Seneca Valley Raiders

Bishop McCort 6 Serra Catholic 2 ROSTRAVER – Sitting in Murph’s Pub at the Rostraver Ice Garden gives you an opportunity to catch up with the staunch supporters of Western Pa Hockey and a great vantage point to watch hockey and over the years has been a scene of some great hockey games. Serra Catholic has been a part of a lot of those games in Class A, including the 2002 Pennsylvania State A final, when the Eagles defeated Radnor in a 5-4 thriller to capture their third straight State Crown. Adorned in the new ‘S’ which made their debut last season, the Eagles are relatively a new squad from those championships teams of the early 21st century, but continue to dominate single A competition with a 6-0 record and really have gone unchallenged in the first six and are ranked # 1 in Western Pa and # 2 in today’s Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll behind 2005 State Champions Penncrest. Head Coach Tom Mooney’s squad more than likely been looking forward to this date since March. The reason for the trip to the Ice Garden was a date with Bishop McCort, the defending Penguins Cup champions, who defeated Serra Catholic in last years Penguins Cup at the Mellon Arena after after four years of frustration against the Eagles [three times in the Penguins Cup finals. Head Coach John Bradley’s team has started off with a 4-1 record with their only loss to Quaker Valley, who looks to join the Penguins Cup fray in a relatively week Class A field of just 12 teams. In my opinion and that of many who follow hockey in these parts only four teams can win the Penguins Cup in 2006, including the two teams playing tonight’s game, QV and possibly Sewickley Academy. People watching this game should take lots of pictures and enjoy the moment, because Class A hockey, which began to compete for a State Title in 1989 Could reach extinction, with many programs in serious trouble due to the ‘have and have nots’ climate of the PIHL. The game went back and forth in the opening period with a couple of power play exchanges until 2:43 of the 1st when Aaron Nolte pounced on a Steven Gruhalla rebound and deposited past Crimson Crusher netminder Brent Troyan to give Serra a 1-0 lead. Then at 1:31 after a scramble in front Josh Werner buried the rebound and the Eagles had a 2-0 lead. With 40 seconds left in the period, Marc Domonkos fired a wrist shot past the glove side of South Allegheny transplant Stephen Derewonko to cut the Serra lead in half 2-1. The Crimson Crushers tied the game at 13:23 of the second on a rebound as Jordan Jaco beat Derewonko low to the ice to knot the contest at two apiece. McCort went on the power play at 10:51 with an opportunity to take the lead for the first time and Shawn James made it happen flying past the Serra defense and blowing a shot past the Eagle netminder on the gloveside for a power play goal and a 3-2 lead for the Crimson Crushers. The Eagles got their opportunity on the man advantage at 5:58, which was nullified on a high sticking call against Serra at 4:27, giving the Crushers a man advantage and Jordan Jaco made the most of it at 2:55 scoring on the wraparound to make it 4-2 in favor of BM. Serra looked like a team in need of a break and they got it with a power play late in the 2nd period with just 55 seconds left as McCort took a 4-2 lead to the ice cut. The Eagles should start with skating like they did in the first period and try to force McCort mistakes and that’s what they did. After several near misses at 11:33, a sure goal for Bryan Hickey was turned aside by Troyan. A power play as a result of hard work and skating by Serra at 11:06, but it was McCort’s Zac Seidel just missed on a shorthanded breakaway at 10:13. A 5 on 3 power play came at 9:47 and coach Tom Mooney didn’t like the first part of the power play and he used his timeout at 9:24, but the Crushers survived the 5 on 3 and went to work to kill off the disadvantage and Marc Domonkos picked up a loose puck and took it the length of the ice and beat Stephen Derewonko low to the ice on the forehand at 8:06 for a 5-2 Bishop McCort lead. Serra’s Joe Clark was in alone at 7:55 and Brent Troyan made another key stop. Serra had another power play with 2:22 left and pulled the goalie and Jared Matthew’s had a wide open net and shot it off the crossbar and moments later BM’s Stephen Polonky banked a shot 180 feet into the empty net for the final tally at 6-2 for the Crimson Crushers, despite a 29-17 shot advantage for Serra. And at the end of the day, the folks from McCort and Serra exchanged pleasantries and said ‘we’ll see you again before the end of the season in Johnstown and again in March at the Penguins Cup finals’.