Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

CORAOPOLIS – Quaker Valley has had another outstanding regular season under coach Kevin Quinn at 15-2-1 and currently sits at 15-2-1, with lone blemishes against Serra (8-2) and Bishop McCort (2-1). The Quakers will enjoy a first round bye and clinched the West Division title with a victory over Sewickley Academy on Valentines Day 5-3. All of this is great for QV and tonight they celebrated Senior Night. In addition, there was a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photographer on hand to take pictures of Furman South, [to no avail because he left before South showed] a Pa Hockey top 25 selection, who has not played in any Quaker Valley games I have attended and covered. I am sure he will participate in 10 to be eligible for the playoffs under the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships rules,but I know he hasn’t participated in 75% of the QV games, which will make him ineligible for Team Pittsburgh. South is the key figure in ANY chances that the Quakers will have of defeating Serra or Bishop McCort, but on this snowy night in Hooterville, he is off fulfilling Mr Haney’s contract obligations and would show up later in our story. In addition, super freshmen players Tim Hall and Grant Scott were not in uniform to face Mars, a team the Quakers may face in round 2 of the playoffs. Mars has really turned their program around in 2004-2005 under 2nd year coach Eric Glover, clinching a playoff spot and with a victory over Quaker Valley, could sneak into a home playoff berth and a bye should they overtake Sewickley Academy in the seasons final week. The Planets are a far cry from a 6-15-1 team a year ago and will be a darkhorse at best to get into the Penguins Cup semis, which happen three years ago for Mars. At 5:47 of the first period, Wil Forser opened the scoring with a wrist shot from between the circles past Bryan Ross to give the Quakers a 1-0 lead. QV continued to pressure the Planets and forced a penalty putting QV on the power play at 4:14. Ross made an excellent save on a wide open George Jackson at 3:41 and Mars killed off the penalty and the score remained 1-0 after the first after complete domination of the 2nd half of the period by QV. The Quakers went back on the man advantage at 14:09 of the 2nd period, which was killed again by the Planets. At 8:23 of the 2nd, QV took advantage of a miscue by the Mars defense as Bret McNamara walked down the slot and scored on the wrist shot for a 2-0 Quaker lead. At 4:50, Mars went on the power play and had some nice pressure until they were whistled for goaltender interference for running over Zac Zinger. At 13:10 of the 3rd period, Noah Zamagias scored on a wraparound to make it 3-0 and conveniently Furman South took a seat on the bench. Kelly Elson celebrated Senior Night with a goal at 9:05 to extend the lead to 4-0 and the Quakers were looking to move into a big rematch with Serra next Monday at Rostraver. Mars went on the power play after an unsportsmanlike penalty with 7:04 left, but did not get many chances, the best coming after the penalty had expired but was stopped by Zac Zinger, who stopped all 13 shots that the Planets had for a 4-0 victory for Quaker Valley.

