Seneca Valley Raiders

Delmont - Penn Trafford comes off two consecutive seasons of playoff appearances, the most recent providing a near upset over 3-time state defending champion Bethel Park. Todd Purvis inherited a young talented group of Warriors, which has talent, speed and looks ready to run with the big dogs. In their opener, PT outshot Cathedral Prep by a near 2-1 margin, but as we know it’s not how that counts in hockey it’s how many and the Warriors dropped the game 5-0. Needless to say Penn Trafford has the attention of many teams as a team to be reckoned with in the 2003-2004 season. Now Plum knows a little about what it takes because coach Stu Relnick has been running with the big dogs and has learned that a lot of offense is a great thing to have, but it requires solid defense and goaltending to win championships. So the Mustangs have a great formula with Mike Sargo, who scored 105 goals in Class AAA leading Gateway to a WPIHL AAA Championship in 1996, mentoring the “O” and Jerry “Dr Evil” Bass, the former minister of defense for 7 years from Penn Hills running the “D”. And yeah they have a goaltender too, because J.P. Balson is really showing signs of being the go-to goaltender, which the Mustangs need to make a Penguins Cup run. Plum came out in the first period and looked to pressure PT netminder Joel Sterniak right away and capitalized as John Kalichuk scored on a rebound at 11:34 and then Kalichuk coverted a back door pass from Jonathon Smith at 9:11. Linemate Travis Senchur got into the act at 8:54 burying a blast over Sterniak’s glove side and before the Plum faithful could settle into the Center Ice alumina bleachers, the Mustangs were off and running with a 3-0 lead. Plum was almost a little too offensive minded and was caught for a penalty late in the period and Penn Trafford got on the board as freshman Nick Whaley banked a shot off the Plum defenseman and found its way past Balson with just 0:23 seconds left in the opening period to cut the advantage to 3-1. The Warriors had an excellent chance to pull within one but Glenn Bowersox could not beat Balson from point blank range at 14:03 of the 2nd. Mike Renna extended the Mustang lead to 4-1 picking up a loose puck and scrambling to beat Sterniak low on the ice. Speedy Chris Ceruti got PT back in the game on a breakaway goal at 12:23. Plum answered as Jonathon Smith tipped in a ‘smooth glazed Krispy Kreme’ pass from Travis Senchur at 11:49 to extend the lead to 5-2. If there was hope for Penn Trafford its was that Plum had nearly blown a 4-0 lead in its opener against Franklin Regional on Monday night and if PT could convert some chances, it could get back in the hockey game. Plum was sloppy early on and Chris Ceruti picked off a clearing attempt and made no mistake as he went upstairs past Balson to make it close 5-3 at 14:01. The Warriors almost really made things real interesting, but Balson robbed Kyle Seidle on a rebound which had goal written all over it at 12:23. The game opened up in the 3rd and Sterniak stopped Kalichuk’s bid for the hat trick with 11:13 remaining to keep the score at 5-3. Penn Trafford turned up the heat on Plum a little with several scoring chances to no avail as J.P Balson shut the door. David Dincau closed it out as he found a loose puck and beat Sterniak at 11:13 to give the Mustangs a 6-3 victory before a packed house at Center Ice Arena.

