Freeport Yellow Jackets

CASTLE SHANNON - Upper St Clair coach Kip Guenther has inherited a nice young group of hockey players this season. In fact, there has always been talent at USC and the problem stems from years of not having a full lineup due to committments to amateur teams. The Panthers are still fighting that battle as Patrick Mullen was absent, while Kris McDonough is still nursing an injury. Even so, USC has scored some impressive performances against Bethel Park [3-3 tie] and their most recent win over Franklin Regional last Friday. Meadville, on the other hand, came into this evening's contest fresh from winning the Bulldog Invitational for the first time. Coach Jamie Plunkett's squad would have to play without top defenseman David Moyer. The # 1 Bulldogs were looking to maintain their division lead over Cathedral Prep. The first period was played quickly and both teams looked pretty rusty early on. The Panthers had a couple of decent scoring opportunities but the score remained 0-0 after one. Early in the second, both teams had chances to take the lead, but Meadville's Bahurinsky's shot at 14:17 rang off the crossbar and Matt McGinnis' shot with a little over ten minutes to go went sailing over the crossbar. Then Meadville opened the scoring as Christian Nickerson chipped the puck past RJ Vignetti at 7:46 to give the Dawgs a 1-0 lead. Upper St Clair came right back as Brian Gorder took an Ian Joyce past on the back door at 7:14. Then the Panther's got a huge to take the lead 2-1 as Ian Joyce scored at 6:15 on a big slapshot through traffic. Meadville answered at 5:24 as Nickerson took a Rick Thomas feed off the faceoff and beat Vignetti through the 5-hole. to tie the score at 2-2. The Panthers went on the power play early in the third and Brian Bahurinsky missed a golden opportunity to take the lead to no avail. Then at 9:55, Dan Duda scored on a rebound from the doorstep and the Panthers were smelling upset 3-2. Meadvile tied the game late in the third at 3-3, as Phil Siverd found a loose puck in the slot and buried it upstairs past Vignetti with 1:48 left and the Bulldogs salvaged a 3-3 tied with an impressive USC club.