Seneca Valley Raiders

CORAOPOLIS - A rainy night in December and a trek to the Airport Ice Arena ….somehow this isn’t appropriate here in Western Pennsylvania, where we usually have snow in Mid-December, but then again it isn’t really normal that the West Allegheny and Canon McMillan hockey teams are undefeated at this point in the season. No one knows this better than CM coach Dave Fryer, a former West Allegheny player and coach, who has done a great job to this point getting the Big Macs into the playoff hunt again this season. Fryer and his counterpart in this matchup, West Allegheny coach Norm Cook, have heard the vibes throughout Western Pa that neither Canon Mac nor West A has played anyone and that neither is that good. Well neither coach makes the schedule and they can only account that their respective teams are perfect with the one each they have played. The Indians have done it with offense with Ryne Savisky, Marek Polidor, Ryan Kumpfmiller and a host of WA players leading the way. The Big Macs have combined defense and goaltending with scoring from Jesse Patnesky, Doug Stanton and Justin Cormack. Noticably Stanton was missing the game and school as he was off with the Junior B Penguins, who supposedly support High School Hockey but are Kool-Aid servers similar to the Hornets and other AAA midget organizations, who continue to stick it to High School Hockey, where they recruit ALL of their players from and continue to stab it in the back. A very festive and large crowd was on hand for the late game at the Airport, which is more people who will show up to see the Junior B Penguins play tomorrow morning in Boston or wherever their travels take them. The first period saw Canon McMillan go on the power play at 12:20 but the Big Macs could not get established and the best chance was by WA Ryne Savisky at 10:34. At 10:05 West Allegheny went on the power play and just ten seconds in at 9:55 Ryan Justus scored on a slap shot high over the glove hand of Drew Stanton for a 1-0 WA lead after a nice cross ice pass by Ryan Kumpfmiller. At 7:09, Stanton made a key save on Ryne Savisky from point blank range. West A extended its lead at 6:35 as Tony Lutz took a pass from Ryan Kumpfmiller, which Lutz chipped over blocker of Stanton to make it 2-0. West Allegheny turned it up a notch and continued to pressure CM with five shots in one spurt, but at 3:07 Canon Mac went on the PP and at 2:20 after good patience WA took another penalty leaving 1:13 on 5 on 3. The Big Macs made it count at 2:05 as Eric Lang scored on a rebound high over glove hand of Dan Kuzio to make it 2-1. On to the 2nd Period and CM tied the game at 11:46 as Justin Cormack scored on the breakaway got behind WA defense and beat Kuzio on the backhand great pass by Josh Tohey who sprung Cormack to tie the game at two apiece. The Big Macs took their first lead at 10:02 as Nick Cusolito banged home a loose puck and scored into empty net after great work by # 49 Erik McKown and # 8 Corey Griffith to make it 3-2. West Allegheny tied the game at 7:38 on a brillant backhand upstairs over the glove of Stanton by Marek Polidor after a great pass by Ryne Savisky. The Indians got the lead at 5:51 as Steve Sarachene picked up the garbage after great move by Savisky who was robbed by Stanton to give WA a 4-3 lead. West A had a great opportunity to add insurance on the power play, but Justin Cormack hit the post shorthanded at 2:55 and Drew Stanton stopped Ryan Kumpfmiller from point blank range at 1:13 to keep the score at 4-3 after two periods. The start of the 3rd Period was key as at 14:30 Justin Cormack scored from the slot to tie the game at 4-4. West Allegheny dominated the remainder of the period but could not beat Drew Stanton as the Canon McMillan netminder stopped all 20 shots in the final period and several point blank chances. At 3:05, Canon McMillan went on the power play, but also could not score as the game headed for OT. In the ovetime, the silent Jesse Patnesky, who played a strong defensive game, made the best of a wrist shot beating Dan Kuzio on the stick side at 4:37 of OT and giving the Big Macs a thrilling 5-4 victory and to remain undefeated heading for a showdown with Peters Township.