CORAOPOLIS – West Allegheny 14-4-1 and Montour 14-4-0 squared off with a division title on the line, a possible first round bye and possibly two home playoffs games…..and as Carpet says ‘let the players play, the coaches coach and lets all behave ourselves and have a good time’ or something like that ! So if you’re looking for analysis ….go to Discussion Forum, because all the experts are there and PA Hockey is at the game ...so let the game begin !!! Before a packed house standing room only crowd to see a rematch of a 4-3 Montour victory in December with the West Division title on the line. Maybe out of this game comes two, one or no teams ready to challenge for the Class AA Penguins Cup next month. Early on Zach Perry’s centering pass took a fortuitous bounce and almost ended up behind Dan Kuzio in the opening minute. Montour made a mental mistake being caught with too many men on the ice at 13:57, putting West A on the power play employing 5 forwards on the first unit. At 12:09, Mario Panucci made them pay with great speed outraced the Indian defense to the puck and rifled a slapshot which beat Kuzio on the stickside giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Montour went on the power at 10:41 and converted as Brian Dugan’s rocket from the center point found the net at 10:22 over the glove of Kuzio for a power play goal and a 2-0 Montour lead. West Allegheny had their best chance to get on the board as Mark Polidor rung one of the pipe at 9:39 and Aaron Williams stopped Ryan Kumpfmiller moments later. Williams made another nice save at 3:21 on Tony Lutz just getting the leg down to keep West A off the board. With 51 seconds left in the first, a shot by Ed Jankoski handcuffed Aaron Williams and bounded behind the Montour goalie to cut the lead to 2-1 after 12 shots on Montour and put the Indians right back in the hockey game. West Allegheny came out flying off the bat in the 2nd and Ryne Savisky converted a loose rebound off the stick off Mark Polidor at 14:41 and all the sudden the 2-0 Montour lead evaporated into a tie game. Ross Polk scored a huge goal at 10:39 on a wrist shot to give Montour the lead 3-2. At 8:58, Norm Cook made a bold move as freshman Kyle Mortimer replaced Kuzio between the pipes and moments later West Allegheny went on a 5 on 3 power play at 8:33. Williams stopped Savisky at 7:58, Sarachene at 7:45, but Mark Polidor scored on a slapshot at 7:33 and the game was tied at 3-3. Chad Talotta just missed at 6:22 and West Allegheny was whistled putting the Spartans back on the power play at 6:15. At 5:47, Mortimer stopped Joe Clarke from just in front. Montour went on the power play late in the 2nd at 1:16, but did’t score. At 10:56, Zach Perry walked down the slot, but Mortimer stopped him. At 10: 19, Steve Sarachene and Chad Talotta raced for the puck and Talotta pulled him down, resulting in an Indian power play and a chance to take the lead. At 9:47, Montour got caught out of position and Mark Polidor found a streaking Ryan Kumpfmiller, who beat Aaron Williams to give WA a 4-3 lead. At 8:18, Zach Perry picked the pocket of the West A defense and fed Mario Panucci, who buried a snap shot upstairs on the blocker side of Kyle Mortimer to tie the game again. At 7:15 West Allegheny got caught in a bad line change and defnseman Ed Elbel found Joe Clarke, who got off a clean shot and Ross Polk pounced on the rebound and gave the Spartans the lead 5-4. Danny Shiwarski scored a big insurance goal at 4:52 on a pass from Mario Panucci to give the Spartans a huge two-goal advantage 6-4. At 2:19, Williams made a great save on Kumpfmiller from point blank range and Montour would hold on for a 6-4 comeback victory.

Montour and Moon have a history of close games and tonight was no different. The classic and physical rivalry provided a great game with an eerily similar outcome from games past. Moon's Andrew Slifkin was outstanding in net and stood on his head to stop 39 of Montour's 41 shots. However, it was not enough as Montour solved Slifkin in the third period for 2 goals and the 2-0 win. Mario Panucci struck twice in the third to score both of Montour's goals while goaltender Aaron Williams preserved the shutout for the win. Slifkin stoned the Montour offense time after time throughout the first two periods, making several sprawling saves. Meanwhile, the Montour defense clamped shut Moon's offense once again to limit Moon's scoring chances. With the game scoreless in the third period, Mario Panucci took a pass from Zach Perry through the neutral zone. Panucci skated into the Moon zone, wound up, and slapped a shot that found its way under Slifkin's glove for the 1-0 Montour lead. Late in the third, Dan Shiwarski out-skated a Moon defenseman along the boards deep inside the Moon zone. Shiwarski centered a pass where Panucci one-timed it into the net for the 2-0 lead and eventual final score.

