Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers - 1994-1995-1996-1997-1999 A

MONROEVILLE - December at the Golden Mile, a place where anyone with sanity would love spending a Tuesday evening watching or possibly coaching a game. Witness Meadville coach Jamie Plunkett, of 'House of Chills' fame in attendance to coach his Bulldogs against a Plum Mustangs team locked in a battle for supremacy in the PIHL AAA East division. Coach Stu Relnick's club was looking to defeat a team ahead of them in the overall standings, which failed to happen in the Mustangs losses this season to South Division leader Bethel Park and North Division leader Shaler. The Dawgs are trying to keep pace with North Allegheny in the West Division. Bottom line ...this was an important game in the standings for both clubs. The first period was scoreless and as even as the shots on goal at 8-8. Plum's B.J. Schreib and Meadville's Dan O'Sharuk were not tested with many quality chances. In the second, Tim Newhook showed quick hands as he manuevered around the Plum defense in tight and beat Schreib to make in 1-0 with 8:22 left. Exactly three minutes later, D.J. Craven scooped up a Brian Bahurinsky rebound and deposited the puck behind Schreib to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead at 5:22. The next goal would be pivitol to start the third and Meadville's Christian Nickerson got it just 22 seconds into the final frame on a rebound. The Bulldogs Newhook tallied his second of the evening at 10:11 and Meadville was well on its way to victory. Plum's Travis Senchur broke the shutout on the penalty shot with 7:23 remaining, but any Plum hope was quickly erased as Ricky Thomas scored with 3:24 left. Senchur closed out the scoring as Meadville picked up its 7th win in its past eight games to close out the first half of the season at 8-2-1.

MONROEVILLE - Cathedral Prep coach Nels White was very optimistic prior to the start of this season that his team had positive attitudes and a good work ethic lacking from his team the past few years. The Ramblers faced a Gateway team that loves to muck and grind with the best of them. Just 16 seconds into the game, Matt WBF Kopaczynski broke through the ECP defense and beat Jon Freeman to the stick side and Gateway had a 1-0 lead. That was easy enough. The battle for territorial play continued through the opening frame and Cathedral Prep got its first break of the night as Tyler Wallen's shot from the point glanced off a Gator defenseman and past Davd Himes to tie the game at 1-1. In the secod period, the Gators regained the lead as freshman Mike DeLorenzo's blooper shot beat a screened Freeman to make it 2-1 at 7:51. Prep got its next break as an apparant offsides went unoticed and Adam Gerlach tie the game at 2-2. Early in the third period, Gateway smothered the Ramblers and it paid off as freshman Mark Wroblewski scored to give Gateway another lead 3-2. But Prep answered as Sam Namey tied the game with a little over five minutes to go in the third to make the final 3-3.

DELMONT - Franklin Regional entered their contest with Meadville with a 2-4-1 record and looking for answers. The Bulldogs on the other hand were looking to keep pace with North Allegheny in the PIHL AAA West division. In the first period, Chris White pounced on a loose rebound and beat Danny O'Sharuk to give FR a 1-0 lead. Panther goaltender Brandon Stallard made several nice stops to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard. Then Meadville struck quickly as Brian Bahurinsky rammed home a Justin Wehrle rebound at 5:38 and David Moyer drilled a slapshot on the ice past Stallard just 39 seconds later to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. But Franklin showed resilience as Jimmy Daugherty worked the puck out of the corner and fed Mike Roth at point blank range, who beat O'Sharuk to tie the game. Meadville almost regained the lead as Christian Nickerson hit the post and watched as the puck danced across the goal line and found its way under Stallard with just 11 seconds left in the middle period. The Bulldogs regained the momentum in the 3rd as Phil Sivird walked out of the corner and snapped a shot upstairs at 7:52 to make the score 3-2. The Panthers just wouldn't quit as Chris White found Roth on the back end of a give and go and just got his stick out to score past O'Sharuk and give Franklin a 3-3 tie. Stallard made a great save on Bahurinsky 25 seconds into overtime as he stopped 34 of 37 Meadville shots.

MONROEVILLE - In 1994-95, Penn Trafford coach Gary Artz was the first coach at Woodland Hills and was on the opposite end of a lot of lopsided scores when he inherited a very inexperienced group. So when Penn Trafford came calling for Artz to coach, he had to say here we go again. In the first period, the Warriors came out flying as David Rogina (13:39) and Kyle Sidle (10:05) tallied scores to make it 2-0. The Wolverines Jon Yearsley brought his team one goal closer with a goal at 6:26. Penn Trafford pressed in the second period and Tim Gribbin made several key stops to keep the one goal differential. The best save for Woody High came as PT's Clint Clifford tried the wrap around, but WH's defensman Ryan Wilt dove and made a great play the keep the goal out with 7:59 left. Then Pat Finnerty pulled Woodland Hills into a tie with a wrist shot with just :17 seconds left. The Wolverines had a ton of momentum going to the third and Gribbin continued to stand out in the nets. As they started the game, Penn Trafford came out hard in the 3rd and Clint Clifford's wrist shot past Gribbin gave the Warriors the lead. Glenn Bowersox closed out the scoring with 4:27 left to give PT a 4-2 victory. The Warriors outshot Woody High 37-19.

MOON TWP - Serra coach John Mooney knows his two time defending state champion Serra Eagles are not in championship form, in fact they finally were back to a full lineup for the first time all season due to suspensions and injuries. Just in time for a rematch between last years top two Class A teams. The first period was a very conservative battle and equally played with the shots at 7-7. The best scoring chance came as Serra freshman Josh Jones was robbed by Luke Belsky with just two seconds remaining. The second period brought on a little more action as Quigley's Mike Haney picked up a rebound from Chris Cummings shot and scored to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Then Quigley took a couple of bad penalties, which woke up Serra and Jesse Lubasch blasted a shot on the ice past Belsky to knot the game at one apiece with 2:55 remaining. A little over a minute later Lubasch set up C.J. King, who wristed a wicked shot past Belsky and all the sudden Serra had the lead 2-1, which it took to the locker room. Serra outshot the Spartans 15-7 in the 2nd period. Quigley pressed for the tie early in the third as Al Randolph found Haney on the back door, who beat Timmy Johnson to deadlock the game again. Serra attempted to regain the lead as Lubasch hit Steve Leppo on the breakaway with a perfect pass, but they could not beat Belsky at the eleven minute mark. Less than a minute later, Ken Lytle found a loose puck and beat Johnson to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead. The Serra picked up its game and poured shots on Belsky outshooting Quigley 14-7 in the period. Kane hit the post on the power play, Leppo missed the open net wth three minutes left and Serra was buzzin. Serra pulled the goalie with a little over a minute to play and a great play by Leppo, who jumped in the air, and what seemed like a play all in one motion, wristed the puck past Belsky to tie the game with just 54 seconds remaining. All the sudden the rust was off for the defending champs and the puck movement was dominating in the third and OT for Serra. But in the end it was Belsky, who made an incredible on Justin Lubasch on the backdoor with just 1.5 seconds left in the overtime.