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Mars not ready to relinquish Penguins Cup crown and send Kitanning to first defeat 6-2
CRANBERRY –
Mars (11-0-0) season in 2009-2010 has been a lot calmer under Steve Myers in his first full year at the helm for the Planets. The defending Class A Penguin Cup champions have been unchallenged through 11 games and frankly have made it look easy with the exception of a 5-4 victory over Serra Catholic. Mars is more interested in returning to a State Championship game they fell to Bayard Rustin a year ago and righting the ship of the Western Pennsylvania teams, who have lost 6 out of the last 7 Pennsylvania Class A titles to the Flyers Cup counterparts.
Kittanning (9-0-0) was moved to Class A from Class AA against their wishes as the Wildcats have been in Class AA since 1994 and were Class AAA under the Armstrong Central banner. Jamie King’s squad has dealt with the hand given to them scoring 99 goals in its first 9 games and has been unchallenged thus far this season. The Wildcats did lose to Mars in the St Margaret Fall Face Off in October, so Kittanning was looking to see how their team measured up to the # 1 ranked Planets in a potential Penguins Cup final preview.
The game between these two undefeated teams was close checking in the opening period for the first ten minutes until on a 4 on 4, Mars Eliott Tisdale found Mike Mazzotta behind the Kittanning defense and Mazzotta beat the Kitanning goaltender Cory Norton to the stick side to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats went on the power play and Jordan Ford wheeled around the net and found Josh Miller in the slot who scored through the 5-hole of Tyler Stepke to tie the score just 24 seconds later. Kitanning took their first lead just 29 seconds after they tied the game as Andrew Contreal scored on a rebound at 3:40. The Wildcats seized the momentum in the middle of the period, but a terrific individual effort by Mike Mazzotta would knot things up again as the Mars forward unleashed a wicked slapshot that beat Norton high to the blocker side with just 35 seconds remaining in the first period.
While Kittanning was unsuccessful on several power play opportunities in the second period, the Planets seized control of this contest as Russell Miller scored on his own rebound after a nice cross ice pass from Tyler Thomas at 13:44. Mars would take a two goal advantage at 5:23 of the period as Austin Heakins scored on another rebound goal to make it 4-2. The Planets were cruising and Nicholas Blaney beat the Kittanning defense on a pretty move and buried a snap shot high over the glove of Norton to give Mars a 5-2 lead after two periods.
The teams traded power plays early in the 3rd period as Kittanning could not mount pressure on the Mars defense, who played very sound fundamental defense. With the Wildcats pressing and unable to clear their own zone, Elliott Tisdale would close out the scoring with 7:19 to play in the 3rd period gathering a Tyler Whiteford rebound and burying a wrist shot high to the stick side to put an exclamation point on a 6-2 victory for the Planets as they continued their undefeated season and march in defense of their Penguins Cup Class A title from a year ago.
Highlights 12/21 and 12/22
Quaker Valley | 8 | Center | 3 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Deer Lakes | 1 | Serra Catholic | 13 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Knoch | 1 | Hampton | 2 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Moon | 6 | Cathedral Prep | 1 | AA | Brandon Smitsky scores three time as Moon takes down Prep | ||
Baldwin | 2 | Montour | 1 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Meadville |
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West Allegheny | 2 | AA | Jason Kumpfmiller stops 26 of 28 shots for West A and Dean Wisinski and Clayton Stockton score for Meadville | ||
Canevin | 4 | Wheeling CC | 0 | AA | Vince Nicolella, John Facchiano, Matt Whitmann and Matt Walsh score for the Crusaders and Zack Daley earns the shutout for Canevin with 16 Saves | ||
Elizabeth Forward | 5 | Franklin Regional | 7 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Thomas Jefferson | 3 | Latrobe | 5 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Peters Township | 10 | Chartiers Valley | 1 | AA | Matt White and Cole Snyder scores three goals each as Peters dismantles Char Valley | ||
Gateway | 2 | Central Catholic | 3 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Shaler | 1 | State College | 1 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Pine Richland | 4 | Seneca Valley | 6 | AAA | Brandon Platt posts hat trick as Raiders knock off Pine Richland | ||
North Hills | 2 | Canon McMillan | 6 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Mt Lebanon | 1 | Bethel Park | 1 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Plum | 12 | Hempfield | 1 | AAA | Jake Kuhn notches HT as Mustangs destroy Hempfield |
Westmont Hilltop | 1 | Freeport | 4 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
South Fayette | 1 | Beaver | 4 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Mars | 6 | Kittanning | 2 | A | GAME SUMMARIES |
Gateway | 6 | Fox Chapel | 1 | AAA | ||
North Allegheny | 5 | North Hills | 2 | AAA | ||
Upper St. Clair | 5 | Pine Richland | 1 | AAA |
December 14
Bishop McCort | 2 | Quaker Valley | 1 | A | Zach Barto and Jonathon Onufro score as Crimson Crushers edge QV | ||
Hampton | 10 | South Fayette | 1 | A | Alex Mueller scores three times as Hampton makes it three in a row with easy win over South Fayette | ||
Knoch | 3 | Kittanning | 6 | A | Troy Schall scores two goals and adds and assist as Wildcats defeat Knoch | ||
Serra Catholic | 11 | Beaver | 3 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Latrobe | 3 | Greensburg CC | 1 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Montour | 6 | Cathedral Prep | 2 | AA |
Montour gets goals from Joey Ligouri scores a pair and Nick Cataldo, Vince Cataldo, Zach Milnarcik, and Joey Victorelli add goals for the Spartans .
