Seneca Valley Raiders

Hampton traveled to the Kirk S. Nevin Ice Arena in Greensburg on Monday, December 13, 2004 to take on Greater Latrobe in AA Varsity Ice Hockey action. Although the final 9 - 5 score would appear to be a lopsided Latrobe victory, both teams deserve credit for a hard played game. Hampton's Brian Goncar contributed a hat trick to help his team keep pace with Latrobe through the second period. However, Latrobe's Mike Kimmel and Matt Mesaros scored two goals each to stay a step ahead of Hampton. Additional Latrobe goals were scored by David Farah, Eric Gondosh, Brad Roth, Paul Simkovich and RJ Williams. Also, Roth, Matt Walker and Aaron Stitt respectively contributed four, three and two assists toward Latrobe's winning effort. Single Latrobe assists were recorded by Brendan Berkley, Farah, Kimmel and Williams. In addition to Goncar's hat trick, Pat Duffy and Dan Relihan tallied single goals for Hampton. Also, Duffy provided three assists while teammates Goncar, Brian Relihan, Adam Haller, Sean Mahaffey and Dan Relihan contributed one assist each. The oppossing Goalies virtually saw an equal number of shots. Hampton's Tim Papper stopped 26 of 35 shots and Latrobe's Justin Fontaine turned away the puck on 26 of 31 scoring attempts.

*****Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey***** BETHEL PARK - Canon-McMillan has traditionally been a mediocre team that ran in the middle of the AA pack. The most wins they had ever posted in a single season was 12, and 6 of their previous 10 seasons finished in records below .500. On the other hand, Peters Township is a perennial title contender, posting more than 12 wins in 7 of their past 8 seasons alone. They know what its like to play in big games. They know how it feels to be called #1. They know how to win against the top teams in the state. But now, so does Canon-McMillan. With a hard-fought 7-4 over Peters Township on Monday night, the Big Macs loudly stated their case for the #1 AA ranking in Pennsylvania. Peters Township was in that position coming in to the contest and weren't about to relinquish it without a fight. But when the dust settled, it was Canon Mac, behind a 6-goal explosion by forward Doug Stanton, that remained the only unbeaten AA team in the PIHL. Peters Township got on the board first with a power play goal from Dustin Roux less than 4 minutes in to the game. Jeff Hannan and Bryan Papciak got assists on the play, and it appeared that the Indians' mastery over the Big Macs might be continuing. An evenly played first period ended with the score evened at 1-1 when Stanton took a pass from Josh Tohey and got CM on the board with a goal from in tight with 2:06 to play. The second period belonged to Canon-McMillan right from the start. They began the period on a power play, and just 28 seconds in, Kyle Harnen took a lead pass from Nate Bohn and converted a 2-on-1 opportunity to put CM ahead, 2-1. Just 2:01 later, Stanton was sprung loose by Justin Cormack on another 2-on-1 down the left wing, and he buried a wrist shot to stretch the lead to 3-1. The hat trick was completed by Stanton 4:50 in to the second when yet another 2-on-1 break resulted in a slap shot to the lower right hand corner from the left wing. Canon-McMillan was suddenly ahead 4-1 in a game that everyone expected to be a nail-biter. Peters Township still had aspirations of keeping it close, however. A CM power play with 6:04 to play in the period turned out to be an opportunity for the Indians. A tenacious forecheck by Hannan led to a short-handed goal by Roux, his second of the night. With 5:02 left in the middle frame and the lead cut to 4-2, PT dug deep in an effort to pull within one. Peters was able to kill off the remainder of the power play, but a few seconds later, Eric Lang fed Stanton in the slot, and he fired a wrist shot past Justin Mahramas for his 4th goal of the game and a 5-3 lead for the Big Macs at the end of two. The Indians regrouped during the intermission and had the benefit of 1:20 of power play time to start the third. A slashing call against CM 50 seconds in to the period gave Peters 30 seconds of 5-on-3 play. With just 1 second of that left, Papciak fired a wrist shot in to the upper corner to cut the deficit back to 2. Hannan got the only assist on the goal, his 3rd helper of the game. Canon Mac was able to kill off the rest of the power play, but they couldn't end PT's momentum. Aaron Croft hit Chris Papciak streaking down the left side, who made a nifty move to the slot before feeding a backhand pass across the crease to George Hecht, who slammed the puck in to the open net. Peters Township now trailed by a single goal and the clock still showed 10:42. Stanton wasn't about to let his stellar performance end with a loss and responded by tucking home his 5th marker of the night just over a minute later. Cormack and Nick Cusolito had assists on the play, putting CM ahead by two again, 6-4. Stanton wasn't finished, though, and got behind the PT defense with a lead pass from Erik McKown. A few quick moves to the forehand pulled Mahramas to the left, then Stanton went to the backhand to slide home his whopping 6th goal of the game. With 4:14 left in the game, CM tightened up defensively to preserve the 7-4 victory, and goaltender Drew Stanton removed any hopes of another Peters comeback with a solid finish in net. Drew Stanton made 30 saves to earn his 7th win on the season, while Mahramas stopped 17 shots for Peters Township. The Big Macs now sit alone atop the AA South Division with a record of 9-0, but Peters is just 1.5 games back with a record of 7-1. Canon-McMillan looks to make their bid at the #1 ranking official by completing the week with a road game against South Park on Friday night. Peters Township plays the same South Park team in their next game, which doesn't come until next Monday.

