Seneca Valley Raiders

Delmont - Penn Trafford comes off two consecutive seasons of playoff appearances, the most recent providing a near upset over 3-time state defending champion Bethel Park. Todd Purvis inherited a young talented group of Warriors, which has talent, speed and looks ready to run with the big dogs. In their opener, PT outshot Cathedral Prep by a near 2-1 margin, but as we know it’s not how that counts in hockey it’s how many and the Warriors dropped the game 5-0. Needless to say Penn Trafford has the attention of many teams as a team to be reckoned with in the 2003-2004 season. Now Plum knows a little about what it takes because coach Stu Relnick has been running with the big dogs and has learned that a lot of offense is a great thing to have, but it requires solid defense and goaltending to win championships. So the Mustangs have a great formula with Mike Sargo, who scored 105 goals in Class AAA leading Gateway to a WPIHL AAA Championship in 1996, mentoring the “O” and Jerry “Dr Evil” Bass, the former minister of defense for 7 years from Penn Hills running the “D”. And yeah they have a goaltender too, because J.P. Balson is really showing signs of being the go-to goaltender, which the Mustangs need to make a Penguins Cup run. Plum came out in the first period and looked to pressure PT netminder Joel Sterniak right away and capitalized as John Kalichuk scored on a rebound at 11:34 and then Kalichuk coverted a back door pass from Jonathon Smith at 9:11. Linemate Travis Senchur got into the act at 8:54 burying a blast over Sterniak’s glove side and before the Plum faithful could settle into the Center Ice alumina bleachers, the Mustangs were off and running with a 3-0 lead. Plum was almost a little too offensive minded and was caught for a penalty late in the period and Penn Trafford got on the board as freshman Nick Whaley banked a shot off the Plum defenseman and found its way past Balson with just 0:23 seconds left in the opening period to cut the advantage to 3-1. The Warriors had an excellent chance to pull within one but Glenn Bowersox could not beat Balson from point blank range at 14:03 of the 2nd. Mike Renna extended the Mustang lead to 4-1 picking up a loose puck and scrambling to beat Sterniak low on the ice. Speedy Chris Ceruti got PT back in the game on a breakaway goal at 12:23. Plum answered as Jonathon Smith tipped in a ‘smooth glazed Krispy Kreme’ pass from Travis Senchur at 11:49 to extend the lead to 5-2. If there was hope for Penn Trafford its was that Plum had nearly blown a 4-0 lead in its opener against Franklin Regional on Monday night and if PT could convert some chances, it could get back in the hockey game. Plum was sloppy early on and Chris Ceruti picked off a clearing attempt and made no mistake as he went upstairs past Balson to make it close 5-3 at 14:01. The Warriors almost really made things real interesting, but Balson robbed Kyle Seidle on a rebound which had goal written all over it at 12:23. The game opened up in the 3rd and Sterniak stopped Kalichuk’s bid for the hat trick with 11:13 remaining to keep the score at 5-3. Penn Trafford turned up the heat on Plum a little with several scoring chances to no avail as J.P Balson shut the door. David Dincau closed it out as he found a loose puck and beat Sterniak at 11:13 to give the Mustangs a 6-3 victory before a packed house at Center Ice Arena.