Announcement
Bethel Park plays a very good road game and moves on to Mellon over Seneca 2-1!
2008 Penguins Cup Playoffs – Quarter-Finals
CRANBERRY –
Bethel Park 2 Seneca Valley 1
Intimate gathering for a 6:30 PM start for a rematch of two teams who have met twice this season, both times went the way of Seneca Valley, a 4-1 winner during the regular season and a 3-1 winner in the pre-season St Margaret Fall Face-Off. For Seneca Valley Head Coach Mike Schall, this is a stepping-stone of sorts for his program and a barometer of where the Raider program stands in the chase for the Penguins Cup. Considering the Raiders made this game a year ago and lost 7-0 to Bethel Park and have EARNED a home game for round two is some pretty nice progress. Seneca Valley would like to make it three straight over Bethel, bus in the playoffs it is easier said than done and sometimes experience of your program playing in these games is the difference.
For Bethel Park, it’s a right of spring to participate in the Penguins Cup playoffs and it is more important to reach the ultimate goal of winning the Penguins Cup and competing for a Pennsylvania State Championship. A year ago the Hawks fell short in double overtime to eventual Pa Champions North Allegheny in the Penguins Cup finals 2-1 and although many of that class of players graduated the expectations of the program are that they compete and be a part of the process every year. Bethel was injury riddled for much of the season and is finally healthy and even though they did not finish the season with the momentum Jim McVay would have liked, the Hawks are an interesting underdog choice if they can advance to Mellon Arena.
Bethel Park came out from the get go in a tight checking mode against Seneca maybe to see if their nerves were up to speed. The Hawks struck first as Tommy Whetsel threaded a very nice pass to Chris Mandia on the short side who buried a snap shot on the short side to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead at 10:17. Seneca’s Michael Rohm got behind the BP defense at 8:28 after a bad clearing attempt, but Ben ‘Jerry’ Garcia made a big save to keep the score 1-0. Bethel continued to hold the slim 1-0 lead as Garcia stopped Matt Jarrett’s bullet with 4:19 to go and the first period ended with BP out shooting SV 9-6.
A Bethel Park power play early in the 2nd period at 12:02 was killed off by the Raiders and they used that to establish some momentum. The Raiders had trouble getting quality scoring opportunities and the game remained 1-0 in favor of the Hawks. With 3:19 to play in the period Bethel Park, on some hard work to win the puck in the Seneca Valley zone, took advantage of their opportunity as Kenny Loeffler won the battle for the puck took a wicked shot to the net, which Ryan Schutte stopped but Ryan Nunez made a terrific play to in one motion gather the puck and jam it past Schutte to make it 2-0 with 3:19 to play in the 2nd. Seneca went on the power play with 2:19 to play in the 2nd and really needed to make something happen and after several scrambles the Raiders could not score.
Another power play right off the bat in the 3rd period at 14:55 and probably the tell tale of this hockey game came at 14:10 as Andrew Tang was wide open on the backside with an apparent tap in and Logan Pfeffer slid the puck over and Tang missed a wide open net and it remained 2-0. Another Raider power play at 10:09 to no avail as it began to look pretty bleak for the Raiders. The Seneca took some ill-advised penalties toward the middle of the period and although BP did not score the clock was running out on SV’s season. With 3:30 to go a glimmer of hope came as Matt Jarrett’s shot from the point found its way to the net and Tyler Miscica got a stick on it and it trickled past Ben Garcia to make it 2-1 and plenty of time remaining. Bethel Park play very good defense denying the Raiders the zone and any scoring chances and Bethel held on for a 2-1 victory and another trip to Mellon Arena with an opportunity to redeem a year ago win the Penguins Cup that eluded them a year ago.
