Butler Toronadoes

CANONSBURG - *****Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey***** As an undefeated team, Canon-McMillan has a bull's eye on its chest every game; every opponent they face wants to be the team that hands the Big Macs their first loss of the season. Bishop Canevin had every intent of doing just that on Monday night, but once again Canon Mac faced the challenge and came out on top with a 3-2 win over the Crusaders. The attempted upset formula this year has been to score the first goal against Canon-McMillan, and Bishop Canevin followed that pattern when Dane Hetland snuck a shot under the crossbar from the slot for a 1-0 lead. The goal came at 12:43 and was assisted by Scott Christopher. Canevin outplayed their opponent the rest of the period to keep the 1-0 lead in place after 15 minutes of play. The action would intensify in the 2nd period, and Canon Mac evened the score 4:30 in to the period when Doug Stanton took a head-man pass from Josh Tohey to convert on a 2-on-1 break in to the Canevin zone. Stanton carried the puck to his left and looked across to a streaking Jesse Patnesky to create a lane for himself to the net and an opening on the short-side to bury a wrist shot. The Crusaders restored their lead at the 7:00 mark when Christopher slammed home a loose puck on the backdoor, with assists from Hetland and Kevin Pawlos. Canevin then battled hard to extend their lead, but CM goaltender Drew Stanton denied each of their chances. As the period wound down, it looked as though Canon-McMillan would have to attempt their first 3rd-period comeback of the season. But Doug Stanton decided to start the rally a little bit early by blasting a slap shot from the high slot for his second goal of the night with just 7 seconds remaining in the period. Justin Cormack recorded the assist on the play, and the period ended with the score knotted at 2. A tripping call against Canon Mac just 35 seconds into the final period opened the door for Canevin to regain their lead, but Drew Stanton the Big Mac penalty killers kept the score even. Canon-McMillan got a power play opportunity of their own with 9:51 to play, but several point shots and rebound opportunities were turned aside by Crusader goaltender Joe Ziemianski. But a few minutes later, Patnesky was able to beat Ziemianski and put the Big Macs ahead with a quick slap shot from the right wing circle at 5:24. Tohey earned his second assist of the night on the play, and Canon Mac had their first lead of the night. From that point, the Big Macs tightened up defensively to keep Canevin from tying the game, and Drew Stanton was able to stop all 4 third period shots to earn his 5th win of the season. He finished the game with 23 saves, while Ziemianski did one better by making 24 saves. The win improved Canon-McMillan's record to 7-0, setting up a showdown of unbeaten teams on Thursday night when the Big Macs travel to play the West Allegheny Indians. Bishop Canevin fell below .500 with the loss, moving to 3-4-1 on the year. The Crusaders play again on Thursday night when they make a trip to Johnstown to play Somerset.