Special Report to PA Hockey ~ Thanks to McDowell for this report ! MEADVILLE BULLDOGS – 3 McDOWELL TROJANS – 2 (OT) Phil Siverd scored the game winning goal just :37 seconds into the sudden death overtime on a feed from Christian Nikerson to lead Meadville to an exciting and entertaining 3 – 2 victory over division rival McDowell at the JMC Ice Arena in Erie Wednesday night. The first period was tightly played with few scoring opportunities for both teams. But with 1:10 left in the period, Mark Skirzynski picked up a loose puck and broke in on Meadville goaltender Danny O’Shurak before being hauled down from behind by the Bulldogs Nate Liscinski. The referee immediately whistled the foul as a penalty shot, and ‘Skritz’ took advantage by beating O’Shurak over the shoulder and off the cross-bar to give the Trojans a 1 – 0 lead after the opening stanza. The next two minutes of the game opened up with a spurt of 3 goals. Liscinski would atone for his 1st period penalty by getting the bulldogs even on a feed from Christian Nickerson 4:21 into the second period. Just :26 seconds later, Trojan Captain Gary Peterson was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking. It took Meadville :46 seconds to capitalize on the power play when O’Shurak started a break up ice and Nickerson rifled a shot past McDowell goaltender John Cleary to give Meadville the lead 2 – 1. But McDowell would counter just :53 seconds later on a fast break of their own as Brian Hammel broke in on goal and shot high on O’Shurak who made the initial save. But the pucked bounced into the air and Peterson was Johnny-on-the-spot to swat it out of mid-air and into the back of the net and tie up the game. McDowell came close to taking the lead at the end of the 2nd period as Skirzynski made an outstanding individual effort to out-hustle a Meadville defender and feed a perfect pass to a trailing Eric Trapp who hit the inside of the post only to see the puck stop under O’Shurak. The third period saw the game settle back down to a tightly played contest with few shots but some good scoring chances. Meadville had 2 shots rattle off goal posts while McDowell almost took advantage of an empty net with 1:30 left in the game as O’Shurak got caught out of the crease trying to play a puck up the ice. But in the ensuing scramble for the puck, the Trojans could not get enough control to get a shot on net and the period would end still tied at 2. With the defending state champion Bulldogs on the verge of going 0 – 2 to start the season, and the packed house creating an electric atmosphere, Siverd’s heroics ended the game in dramatic fashion and sent the upset-minded Trojans home on the short end of a hard fought loss. Although Meadville outshot McDowell by a 2 – 1 margin, the quality scoring chances were equal on both sides. Both goaltenders played outstanding as McDowell’s John Cleary stopped 33 of 36 shots and O’Shurak stopped 13 of 15. The game was a clean played affair with 3 penalties whistled on McDowell and only 2 on Meadville. The Bulldogs even their PIHL record at 1 – 1 (4 – 1 – 1 overall) while McDowell is 0 – 1 in the league (3 – 5 overall). Scoring By Period: Meadville / 0 – 2 – 0 – 1 = 3 McDowell / 1 – 1 – 0 – 0 = 2 Goal Scorers: Meadville / Nate Liscinski, Christian Nickerson, Phil Siverd McDowell / Mark Skirzynski, Gary Peterson Shots on Goal by Period: Meadville / 9 - 17 - 9 - 1 = 36 McDowell / 4 - 7 - 4 - 0 = 15

Indiana 6 Canon McMillan 3 Report Special to Pa Hockey ~ Thank you to Indiana for this report ! The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey team opened their season at home with a win over Canon-McMillan, 6-3 at the Indiana Ice & Expo Center Wednesday night. A packed arena saw goals by Mike Nesper, Mike Jack, Steve Kinter, Zach Damico and two by Zach Diamond. Nesper and Jack also provided two assists, with Diamond, Phil Paterson, Jason Boske and Joe Appolonia adding one apiece. Indiana outshot their opponent 38-20. Goaltending duties were shared by Mike Mentch in the first with 10 saves, while Mike Kennedy finished the game with 7 more. For Canon-McMillan, now 1-1-0 the goal scorers were Josh Tohey with two goals and Jesse Patnesky on a shorthanded tally at 8:25 in the 2nd. The Indians, now 2-0-0, go on the road for a three-game tour meeting Thomas Jefferson Monday night at the Rostraver Ice Garden.

