Seneca Valley Raiders

Canevin 5 Montour 3 MT LEBANON – Montour is ranked # 2 in the latest Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll with a 14-3-0 record and fresh off a 5-1 victory over previously undefeated West Allegheny 5-1 late last week. Canevin is ranked # 4 in those same rankings with a 10-3-2 mark and is tied with Peters Twp for the 4th seed in the playoffs. Both teams have been playing well in the 2nd half of the season and this is a rematch of a 3-2 Canevin win on January 2nd. Needless to say this game will have monumental impact on the Class AA bye picture and seeding later this month. Peter Gegick gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead as he shoveled a rebound past Nick Galioretto 8:19 of the first period. Paul Ciotti tied the game for the Spartans after a nice play by Adam Rizza along the boards getting the puck to Zach Perry who shoveled it toward the net to tie the score at one apiece. With 18 ticks left in the opening period, Keith Kurelis found a loose puck on the doorstep to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Jason Rogerio lit the lamp unassisted on the power play on a shot from the point to knot the score at 2-2. Josh Daley scored on a rebound 4:03 remaining in the 2nd period after a scramble in front to give the Crusaders a 3-2 lead beating Nick Galioretto. Just 7 seconds into the third period, Zach Haluzchak controlled the puck from the opening faceoff and fired a low shot on the ice through the 5-hole to give Canevin a two goal margin 4-2. At 12:21 of the third, Haluzchak beat Gallioretto with a long wrist shot from the top of the circle, which was shorthanded and gave Canevin a 5-2 lead. A 4 on 4 situation and a face off in the Canevin end resulted in a Montour goal by Zach Perry with 9:23 remaining and now a 5-3 hockey game. The Crusaders received a 4 on 3 advantage with a little over 9 minutes to go, which was nullified by a bad penalty creating a 3 on 3 with 8:56 left in regulation. After a countless exchange of penalties, the Spartans hada 5 on 3 chance with a little over 5 minutes to go and the Crusaders killed it and essentially any Montour chance of a comeback. Tempers flared in the final minute and a big scuffle occurred and was curfewed with the Crusaders picking up a big 5-3 win over Montour.

Upper St Clair 9 Butler 2 CASTLE SHANNON – Several years ago, actually in 1996, a process began to re-count the history of hockey in Western Pennsylvania and after compiling several years of archives and the standings of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, South Hills Interscholastic Hockey League, the Lake Shore Hockey League [still incomplete], South Penn Hockey League [mid-1970’s to late 1980’s] and the Ohio Valley High School Hockey League including League Playoffs and Penguins Cup playoffs [f/k/a Western Regional Playoffs], the realization of the first hockey program in the State of Pennsylvania to reach 500 wins came down to Upper St Clair and Armstrong/Kittanning. The list of coaches who led the Panthers at the Class AAA level throughout their history, which began in 1971-72 at the Alpine Ice Chalet includes a who’s who of Pennsylvania hockey as R.T Ford, Buzz Dugiovanni, Taylor Railton [who led Conestoga to Pennsylvania State Titles in 1985 and 1986], Lenny Semplice [who lead the Panthers to their 1st Pennsylvania State Title in 1980], Dave Hornack [who led USC to an undefeated State Championship in 1987], Joe Gaul, Bobby Kennedy, Chuck Kelly, former Pittsburgh Penguins Star Warren Young, Kip Guenther and currently John Harford to accumulate through last week a staggering 499 wins in 786 Regular Season and Playoff games, which is around a .667 winning percentage in the programs history. The interesting contrast to tonight’s contest, which is Upper St Clair Senior Night, is that the Butler program the Panthers will face has been up and down and is more on the downside of a 1-16-0 season and out of playoff contention for the 2005-2006 season. Their lone win was over Gateway and the Golden Toronadoes also dropped a game to Shaler, in the opening game, that has since dropped 17 straight. If you ask any one the difference between the two programs can solely be placed on numbers within the St Clair program and there lack of for Butler. As the game unfolded and started, it didn’t take long for the Panther to strike as Dave Crockett scored on a bank shot just 9 seconds in the opening period. USC took a 2-0 lead as Crockett picked up goal # 2 with 6:09 remaining. The senior forward completed the natural hat trick with 2:20 left in the 1st to make the count 3-0. Butler got on the board with just 53 seconds elapsed in the 2nd period as Steven Stepanian scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1. The Panthers came right back 2 minutes later as Dom Pegnatero scored on a rebound to increase the lead to 4-1. David Crockett picked up his 4th goal of the contest with 9:06 left in the middle period, which sent the water bottle flying to increase the count to 5-1. Just 13 seconds later at 8:53, Kevin Lucas scored on a rebound and the Panthers now led 6-1. Fletcher Crouse scored with 3:17 to go for Butler to make it 6-2, but Davey Crockett lit the lamp on the power play with just 11 seconds remaining in the period to give St Clair a 7-2 lead. Crockett scored his 6th goal of the evening with 2 ½ minutes gone to extend the lead to 8-2 and Rich Kline closed out the scoring as the Panthers registered a 9-2 win over the Golden Toronadoes and picked up their 500th win of all time.

