Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

HARMARVILLE - 2005 Penguins Cup AA Semi-Finals Pine Richland has a long history in high school hockey in Western Pennsylvania and has been very successful recently with twelve consecutive winning campaigns from 1993 to present. The period from 1996 thru 2001 saw the Rams contend for the Penguins Cup at the Class A level to the move to Class AA twice ... in 1996, losing to Bishop McCort at the then Civic Arena 2-1 and again in 2001 to Beaver 4-1 at the Cambria County War Memorial, as both teams they fell to went on to win their respective State Championships. Coach Jimmy Black has big aspirations for Richland and he is excited about the depth in the program at the lower levels and their would be no time like the present to show it off as the Ram lineup has only 3 seniors and is loaded with half a team of sophomores and freshman including two players, sophomores Tommy DiDinato and Phil Trombetta, who are turning their play up a notch along with Junior Josh Fodor and could make the future the present in a hurry. So a short drive down Route 910 could an indirect route to Mellon Arena, but a necessary step is to go through Indiana, who the Rams have split with during the regular season trading 4-1 road wins. Indiana is a team who could write the book on the school of hard knocks in the Penguins Cup playoffs as the Indians have lost in heartbreaking fashion including last years Penguins Cup to Peters and in 2002 and in 1996 to Greensburg CC. The sympathetic Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel has traveled all the way from Indiana and could be seen rolling around in the parking lot in anticipation of a double feature including the Indiana nemesis Peters Twp in the nightcap. Head coach Dom Glavech just keeps coming back for more and after Indiana’s miracle finish last week in overcoming an upset minded Elizabeth Forward squad 3-2 with a goal in overtime after Cory Mills tied the contest late in the game. So will the Indians atone for their shortcomings in the Penguins Cup playoffs, one thing I know is that they like their chances more now than they did with about three minutes left in the EF game and sometimes comebacks like those propel a team to never look back, which will be interesting to watch against Pine Richland. The early part of the was uneventful and Indiana brought their faithful to their feet at 8:25 as Adam Rusiewicz threw a harmless shot to the net which eluded Tommy Zajac to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. Pine Richland came right back as Josh Fodor beat the Indian defense to the puck and found a wide open Tommy DiDinato in front of an open net at 7:48 and the game was tied at one apiece. The Rams nearly took the lead at 7:03 in a big scramble in front , but came right back to take the lead as Phil Trombetta flew down the left side and unleashed a wicked shot low inside the post to give the Rams a 2-1 lead at 6:17. Indiana was in a little trouble and found themselves shorthanded at 5:22 and a 12-5 shot disadvantage, but the Indians killed the penalty and could think about re-grouping only down one. Pine Richland went back on the power play and Tommy DiDinato found himself alone again with the puck at its feet with :53 seconds left and turned and fired an off speed shot through the 5 hole of Mike Kennedy for a 3-1 Pine Richland lead at the end of one. Indiana started the 2nd with the power play and Michael Jack delivered with a blistering slapshot past Tommy Zajac at 13:53 to pull within one. Moments later Phil Patterson and a host of Indians had several cracks at a tie game but Zajac came up big at 13:08. Phil Trombetta was robbed by Kennedy at the 10:42 to keep it 3-2. At 6:56, as we said in the outset the continuing maturation of the Rams kept going as Phil Trombetta buried an overpowering wrist shot high over the glove side of Mike Kennedy at 6:52 for a 4-2 Pine Richland lead. Then it was Josh Fodor’s turn as he turned on the jets and beat Kennedy on the forehand with 5:55 remaining for a commanding 5-2 Ram lead. Indiana went on a near need power play with 2:57 left in the 2nd period and PR did a real nice job keeping the scoring chances for the Indians to a minimum taking a 5-2 lead to the final period of regulation. On to the third we went and Indiana was now in a real big hole and the Rams would be content with leaving them in there for another 15 minutes and continue their excellent team defense that yielded only 17 shots thru two periods. The leader of the defensive charge was the captain Josh Fodor, who was the one making the smart plays and the one making the simple plays and having said that coach Jimmy Black called a timeout with 7:01 remaining to remind his guys to get it deep, keep three guys high and bury any chances. With 4:30 left, Tommy DiDinato intercepted a pass and could not beat Kennedy, but he didn’t need to as his club had a three goal advantage and just needed to kill the clock. The Rams only yielded three shots in the third period and played textbook defense. But what happened next was not good unless you are Indiana. The PR defense played too much with the puck and Cory Mills made them pay soaring in on a breakaway and beating Zajac with 4:16 left to cut the score to 5-3 with now a lot of time left. The Rams made a fundamental error with 2:47 left and put Indiana on the power play called for too many men on the ice. The Indiana season went down in flames with 48 left as Josh Fodor drew a penalty with a 5-3 lead and the Rams were on their way to the Penguins Cup Class AA championship next Wednesday at Mellon Arena for the first time since 2001.

