Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Greensburg – Penn Trafford and Franklin Regional is not yet hockey a rivalry which is the stature of a Meadville – Cathedral Prep or Fox Chapel – Central Catholic or Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon or Bishop McCort – Westmont Hilltop, but given the recent rise in the PT program via their first ever division championship in 2004 and overtaking FR to do it, I think things could heat up quickly for the two Center Ice Arena tenants. The Panthers and Warriors both navigated nicely through the preliminary rounds of the Greensburg CC Invitational with 5-0 records and both gained the final with 5-0 victories over Fox Chapel and Plum, respectively. Penn Trafford has been very impressive over the past few years offensively, but it is the defensive effort that has Western Pa buzzing about the Warriors, who shut down Fox Chapel and Plum in recent games. Franklin Regional, on the other hand, has been a pleasant surprise under Jim Daugherty, and looks to be a very hard working and well balanced team. The first period was Penn Trafford on the attack outshooting Franklin 12-6 in the opening period. Franklin looked to build some momentum late in a the period by killing off a 5 on 3 as Adam Treml made several good saves to keep the game scoreless. The Panthers went on the power play early in the 2nd period, but their advantage was killed by an ill-advised interference call in the offensive end of the rink. Penn Trafford wasted no time taking advantage of this sudden turn of events as Chris Cerutti re-directed a Kyle Sidle feed high over the glove side of Treml for a 1-0 Warrior lead with 11:20 left. A little over two minutes later, Sidle found Nick Whaley open in the slot and all of the sudden Penn Trafford had built a 2-0 advantage with 9:11 left. The Warriors were not done as Whaley won a faceoff to the left of Treml, beat his man and slipped a backhand just inside the post at 8:26 for a 3 goal outburst in less than three minutes. Franklin threw 15 shots at Joel Sterniak, but could not capitalize and PT held a 3-0 lead at the end of two. On to the third period and the game took on a chippy flavor as both teams engaged in some chatting and a little extra stick work. Chris Cerutti would put an exclamation point on this game as he scored on a backhand in traffic from between the circles on the power plat at 8:36 of the third period making the final 4-0 in favor of the Warriors. PT’s Joel Sterniak shut the door frustrating the Panthers by stopping all 31 shots and posting a shutout for the 2004 Greensburg CC Invitational champion Penn Trafford Warriors.

St Margaret's Fall Face-Off @ BladeRunners - Harmarville October 11-14, 2004 Final ~ North Allegeny 4 Plum 2 Consolation Game ~ Fox Chapel 4 Pine Richland 1 Semi-Finals ~ Plum 4 Fox Chapel 2 Semi-Finals ~ North Allegheny 4 Franklin Regional 1 Consolation Round ~ Shaler 3 Hampton 1 Consolation Round ~ Pine Richland 5 Central Catholic 4 [2 OT] First Round Plum 5 Hampton 4 North Allegheny 4 Pine Richland 1 Franklin Regional 3 Central Catholic 2 Fox Chapel 8 Shaler 2 ***CLICK ON THE LOGO FOR THE COMPLETE SCHEDULE AND HISTORY OF THE FALL FACE-OFF AND GAME SUMMARIES FOR SEMI-FINAL AND FINAL STORIES ***

The POLLS are now closed and the results are in !!! Pa Hockey rankings of Top 8 in Class AAA, AA and A and previews of each team are here.......the Pre-Season Elite 8 and the stories are now available on Pa Hockey !

