Seneca Valley Raiders

CHICAGO - Special Report to Pa Hockey North Dakota is facing Pittsburgh for the third time in each of the past three years and the first two meetings in pool play resulted in victory for Team North Dakota, including a 5-4 game a year ago in Pool A play, prior to Pittsburgh running off wins to advance to the Semi-final before bowing to Minnesota. Team North Dakota is unique collection of players from the North Dakota High School Hockey League, in which totals 18 schools from the hockey fanatic areas of eastern North Dakota of Grand Forks and Fargo bordering Minnesota to the far reaches of the flatlands in places like Devil's Lake, Williston, Bismarck and of course Minot. It's a special group of players who represent the pride of North Dakota hockey and the 2006 version has much of the flavor with players who have come together from over 450 miles apart to form the team. North Dakota battled through the preliminary round after a setback to Michigan in the opening game to mount a big comeback to tie New Jersey after trailing 3-0 and then defeating rival Wisconsin twice on consecutive nights to make their way in to the Semi-Finals. Pittsburgh would be making its second consecutive semi-final appearance and hoping to advance to the finals for the 2nd time in 22 years and the first time since 1999. North Dakota came out smoking in the opening minute as Cody Krynock made two big saves on good scoring chances and earned a power play opportunity at 16:11. ND's Andrew Peterson scored the games first goal with a wrist shot just inside the far post from the bottom of the circle. A Pittsburgh miscue at 13:34 resulted in another scoring opportunity as North Dakota just missed taking an early two goal advantage. Pittsburgh's hot line of Fodor, Mandic and Ferguson went to work and created the first opportunity just a half a minute later. The momentum from that shift carried Pittsburgh to its first power play at 10:45 and they capitalized as Chris Urso set up on the far boards and threaded a perfect pass to Matt Bartkowski, who blistered a slapshot just inside the post to tie the game at 1-1 at 9:37. North Dakota came right back and pounced on a Pittsburgh miscue as Devil's Lakes Peter Jerome jammed home a loose puck to give ND a 2-1 lead at 9:17. Pittsburgh came back as Dustin Roux weaved through the high slot and set up Zach Hepler, who bombed a snapshot high over the glove side of goaltender Anthony Kringstad to tie the game again at 2-2 with 6:11 to go in period one. Dustin Roux gave Pittsburgh its first lead of the game as he fought off three North Dakota defenders and chipped the puck past Kringstad with 5:36 remaining to make it 3-2. After Pittsburgh killed off a North Dakota power play opportunity, the game had a huge momentum swing as Marc Mikulka took a puck from behind the goal line and banked it off the backside of Cody Krynock with 2:22 left in a wild first period and the score was tied 3-3 as North Dakota outshot Pittsburgh 12-7. North Dakota played opportunist early in the 2nd period as the Pittsburgh defense mishandled the puck and Mike Harrie scored on a shot from in between the circles with 15 and a half left in period two to make it 4-3. Another bad clearing attempt resulted in disaster for Team Pittsburgh as Dakota's David Hovet swooped in and buried a rebound past Bryan Ross, who replaced Krynock late in the first and now Pittsburgh was in a hole and down 5-3. Pittsburgh picked up their game a this point and pulled back within a goal on the power play as Josh Fodor finished off a nice passing sequence as Timmy O'Brien, Matt Bartkowski, Paul Dittrich and Josh Mandic touched the puck before the goal at 11:09 cut the lead to 5-4. Team Pittsburgh outshot North Dakota 17-7, but goaltender Anthony Kringstad would deny Pittsburgh for the remainder of the period. On to the third period and while Pittsburgh began to pour the shots on Kringstad, the North Dakota goaltender just seemed to get sharper stopping all 12 Pittsburgh shots in the final period, while North Dakota only managed to post five on Bryan Ross. Josh Fodor nearly tied it with 12:52 to play in regulation on a tip of Shane Ferguson's shot. A Pittsburgh power play ensued but Pittsburgh seemed out of rhythm. The Pittsburgh team's climb would get much steeper as Matt Batrkowski was whistled for a hit from behind resulting in 12 minutes in penalties with 9:44 to play. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh the call was made but the team forged on as their captain could only sit and watch the remaining 10 minutes from the penalty box. Pittsburgh dominated play and their best chance to tie the game came with 3:25 to play as Zach Hepler was in alone but Anthony Kringstad stopped him to keep North Dakota on top 5-4. A play in the final minute was the peak of frustration for Pittsburgh as with a player from North Dakota down behind the net, Josh Mandic had control of the puck coming out of the corner with a golden scoring opportunity and the referee inadvertantly blew the whistle stopping play with 52 seconds left to the dismay of the Pittsburgh bench. Team Pittsburgh pulled their goalie in the final minute and could not get the equalizer ending their dreams of moving onto the finals with a 5-4 setback to North Dakota. Pittsburgh outshot ND 36-24, including 29-12 over the final two periods only scoring one goal on Anthony Kringstadm the North Dakota goaltender from Grafton / Park River, who didn't appear in any of the post season honors in the ND State Tournament, but scored a huge victory for North Dakota hockey.