WEEK 16 - Final Standings and Scores and Final 2004 Post Gazette and Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings

MEADVILLE - Ah... the summer is officially over and a little a drive up I-79 in the Big Blue Jeep crossing into Crawford County and into range of WMGW Sports Radio and the voices of Gary Clark [voice of the Bulldogs beginning his 17th season] and his faithful sidekick Dick Tedesco, previewing a opener between two teams who have built quite a history against each other ….# 1 Meadville vs # 2 Central Catholic. When we last saw the Bulldogs, it was pandemonium at Ice-Line in Philly as Meadville stormed back to capture their 8th Pennsylvania State Championship, but probably the sweetest due to the drought that existed since 1996, when the Dawgs last won it all. Head coach Jamie Plunkett’s squad is filled with new blood and some of the key cast of characters from last years championship team namely goaltender Danny O’Sharuk, stud defenseman David Moyer and the hero of last year’s playoffs Christian Nickerson, who was donning the “C” for leading Meadville to the promised land. So if Plunkett was gonna give some advice to his counterpart Kevin Zielmanski of CC, it would be patience. You see 1998 was coach Z’s first year with the Vikings and as he begins his 8th season at the helm, the thought is maybe this will be the year that CC goes all the way. And wouldn’t it be nice to spoil the banner raising ceremony before an overflow crowd at the MARC. Central had to feel pretty good about its chances with Russ Hefner back between the pipes in Meadville for the first time since a 5-4 overtime victory in the 2002 playoffs. This would be a goaltending battle early on as Danny O’Sharuk stopped Central’s Neil Kennedy from in close at 9:26. The Vikings showed their depth as Chris Urso slammed home a rebound after O’Sharuk robbed Ryan Gebler to give CC a 1-0 lead with 5:22 left in period # 1. Meadville had a couple of good chances as D.J. Durkee took a long lead pass from Anthony Scarpino and walked the CC defense and just missed at 1:10 and with just 13 ticks remaining Hefner stoned Christian Nickerson from point blank range. On to the 2nd and Michael McGurk pick the Bulldog defense’s pocket at the blue line and buried a backhander past O’Sharuk for a 2-0 CC lead at 13:53. Meadville went on the power play at 9:55 and then went on the 5 on 3 with 9 ½ left in the middle frame. Zielmanski used his 3 top players to kill in a big point of the hockey game as the Vikings lost the services of captain Andrew Wroblewski for 12 minutes. After a great steal and clear by Eddie Martin CC got caught on a bad line change which created an odd man break and Christian Nickerson made them pay beating Hefner on the backhand to cut the lead to 2-1 with 8:07 left. The Dawgs came right back on a 2 on 1 and Anthony Scarpino buried a wrist shot upstairs after a great feed from Nickerson to tie the game at 6:15. Central Catholic came out and was the aggressor in the third and had all sorts of chances as Neal Kennihan was stoned by O’s Haruk at 11:37. Connor Hickton hit the crossbar after a Michael McGurk rebound as Central dominated play early in the 3rd. The Vikings went on the power play at 8:54 and McGurk won the faceoff cleanly to Matt Urso, who walked between the circles and buried a wrist shot through the 5-hole and Central Catholic reclaimed the lead 3-2 after just 4 seconds of PP time. Now close hockey games sometimes have twists but the key to winning them is poise, discipline and sometimes a break along the way. Meadville was still in the game down a goal and why Tyler Learn chose this time to pick a fight with J.R. Hess was absolutely not a good situation, the result was that tempers flared forcing referees Mark Klimow and Ray King into a decision regarding Learn, who would not leave go of Hess facemask, which in normal situations is a Match Penalty and 30 days ! With 4:57 remaining the last thing the official’s want to do is determine the outcome, but they had no choice. The result was a 5-minute power play for Central and a break and as cause and effect would have it Meadville was behind the 8-ball. Now professor Zielmanski had five minutes left to put the Dawgs on ice. Do they try to score or just kill time and the ever thinking coach Z reverted to the Dean Smith [legendary North Carolina basketball coach] 4 corner offense. Matt Friday, Matt Urso and Eddie Martin took the puck down below the goal line and cycled puck for 3 ½ minutes and put the Dawgs to sleep on the porch. As an old friend from Toronto once told me when he said [and he was right about 19 years ago and now] “if the other team does not have the puck they cannot beat you !” and that’s what CC did ….lulled Meadville and then in an instant Eddie Martin threaded a perfect saucer pass to Matt Friday who made no mistake and sent the Bulldogs faithful to the parking lots with :52 left and a 4-2 Central Catholic victory.