Seneca Valley Raiders

Quaker Valley 5 Bishop McCort 0 Coraopolis – Landscape of Class A hockey in Western Pennsylvania is so predictable due to the haves and have not’s that anyone who believes two of threesome of Serra Catholic, Quaker Valley and defending State Finalist Bishop McCort are not going to play for the Class A Penguins Cup on March 25th should have their head examined. With the Crimson Crushers and Serra dominating the Class A circuit winning 9 out of the last 11 Championships, there is no question both teams intend to be there. Quaker Valley has been knocking at the door the past few seasons and has displayed the depth necessary to win it all, but coach Kevin Quinn’s teams have fallen short, but this year has been different as the Quakers are on a mission. McCort features a balanced attack with three strong lines and good team defense and goaltending, while QV has a few marquee players to compliment a scrappy group of seasoned players along with the goaltending of Zac Zinger, who has come a long way since last season. A very important seeding game, especially for McCort as both teams are tied in the loss column with Serra with one setting up the February match-ups amongst all three # 1 seed contenders, which will ultimately decide who will have a clear path to the 2006 Penguins Cup finals. So before a packed house at the Airport Ice Arena Bishop McCort and Quaker Valley locked horns. The Quakers opened the scoring early in the 1st period as George Jackson scored to give QV a 1-0 lead. At 3:16 of the opening period, after some hard work by Tim Hall, the speedy winger found the loose puck in a McCort defenders feet, plucked it and found a wide open Colin South, who made no mistake firing a snapshot low on the glove side of Brent Troyan for a 1-0 Quaker Valley lead. Things got worse before they got better for the Crimson Crushers as they took two late penalties in the opening period giving QV a 5 on 3 advantage for over a minute. At 14:12 of the second, the Quakers made them pay for taking penalties as Colin South buried another shot from the right faceoff circle past Troyan to make the count 3-0. McCort had their 1st chance on the power play at 11:37, but did not mount much pressure on Zac Zinger and took a penalty, putting the Quakers back on the power play. With 11 ½ left in the 2nd , which BM killed. The Crushers had a golden opportunity to get back in the game at 9:35 as QV was whistled with a double minor. Colin South had a great chance to score the hat trick at 6:46 shorthanded, but Troyan made a real nice save to keep his team in the game. McCort started to build momentum of the power play and the Troyan save and got yet another chance on the power play at 5:39 and QV still leading 3-0. Then the backbreaker came at 4:30 as Tim Hall stole the puck and scored shorthanded to give the Quakers a 4-0 advantage. Another McCort power play at 3:46 and Zac Zinger made the save at 3:32 on the rebound on a shot that went off the post and fell right into his glove. The Crimson Crushers lost their composure and took a bad penalty and Mikail Lemieux made them pay beating Troyan through the 5-hole to make it 5-0. The third period was pretty much a white wash as McCort looked defeated and Quaker Valley was looking to kill time off the clock, protect Zac Zinger’s shutout and collect their victory and a big win in the seeding position heading to February. The Quakers would hold on as planned for a 5-0 victory moving them in a tie with Serra with only one loss and setting up a winner take all game on Monday February 13th.