Butler Toronadoes

CASTLE SHANNON – The movie ‘Groundhog Day’ plays on most cable stations this time of year and if someone is looking for a sequel, they could hire the Plum Hockey Club as the actors. The Mustangs have been here before and opened the season with a 4 overtime thriller against North Allegheny only to lose the championship game of the St Margarets Fall Face-Off. So head coach Stu Relnick must have looked forward to any overtime possibilities because sooner or later Plum would win one. Yes there was the overtime loss to Holy Ghost Prep in the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase, which left the Mustangs out of the Medal Round and of course the Central Catholic loss 3-2 in overtime, when Plum looked like a sure winner only to see it slip away and the tail end of all of this was the season finale against Gateway, when the Mustangs out shot the Gators 39-14 and still lost 4-3, putting the Gators in the playoffs. So this factor motivated some of the Plum players off the sidelines and back into action to reverse the disturbing trend as Travis Senchur and David Dincau returned to the lineup for round 1 of the playoffs. The opponent this evening was a road game against Upper St Clair, the talented ones who have gone home the past three seasons, after some pretty good regular seasons, but nothing to show for their efforts. The last playoff victory for the Panthers was in 2000, when they went on the road and defeated Gateway in a wild affair at the Golden Mile 7-6, which was the same time frame when Kip Guenther was helping Jim ‘Mort’ McVay begin orchestrating three straight Pennsylvania Class AAA championships for Bethel Park. Upper St Clair is a team which can score a lot of ways with players like Jeff Greenberg, John Markwell, Kris McDonough, Ian Joyce and a few other players and those few other players are the ones who would have to step forward to enhance the Panthers chances of moving forward in the Penguins Cup for the first time in four years. Upper St Clair struck first as nice looking freshman Andrew Blazek walked off the far boards and buried a wrist shot upstairs on the glove side of J.P. Balson for a 1-0 lead just 1:12 into the contest. Plum would answer as Aaron Arnold made a terrific play along the boards and found a streaking Mike Renna at 12:05, who made no mistake to tie the game at one apiece. The game really opened up as the teams played wide-open hockey and both Balson and USC’s Kevin Gorder were called upon to make some tough saves. The Mustangs went on the 5 on 3 power play at 8:35, but were thwarted on a great penalty killing effort by the Panthers, in particular Kris McDonough, who was brilliant blocking 3 Plum shots and clearing the zone. The Mustangs would overcome the inability to score on the power play as Travis Senchur picked off an errant clearing attempt and blasted a slapshot high over the glove side of Gorder to give Plum a 2-1 lead at 5:35. USC was awarded a penalty shot at 2:11, when a Mustang covered the puck in the crease and Matt McGinnis made a great move, but J.P. Balson made a better save just getting his leg on the puck. At 1:59, Travis Senchur gathered a loose puck in the USC zone and went high to the stick side on Gorder and all the sudden Plum had a 3-1 lead. Gorder robbed Mike Dunlap from point blank range with just 33 seconds left in an entertaining opening period. The Panthers refueled in the second period as the caught a break when J.P. Balson lost sight of a loose puck and relentless Mike Penkrot banged it home for a big goal at 14:38. USC was flying now and poured 12 shots on Balson and Jono Lohman tied the game 3-3 after the Panthers were buzzing the Plum zone courtesy of Jeff Greenberg and John Markwell, who worked the to the front of the net. USC recaptured the lead at 6:57 as David Crockett showed great patience on a breakaway sliding the puck just past the outstretched Balson and the Panthers were now on top 4-3. On to the third period and Travis Senchur completed the hat trick as he buried a wrist shot on a great pass from Jonathon Smith just 35 seconds into the period. The defenses tightened up a little in the middle of the period, but David Crockett delivered a huge goal with 6:37 left in regulation as skated in between the circles and fired a laser high over the stick side of Balson to give St Clair a 5-4 lead. Plum was desperate now and David Dincau made a great play on the forecheck to pry the puck loose in the USC zone and get it to John Kalichuk who found Jonathon Smith in the slot who delivered a blistering wrist shot upstairs on the stick side to tie the game at 5-5 with just :56 seconds on the clock. On to the overtime period and Plum had a golden opportunity to win it but Kevin Gorder stopped Kalichuk from just in front less than a minute into the extra session. The next trip up the ice would prove fatal for the Mustangs as Mike Penkrot picked up a loose puck in the high slot and made a great move shooting the puck down on the ice past Balson and giving Upper St Clair a thrilling 6-5 overtime victory before a festive crowd at the Ice Castle and a date with either Central Catholic or Fox Chapel in the second round next week.