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class AA Canon McMillan has come to the Penguins Cup semi-finals as the # 1 seed in this years Class AA playoffs with a 20-1-2 including last weeks win over Chartiers Valley 5-2 in their playoff opener. The Big Macs have been rated # 1 in the state of Pennsylvania for most of the 2nd half of the season and are the team looking for their first trip to the Penguins Cup in their brief 12 year history. CM has all the stars aligned to do it and but as they were prior to the season nobody has picked the Big Macs to do anything and they still have more doubters than anyone, but coach Dave Fryer believes, as do his players and the big throng of Canon Mac fans who made the trip ‘cross town to Harmarville. Peters Twp on the other hand is the wild card in the playoffs mainly because the Indians have won three straight Penguins Cups and they are the champions until someone beats them. After ending the Big Macs unbeaten season in February, many installed Peters as favorites to win the Penguins Cup again. Coach Mark Cooper loves the underdog role and when he turned his teams jerseys over in the third period of the last regular season game against bitter rival Thomas Jefferson, many called it bush league, but I call it a coach trying to get his teams attention, which has helped in rounds one in a win over South Park 7-4 and again in round two in a hard fought 2-1 triumph over a very good Greensburg CC squad. I think Coop should have his team’s full attention as they enter the Penguins Cup semis and have a chance for a 4th straight title, even though his star goalie was possibly stuck in traffic? At 7:59 of the first period Peters went on the power play and Jeff Hannan started where he left off in the last win over Canon McMillan 4-2 at 7:08 of the first as he wheeled out of the far corner and beat Drew Stanton low to the stick side to give PT a 1-0 lead. Then with 4:48 left in the first period, Drew brother Doug Stanton found a bouncing puck of a Justin Cormack rebound and deposited into the net past Justin Mahramas to tie the score 1-1. At 4:19 of the opening period, the Big Macs went on the power play with a chance to take the lead and Adam Harnen had a chance but Jake Machel made a nice defensive play to tie his man up. After Jeff Hannan missed a breakaway, Canon Mac came back and took the lead at 2:18 as Doug Stanton scored on the rebound to give CM a 2-1 lead and held an 11-5 shot advantage after one. In the 2nd period, CM went on the power play and had several near misses early but it was the pass at 13:08 by Justin Cormack on the back door for a tap in to Jesse Patnesky to give the Macs a 3-1 lead. Then at 8:26, Eric Lang wound up and buried a slapshot which beat Justin Mahramas, who could only fell helpless as the Big Macs no were up 4-1 and in command causing a timeout for coach Cooper, with CM holding a 19-7 shot advantage. At 5:58 Rob Madore entered the game between the after attending Mr Haney’s Bizare in Pixley with his team down 4-1 and his team responded as Gerry Raymond blistered a slapshot over the glove of Drew Stanton at 4:49. And just like that just 4:38, just 11 seconds later, Dustin Roux scored on a loose puck on the backhand and we now had a 4-3 game. So Coop calls a timeout, Madore shows, Peters scores twice all in three minutes and forty eight seconds and was coincidentally not all. The other side was that Canon McMillan had NO shots and their lead had evaporated and their fans were silenced by a miraculous turn of events. Bryan Papciak continued driving the playoff bus as he stuffed home a shot inside the skate of Drew Stanton and the game was tied at 4-4 with 2:19 left in the 2nd and we headed to the final period of regulation with the shots 20-13, but more importantly 6-1 in favor of the Indians in the final 8 ½ minutes of the period. At 12:06 of the third period, Peters Twp. Made it official as Gerry Raymond scored on a wraparound to give the Indians a 5-4 lead. At 11:02, Matt Lazzaro was stopped by Drew Stanton and then it was Chris Papiak robbed moments later. Canon Mac came back and Rob Madore made his first key save at 10:36 on Doug Stanton to keep it a one goal game 5-4 in favor of PT. Then at 9:32, the drive from Neville Island became even more interesting as Madore gloved a Justin Cormack wrist shot. Then at the 9 minute Doug Stanton’s chance was kept out by Madore, who had been perfect to this point. The Big Macs went on the power play on the play with a chance to tie it and PT killed it off led by their goaltender. So as we entered the final 6 + minutes, the game was in the balance and with the game on the line there is one name that has become a trademark in clutch scoring as Bryan Papciak outfought the CM defense and fed freshman brother Chris Papciak who made it look easy chipping the puck over Drew Stanton with 5:08 remaining and giving thoughts of elimination in the heads of the Big Macs as Peters took a 6-4 lead. And Madore, who has been much maligned for his play with his travel team would be the difference pitching a shutout in relief and another trip back to the Penguins Cup for 4th consecutive year and another chance to go back to the State Championship to win their 3rd PA Cup in 4 years.

