Seneca Valley Raiders

MT LEBANON – A lot of people have caught the fancy about the ‘Green Acres’ characters used in the ‘Game Summaries’ and with that said another perfect opportunity presented itself as I headed back to Mt Lebanon for one of the biggest games of the season. Enter Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel, the famous pig who knew one thing and that is how to change the channel on the Ziffel family television and since tonight’s game was being televised to somewhere, how appropriate to for Arnold ‘Slick’ to make his debut on Pa Hockey. Anyway young Arnold had a favorite TV show if you might remember and that show was ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and the modern day version of late in PA Hockeyland, not to be confused with TV Land, is the Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon rivalry, which I am sure Arnold would have just loved. Take us back to last March, when Bethel Park met Mt Lebanon in the Penguins Cup Elite 8, only to lose 2-0, which the Blue Devils used as a springboard to win the 2004 Penguins Cup. This season, it was undefeated Bethel Park, who pasted Mt Lebanon early in the season 6-2. So a great rivalry in one of the best places to watch a game in Western Pennsylvania at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center with the # 2 ranked Hawks and the # 3 ranked Blue Devils before a packed house with people around the glass, as parking was at a premium. No Who’s Who night and No Clipboard Rule in effect, this would be a pure hockey game and with great atmosphere which I am sure even Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel would mutter ‘shame on you for six weeks for missing this one. The first period was a chess match of line matching between Paul Taibi and Jim ‘Mort’ McVay as Bethel trapped Mt Lebanon only yielding two shots. Mt Lebanon had the best chances of the opening period at 12:26 as Bryce Merriam stopped Tony Valerino and Michael Diethorn made an all-world play to break up a possible 2 on 0 with Tony ‘Tom’ Valerino and Tyler Murovich at 9:56. Bethel Park pummeled Evan Baehr with nine shots. But the game remained scoreless after one. On to the second and the Blue Devils had another decent opportunity as Craig Anderson was stopped by Merriam at 12:02. Back came Bethel Park who worked the puck into the Mt Lebanon zone and but could not beat Baehr after they controlled the play for well over two minutes. Mt Lebanon overextended their shift and finally worked the puck out of the zone and Bethel Park maybe got a little overzealous as a defenseman pinched creating an odd man break for the Blue Devils. Shane Ferguson chased down the loose puck in the Bethel zone and got just enough on the chip pass to find freshman Tyler Murovich in front at 9:10. Murovich quickly gathered the puck and made more moves than ‘Mae West’ beating Merriam to give Mt Lebanon the games first goal and a 1-0 lead. Murovich got loose again on the very next shift and was hauled down giving the Blue Devils a power play and a chance to go up two. Bethel Park had the best chance as Tim O’Brien nearly scored on a backhand shorthanded at 6:12 and then was stopped by Evan Baehr at 4:03. The third period was all Bethel Park as they applied good pressure early on outshooting Mt Lebanon 10-4. The best chance came as O’Brien was stoned on a backhand attempt at 7:51. The Blue Devils took a page out of Bethel’s book during the last five minutes blocking several shots and limiting the Hawks scoring chances. Conner McLean nearly tied the game on a tip with :26 seconds left which was gloved by Baehr. Bethel pulled the goalie for the extra attacker and nearly tied the game as Michael Diethorn’s backhand beat Evan Baehr cleanly just seconds after the games final buzzer giving the Blue Devils a heartstopping 1-0 victory over previously undefeated Bethel Park.