Mt Lebanon 3 North Allegheny 0 MT LEBANON – A Who’s Who night at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center as Ralph of Ralph and Alf guided us into the secure Batcave Parking location deep below the Rec Center rather than the albatross parking lot up top. Bobby Montana, sporting a new long California look accompanied Head Coach Paul Taibi and Dave ‘Hershey’s Chocolate Milk’ Dorsey on the Blue Devil bench, while Tom Pandolfo, sporting a new look lime Scott Hoch golf shirt with Sport Jacket guided the Tigers. Also in attendance for our who’s who night were Bob ‘King Tut’ Sebastian, Chuck Kelly, Mr.Canevin Kenny Vance, Jack ‘I am not taking pictures for Mort but I have my camera’Bliek, Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, Jamie ‘I forgot we have a game against Butler’ Plunkett, Jamie Cummings, stripes Tim ‘No Regrets’ Morgeret and Chet Steen, W&J Coach Peter Taglianetti, Gina Colligan, Bob ‘I have no nickname’ Behling, and John ‘the Scheduler’ McKelvey. Mt Lebanon entered tonight’s contest with a perfect 16-0-0 record and has gone unchallenged in Class AAA for most of the season. The Blue Devils are on a mission which many teams would like to think about, but only a few have accomplished in the 36 years of Class AAA hockey. The history tells us that 1986 Conestoga, 1987 Upper St Clair, a couple of Meadville teams in the 1990’s and 2002 Bethel Park went the entire regular season and playoffs undefeated and captured the State Championship and the Blue Devils are well on their way to that feat. For coach Paul Taibi, it may be time to be thinking about putting the foot to the floor for the stretch drive. If there is anyone who can feel for the Blue Devils, it is North Allegheny as their run a year ago came to as close as perfect as you can get as from the second game of the season until the 2005 Penguins Cup, no one beat the Tigers and just one goal and one slip against Bethel Park cost the Tigers an opportunity to complete the magical run. Coach Tom Pandolfo has formed a new young group of Tigers, who have only lost once this season and sit adjacent to the Blue Devils in the standings. The irony is that no one is talking about the great season NA is having and no one expects them to do anything because all of the discussion has revolved around Mt Lebanon. This game tonight for the Tigers is a test and a part of the process and don’t be surprised if when the Penguins Cup come knocking that NA is sniffing again. I am sure that Bethel Park will have a say and possibly Meadville, which is why both of their head coaches were in the building tonight. In a fast paced opening minutes, Mt Lebanon showed emotion first as Matt Bartkowski maybe was a little over-zealous with an open ice check and was whistled for a penalty at 12:12, giving NA a power play chance, which the Blue Devils killed effectively. Blue Devils goaltender Matt Vaughn made the games first big save as he swatted aside a Josh Herbert shot ticketed for the far corner with a stick save. The Tigers continued to give Mt Lebanon a lot of different looks on the forecheck including Paul Dittrich at forward. Max Richards made the first big save on Sean McDermott at 3:10 and drew a penalty putting the lethal Blue Devil power play to work on their first opportunity. The teams play to a scoreless opening 5 minutes with NA holding a 7-4 advantage in shots. On to the second period and Mt Lebanon committed penalty # 2 and 14:12 giving the Tigers a chance to draw first blood. Blue Devils Shane Ferguson almost struck early in the penalty, which was saved by Max Richards and Lebo 100 killed off the rest. Mt Lebanon would have the next chance on the power play with 9:40 remaining. Max Richards made a nice stop on Shane Ferguson at 6:55. NA went on the power play with a little over 5 minutes to go but James Cichra had other plans stealing the puck and forcing a penalty with 4:05 remaining creating a 4 on 4 situation. Tyler Murovich prove his slippery