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals – Class A Serra Catholic dominated the 2004-2005 season from the outset running off a 19 game winning streak until falling to Bishop McCort and Quaker Valley in the seasons final month. Coach Tom Mooney’s Eagles captured the # 1 seed in the Class A playoffs, which is very important mainly to avoid Quaker Valley and Bishop McCort until the finals resulting in a pretty easy path to the finals including facing an under .500 opponent in the 2nd round and getting the # 4 or 5 seed in the Semi-finals. Serra is no stranger to the Penguins Cup as the Eagles have competed for the Class A crown for the past five years, winning it on 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, with three Pennsylvania State Championships in the first three years. Last years loss to Radnor, may still sting for the veterans like Justin Lubash, Joey Manning, Ray Gillis and Josh Jones among others and this gives the Eagles an added incentive to get back to the finals in Hershey. The experience of being part of the process over the past five plus years has helped them be able to handle just about any situation, but motivation by the loss to Radnor and the 2003 Penguins Cup final fall to Westmont may be just enough to spur this group of the ‘Eagles’ back to the title game in Hershey. Conversely, Sewickley Academy is just happy to be here, I mean happy their program has been through the ringer just to field a team. In 1999, 2001 and 2002, the Panthers played Junior Varsity and finally hit the Varsity level in 2003 with a 6-15-1 mark. The 2004 season was a turnaround for SA as they compiled a 15-7-0 record and recorded their first ever playoff victory. In 2005, further improvement as the Panthers reached new heights with a 16-6-0 record and an unreal 9-0 pasting of Westmont Hilltop in their playoff opener last week. Facing Serra is a different animal for SA as they dropped both decisions this season to the Eagles 9-3 early in the season opener and 10-6 in the last game of the season. So it would be a David and Goliath if you will and part of coach Hoolihan’s pre-game probably speech revolved around the Panthers 4-3 win over Serra at the end of the 2003-2004 season. Needless to say the Sewickley fits the role of a Cinderella team if there ever was one, especially if they pull off which would be one of the great upsets in State Playoff history by beating Serra. It didn’t take long for Serra to strike at 14:38, Steven Gruhalla scored on the wraparound for a 1-0 lead. The Panthers went on the power play at 13:42 with a chance to get back in the game and they did as Conner Blood scored on a long shot through traffic past Nick Koroly 13:14 for a power play goal bringing the intimate gathering of Sewickley fans to their feet with a 1-1 score. At 10:37 Koroly came up big stopping Conner Blood from point blank range. Nick Koroly came up big again at 5:51 on Blood and Brad Watts. At 4:45, the Panther goalkeeper Matt Solter robbed Ray Gillis from right on the doorstep. At 3:21, Josh Jones showed why he is a strong defenseman breaking up a Panther 2 on 1 and Serra went on the power play at 2:58. The Eagles struck right away as Steven Gruhalla scored on the rebound at 2:49. Alec Shannon came right back after Trevor Heck won the faceoff beating Koroly on a wrist shot at 2:38, just 9 seconds after Serra scored. Back came the Eagles at 1:36 as Ray Gillis beat Solter on a slick move to give Serra the lead again 3-2. The big goal came with just 8 ticks left in the period as Josh Jones took a Phil Ivkovich pass and buried low to the stick side for a 4-2 Serra lead after one. At 12:37 of the 2nd, the Panthers came back and pulled within one as Brad Watts scored a knuckleball, which fooled Nick Koroly and tightened the score to 4-3. At 7:39, Serra got too fancy in the offensive zone and turned it over and Alec Shannon raced the loose puck and reeled a shot wide which caromed off the boards and Trevor Heck backhanded past Koroly at 7:39 to tie the game at four apiece. Trevor Heck lit it up at 6:29 as he undressed the Serra defense and beat new goaltender Jeffrey Smaracheck on the backhand to give the Panthers the lead 5-4. At 5:52, Steven Gruhalla picked up the hat trick with a shot just inside the post to tie it at 5-5. With 3:11 left in the 2nd, Serra went on the power play and a chance to get the lead again and they did as Ray Gillis scored on