DELMONT - The Plum Mustangs have been one of the surprise teams of Class AAA during the early part of the 2004-2005 campaign with a 5-1-1 record, good for first place in the North Division. Coach Stu Rulnick’s squad is coming off a hard fought 3-3 tie with McDowell in Erie and looking to continue their strong defensive play that has yielded just 14 goals in 7 games, which is among the best in Class AAA. Penn Trafford is also in first place in the East Division and has also only yielded 14 goals and to consider that half were given up in one game against Mt Lebanon, coach Todd Purvis has to be please with the defensive effort of his team. The Warriors were impressive in a battle for first place defeating rival Franklin Regional 6-1 in their last outing, but the victory proved costly as a couple of key players drew suspensions during a late game scuffle with their divisional rivals. While Plum was missing one of its leading scorers Jon Smith, the Warriors suspensions from their previous game against Franklin Regional made absent Chris Cerutti and Joe Meehan, along with Nick Whaley who was just plain absent. Plum carried the play in the 1st Period outshooting PT 10-5 and missed a golden opportunity on their first power play at 12:12 when Mike Renna had a wide open net and hit the post. The Mustangs would strike first at 10:56 as Phil Mains blazing wrist shot found the upper corner past Joel Sterniak for a power play goal and a 1-0 lead. At 7:43 with Plum shorthanded, Mains stood up a PT forward at blueline and sent Giunta in on breakaway SH and stopped by Sterniak with a leg save. On to the 2nd Period and Penn Trafford would tie the game when at 14:32 Kyle Sidle burst down the off wing and roofed a wrist shot high over the glove side of Brandon King to tie the game at one apiece. Plum picked up their game at this point, but could not beat Sterniak with several good chances, the best coming as Matt Giunta was stopped on another breakaway stopped by Sterniak at 13:20. The action late in the period would have a huge impact in the outcome of this contest as with :35 left, Kyle Sidle intercepted pass in neutral zone and burst into zone on breakaway and Brandon King made nice stop. Plum would answer as with just :12 on the clock Phil Mains scored on his own rebound after great save by Sterniak after feed by Giunta to slot and Plum took a 2-1 to the locker room for the ice cut. The Mustangs would continue their strong play in the third period as Joel Sterniak made a sprawling save on Ginuta point blank at 8:30 to keep it a one goal game. Plum continued to apply the pressure on PT and with 2:21 left & 1:31 in PP for Plum, the Mustangs would just need to kill the clock. The icing on the cake came at 1:41 when Ben Colusmo found a loose puck in front and chipped it past Sterniak after nice play by David Dincau to move puck in front through traffic to make the final score 3-1 in favor of the Mustangs in a battle of division leaders.

