Seneca Valley Raiders

NEW KENSINGTON - This report is courtesy of Central Catholic Hockey The PIHL season began last night and the Mount Lebanon Blue Devils arrived at Valley Sports Complex dressed as contenders for the state championship this season. The Blue Devils started dishing out tricks and not treats thirteen seconds into the game when Shane Ferguson pushed home a rebound of a Josh Mandic shot to give the Devils the early lead. The tricks continued as the first line of Shane Ferguson, Tyler Murovich, and Josh Mandic dominated the game for the Blue Devils. Not long after, they increased their lead with a goal by Tyler Murovich. The first period ended with the score 2 - 0. Central started to bounce back and finally tallied a goal of their own when senior Joe Kerr deflected a shot by Josh Martin passed Lebo goalie Matt Vaughn to make it a 2 - 1 game. The lead didn't last too long as the Devils scored a third goal on the power play when a shot to the left of Viking goalie Bob Magyarics was whiffed but the puck trickled to an open Jesse Root who redirected the puck into an open net for a 3 – 1 lead. That was the score at the end of the second period. Any thoughts of a comeback by the Vikings were quickly throttled by the first line of the Devils again. It only took them twelve seconds this time as Ferguson skated freely down the right wing boards an unleashed a wicked wrist shot that appeared to strike just under the cross-bar but was called a goal by the officials working the game. That made the score 4 - 1 and seemed to deflate the Vikings. C.J. Stellabotte scored the second goal for Central on the power play. The final score was 6 - 2 in favor of Mount Lebanon; a team that clearly demonstrated that they are worthy of being ranked number one in the preseason.