2004 St Margarets Fall Face-Off Consolation Game ~ Fox Chapel 4 Pine Richland 1 Fox Chapel bounced back from their Semi-Final loss to Plum with a 4-1 victory over Pine Richland. Matt Quigley scored all 4 Foxes goals and Brandon Beall was outstanding between the pipes for FC stopping 36 of 37 shots from the Rams, who outshot Fox Chapel 37-21. PR’s Phil Trombetta broke Beall’s shutout bid with 3:01 left in the 2nd period with a shorthanded goal. 2004 St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off Championship ~ North Allegheny 4 Plum 2 North Allegheny entered a record 6th St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off final, including the 4th consecutive year, which is exactly half of the 12 years of the event. Their opponent Plum, a surprise to many, who upended Fox Chapel in Tuesday’s semi-final with an impressive defensive effort led by goaltender Brandon King and stalwart defenseman Phil Mains. The Mustangs and Tigers would be a rematch of the 2003 final in which NA outlasted Plum 2-1 in four overtimes. North Allegheny took the play to Plum in the opening period with an assault on King and the Mustangs with a 1-5 shot advantage. Brandon Lied opened the scoring with a bank shot off the Mustang netminder at 8:47 for a 1-0 lead. NA’s Garrett Waldschmidt took a beautiful feed from Derek Rusbarsky and buried a wrist shot with 2:47 left in the opening period to extend the lead to 2-0. The Tigers just kept coming at Plum with relentless fore-checking and Wes Waldschmidt banged home a Brandon Lied rebound and all the sudden NA held a 3-0 lead at the break. On to the second period and the Tigers continued their onslaught on Plum as Matt Pekins bombed a wrist shot high over the glove side of Brandon King and North Allegheny was off and running with a 4-0 lead with 12:19 left in the middle frame. Plum could have loaded up the car and headed over the Hulton Bridge and back up route 909, but Stu Rulnick’s squad is a hardworking group, which never quits. A lazy North Allegheny penalty was the spark the Mustangs needed and Phil Mains converted a great cross ice pass from Jonathon Smith, high over the glove hand side of Jeff Kristan, to put Plum on the board with 8:01 left in the 2nd period. The teams battled into the third period and the Mustangs where looking to cut the lead again, while North Allegheny seemed more interested in just running the clock out. Phil Mains delivered a crunching open ice check on a Tiger forward and David Dincau converted another great pass by Jonathon Smith at 5:57 on the same shift to cut the advantage to 4-2. North Allegheny would shut the door the rest of the way and Tom Pandolfo’s Tigers would claimed their 2nd straight St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off and 3rd in 4 years. The Champions of the St Margaret’s Fall Face Off 2003 - North Allegheny Tigers [defeated Plum 2-1 (4OT)] 2002 - Franklin Regional Panthers [defeated North Allegheny 6-3] 2001 - North Allegheny Tigers [defeated Hampton 6-2] 2000 - Shaler Titans [defeated Mt Lebanon 8-2] 1999 - Seneca Valley Raiders [defeated North Allegheny ] 1998 - North Allegheny [defeated Pine Richland 2-1] 1997 - Fox Chapel Foxes [defeated Franklin Regional 4-3] 1996 - Fox Chapel Foxes [defeated Franklin Regional 7-4] 1995 - Penn Hills Indians [defeated Shaler 7-2] 1994 - 1993 - Shaler Titans [defeated Fox Chapel 9-3]

2004 St Margarets Fall Face-Off Semi-Final ~ North Allegheny 4 Franklin Regional 1 If the State Finals were held in October, NA may be vying for its unprecedented 34th consecutive Pennsylvania Cup. Head Coach Tom Pandolfo is looking for the NA magic to strike in March. The defending Fall Face-Off champions earned their 4th consecutive trip to the finals with an impressive 4-1 defeat of a very good Franklin Regional team. Matt Pekins scored two power play goals to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead late in the second period. The Panthers cut the lead to 2-1 as Chris Faught scored on a five minute power play. Derek Rusbarsky, who sat out all of last season and the five minute penalty, decided to redeem himself to add insurance with two tallies late in the 3rd period to salt the path for the Tigers to the finals on Thursday at 8:30 at Harmarville. Semi-Final ~ Plum 4 Fox Chapel 2 After Fox Chapel pounded a very inexperienced Shaler team in Monday’s opener 8-2, Head Coach Jim Damp had to be tickled in taking the Foxes vacant coaching position. Division rivals Plum were looking for a return trip to the Fall Face-Off finals after falling to North Allegheny in last years championship in a 5 overtime barnburner. David Dincau opened the scoring for the Mustangs in the middle of the first for a 1-0 lead at the end of one. Fox Chapel’s superstar Matt Quigley arrived just in time to see Phil Mains give Plum a 2-0 lead well into the 2nd period. Jonathon Smith buried a breakaway chance just 48 seconds later after a superb backchecking effort by Dincau, who sent Smith in alone with an equally fine pass at 7:45 for a 3-0 Mustang lead at the end of two. The Mustangs would watch Fox Chapel storm back in the third as Joe Budz slammed home a rebound a little over a minute in the final period. Dincau capped a big game with his second goal from just in front to extend the lead with 10:32 remaining. Kyle Misour would close out the scoring as the Fox Chapel forward beat Brandon King on an impossible angle to make the final score 4-2 and a trip for Plum to the finals for the 2nd consecutive year. Consolation Round Shaler 3 Hampton 0 After being throttled by Fox Chapel in the opener, the Titans responded with a better effort as goaltenders Ben Burns and Nick Bennardo stopped 35 of 36 shots in a 3-1 victory over Hampton. Al Gore, Bob Snyder and freshman Brian Ulanowicz scored for Shaler. Pine Richland 5 Central Catholic 4 [2 OT] A young Central Catholic showed resilience as they fought back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game late in the 3rd period. Pine Richland’s Josh Fodor had other ideas ending the game late in the 2nd overtime period for a 5-4 Ram victory and a spot against Fox Chapel in Thursday’s Consolation game.