a tip of a Joey Manning shot with 2:51 left to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead on a power play goal. With 1:06 left, Serra Catholic had a prayer answered as Josh Jones scored a 120 icing which bounded past Matt Solter in an unreal change of events as Serra scored three unanswered goals in the final six minutes of the second to take a 7-5 lead into the third. So as Clark Kent, the Serra beat writer for the McKeesport Daily [News] Planet handed coach Tom Mooney some more Kryptonite for the Sewickley goaltending tandem to handle for the third we started it. At 13:45, Phillip Ivkovich got his stick on a puck passed by Aaron Nolte and directed it toward the net and it went in again to make it 8-5. At 13:19, Justin Lubash started the train toward Hershey rolling burying a wrist shot past Jimmy Barbuto to make it 9-5, making the Eagles shooting percentage better than the basketball Pitt Panthers. Our first save of the 3rd came as sopped a record two in a row. Serra was at it again as Ray Gillis completed the hat trick on a nice pass from Gruhalla the hat trick with 8:29 left in regulation to make it 10-5 and six unanswered goals since the Serra goaltending change at :29 of the 2nd. At 6:12, Joey Manning turned it into an 11-5 rout in a game, which was 5-4 in the middle of the second in favor of the Panthers. As I mentioned in the playoff previews, Sewickley would need goaltending and unfortunately for the Panthers, it would be their downfall on their inaugural trip to the Penguins Cup Semis setting up a Bishop McCort – Serra Catholic final and rematch for the 5th year in a row, in which the Eagles have eliminated the Crimson Crushers, three times for the Penguins Cup in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and twice in the semi-final in 2003 and 2004. Sewickley got a little consolation with 3 seconds left to make the final 11-6 as Art Woods scored on a rebound.

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals – Class A The Bishop McCort Hockey program started in 1985 and is the most successful Class A program in State History with five State Championships in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. The Crimson Crushers have been in the Penguins Cup twelve times in 16 years and the program can attribute the family atmosphere of the Blue Line club and the school support as part of the recipe, but the real key has been the continuity at the coaching level with Galen Head and John Bradley, who have been the only head coaches in the organization’s history. McCort has run into a roadblock the past few years in the form of the Serra Catholic Eagles, who have derailed the Crusher train’s plan of State Championships. The Quaker Valley program under their only head coach Kevin Quinn since 1998 at the Varsity level and has built their hockey the right way, which was the vision of Quinn, Cliff Benson, the late Jeff Rader and a handful of Quaker Valley hockey enthusiasts, who formed the program back in 1996 and vowed to do it right and get the Quakers to the Penguins Cup. QV made it to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals a year ago only to fall to Somerset 5-2. The McCort –Quaker Valley matchup was even more interesting with the teams exchanging 2-1 wins on their home ice. What had to be even more appetizing for Quinn was that he would have his full squad for this game, which didn’t happen in the Quakers loss at the War Memorial and give the Quakers an advantage or so it seemed advantage of playing the Crimson Crushers with the full compliment. After McCort controlled the opening minutes, it was Quaker Valley who had the games first legitimate scoring opportunity as freshman Tim Hall undressed the McCort defenseman and tried to slip a backhand past Stenger at 12:50 to no avail. McCort kept up the pressure, but Zac Zinger made several nice stops as the goaltending at both ends was sharp in the opening period. At 2:28 of the first Chad James had a wide open net, but it appeared a QV player may have gotten a stick on it to keep the game scoreless. Then at 1:14 remaining in the first period, the Quakers difference maker Furman South was stationed at the side of the net and found a loose puck and buried it upstairs in the right corner to give QV a 1-0 lead. McCort had an opportunity on a 2 on 1 but Zac Zinger made the save with 10 ticks remaining. Quaker held a 12-11 shot advantage after the opening