Seneca Valley Raiders

Gateway had a lot of high expectations coming into the 2004-2005 season with a group of seniors who overachieved last season down the stretch and secured a playoff spot in the season’s final week. Coach Lou Biancanello has watched his team play well against some good teams and just awful against some not-so good teams, but the end result has been a disappointing 5-12 season for the Gators. One more loss to this evening’s opponent Shaler would leave Gateway in the cellar of the North Division. Shaler coach Ron Steedle has seen a lot in 20 + years at the helm with Shaler, but has never had a team which scored less than the 2004-2005 squad with just 23 goals in 17 games. The Titans have suffered from players who started out in the program and have departed to places like Shady Side Academy or North Allegheny or are playing in a beer league or bantam program near you. So coaching this team has been a challenge, but this team made up of a handful of seniors and mostly underclassmen including almost a dozen freshman who have competed in the lineup, has never quit and has improved drastically from the season’s first half as evidenced by the past four games where Shaler has been leading, tied or trailing by a goal entering the final period. Shaler played a very efficient first period keeping the Gators out of their end and getting a few quality chances of their own on J.D. Dominick. The Titans hard work paid off with 2:30 remaining in the opening period as sophomore Will Moushey pounced on a rebound and beat Dominick to give Shaler a 1-0 lead. The 2nd period was a little different as Gateway had a couple of chances, but this time it was Titan goaltender Ben Burns stoning the Gators on all of the 21 shots through the first two periods. Shaler went on the power play midway through the 2nd and capitalized as freshman Robert Kuhn chipped a rebound past J.D. Dominick to give the Titans a 2-0 lead, which they took to the locker room for the ice cut. Gateway came out storming in the 3rd and would outshoot Shaler 15-3 in the third period, but Ben Burns was phenomenal and looked like the Gators would not beat him, until Ryan Whitfield found a wide open chance with 9:57 left in regulation to put the Gators back within one at 2-1. Shaler had a great opportunity with a little over five minutes to play as P.J. Domski had a breakaway, but shot it wide of Dominick. The Gators took an undisciplined penalty with a little over three minutes left, but Shaler could not capitalize keeping the score at 2-1. Gateway pulled the goalie for the extra attacker and made it count as Michael Delorenzo burst down the slot and lofted a wrist shot through traffic which eluded Burns to tie the game with just 14 seconds left in the regulation. Then in the overtime, it was DeLorenzo again, a kid who I coached at Gateway as a freshman and was looked at as a liability by many Gateway people [but not me] and is now Gateway’s best player [aside from goaltender J.D. Dominick] and wasn’t even nominated for an all-star position. DeLorenzo took this game into his hands and took the Gators from being 14 seconds into last place to winning a crucial game in overtime by scoring on a wrist shot from the slot to give Gateway a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory and put them back within striking distance for a playoff spot down the stretch.