CHICAGO - A special report for Pa Hockey The day after Team Pittsburgh shocked Team Minnesota in a game with many twists and turns lead the Western Pa contingent to the quarter-finals against Tri-State, who pummeled Team Connecticut 11-1 in the C Bracket finale. Pittsburgh found itself in an interesting position facing a team made up of high school players from Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, which is essentially the all-star team of the Iowa High School Hockey League, who entered the 1/4 finals with a 4-0-0 record with wins over Ohio, Florida, Northwest and the aformentioned Connecticut, which is hardly the road of Team Pittsburgh. Early in this contest the casual hockey fan could see that Team Pittsburgh gave Tri-State fits with a superior skill level and speed. With the early domination in territorial play Pittsburgh looked to take advantage, but a couple of ill-advised penalties put Tri State right in the hockey game even though being dominated on the shot total, the score remained scoreless through one period. Teamn Pittsburgh's bestr chance came as Shane Ferguson got behind the Tri-State defense with 1:37 remaining but Nick LeQuire was equal to the task. Pittsburgh took another penalty early in the second period and it cost them as Bryan Beaman redirected a Geoff Vicek shot from the right point past Bryan Ross high over the glove side to give Tri-State a 1-0 lead and a power play with 15:14 to play in the 2nd period. Tri State put Pittsburgh on the power play at 14:46 and Shane Ferguson tied the score at 1-1 backhanding a Matt Bartkowski rebound past LeQuire. Bryan Ross made a terrific stop from point blank range at 12:33 to keep the 1-1 score. At 9:56, Matt Bartkowski made a good play to settle the puck at the point and move it to Ferguson in the corner, who cycled the puck with Josh Fodor who found a streaking Josh Mandic who made no mistake depositing the puck into an empty net with 9:56 to play and give Pittsburgh its first lead 2-1. The goal was as pretty a passing play as you will see in any hockey game. Pittsburgh put Tri State back on the power play at 9:43 and on a 5 on 3 at 8:56 and gave Tri State a chance to ie the score again, which they did as Derek Kohles banged home a rebound to make it 2-2 with 8:27 to play. As mentioned last night, the line of Fodor, Ferguson and Mandic has been on fire in this tournament and Josh Fodor seized the moment to gain control of this hockey game as he took the puck end-to-end, walked to the middle of the ice and fire a wrist whot high over the glove side of LeQuire, who may have had trouble seeing the shot go in, but Pittsburgh regained the lead 3-2 with 5:20 remaining in the middle period. Pittsburgh went on the power play with 1:37 remaining in the period and Paul Dittrich hit the post with a blistering wrist shot low to the far post and Team Pittsburgh headed to the third period with a slim 3-2 advantage. Pittsburgh has dominated the third period on this tournament outscoring opponents 8-1 in three games and compiled a staggering shot totoal advantage in those periods. Josh Mandic just missed just thirty seconds in as the puck was just brushed wide by the Tri State goaltender. The play of this hockey game came with 13:38 to play in regulation as Josh Mandic picked the pocket of a Tri State forward in the neutral zone and sent Ferguson and Fodor in on a two on one, which Fodor used Fergy as a decoy and blistered a wrist shot up under the crossbar to give Pittsburgh a semmingly comfortable 4-2 lead. Team Pittsburgh effectively ran the lines and kept the pressure on Tri State, who seemed to struggle against the speed and tenacity of Pittsburgh. Bryan Ross made a real nice save from point blank range with 3:15 to play. Two goals are unsafe because one mistake can put a team right back in the hockey game and that's exactly what happened as after a bad clearing attempt Tri State scored on a rebound to cut the lead to 4-3 with 51 seconds to go. Pittsburgh would shut the door in the final minute as Tri State never got the puck out of their zone and Tean Pittsburgh won a little differently, not playing their best game, but good enough to move on to the semi-finals of the 2006 Chicago Showcase for the second straight year. Mt Lebanon's Matt Bartkowski was named the Most Valuable player of the 2006 Chicago Showcase, with solid play at both ends of the ice in the first four games.