period. QV went on the power play at 14:02 remaining to open the 2nd with a great opportunity to go up by two. The Quakers seem to have an advantage of controlling the play with the lead in hand and by outskating and outworking Bishop McCort. Furman South had a chance at 9:39 and Ron Stenger made a stick save to keep his team’s deficit at one. At 7:53 of the 2nd, the Quakers committed a sin by taking a penalty in the offensive zone putting the Crushers on the power play. At 6:35 after Zac Seidel missed a golden opportunity, the Crimson Crusher capitalized as Mike Kiely found a rebound and deposited upstairs past Zac Zinger to tie the score at 1-1 for a power play goal. At 3:55 of the 2nd. Ron Stenger made two terrific saves on Furman South and Mikael Lemieux on the rebound. In between periods, we visited with Homer Bedloe [a/k/a Pa Hockey top 5 fan Bob Sebastian], who is still threatening to shut down the Canonball, as for one of these two teams the playoff train to Hershey would come to an end tonight. An inadvertent whistle at 14:40 when Ron Stenger had the puck, but he didn’t fell right on the stick of Furman South for an open pantry and a possible QV lead, but the play was dead, a huge break for McCort. Furman South made great back door pass at 12:23 to a streaking Grant Scott, who labeled a shot for the upper corner and Ron Stenger robbed him with unreal glove save. At 12:04, McCort went on the power play to build off the momentum of the Stenger’s goaltending. Matt Cooper fanned on an open net opportunity at 10:23 and David Champe just missed on a backhand over the crossbar at 9:54. At 9:22, Tim Hall was stoned by Stenger with a skate save. At 8:03, Cory Mock’s shot tumbled wide as Zinger may have had a piece of the rebound as the teams traded chances. Quaker Valley almost took the lead as Wil Forser’s shot with 4:59 left was tipped out of the air by Furman South, but Stenger stopped it. At 4:09, Zac Seidel was the opportunist getting his own rebound and backhanding past a fallen Zac Zinger to give the Crimson Crushers a 2-1 lead. McCort clamped down defensively, but got a little too aggressive resulting in the a power play for the Quakers with 2:42 remaining in regulation and could not score. And with 26 seconds left Marc Domonkos stripped the QV defense of the puck and scored on his own rebound to put the game on ice 3-1 and send the Crimson Crushers to the Penguins Cup again for the first time since 2002. The final shots were 33-27 in favor of Bishop McCort.

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals – Class A Serra Catholic dominated the 2004-2005 season from the outset running off a 19 game winning streak until falling to Bishop McCort and Quaker Valley in the seasons final month. Coach Tom Mooney’s Eagles captured the # 1 seed in the Class A playoffs, which is very important mainly to avoid Quaker Valley and Bishop McCort until the finals resulting in a pretty easy path to the finals including facing an under .500 opponent in the 2nd round and getting the # 4 or 5 seed in the Semi-finals. Serra is no stranger to the Penguins Cup as the Eagles have competed for the Class A crown for the past five years, winning it on 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, with three Pennsylvania State Championships in the first three years. Last years loss to Radnor, may still sting for the veterans like Justin Lubash, Joey Manning, Ray Gillis and Josh Jones among others and this gives the Eagles an added incentive to get back to the finals in Hershey. The experience of being part of the process over the past five plus years has helped them be able to handle just about any situation, but motivation by the loss to Radnor and the 2003 Penguins Cup final fall to Westmont may be just enough to spur this group of the ‘Eagles’ back to the title game in Hershey. Conversely, Sewickley Academy is just happy to be here, I mean happy their program has been through the ringer just to field a team. In 1999, 2001 and 2002, the Panthers played Junior Varsity and finally hit the Varsity level in 2003 with a 6-15-1 mark. The 2004 season was a turnaround for SA as they compiled a 15-7-0 record and recorded their first ever playoff victory. In 2005, further improvement as the Panthers reached new heights with a 16-6-0 record and an unreal 9-0 pasting of Westmont Hilltop in their playoff opener last week. Facing Serra is a different animal for SA as