ability almost banking the puck off the skate of Max Richards with 3:18 to play and the game remained scoreless. The Tigers took an undisciplined penalty at 2:54 putting the Blue Devils on a 5 0n 3 and they capitalized as Tyler Murovich found the net after some great puck movement with 2:36 to play to give Mt Lebanon a 1-0 lead. 15-10 In the third period, Mt Lebanon turned up the heat early on and Max Richards made a super save on Jesse Root at the 12 minute mark. With 9:59 remaining, the Blue Devils had NA on the run and Brandon Dornish found a loose puck in the slot and scored just inside the post to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead. The Tigers went on the power play with 9:29 left. Then the closer as Sean McDermott was the recipient of a tap in at 5:13 after tic tac toe by Jesse Root and Jon Wilen to make it 3-0. The final shots were 25 in favor of Lebo 100 and 12 for North Allegheny, which is amazing considering NA held a 7-4 advantage in the first. So the Blue Devils are now 17-0-0 and heading for a date with the defending State AAA Champions Bethel Park next Monday.

Montour 5 West Allegheny 1 CORAOPOLIS – Montour has involved in a lot of close one goal games over the past month including narrow losses to Canevin and Peters Twp. Head Coach Dan Siegel knows the rigors of the playoffs and will admit I am sure that the Spartans must overcome this to become a contender for this year’s Penguins Cup. With a 13-3-0 record, Team Montour sits in 3rd position in the seedings in a battle with the aforementioned Peters Twp and Canevin for a very important bye and home playoff berth. Having said all of this there will be a fundamental decision, which will have to be made for the playoffs about the goaltending rotation or lack thereof as I believe that starting freshman Matt Skoff, who I consider the ‘Next One’ for every playoff game will give the Spartans a chance for a long playoff run and combined with the better play of the team, they can avoid the situation that presented itself a year ago when Char Valley bounced the also third seeded Spartans from the Class AA playoffs. West Allegheny knows all about getting bounced from the playoffs a year ago as an Elizabeth Forward team that lost to them 8-1 came back and upset the Indians in round one. Coach Norm Cook’s club is 17-0-0 entering this game and talk about Penguins Cups and playoff runs is dancing through many people’s heads in West Allegheny. The Indians have balance on offense and possess a mixture of veteran players and youth that will make opposing coaches heads spin. Kyle Mortimer has been outstanding in between the pipes and will be a key to any playoff run. The Indians are working on capturing the # 1 seed and any losses or two heading into the schedule ahead which includes Montour, Peters Township and Pine Richland, could vault WA out of the top spot. Before a packed house at the Airport Ice Arena the teams took the ice with an air of electricity as students, fans, parent and bystanders of the ‘Concerned Citizens of West Allegheny’ and the always ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ less Frankie Vallie and the four Spartans, who anxiously awaited Limo Service, but not from Canevin’s Kenny Vance, who was at Mt Lebanon. The opening period started with a torrid pace from the outset and the Spartans struck first at 13:56 as Josh York took a cross ice pass from Zach Perry and buried it high over the glove hand side of Mortimer for a 1-0 lead for Team Montour. At 7:26, Ryne Savisky stripped the puck from the Spartan defense and was stopped on a great save by Matt Skoff. The freshman goaltender continued to keep the Indians off the board and made an unreal save on Tony Lutz, who had a wide open net but Skoff was able to extend and glove a potential tying goal and keep Montour on top 1-0 after one period. The Spartans started period two on the power play, but West Allegheny had a great chance to tie it as Tony Lutz was in on