CHICAGO - A special report from Pa Hockey So Team Pittsburgh defeated New York and California in the opening two games of the 2006 Chicago Showcase and with a 2-0 record to guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Now the fun is to begin as they would have the honor of sharing the ice with Team Minnesota, the same team who has won the Chicago Showcase countless times over the years under the late great coach Ted Brill and more recently under Dave Hendrickson, who is a joy to talk to every time one comes to the rink and I have gotten to know over the past few years. Last year's schooling of Team Pittsburgh 7-1 in the semi-finals would be a reminder to the returning players of last years team of the significance of Minnesota High School Hockey to the rest of the United States as a leader of the sport and how programs should model and conduct themselves in this sport. As a casual fan its just a thrill to watch our boys from Western Pa match up against the 'Institution' of Interscholastic Sports in America. Former Team Pittsburgh players Ryan Vesely of Greensburg CC and Chris Perry of Hempfield were on hand with their Team Pittsburgh to cheer on the team, seven years removed from Team Pittsburgh's lone trip to the finals in 1999, a 6-2 setback to no other than Team Minnesota. The early part of this contest consisted of some penalty killing by Team Pittsburgh of the lethal Minnesota power play and some great goaltending by Thomas Jefferson's Cody Krynock, who is a great story because he didn't start tendinmg goal for the Jaguars until January after a stint on defense. Team Minnesota had a better of the chances and the shot advantage at 10-6 but the opening 17 minutes was a fast paced scoreless tie. The second period Team Pttsburgh would get a golden opportunity at 16:07 as Brock Heinauer kept the play alive in the Minnesota zone and Chris Urso found Timmy O'Brien on the back door who just missed and Urso banged home the rebound to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Minnesota kept plugging away at Pittsburgh and capitalized on a turnover as Brian McMillin fired a low slapshot past Cody Krynock at 11:57 to tie the game at one apiece. Pittsburgh failed to clear the zone again at 5:26 and McMillin was open again on the weak side beating Krynock on a slapper to give Minnsota a 2-1 lead. Pittsburgh did start to get more chances late in the period with a 12-11 shot advantage and almost ties it at the buzzer as Timmy O'Brien and Brock Heinauer both had great chances, but Minnesota goaltender Alex Petersen made a spectacular save throwing his body at the loose puck and keeping Minnesota in front 2-1 at the ice cut. So Pittsburgh had to be satisfied playing the Minnesota team to a one goal game and could have settled for the great effort guys speech, but this team would be tested even further when they put Minnesota on the power play at 15:17 and then yielded a PPG goal at 14:43 as Alex Braden redirected a pass past Krynock after some excellent puck movement to make it 3-1 in favor of Minnesota. Matt Bartkowski hit both posts on a slapshot at 13:30 and the deficit remained two. Moments later Pittsburgh dug another hole with a penalty at 13:02, but was able to kill it off and gain a little momentum. A power play came their way at 11:26 that turned into a 5 on 3 at 10:19 putting Pittsburgh in a nice position to get back in the game. Then Tean Pittsburgh seized the moment as they moved the puck quickley and Kevin Miller beat Petersen on a wrist shot low to the glove side to cut the lead to 3-2 with 9:05 remaining in a definite change of momentum. Pittsburgh turned up their game and applied the pressure to Minnesota with 6 1/2 left in regulation. Josh Fodor, who has been part of Team Pittsburgh's best forward lines with Ferguson and Mandic at both ends of the ice showed great patience and found a wide open Kevin Pawlos on the doorstep, who made no mistake and buried a wrist shot high up under the crossbar past Petersen with 4:56 to play to knot the score at 3-3 in a dramatic turnaround. With 3:32 remaining, Josh Mandic gathered the loose puck in the neutral zone and found two streaking linemates creating a 3 on 1 and as Josh Fodor drove the Minnesota defenseman to the net, Shane Ferguson served as the trailer and took a nice feed from Mandic and buried it low to the glove side erupting the Pittsburgh bench and the Team Pittsburgh faithful in attendance giving the a 4-3 lead. Team Pittsburgh played to win in the final minutes and penned up Minnesota in their zone with quick shifts and tenacious forechecking to seal a monumental victory for this team and a watershed win for Western Pennsylvania hockey, who is now on the map and this group can relish an accomplishment 22 years in the making. Coach Paul Taibi showed his class by presenting team manager Dev Klasnick with the game puck for his 22 years of service and class to Team Pittsburgh, who is now the # 1 seed heading to the quarter-finals of the 2006 Chicago Showcase. Sounds nice..............but it was a great thrill to watch and people from Western Pa should really be proud of this great moment !

CHICAGO - A special report for the 2006 Chicago Showcase Many people who attended the 2005 Chicago Showcase walked away amazed after Team Pittsburgh's stunning four goal rally late in the 3rd period to defeat defending champions of the Chicago Showcase California 5-4. This game would serve as a rematch of sorts as California would have a chance at redemption from a year ago. Should Team Pittsburgh be able to defeat California again, they wuld clinch a spot in Saturday's Quarter-Finals and face Minnesota, who soundly defeated Pittsburgh a year ago in the Semi-Finals, for the top spot in the A bracket. California took advantage of an early power play at 11:22 of the opening period scoring on a wrist shot from the center point, which eluded Bryan Ross for a 1-0 lead. Pittsburgh would answer as Phil Trombetta would bang home a Matt Bartkowski rebound to knot the score at one apiece. Pittsburgh held a 12-7 shot advantage in the opening period. On to the second period and Pittsburgh would play opportunist shorthanded as Josh Fodor buried a snapshot high over the glove side of Adam Krauss at 16:22 after a terrific steal and feed by Shane Ferguson to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. Kruase robbed Brendan Conlon with a sliding save with 9:18 remaining to keep it a one goal game as Pittsburgh increased the territorial advantage at 7-4 for the second period. Pittsburgh would start the third period with a fibe minute power play which was partially killed off by some aqgressive penalty killing by Team California. Pittsburgh continue to dominate play in the third period and capitalized on their next man advantage as Matt Bartkowski scored on a big slapshot after a perfect feed from Phil Trombetta at 11:51 to make it 3-1 and again at 10:23 as Josh Mandic coverted a cross ice feed from Kevin Miller to increase the lead to 4-1. Team Pittsburgh outshot California 11-3 in the final period and continued to pressure them in mistakes. Timmy O'Brien hit the post on a nice setup by Chris Urso at 7:09, but Alan Halipin would put an exclamation point on a 5-1 victory for Team Pittsburgh just moments later as he intercepted an errant clearing pass and beat Krause to the glove side. The win sets up a battle for the top spot in the A bracket against Minnesota tomorrow evening at the Edge in Bensenville.

