Seneca Valley Raiders

3/23/04~NEXT Peters Twp has coming out party over Kittanning PITTSBURGH – The Kittanning hockey program was established in 1972 out of the Belmont Ice Complex and is one of Western Pennsylvania’s most storied schools. Originally, the Armstrong Arrows and know known as the Kittanning Wildcats, there have been many fine teams resulting in 476 wins 213 losses and 35 ties heading into the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs including a stretch from 1996-97, where the ‘Boys from Belmont’ have been to the playoffs 7 out of the past eight seasons. Head coach Jeff Smouse and former head and now assistant Al Stipp, have had a big hand in developing these teams into contenders for the Penguins Cup, with the goal of bringing the State Championship to Kittanning. In the early 1990’s, Armstrong Central had two great opportunities bowing to Council Rock in Philadelphia 5-4 in the 1991 Pennsylvania Cup AAA Final after defeating Meadville and again in 1992 losing to Meadville in the Penguins Cup final 8-5. The nemesis these days for the Kittanning hockey program is Peters Twp. The Indians defeated Kittanning in last years Penguins Cup 6-3 on their way to a second consecutive Pennsylvania State Championship. In addition, it was Peters Twp, who in 1998 knocked off # 1 seed Kittanning 5-1 at Southpointe ending a 22-1-0 season for the Wildcats. Peters Township has built a power in hockey and after capturing the Pennsylvania State AA title in 2003 with a stomping of Flyers Cup Champion Holy Ghost Prep 9-3 at IceLine to follow up a 10-3 pounding of Archbishop Carroll in 2002, many observers of Interscholastic Hockey felt that the Indians run of State Championships would come to a hault in 2004. Head coach Mark Cooper has quietly reloaded the lineup with some up and coming players to mesh in with the veterans like Chris Clackson, Si Bishop, and Dan Crogan and are thinking but not talking about a three-peat. The one thing we all need to remember is that Peters Twp is the State Champion until they are defeated. The game was very even in the opening minutes as Kittanning was looking to pressure freshman goaltender Rob Madore, but the young Indian goaltender looked like a crafty veteran early on with several nice saves. Dan Crogan’s shot from the left point trickled past Adam Toy at 7:47 and Gerry Raymond was there to poke it home for a 1-0 PT lead. Momentum in a hockey game is critical at this juncture of the season and Kittanning went on the power play after a great shift by John Ford, Lee Heilman and Tyler Ochs forced Peters to take a penalty. What would happen next would ultimately break Kittanning’s back and send the Indians on their way. Chris Clackson made an terrific poke check on the penalty killing forced the Kittanning defenseman to cough up the puck and Si Bishop read the play beautifully and took the puck and beat Adam Toy on the backhand at 5:37, killing the Wildcat momentum and giving PT a 2-0 lead. Clackson showed why he is one of the most feared plays in Western Pa as he overpowered the Kittanning defense and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Toy at 3:30 for a 3-0 lead. With 1:10 remaining Dustin Roux threaded a great lead pass to Bryan Papciak, who scored on the breakaway and Peters was off and running 4-0 after the first period. The second period was a penalty filled slugfest as Kittanning became frustrated and Peters continued to play with the edge that has been an integral part of two State Championships. Gerry Raymond scored his second goal at 9:42 and Chris Clackson converted another shorthanded tally with :52 seconds remaining on a great pass from Dustin Roux. Raymond [7:23] and Clackson [6:39] both completed the hat tricks to turn this one into a rout 8-0. Kittanning’s Wade Bowser broke Rob Madore’s shutout bid with 3:50 left tipping a Michael Mecurio shot on the Wildcats 37th shot. Madore was outstanding and looks to be a key in another State Title run as Peters Twp will attempt to win their 3rd straight Penguins Cup on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.