CORAOPOLIS - A rainy night in December and a trek to the Airport Ice Arena ….somehow this isn’t appropriate here in Western Pennsylvania, where we usually have snow in Mid-December, but then again it isn’t really normal that the West Allegheny and Canon McMillan hockey teams are undefeated at this point in the season. No one knows this better than CM coach Dave Fryer, a former West Allegheny player and coach, who has done a great job to this point getting the Big Macs into the playoff hunt again this season. Fryer and his counterpart in this matchup, West Allegheny coach Norm Cook, have heard the vibes throughout Western Pa that neither Canon Mac nor West A has played anyone and that neither is that good. Well neither coach makes the schedule and they can only account that their respective teams are perfect with the one each they have played. The Indians have done it with offense with Ryne Savisky, Marek Polidor, Ryan Kumpfmiller and a host of WA players leading the way. The Big Macs have combined defense and goaltending with scoring from Jesse Patnesky, Doug Stanton and Justin Cormack. Noticably Stanton was missing the game and school as he was off with the Junior B Penguins, who supposedly support High School Hockey but are Kool-Aid servers similar to the Hornets and other AAA midget organizations, who continue to stick it to High School Hockey, where they recruit ALL of their players from and continue to stab it in the back. A very festive and large crowd was on hand for the late game at the Airport, which is more people who will show up to see the Junior B Penguins play tomorrow morning in Boston or wherever their travels take them. The first period saw Canon McMillan go on the power play at 12:20 but the Big Macs could not get established and the best chance was by WA Ryne Savisky at 10:34. At 10:05 West Allegheny went on the power play and just ten seconds in at 9:55 Ryan Justus scored on a slap shot high over the glove hand of Drew Stanton for a 1-0 WA lead after a nice cross ice pass by Ryan Kumpfmiller. At 7:09, Stanton made a key save on Ryne Savisky from point blank range. West A extended its lead at 6:35 as Tony Lutz took a pass from Ryan Kumpfmiller, which Lutz chipped over blocker of Stanton to make it 2-0. West Allegheny turned it up a notch and continued to pressure CM with five shots in one spurt, but at 3:07 Canon Mac went on the PP and at 2:20 after good patience WA took another penalty leaving 1:13 on 5 on 3. The Big Macs made it count at 2:05 as Eric Lang scored on a rebound high over glove hand of Dan Kuzio to make it 2-1. On to the 2nd Period and CM tied the game at 11:46 as Justin Cormack scored on the breakaway got behind WA defense and beat Kuzio on the backhand great pass by Josh Tohey who sprung Cormack to tie the game at two apiece. The Big Macs took their first lead at 10:02 as Nick Cusolito banged home a loose puck and scored into empty net after great work by # 49 Erik McKown and # 8 Corey Griffith to make it 3-2. West Allegheny tied the game at 7:38 on a brillant backhand upstairs over the glove of Stanton by Marek Polidor after a great pass by Ryne Savisky. The Indians got the lead at 5:51 as Steve Sarachene picked up the garbage after great move by Savisky who was robbed by Stanton to give WA a 4-3 lead. West A had a great opportunity to add insurance on the power play, but Justin Cormack hit the post shorthanded at 2:55 and Drew Stanton stopped Ryan Kumpfmiller from point blank range at 1:13 to keep the score at 4-3 after two periods. The start of the 3rd Period was key as at 14:30 Justin Cormack scored from the slot to tie the game at 4-4. West Allegheny dominated the remainder of the period but could not beat Drew Stanton as the Canon McMillan netminder stopped all 20 shots in the final period and several point blank chances. At 3:05, Canon McMillan went on the power play, but also could not score as the game headed for OT. In the ovetime, the silent Jesse Patnesky, who played a strong defensive game, made the best of a wrist shot beating Dan Kuzio on the stick side at 4:37 of OT and giving the Big Macs a thrilling 5-4 victory and to remain undefeated heading for a showdown with Peters Township.

ERIE - Exclusive coverage provide to Pa Hockey by McDowell Hockey The McDowell Trojans and Plum Mustangs battled to an exciting 3 - 3 overtime tie Wednesday night at the JMC Ice Arena in a game featuring two of the top teams in the PIHL. Plum is currently ranked #5 in Western PA by PA Hockey while McDowell is ranked #7.Both teams displayed a wealth of speed and firepower as the game turned into a track meet on ice. The Trojans would dent the scoreboard first when Kaylan Rhoades dumped the puck into the offensive zone, only to see it take a tricky bounce and elude Mustang goaltender Brandon King just 3:38 into the game. Even though Plum outshot McDowell in the period by a 16 - 8 margin, Trojan goaltender John Cleary would keep the puck out of the net the entire period. But Plum would keep up the tempo to start the 2nd period and the pressure finally paid off. Jonathan Smith lead a rush up ice for the Mustangs that found him with no other option than to jam home a close range shot to tie the game 4:01 into the period. And a little over two minutes later they would feed off the momentum when Mike Renna scored on a rebound and scramble in front of the net for a 2-1 Mustang lead with 8:12 left in the 2nd. But McDowell didn’t buckle as they controlled play the rest of the period. And with intense pressure in the attacking zone, Mark Skirzynski would save a clearing attempt and Brian Hammel would find Eric Trapp who scored from close range to tie the game at two with 3:02 left in the period. And this time the momentum swung in McDowell’s favor as Trapp would put McDowell back in front on their only power play of the night as he flipped a shot at the post over King’s shoulder with 1:32 left in the period. Plum wasn’t dead just yet as Renna would score his second goal of the night on another goal mouth scramble with just 17 seconds left in the period to pull the Mustangs even once again. With fast and furious action up and down the ice the entire 3rd period and overtime, both teams traded opportunities to take the lead only to see both goaltenders rise to the occasion. After Plum dominated the first five minutes of the 3rd period, McDowell would assume the upper hand after that as they outshot Plum 14 - 9. The overtime saw much of the same end to end excitement as both teams had chances to end the game. But despite all of the offensive pressure, both netminders were unbeatable. Cleary stopped 38 of 41 shots for McDowell while King knocked away 40 of 43 shots for Plum. Both teams enjoyed only one power play opportunity with McDowell capitalizing on their man advantage. Plum defenseman Phil Mains enjoyed a big night contributing 3-assists while Trojan winger Mark Skirzynski chipped in with 2-assists in his first action in four weeks following a shoulder injury. McDowell’s PIHL record now stands at 6-2-1 (12-4-2 overall) good for 2nd place in the West Division behind North Allegheny. Plum leads the North Division with a 5-1-1 record. Goals By Period: Plum / 0 - 3 - 0 - 0 = 3 McDowell / 1 - 2 - 0 - 0 = 3 Shots On Goal: Plum / 16 - 10 - 9 - 6 = 41 McDowell / 8 - 18 - 14 - 3 = 43