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Moon | 0 | Canevin | 8 | AA | Jon Kostial, Vince Nicollella, John Facchiano and Frankie Vance led the offense as Canevin slaps Moon 8-0 | ||
Peters Township | 15 | Franklin Regional | 1 | AA | Matt White and Matt Lison score four goals each as Peters scorches FR | ||
Thomas Jefferson | 3 | Meadville | 5 | AA | Mike Nicolazzo scores two goals and adds two assist, Drew Finton adds a pair of goals and Taylor Nickerson makes 27 saves for the Bulldogs | ||
West Allegheny | 6 | Chartiers Valley | 0 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Wheeling CC | 3 | Baldwin | 2 | AA | P.J. Ratcliffe blasted home a rebounded shot with 1:15 remaining in overtime for his 2nd goal & Wheeling Central erased an early 2-0 deficit to rally for a 3-2 victory against Baldwin at WesBanco Arena. | ||
Canon McMillan | 3 | Upper St. Clair | 3 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Central Catholic | 5 | Penn Trafford | 3 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
North Hills | 0 | North Allegheny | 3 | AAA | The Tigers shut out North Hills, 3-0, at the RMU-Island Sports Center on Monday night to complete a sweep of the two-game series with the rival Indians | ||
Norwin | 3 | Gateway | 3 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Pine Richland | 3 | Shaler | 6 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDED | ||
Plum | 4 | Wheeling Park | 0 | AAA | Hunter Breit scores twice and Shane Leonzio stops 11 to earn the shutout |
Week 7 - December 2009
Cathedral Prep | 6 | Chartiers Valley | 4 | AA |
Jimmy Bufalino scored two goals, Matt Callaghan scores a goal and adds two assist and Nick Zaphris turns aside 26 shots for Cathedral Prep
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McDowell | 5 | Penn Trafford | 4 | AAA |
Ryan Guzek scores a hat trick, including GWG, Sean Perhacs adds four assists, & Nick Mankosa stops 27 shots. Danny Maier scores twice for PT
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Norwin | 1 | Bethel Park | 0 | AAA | Bethel outshoots Norwin 24-16 but cannot solve Knight Goaltender Scott Cromling. Kevin Backhofer scores on a rebound with 4:16 to go in OT for Norwin win. | ||
McDowell | 1 | Mt. Lebanon | 4 | AAA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
State College | 3 | Seneca Valley | 2 | AAA | SV held a 2-1 lead after two periods and SC rallies to win with two goals in the 3rd period | ||
Franklin Regional | 4 | Moon | 4 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Latrobe | 3 | Peters Township | 3 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Canevin | 1 | Baldwin | 1 | AA | Matt Schmidlin make 47 saves for Baldwin as Highlanders ties Canevin 1-1. | ||
Chartiers Valley | 4 | West Allegheny | 4 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Elizabeth Forward | 3 | Thomas Jefferson | 4 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Wheeling CC | 3 | Greensburg CC | 6 | AA | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Freeport | 2 | Quaker Valley | 4 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
South Fayette | 0 | Kittanning | 11 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Center | 3 | Knoch | 2 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Somerset | 1 | South Park | 2 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED | ||
Bishop McCort | 1 | Mars | 2 | A | NO HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED |