Seneca Valley Raiders

HARMARVILLE - The Post Gazette rankings are THE topic of discussion around the rinks this time of year and since yours trully is responsible for them when Plum's name appeared in the number 4 slot and Central Catholic, 7-0-1 in their last eight, disappeared from last weeks rankings.....that is just more than Coach Kevin Zielmanski could take. So the coach of sound mind and wanting to motivate his team pasted those PG Rankings up in the locker room. Wanting to explain that the PIHL BS C Power Rankings, a conglomerate of computer rankings which gives credence to running up the score on the likes of Connellsville and Woodland Hills, I entered the Central locker room to explain the the Post Gazette didn't get the rankings until after the deadline and used the wrong ones. I was accousted by Billy Zuri, who can engulf a Primantis Egg and Cheese with a turn of the head, for wearing the ill fated Viking rival Meadville hat on my mellon......you're welcome Coach Z ! Geared for more holiday cheer, I wandered down the hallway to the Plum locker room.....only to be greeted by coach Relnick and 'Dr Evil' Jerry Bass, who thanked me for motivating Central and told me to 'hit the bricks' as they prepared their team for battle. The Mustangs have played well this season and look to be a team to be reckoned with come playoff time and dare we say 'championship contenders' and those are words not heard since the 1998 classic WPIHL Championship between Plum and Central Catholic. And to add to the excitement former Mustang Dave Tunon and former Viking Bill Downey were in town on break from Penn State [# 1 team in the nation ACHA Division 1, who will play W & J January 3rd at the Mellon Arena] to take in the action. The first period saw plenty of good action with good physical play and great backchecking by both teams. CC's Brian Adamczak and Plum's JP Balson kept the crease clear until 1:08 when Matt Urso and Matt Capalongo double teamed the Plum defense and stole the puck, which Urso skated out of the corner and buried a wrist shot upstairs to make it 1-0. Special teams are usually a very important part of the success of any team and while Plum continued to get power play opportunties, Cnetral Catholic with excellent team defense and active sticks poked away and intercepted plenty of Mustang opportunties which would prove to be the difference in this game. At 12:34, after Michael McGurk won the faceoff, Zach Crisafio blasted a slapshot which Balson never saw on the short side and the Vikings were now on top 2-0. Another Plum power play at 9:27 and a golden opportunity as Chris Niznik was in the sin bin. Hard work by John Kalichuk and Travis Senchur paid off at 7:42 as they worked the puck to the front of the net and Robbie Tunon pounced on the rebound and all the sudden Plum was within one at 2-1. At 4:58 a Central Catholic power play and a key point in the game.....the Viking power play with patience, great puck movement and great skating without the puck capitalized, as Andrew Wroblewski tipped a Chris Niznik shot past Balson at 3:38 to extend the CC lead to 3-1. Adamczak continued to sparkle, as Plum was outshooting Central 21-11 after two periods, with big saves on Kalichuk and another on Senchur with 2 1/2 left in the middle frame. Central's JR Hess scored on a big slapshot from the point at 1:41 to make it 4-1. Plum came right back as Aaron Arnold poked home a rebound after Adamczak made a great save on Tunon to close he gap to 4-2. In the third period, Plum could not score although they had plenty of opportunities. With 3:47 left on a five on three, the Mustangs came close and Adamczak made an unreal save on Senchur, who along with his Plum teammates thought the puck went in but to no avail and that was the story on the night as Plum outshoot the Vikings 27-18 and came away empty handed. For Central Catholic, another big win over a ranked opponent and maybe a little respect from the would be rankings is due.

DELMONT - The PIHL changed Friday Night's big divisional matchup between Gateway and Plum at the Center Ice Arena from 9:20 to 7:20 and sometimes that works to the advantage of one team or another. Gateway's Dan Serakowski hoped that Plum wrestling the Eastern Division title off of the Gators in 2002 would be a motivation to grab the division lead and move into the Class AAA Elite. Plum has been struggling between the pipes as witnesed in the 6-5 loss to # 2 Cathedral Prep on Tuesday night. The Mustangs Stu Relnick went back to J P Balson to give his netminder a little confidence that he may be the man to put Plum in the drivers seat in the divisional race. Robbie Tunon opened the scoring in the first period to give Plum a 1-0 lead. Gateway's David Himes made several key saves including a 5 on 3 penalty killing situation to keep the game within one as the Mustangs enjoyed an 11-3 shot advantage in the first. Then at 4:53 off the faceoff, Travis Senchur beat Himes on the short side to give Plum a 2-0 lead. with just 53 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Senchur found aloose puck on the doorstep and made no mistake to give Plum a commanding 3-0 lead. Gateway had several power play opportunties in the middle frame but Balson and excellent work by the Plum defense kept them out and the score remained 3-0. Tunon added a power play goal onarebound at 2:39 to extend the lead to 4-0. Then, at 1:10 remaining in the second Ryan Griffin, tationed in the slot took a pinpoint pass from Mike Renna and buried it to turn the game into a one-sided affair 5-0. The Gators had a power play to start the third and Lucas Pepper scored to break Balson's shutout at 14:43 to make it 5-1. Any chance the Gators ha off mountig a comeback was thwarted by Balson who stopped Zach Flora on the breakaway at 14:24. Then the backbreaker for the Gators came at 13:09, as Ryan Griffinstrippedthe Gator defense of the puck and fed Ranna the puck, who beat Himes to put Plum ahead 6-1. To put an exclamation point on impressive Plum victory, Dave Dincau stole the puck from the Gateway defense and beat Himes on the glove side to make the final count Plum 7 Gateway 1. The victory put the Mustangs in sole possession of first place.

JOHNSTOWN - Bishop McCort and the War Memorial are a place were opponents have come to and left with disappointment for many years. It is probably a good reason why the Crimson Crushers have visited the Penguin Cup Class A finals 9 of the last 10 years and head coach John Bradley would like to keep it that way. The Crushers are off to a running start again at 8-1 with their lone blemish to nemesis Serra, who has defeated McCort three years in a row in the finals. Mars was making their maiden voyage to the War Memorial to face McCort. Despite an undefeated start at 8-0 in which they have only surrendered 6 goals, many of the Planet players couldn't help think about last seasons first loss against the Crushers 2-1 and the game against Westmont where the Planets season took a turn in the wrong direction. In fact, to my memory Mars has never beaten Bishop McCortat the War Memorial and if they have it may have been before freshman 14 year old goaltender Brian Ross was born. Anyway.....in the first period both teams had opporunities on the power play and neither could score. The best chance came as Joe Delic made a nifty move past the Planet defense at 8:23 and was stopped by Ross. The second period started and it was defenseman Steve Meyers, who got the party started as he took a Bobby Beckert pass at the blue line on the off wing and buried a shot upstairs on the glove side to give the Planets an innocent 1-0 lead past Anthony Feyock. Mars played outstanding defense the first two periods limiting the Crushers to six shots. In the third period, the action picked up as Ross and Feyock kept the shots out of the net. Mars went into a defensive shell late in the game, which resulted in a McCort power play and a nail biting finish. The Crushers wre able to get 8 shot in the final frame but could not beat Ross and when Bobby Beckert intercepted a pass in front with time running out and banked it off the boards into an empty net as time ran out .....it was vindication and an excorcism of demons for the Planets with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Bishop McCort. The goal didn't count for Mars but the victory was just what they wanted out of their trip to Johnstown !

JOHNSTOWN - In the quest to see all 65 varsity teams [48 down and 17 to go], we turned our attention to Ferndale and Richland Cambria, who have combined for a 1-17-0 start to the 2002-2003 season. Before an intimate gathering for the late game at the War Memorial, both RC's George Gvozdich and Ferndale's were looking at this game as an opportunity for a victory for their respective squads. The teams traded goals in the first period as the Rams Mike Werder and Chris Gvozdich and Ferndale's Alan Waters and Sean Riffle scored to knot the game at 2-2. The second period was all Richland Cambria as Jeff Kamzik [10:28]Mike Werder added a 2nd goal at 3:30 and Derek Shawley stretched the lead to 5-2 at 1:50 to give the Rams a comfortable 5-2 lead. Yellow Jackets coach Brian Riffle must have given a stirring locker room speech as the ice was resurfaced because Ferndale looked like a team on a mission in the third as they outshot Richland Cambria 20-3. Richland Cambria freshman goaltender John Kamzik was outstanding trying to preserve the lead, but Sean Riffle got his number scoring a natural hat trick with goals at 9:04 on the rebound. 3:03 with a wicked wrist shot upstairs and a great tip of Jonas Boberg's shot from the point with just 44 seconds remaining to give Ferndale an unbelievable 5-5 tie.

MONROEVILLE - For all of us scoreboard watchers, we know that Penn Hills defeated McDowell a week or so ago 3-2 and this was the same McDowell team which blasted Connellsville early in the season 20-0. So on paper Penn Hills should have had an easy time with the Falcons. A couple of factors would play a part in this matchup as the Indians were playing the second game in 24 hours and Connellsville is coming off a week in which they broke a 30 game winless streak and playing with a new found confidence. Coach Mark Romesburg was hoping to catch Penn Hills by surprise and capture their first ever victory over the Indians. The Falcons came out flying in the first period and took a 2-0 lead on goals by Keith Cordaro at 10:53 and Mike Brooks at 9:05. Connellsville tried to build on that lead early in the second but Zach Cullen stopped Jacob Shelkey on the shorthanded breakaway at 14:32. On the ensuing face-off, Cordaro scored his second goal on a wrist shot low on the stick side and all the sudden it was 3-0 Falcons. Connellsville had several good opportunities to take a 4-0 lead but couldn't do it. Penn Hills got on the board at 10:10 as Jay Gilardo scored to make it 3-1. Then at 6:47, Willie Banks scored on his own rebound past Craig Cordaro and Penn Hills was within one at 3-2. The Falcons came right back at 4:17 as, as captain Zach Ebbert beat Cullen through the 5 hole and the score stood at 4-2 going to the third. The Indians Ryan Jones pulled his team within one at 12:29 on a shorthanded tally as he outraced the Falcon defense to the puck and slipped it past Cordaro. The Falcons would not be denied as Keith Cordaro scored at 11:08 to regain the two goal cushion. Jacob Shelkey added two insurance goals as the Connellsville Falcons went on to win for the 2nd time in 3 games 7-3.