2006 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships – Class A Quaker Valley 9 Penncrest 2 NEVILLE ISLAND – The Penncrest Lions have been on a joy ride since last March as the Lions started their journey to their first ever Flyers Cup A Championship defeating Central Bucks West and then continued their voyage at the Hersheypark Arena with a heartstopping 5-3 victory over Bishop McCort to capture the Pennnsylvania Class A title. For head coach Steve Mescanti, the thrill of being champions and the honor to defend their title has even been more enjoyable. The Lions were not the favorites to repeat as Springfield and Hershey move ahead in the Flyers Cup A seedings as the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League playoffs saw Penncrest get bounced as Springfield capture a title, which has been a prelude to State Championships the past three years as Penncrest and before the Radnor for two years have gone on to win the Pennsylvania State Title. So when the Lions and Cougars of Springfield matched up in the 2006 Flyers Cup, conventional wisdom and momentum was against Penncrest, but Mescanti’s boys edged their rivals from the ICSHL 1-0 and captured a date in this State final. Quaker Valley’s journey has been a lot longer than most but the trip has been enjoyable for those close to the program as their only Head Coach from the program’s inception in 1997 has been Kevin Quinn. The Quaker’s built their program the right way through developmental programs and bringing players up through the ranks of Freshman hockey to the Varsity level. QV can be proud that ALL of its players are home grown, with no advantage of bringing already developed players in from another team. Quaker Valley defeated long time nemesis Serra Catholic 6-0 top capture the Penguins Cup in their first ever trip and gain a spot next to the defending State Champions Penncrest Lions. The Quakers will be trying to do something for Western Pennsylvania tat has not happened since 2002 when Serra defeated Radnor to win the Pennsylvania Class A crown. After a run of ten in a row from 1993 to 2003, Western Pa holds 11 Class A State Championships and Eastern Pa has captured 6 Class titles. So before a packed house at the RMU Neville Island Sport Center and after a nervous opening sequence for QV at 14:04, red hot Furman South walked off the near boards a rifled a rocket over the stick side of Ryan McElhenny to give the Quakers a 1-0 lead. After the whistle at 12:50, Penncrest lost its composure with a retaliation penalty putting QV on the power play. But it would be Dave Bixler, who would draw a penalty just 41 seconds later to even it up in a very important turning point in the hockey game. With 7:46 remaining in the opening period, the Lions were a little overzealous on the physical play and put the Quakers on the power play with another chance to go up two goals. With 6:06 remaining, McElhenney made a point blank save on Cody Scott and the Lions were able to kill off the QV man advatantage. With 3:21 remaining in the first period, Penncrest earned an opportunity on the power play and gain a tie score and after some sustained pressure, the Lions took another aggressive penalty to even it up. With 1:02 left another penalty created a 4 on 4 situation and moments later after brother Furman went to the box, freshman Colin South showed tremendous patience on a 2 on 1 and buried a wrist shot low to the glove side with 47 seconds for a 2-0 Quaker Valley lead and then just 19 seconds later, it was Colin South beat McElhenney on a long shot that handcuffed the Penncrest goaltender and gave the Quakers a 3-0 lead as they outshoot Penncrest 14-7 in the opening period turning a tight one goal contest into a 3 goal QV cushion. On to the second and QV goaltender Zac Zinger got into the act stopping Bixler from the side of the net. Penncrest showed some frustration and put the Quakers on the power play again. Then the South’s struck again as Furman found a loose puck along the boards and fired a shot at 6:55, which Ryan McElhenney saved but like a truck Colin South crashed the net and beat the Penncrest defenseman to the puck and the Quakers now had a 4-0 lead, prompting a timeout by the Lions. With 5:53 to play nothing was going right for the Lions as they were whistled again and just 7 seconds after the face-off, Furman South buried a slapshot from the middle of the circle and the score read Quaker Valley South 5 Penncrest heading East 0. Then with 3:12 remaining in the 2nd, a QV miscue ended up on the stick of Nick Kusturriss, who beat Zac Zinger low to the stick side to get the Lions on the board 5-1, but the Quaker Valley team would be just 15 minutes from a State Championship. Although Penncrest outshot QV in the period 14-11, the Quakers dominated the first 30 minutes and it was reflected on the scoreboard. The Penncrest chances ended up safely in the capable hands of QV goaltender Zac Zinger early in the third period. And then the icing on the cake came with 10:21 remaining as Furman South intercepted a Penncrest clearing pass and then deked the Lion’s defense and lofted a wrist shot low to the stick side to give QV a 6-1 lead on a great goal for the hat trick. With 8 ½ to go and a two man advantage, the puck found Furman South’s stick again like a magnet and he buried a wrist shot to the stick side for his 4th goal of the game and a demanding 7-1 plastering of the defending State Champions. Then with 7:14 remaining, little used 4th liner John Chicots scored on his own rebound for an exclamation point and a 8-1 QV runaway. Then another goal as Mikail Lemieux unleashed a wicked slapshot that beat McElhenney with 6:33 to play to make it 9-1. Penncrest’s Dave Bixler scored a consolation goal with 4:43 to play to make the final count 9-2. Final shots were 40-36 in favor of QV. For Quaker Valley, a tremendous finish to a magical season in bringing back the State Class A Championship to Western Pennsylvania.