Seneca Valley Raiders

SPECIAL REPORT FROM ERIE TIMES NEWS By JASON SNYDER Contributing writer By completing one shutout, McDowell goalie John Cleary earned another. Cleary capped a perfect career against hockey rival Cathedral Prep on Wednesday with the Trojans' 6-0 PIHL West win over the Ramblers at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. It was the senior goaltender's sixth win in six tries against the Ramblers (13-24-1, 8-14-0 PIHL), whose playoff chances are all but gone with eight straight losses to end the season. Behind Cleary's play in net and two goals and an assist by junior Brandon Oathout, the Trojans (19-15-1, 12-7-1 PIHL) put two potentially dangerous games against Prep behind them. "Every time we play them, I seem to get hot," said Cleary, who had 22 saves. "It might just be that Prep-McDowell rivalry that makes you want to give everything you can." For the second straight game, McDowell took a period to get going offensively, leading just 1-0 after the first off a goal by Nick DiSanti. Ryan Adams opened a four-goal second period for the Trojans with an unassisted goal off a blast from outside the blue line. Oathout, who assisted DiSanti's goal, scored on back-to-back breakaways. "(I thought), let's just bury one and put them away," Oathout said. "It was senior night and we wanted to do it for those guys and we came out and did it." Trevor Shaw and Tyler Nolf closed the Trojans' scoring. McDowell outshot Prep 45-22 and killed four Rambler power plays. Prep's biggest scoring opportunity came in the first period when a bouncing puck appeared to be on its way into the net. "Ed Maras basically saved my shutout for me," Cleary said. "He made a great dive across the net to stop the puck, and if it wasn't for that, it could have been a 1-1 game and anything could have happened." McDowell coach Paul Mancini was happy to see Cleary earn the shutout after he missed it with a last-minute goal by the Ramblers last week. "John's a rock for us," Mancini said. "We kind of owed him one after the last game. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen again." McDowell, already a lock for the PIHL postseason, still must face powers Upper St. Clair and Meadville before its playoff seeding is determined. "We're on a bit of a hot streak now,"Oathout said. "We beat Fox Chapel in overtime and now these guys twice, so hopefully we'll carry the momentum on the road."