Seneca Valley Raiders

Bishop McCort 3 Mars 0 JOHNSTOWN – Bishop McCort [18-3-1], the defending Penguins Cup champions and Mars 13-9-0, represent two of six teams in the 12 team Class A with a winning record. This is a far cry from the last time that the Crimson Crushers, were Penguins Cup champions in 1999, when it was prestigious just to make the Penguins Cup playoffs, let alone the Elite 8. In today’s Western Pa Hockey, the playoff committee is looking for warm bodies just to suit up for games as evidenced by Conemaugh Valley, with just four wins entering the playoffs against # 1 seed Quaker Valley. This opening round game between the Crimson Crushers and the Planets is an opportunity for an upset in round one for several reasons including goaltending, which is decidedly in favor of Mars with four-year starter Bryan Ross. Bishop McCort head coach John Bradley is well aware that his team will more than likely face Serra Catholic if they defeat the Planets, which is why this game is intruiging, since the Crushers and Eagles have been battling for the Penguins Cup supremacy for each of the past seven seasons. The Crushers owned the first period territorial play and the shots 15-6, but Bryan Ross was particularly sharp as he stopped several McCort opportunities. The first came as Matt Cooper got behind the Planets defense at 9:11 of the opening period but the Mars goaltender stopped him. Chad James had the next chance at the eight-minute mark, but Ross gloved it. At 5:54, the Planet’s keeper stopped # 9 with a sliding save. Maybe the best opportunity came on a give and go in front of Ross, but the Planet’s netminder kept the game scoreless. Mars had a chance to open up the scoring on a bang bang play as both Bryan Reel and Mike Kenitz could not beat Crusher netminder Brent Troyan On to the second period in a scoreless game and Domonkos walked out of the corner to the net and Ross held his ground at 12:06. At 7:11 of the second, McCort’s Christian Ternchanik had multiple chances, but Bryan Ross made a sprawling save. Now the Mars goaltender was looking almost unbeatable as he stopped Mike Kiely from point blank as the ice tilted to McCort. Mars snuck Bryan Reel behind the Crusher defense at 3:27 and Troyan made the initial stop and again on the rebound on Mike Riefner. The Crushers finally found the net with 1:52 remaining in the 2nd as Steven Polonkey’s bullet from the left point beat Ross high over the glove hand side to give McCort a 1-0 lead. Zac Seidel found Shawn James alone behind the defense, but Bryan Ross made his best save yet at the buzzer and the teams headed to the ice cut with Bishop McCort holding a slim 1-0 advantage, despite the Crushers holding a 29-13 shot edge. The Crushers started the 3rd on the power play and converted as Zac Seidel found a loose puck and an empty net on the doorstep with 14:16 left in regulation from a puck that Shawn James shot from the right face-off circle. The Crusher’s just kept on coming and piling up the shots and with 8:00 to go Marc Domonkos jammed home his won rebound to make the count 3-0. Mars went on the power play with 5:54 to play but Brent Troyan made a nice stop on Bryan Reel to maintain the shutout. The Crimson Crushers held on for a hard fought 3-0 victory. So for the 14th time in 15 years, Bishop McCort advances on to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals with an opportunity to advance to their 12th trip to the Penguins Cup.