they dropped both decisions this season to the Eagles 9-3 early in the season opener and 10-6 in the last game of the season. So it would be a David and Goliath if you will and part of coach Hoolihan’s pre-game probably speech revolved around the Panthers 4-3 win over Serra at the end of the 2003-2004 season. Needless to say the Sewickley fits the role of a Cinderella team if there ever was one, especially if they pull off which would be one of the great upsets in State Playoff history by beating Serra. It didn’t take long for Serra to strike at 14:38, Steven Gruhalla scored on the wraparound for a 1-0 lead. The Panthers went on the power play at 13:42 with a chance to get back in the game and they did as Conner Blood scored on a long shot through traffic past Nick Koroly 13:14 for a power play goal bringing the intimate gathering of Sewickley fans to their feet with a 1-1 score. At 10:37 Koroly came up big stopping Conner Blood from point blank range. Nick Koroly came up big again at 5:51 on Blood and Brad Watts. At 4:45, the Panther goalkeeper Matt Solter robbed Ray Gillis from right on the doorstep. At 3:21, Josh Jones showed why he is a strong defenseman breaking up a Panther 2 on 1 and Serra went on the power play at 2:58. The Eagles struck right away as Steven Gruhalla scored on the rebound at 2:49. Alec Shannon came right back after Trevor Heck won the faceoff beating Koroly on a wrist shot at 2:38, just 9 seconds after Serra scored. Back came the Eagles at 1:36 as Ray Gillis beat Solter on a slick move to give Serra the lead again 3-2. The big goal came with just 8 ticks left in the period as Josh Jones took a Phil Ivkovich pass and buried low to the stick side for a 4-2 Serra lead after one. At 12:37 of the 2nd, the Panthers came back and pulled within one as Brad Watts scored a knuckleball, which fooled Nick Koroly and tightened the score to 4-3. At 7:39, Serra got too fancy in the offensive zone and turned it over and Alec Shannon raced the loose puck and reeled a shot wide which caromed off the boards and Trevor Heck backhanded past Koroly at 7:39 to tie the game at four apiece. Trevor Heck lit it up at 6:29 as he undressed the Serra defense and beat new goaltender Jeffrey Smaracheck on the backhand to give the Panthers the lead 5-4. At 5:52, Steven Gruhalla picked up the hat trick with a shot just inside the post to tie it at 5-5. With 3:11 left in the 2nd, Serra went on the power play and a chance to get the lead again and they did as Ray Gillis scored on a tip of a Joey Manning shot with 2:51 left to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead on a power play goal. With 1:06 left, Serra Catholic had a prayer answered as Josh Jones scored a 120 icing which bounded past Matt Solter in an unreal change of events as Serra scored three unanswered goals in the final six minutes of the second to take a 7-5 lead into the third. So as Clark Kent, the Serra beat writer for the McKeesport Daily [News] Planet handed coach Tom Mooney some more Kryptonite for the Sewickley goaltending tandem to handle for the third we started it. At 13:45, Phillip Ivkovich got his stick on a puck passed by Aaron Nolte and directed it toward the net and it went in again to make it 8-5. At 13:19, Justin Lubash started the train toward Hershey rolling burying a wrist shot past Jimmy Barbuto to make it 9-5, making the Eagles shooting percentage better than the basketball Pitt Panthers. Our first save of the 3rd came as sopped a record two in a row. Serra was at it again as Ray Gillis completed the hat trick on a nice pass from Gruhalla the hat trick with 8:29 left in regulation to make it 10-5 and six unanswered goals since the Serra goaltending change at :29 of the 2nd. At 6:12, Joey Manning turned it into an 11-5 rout in a game, which was 5-4 in the middle of the second in favor of the Panthers. As I mentioned in the playoff previews, Sewickley would need goaltending and unfortunately for the Panthers, it would be their downfall on their inaugural trip to the Penguins Cup Semis setting up a Bishop McCort – Serra Catholic final and rematch for the 5th year in a row, in which the Eagles have eliminated the Crimson Crushers, three times for the Penguins Cup in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and twice in the semi-final in 2003 and 2004. Sewickley got a little consolation with 3 seconds left to make the final 11-6 as Art Woods scored on a rebound.