Archbishop Ryan Raiders

NEVILLE ISLAND - South Park Larry Locante could not have scripted a start to the 2004-2005 season much better than the Eagles 3-0-0 start, most notably, with wins over Kittanning and Somerset. SP has done it with scoring from a lot of different players, played some pretty solid defense and been the recipient of some consistent goaltending from Shane Bickar. Conversely, Montour coach Dan Siegel may have wondered where his team has gone as the expectations of a great season for his club echoed through the pre-season and seemed to be just a formality. The reality is the Spartans were defeated by Greensburg CC and Indiana in their first two games before rebounding against a very weak opponent in Johnstown. Montour would face a must win situation against an undefeated South Park team and maybe this would be the motivation that Montour needed to get back to work and implement their hard working reputation. The first period was well played on both sides as Montour’s Aaron Williams and South Park’s Shane Bickar traded several key saves in the opening ten minutes. Montour had the best chance of the opening period to take the lead as Dan Shiwarski drilled a shot which hit the crossbar, but Shiwarski disagreed raising his arms and the goal was waived off and play kept going at 5:22. South Park would strike first as Tommy Vaughn scored on a wrist shot to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 2:03. Montour almost tied the game on the power play at 12:21, but Zach Perry was robbed on a diving stop by Shane Bickar. The Eagles were whistled for a penalty after the stoppage, putting the Spartans on a 5 on 3 advantage. Montour finally broke through at 8:04 of the middle period, as Joe Clarke scored on a nice passing play with linemates Ross Polk and Chad Talotta to even the score at one apiece. The Spartans gained the lead as Zach Perry walked off the far boards and buried a wrist high over the stick side of Shane Bickar at 1:39 to give Montour a 2-1 lead. The turning point of this hockey game came with just 23 seconds left as South Park looked to tie the game in the period’s final minute as Tim Ryan drove to the net. A big collision ensued and Ryan fell on top of Aaron Williams, who was injured and taken off on a stretcher. The leading scorer for the Eagles, Ryan was given a penalty on the play, which could have gone either way. The Spartans would never look back in the third period as just as the penalty was ending, Mario Panucci found the puck at the top of the circles in the South Park defensive zone, beat a SP defenseman and made his wrist shot count through the 5-hole for a huge insurance goal at 13:37 and a 3-1 Montour lead. It would get better for the Spartans at 8:37 as Ross Polk found the net on a great feed from linemate Chad Talotta and a close game now was a 4-1 Spartan lead. Kevin Bishop closed out the South Park frustration with a power play goal with just 59 seconds remaining and an impressive 5-1 victory for Montour.

Many of you have been following the progress of Pennsylvania Hockey Interscholastic since its inception in December 2000. From the dog days of spreadsheets with scores going up to our 'up to the Minute Midnight Madness' feature and all of the Gingerbread of the Pa Hockey Website. So born out our ongoing pursuit of covering and promoting the great sport of Interscholastic Hockey Statewide in the Commonwealth is a new technology on the horizon. An exhibition game....a conversation....a presentation....a new relationship with some great innovative guys from BX Video...Pa Hockey is NOW and FOREVER on the forefront of coverage of the sport and bringing it into your home for your pleasure ! November 15th , 2004....Remember this day because it is THE DAY of the beginning of the Pa Hockey Network ! Sure, we've shot some videos with play-by-play and sold them, but THIS IS A FIRST.....so sit back and click and WATCH AND LISTEN as PA Hockey comes into your office.... your home .....your school or wherever you may be on the planet ! Along with long time Central Catholic coach Kevin Zielmanski we called the game and BX Video brought us the technology to bring to you a Class A Pa Hockey game between Sewickley Academy and Forest Hills. Watch it and let us know what you think.....it will be archived in the Team Websites section of Forest Hills and Sewickley Academy .............and it is the beginning of the PA Hockey Network ! Click on the Sewickley Academy logo

CORAOPOLIS – Quaker Valley ended the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs with a disappointing loss to Somerset and the losses of several key players cast an uncertain future for QV. The pipeline for Kevin Quinn still looked pretty good coming into this season with several proven freshman from the amateur level and a proven scorer in Furman South, who was mysteriously absent from QV’s biggest game of this early season after two easy blowouts in their opening two tilts. Serra Catholic has won 4 out of the last 5 Penguins Cups and head coach Tom Mooney is pinching himself these days as the Eagles have gone from their customary 12 or 13 players on the bench to a full squad. For all the people who cry foul, many of them needed to attend this game and watch the ‘old guard’ Serra players of Justin Lubasch, Joey Manning and Josh Jones mentoring the newest Eagles how it’s supposed to be done. And believe me these new Eagles are fast learners, which translates into the FACT that Serra has excellent coaching and a very disciplined system of how to win. So # 1 vs # 2 would be contested or would it be? The Eagles started out with their normal feeling out process defensively in their own end, but Quaker Valley could not create any solid scoring chances. Mike Ellis held the puck in at the left point and fired a bullet, which Aaron Nolte tipped past Zac Zinger to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 11:56. Just 52 seconds later, with the Eagles shorthanded, Joey Manning show the patience of a surgeon as he held onto to the puck what seemed forever before moving it to the net where Josh Werner crashed and scored and Serra was quickly ahead 2-0 at 11:04. Eagle netminder Nick Koroly did his best Timmy Johnson impression as he stopped QV freshman Tim Hall at 9:22 and Kelly Elson at 6:20. After a questionable icing with under a minute to play in the 1st, Tim Hall made a great play off the faceoff, side stepping the Serra center and moving the puck to the net where a wide open Jason Burress popped home a rebound to cut the lead to 2-1 with just 17 seconds left in the opening period. Momentum is a big factor in big games and early in the second after Nick Koroly robbed Tim Hall from point blank range, it looked like QV was mounting a comeback. The very next shift was when Serra took control of this hockey game as Justin Lubasch, Philip Ivkovich, Steven Gruhalla and Josh Jones controlled the Quaker zone for well over a minute and put Quaker Valley on their heels. Josh Jones made a great play as the Serra defenseman walked off the far board and buried a snap shot through the 5-hole of Zac Zinger to make it 3-1 at 10:46. QV came back as Mikail Lemieux, took a great pass from Hall and scored low on the ice to cut the advantage to 3-2 at 8:22. The big goal in this game came at the eight minute mark as Bryan Hickey would not be denied scoring on a second rebound after a great save by Zinger to make it 4-2 Eagles. Quaker Valley seemed to deflate and Serra was the opportunist as Justin Lubasch added goals with 6:39 and just 35 seconds left in the second period to turn this one into a Serra rout through two periods. Championship teams know how the put the exclamation point in statement games and Serra wanted to send a little message to Class A teams that the Penguins Cup in theirs until someone knocks them off and the third period was a prime example as Joey Manning scored on a wrist shot at 14:06 and set up Justin Lubasch on a great play late in the final period to mark an impressive 8-2 thrashing of a very good Quaker Valley team, who should be one of the Eagles biggest threats in Class A.