Seneca Valley Raiders

DELMONT – Penn Trafford has had a dream season winning the South Division by edging out rival Franklin Regional by one point for its first ever division title. Coach Todd Purvis was not around for the near playoff upset of Bethel Park in the 1st round of last years playoffs, but is very familiar with the Hawks from his battles as the coach of North Allegheny over the years. The Warrior were hosting their first ever home playoff game before a standing room only crowd at Center Ice Arena and would need to concentrate on playing defensively and eliminate over 450+ penalty minutes which have been the Achilles heel for PT. On the flip side, if Penn Trafford could generate its offensive prowess against BP, it could spell an upset [even though the Warriors were the higher seed] and revenge for the overtime loss from a year ago. Bethel Park coach Jim ‘Mort’ McVay is always looking for an edge and his team’s commitment to doing whatever it takes to put Bethel Park in position to win a championship. Take Bryce Merriam, the Bethel Park goaltender, who joined the team in late January and played in the last seven regular season games and could be seen running out of Varsity games to play in Junior Varsity games just to meet the 10 game minimum for the State Playoffs. This is the kind of commitment expected from a hockey program, which prides itself in being on top of anything that can put itself in a position to win and takes nothing for granted. The Hawks are a dangerous playoff team, who no one wants to play because they are a great defensive team and have found a goaltender, who has a .931ish save percentage, a healthy Dan Zabkar and is finding some scoring touch from 2nd and 3rd line players….. a recipe for playoff success and a legitimate darkhorse. Bethel Park worked its opening period plan to perfection putting Penn Trafford on its heels and outshooting the Warriors 15-7. After a scoreless opening 8 ½ minutes, Jason Hedglen opened the scoring at 6:31. Penn Trafford tied the game at one apiece as Glenn Bowersox beat Merriam at 3:50. Jacobus Bliek scored on an assist from Dan Zabkar to put the Hawks back on top with 2:01 remaining in the opening period. Penn Trafford continued to shoot themselves in the foot in the second period with penalties and Bethel Park kept up the pressure with an 11-6 shot advantage. Bethel Park had a golden opportunity to extend their lead in the second with a 5 on 3 advantage but could not beat Joel Sterniak, who made several keys saves in the period to keep Penn Trafford in the hockey game. Devon McCusker delivered for Penn Trafford as he took the puck through the neutral zone on his off wing shot the puck, which Merriam saved but could not control the rebound and McCusker buried with a wrist shot high over the shoulder of the BP goaltender to tie the game with 5:20 remaining in the middle frame. With 1:42 remaining in the second, BP sharpshooter Conner McLean walked off the near boards and beat Sterniak on the short side over the glove side to give Bethel Park a 3-2 lead. On to the third period and the Blackhawks wasted no time taking control as Michael Diethorn scored on the power play to make Penn Trafford pay for its undiscipline at 14:13 and extend the BP lead to 4-2. Bethel Park continued to frustrate the Warriors by clamping down defensively and yielding only 4 shots on Bryce Merriam and forcing PT into undisciplined penalties and Bethel Park poured 16 more shots for a 42-17 advantage on the evening nullifying a strong goaltending performance by Joel Sterniak, who finished with 38 saves. The Hawks will now move on to face archrival and # 1 seed Mt Lebanon next Monday night at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center.