JOHNSTOWN- Yes Johnstown ….where Mr. Haney made his first appearance or disappearance if you will. Surely, this trip would yield some Green Acres moments, especially after an 11-0 drubbing Tuesday night at the hands of North Allegheny University in Cranberry, coach Ron ‘Eb Dawson’ Steedle and myself,were looking forward to the game. As we pulled into the War Memorial, you could see the Crimson usher faithful filing in for another rendition of Serra – McCort. Amazingly, a parking space just 10 feet or so from the side entrance. Like Sam Drucker, I fumbled my camera and laptop to find my credentials to present at the door, would it be the postmaster or possibly the reporter or the store owner. You see the more things that things at Drucker’s store in Hooterville, the more they remained the same. Must I remind the McCort faithful or John Bradley of The 2000 Penguins Cup final – Serra 4 Bishop McCort 1 or The 2001 Penguins Cup final – Serra 6 Bishop McCort 3 or The 2002 Penguins Cup final – Serra 3 Bishop McCort 0 or The 2003 Penguins Cup semi-final – Serra 4 Bishop McCort 1 or The 2004 Penguins Cup final – Serra 5 Bishop McCort 2 or perhaps the game earlier this season at Rostraver won again by Serra 6 Bishop McCort 4. Tom Mooney’s Eagles had to feel great about their # 1 Pa Hockey Elite 8 ranking and the 18-0-0 perfect record and their mastery over McCort. For the Crimson Crushers, they are riding a wave into this game with 11 straight victories and a team that seems to be peaking for the upcoming playoffs. Bishop McCort also had an ace in the hole, as Serra was the last remaining undefeated team left in Western Pa Hockey, and the last two weeks have watched two unbeaten teams, Bethel Park and Canon McMillan fall from the ranks of no losses. So Ron ‘Eb’ stated ‘Hey, you are a curse for undefeated hockey teams. Look at what you did to Bethel and Canon Mac.” The 1st period featured some good action at both end and McCort had a few chances in which they missed the net. Serra would strike first as Aaron Nolte scored on a rebound of a Josh Jones rebound at 2:19 to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. The Crushers would tie it as Shawn James scored on a backhand through the 5-hole past Nick Koroly for a 1-1 tie. The goaltending in the 2nd period was good as Serra’s Nick Koroly and McCort’s Ron Stenger stopped several key chances. The third period of hockey would keep the fans at the War Memorial on the edge of their seat throughout and didn’t take long to heat up as Ray Gillis took a Tyler Burda feed and burst with speed around the McCort defense and undressed Ron Stenger with a great move on the forehand at 14:03 to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. The Crimson Crushers came right back and would not be denied as Marc Domonkos scored on his own rebound at 12:30. Serra came right back as Aaron Nolte showed why he is considered one of the most dangerous players in Class A as he converted a funny bounce past Stenger to give Serra the lead 3-2 at 8:43 after some nice work by linemates Justin Lubasch and Joey Manning. Back came the Crimson Crushers and after Domonkos almost beat Nick Koroly at 8:13, it would be David Champe, who found a loose puck at the feet of a Serra defenseman and flung a shot past the Eagle netminder to tie the game with 7:40 left. McCort would go on the power play at 5:57, as Serra was whistled for a slash behind the play and the Eagles would have the best scoring chance as Ron Stenger had to be tough on a Joey Manning slapshot shorthanded at 4:48. The Crimson Crushers would strike the fatal blow next as Cory Mock rifled a slapshot from just inside the faceoff circle on the ice under the stick of Nick Koroly to give McCort its first lead 4-3 with just 2:39 remaining in regulation. Ray Gillis had a great opportunity to tie the game with the goalie pulled, but Ron Stenger stopped him with 47 seconds left and McCort scored 2 empty net goals to make the final 6-3 in a possible preview of the 2005 Penguins between two schools who have been to the dance every year [except 1998] since 1994.

Montour and Moon have a history of close games and tonight was no different. The classic and physical rivalry provided a great game with an eerily similar outcome from games past. Moon's Andrew Slifkin was outstanding in net and stood on his head to stop 39 of Montour's 41 shots. However, it was not enough as Montour solved Slifkin in the third period for 2 goals and the 2-0 win. Mario Panucci struck twice in the third to score both of Montour's goals while goaltender Aaron Williams preserved the shutout for the win. Slifkin stoned the Montour offense time after time throughout the first two periods, making several sprawling saves. Meanwhile, the Montour defense clamped shut Moon's offense once again to limit Moon's scoring chances. With the game scoreless in the third period, Mario Panucci took a pass from Zach Perry through the neutral zone. Panucci skated into the Moon zone, wound up, and slapped a shot that found its way under Slifkin's glove for the 1-0 Montour lead. Late in the third, Dan Shiwarski out-skated a Moon defenseman along the boards deep inside the Moon zone. Shiwarski centered a pass where Panucci one-timed it into the net for the 2-0 lead and eventual final score.