Trojan’s DiSanti was whistled for a high sticking penalty with 5:59 left in the first period. But effective penalty killing by Ed Maras and Andy Kohler kept the Raiders bottled up in their own end. The continued pressure from the forwards would pay off as a hustling Ryan Presnar would scoop up a loose puck at mid-ice and push it up to a streaking Trevor Shaw who blistered a shot past Raider goaltender Nicholas Miller and with 4:23 left in the period, the Trojans assumed the lead thanks to the shorthanded goal. After killing off their second penalty of the period over the last two minutes of the first, McDowell would finally get their first power play opportunity of the night as Seneca Valley captain Kevin Raynovich was sent to the box with one second left in the period. McDowell outshot Seneca Valley in the first stanza by a 9-7 count. McDowell would assume control of the action during the first five minutes of the second period. Sophomore call-up Chris Michalak and team captain Ed Maras would each get off good shots during the power play, but Miller came up big in net each time for Seneca Valley keeping the Raiders to within one goal. Miles Gates would threaten as well, as his big blast from the face-off circle was turned away by Miller at the 12:12 mark. Gates would follow that up with a breakaway opportunity, but his shot on goal with a defender closing in on him sailed just over Miller’s left shoulder and once again the Trojans came up empty. Meanwhile, Trojan goalie John Cleary would also come up big with tough saves at the 9:26 mark and one on a lightning quick shot off of a face-off at the 8:49 mark. Raynovich had a golden opportunity to tie the game for the Raiders as he stole the puck at the blue line and walked in all alone on big John. But Cleary’s save at the 3:43 mark kept Seneca Valley off the board once again and seemed to throw a spark back into the Trojan attack. McDowell would maintain good pressure in the offensive zone over the last three minutes of the period, and would eventually capitalize as Shaw’s shot from the blueline which created a mad scramble for the rebound in front of the goal crease as Matt Stahon and Brandon Oathout would take swatting at the puck. But it was Chris Michalak who was at the right place at the right time as he slid the puck past Miller at the 2:09 mark to give McDowell a 2-0 lead and a little breathing room heading into the final period. McDowell carried the play most of the period and once again outshot Seneca Valley 11-8. The Raiders would show no quit at the outset of the third period as Jarrett sparked a comeback with his hustle on a rush up ice that led to a shot that Cleary was able to save. But Joe Sasala crashed the net hard and poked in the rebound just 2:12 into the third period, and the Raiders were back to within 2-1. McDowell would counter with great scoring opportunities of their own as Gates would fire a shot into the chest of Miller on a breakaway at the 11:54 mark and would just miss on a rush to the net less than 30 seconds later. Seneca Valley’s Michael McChesney fired a one-timer at Cleary, but the Trojan backstop came up big once again at the 8:53 mark. McDowell would have the next scoring threat in the see-saw affair as Stahon’s shot on net was gobbled up by Michalak off the rebound and fired just high of the net at the 4:37 mark. That was followed by Trojan defenseman Dan Gott’s blast from the blue line that hit the post and ricocheted wide at the 3:43 mark. Seneca Valley’s John Raymus later found himself all alone with the puck in front of the net, but two Trojan defenders quickly converged on him thwarting his attempt to tie the contest with 3:18 left in the game. McDowell came right back as Gates circled from behind the Raiders net and let loose with a shot that deflected high in the air. Jimmy Martin was able to glove the loose puck and get it to the blade of his stick, but the Raider goaltender was in position to make a big save on Martin’s shot. Despite pulling their goalie with 1:17 left in the game, Seneca Valley was not able to beat Cleary the rest of the way and the Trojans would hold on for the 2-1 victory. McDowell outshot Seneca Valley10-6 in the final period and 30-21 for the game. The Trojans evened their PIHL record at 1-1 while Seneca Valley opens up league play with an 0-1 record. Shots On Goal: Seneca Valley / 7 - 8 - 6 = 21 McDowell / 9 - 11 - 10 = 30

CANONSBURG – Special Report by Pa Hockey When we last left Montour and Canon McMillan, each team was smouldering over narrow playoff losses. The Spartans fell in overtime to Chartiers Valley, which was easily the upset of the 2005 AA playoffs. Coach Dan Siegel’s club won a Division Championship, but the loss meant the graduation of several key players, which would mean a new group of Spartans led by Zach Perry will have to pick up the slack. Canon McMillan’s Penguins Cup semi-final appearance and loss to ultimate State Champions Peters Twp left a bad taste in many of the Big Macs mouths and did not satisfy head coach Dave Fryer, who felt his team was destined for a State Championship. CM returns some very solid offensive performers in Justin Cormack and Jesse Patnesky, but goaltending will have to there should this team has playoff aspirations While everyone was focused on the final result of the 2004-2005 season, I would like to recall some unfinished business in the form of a late season game between the two clubs at Neville Island Sports Center, where the teams battled to a 4-4 tie in a game that was curfewed leaving both teams flabbergasted as to why they couldn’t finish it. That was the last time these two teams met and frankly was the last great game either team played in the 2004-2005 season. What could have been a momentum builder in to the playoffs, became an asterisk on the scoresheet for a league, which compiled plenty of them throughout the season and during the playoffs and floods Gotham City with plenty of crime. After finding one of the final parking spaces in Canonsburg, not to be confused with the ‘Canonball’ [may it rest in piece], we set off into the Iceoplex to find a seat in the jammed packed arena with the ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ and Robin the Boy Wonder’s ‘Concerned Citizens of Canon McMillan’. With Music, pre-game Division Banners ceremonies, tailgate parties and the inability to find a plug to turn on the Bat Computer, we would have to rely on battery power from the Utility Belt to bring you all of the action. At 13:04 of the first period, Montour netminder freshman Matt Skoff stopped CM’s Justin Cormack, who broke around the Montour defense for the game’s first chance. Montour would strike first as at the 10:00 mark, Paul Ciotti played bumper pool to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead, on a shot that fooled goaltender Mike O’Neill and trickled past him. Montour continued the pressure on CM with a flurry of shots at around the 7minute mark, but O’Neill was equal to the task. The Big Macs struggled in their own end in the first period, but held off the Spartans keeping the 1-0 score in tact. With just :58 seconds remaining in the opening period, Canon McMillan was buzzing as Nick Cusilito and Justin Cormack dug the puck free and Jesse Patnesky was there for a tap-in to tie the score at one apiece. On to the second and at 13:39 of the period on the power play, the Spartans displayed some real nice puck movement and Zach Perry blasted a snapshot on a one-timer off an Aaron Siegel cross-ice feed to give Montour a 2-1 lead. Canon Mac had an early season mental mistake as they were caught with too many men on the ice at 6:31, giving the Black and Gold a chance to go up by two. CM’s Kyle Harnen had a great chance on a partial break at 5:19, but Matt Skoff cut down the angle and made a big save. Then the Spartans made them pay at 4:46 as Zach Perry went upstairs over the shoulder of O’Neill to make it a 3-1 hockey game, which Montour took to the ice cut. At 11:39 of the third period, Adam Rizza was parked out in front and took a pass from Josh Spano and burieda a snapshot past O’Neill for a hug insurance tally and a 4-1 lead for the Spartans. With 7:45 remaining, Justin Cormack broke down the off wing and Matt Skoff said no. Canon Mac went on the power play with 5:03 remaining to try a last ditch effort to get back in the game and with 4:03 left Justin Cormack finally solved Skoff skating around the zone and then down the middle of the ice blasting a slapshot high over the glove side to cut the lead to 4-2. With 2:20 remaining, the Big Macs went back on the power play, but the Spartans would shut the door for a 4-2 opening night victory.