the breakaway at the 14 minute mark but Skoff challenged him and Lutz just missed. As things would go the Spartans way less than a minute later, Keith Kurelis intercepted a bad clearing attempt and found the open net past Mortimer at 13:04 high to the glove side and all the sudden Team Montour was up 2-0. The Spartans sensed a wounded animal and Zach Perry went for the jugular at 12:19, when Mortimer made a real nice save and the puck glanced off the post keeping the WA deficit at two and this could have been a key turning point as Montour took an undisciplined penalty after the whistle. The Spartans killed off that West A power play and the third time was a charm for Perry, as at 8:09 he walked out of the corner and fired a slap shot past the Indian goaltender erupting the Montour faithful and chasing Mortimer in favor of freshman Phil Sweet. The Indians stepped up their game late in the second period at finally was able to get on the board on the power play as Steve Sarachene would not be denied getting his own rebound and beating Skoff with 3:32 left to cut the Montour to 3-1. West Allegheny had plenty of time to go in this game and the firepower to come back in the third period, but Zach Perry sucked the wind out of any comeback aspirations as he took the opening faceoff and from just inside the blue line blasted a slapshot high to the stick side past Phil Sweet to make it 4-1 with 14:43 left in regulation. The Indians freshman goaltender foiled Perry’s hat trick bid on a breakaway at 12:42. Montour was able to play solid defense the rest of the way and Paul Ciotti capped it off with an empty netter with 23 seconds remaining to earn a thrilling 5-1 victory and knock West Allegheny from the ranks of the undefeated.

Canon McMillan 5 South Park 3 CASTLE SHANNON - Canon McMillan entered this week with a 7-5-3 mark holding down the # 8 slot tied with Indiana. For coach Dave ‘a/k/a the Boy Wonder’ Fryer, it has been an interesting campaign, especially wince the Big Macs captured the # 1 seed a year ago. Canon Mac will have to win some big games down the stretch to secure home ice in the opening as earning a bye in the opening round may be a stretch. South Park, on the other hand, is fighting for their playoff lives and after a 1-7-0 start head coach Ray Sabitini has to like the way his club is playing, posting a 3-1-1 maek since the first half break. The Eagles have playoff tradition with 16 straight playoff appearances dating back to 1990, reaching the Penguins Cup only once in 1995 losing to Bishop McCort in Class A. SP currently holds down the 12th and final spot in a battle with Latrobe and Moon. Canon McMillan opened up a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Jesse Patnesky 45 seconds in the game. South Park’s tied the score at one apiece at 10:53 as Chris Ondek scored on a long shot for a shorthanded tally. The Big Macs regained the lead with 6:34 left in the opening period as Erik McKown gave his team a 2-1 lead. Shane Bickar continued to keep the Eagles in the game stopping all 9 shots in the middle period and the CM lead to 2-1. Matt Nichol scored a beautiful goal with a wrist shot over the glove side of Mike O’Neill with 3:55 remaining in the 2nd to knot the score at two apiece. At 13:27 of the third period, Justin Cormack scored as he picked up his own rebound off the boards and deposited it past Shane Bickar. Matt Nichol tied the score with 8:53 on a rebound goal to make it 3-3. The Eagles took a penalty with 4:55 to go and opened the door for a Canon McMillan power play, which reaped benefits as Josh Tohey found Jesse Patnesky on the back door who beat Shane Bickar to the far post and gave CM a 4-3 lead with 3 ½ to go in regulation. Justin Cormack scored a huge insurance goal with 1:19 to go intercepted a SP clearing pass and lofted a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Bickar to make it 5-3 and lock down a big win for Robin the Boy Wonder’s Concerned Citizens of Canon Mac.