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SOUTHPOINTE - Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Canon McMillan Canon-McMillan Varsity squad posted a strong showing by beating Elizabeth Forward, 6-1. The win improves the Canon Mac record to 4-0, one of only 4 'AA' teams with an undefeated record after 2 other teams suffered their first loss of the season Monday night. The scoring opened mid-way through the first period when Kyle Harnen tucked a shot in the EF net off a feed from Doug Stanton. Stanton dug the puck out of the corner and drove to the net before sliding a pass to Harnen, who fought off a Warrior defender to get off the shot. Jesse Patnesky also got an assist on the play, continuing the offensive mastery of the Stanton-Patnesky-Harnen line. The first period would end with CM holding the 1-0 lead as Elizabeth Forward netminder Mike Cole hung tough for the first 15 minutes of play, making 11 saves. But the second period has been the strongest period for the Big Macs in each of their first 3 games, and tonight would be no different. Patnesky intercepted an EF clearing attempt and fired a wrist shot in the upper left corner to increase the CM lead to 2-0 at 8:54 of the 2nd. The goal, his team-high 7th of the season, extended Patnesky's goal streak to 4 games. Elizabeth Forward would battle back just over a minute-and-a-half later when a 2-on-1 shot by Jeremy Delmaster turned in to a rebound goal for Casey Burns. But it would be less than 2 minutes again before the score changed again, this time going back in the Big Macs' favor. CM defenseman Josh Tohey took a feed from Justin Cormack and used a Nick Cusolito screen to blast a wrist shot by Cole to restore the 2-goal lead. But Canon Mac wasn't finished just yet. Fifty-four seconds later, freshman Erik McKown buried a back-door pass from Stanton after a scramble in the slot to put Canon-McMillan ahead, 4-1. Cormack would notch his first goal of the night 83 seconds later to continue the CM onslaught and stretch the lead to 5-1. Canon Mac fired 22 shots on goal during the second period alone, a total that would eventually prove to be greater than the Warriors total shots for the entire game. A fired-up Big Mac team came out of the locker room to start the third period with their sights set on finishing off their strong performance. A power play opportunity just 40 seconds in to the final frame gave them their chance to put the game out of reach, and it didn't take long for them to seize the opportunity. Canon Mac won the offensive zone face-off, and Josh Tohey quickly found Cormack streaking toward the EF net, who would post his 2nd goal of the evening just 6 seconds in to the power play. A 5-goal lead was more than enough for the Big Macs, who tightened up defensively and held Elizabeth Forward to just 2 third period shots. Goaltender Drew Stanton totaled 19 saves in the game, while Cole put forth an impressive 37-save effort. Doug Stanton, Patnesky, and Cormack each had 3-point games for Canon Mac, who faces Greater Latrobe on November 22nd. Elizabeth Forward fell to 1-2 with the loss and look to even their record Friday night at South Park.imageimage
NEVILLE ISLAND - South Park Larry Locante could not have scripted a start to the 2004-2005 season much better than the Eagles 3-0-0 start, most notably, with wins over Kittanning and Somerset. SP has done it with scoring from a lot of different players, played some pretty solid defense and been the recipient of some consistent goaltending from Shane Bickar. Conversely, Montour coach Dan Siegel may have wondered where his team has gone as the expectations of a great season for his club echoed through the pre-season and seemed to be just a formality. The reality is the Spartans were defeated by Greensburg CC and Indiana in their first two games before rebounding against a very weak opponent in Johnstown. Montour would face a must win situation against an undefeated South Park team and maybe this would be the motivation that Montour needed to get back to work and implement their hard working reputation. The first period was well played on both sides as Montour’s Aaron Williams and South Park’s Shane Bickar traded several key saves in the opening ten minutes. Montour had the best chance of the opening period to take the lead as Dan Shiwarski drilled a shot which hit the crossbar, but Shiwarski disagreed raising his arms and the goal was waived off and play kept going at 5:22. South Park would strike first as Tommy Vaughn scored on a wrist shot to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 2:03. Montour almost tied the game on the power play at 12:21, but Zach Perry was robbed on a diving stop by Shane Bickar. The Eagles were whistled for a penalty after the stoppage, putting the Spartans on a 5 on 3 advantage. Montour finally broke through at 8:04 of the middle period, as Joe Clarke scored on a nice passing play with linemates Ross Polk and Chad Talotta to even the score at one apiece. The Spartans gained the lead as Zach Perry walked off the far boards and buried a wrist high over the stick side of Shane Bickar at 1:39 to give Montour a 2-1 lead. The turning point of this hockey game came with just 23 seconds left as South Park looked to tie the game in the period’s final minute as Tim Ryan drove to the net. A big collision ensued and Ryan fell on top of Aaron Williams, who was injured and taken off on a stretcher. The leading scorer for the Eagles, Ryan was given a penalty on the play, which could have gone either way. The Spartans would never look back in the third period as just as the penalty was ending, Mario Panucci found the puck at the top of the circles in the South Park defensive zone, beat a SP defenseman and made his wrist shot count through the 5-hole for a huge insurance goal at 13:37 and a 3-1 Montour lead. It would get better for the Spartans at 8:37 as Ross Polk found the net on a great feed from linemate Chad Talotta and a close game now was a 4-1 Spartan lead. Kevin Bishop closed out the South Park frustration with a power play goal with just 59 seconds remaining and an impressive 5-1 victory for Montour. imageimage
Many of you have been following the progress of Pennsylvania Hockey Interscholastic since its inception in December 2000. From the dog days of spreadsheets with scores going up to our 'up to the Minute Midnight Madness' feature and all of the Gingerbread of the Pa Hockey Website. So born out our ongoing pursuit of covering and promoting the great sport of Interscholastic Hockey Statewide in the Commonwealth is a new technology on the horizon. An exhibition game....a conversation....a presentation....a new relationship with some great innovative guys from BX Video...Pa Hockey is NOW and FOREVER on the forefront of coverage of the sport and bringing it into your home for your pleasure ! November 15th , 2004....Remember this day because it is THE DAY of the beginning of the Pa Hockey Network ! Sure, we've shot some videos with play-by-play and sold them, but THIS IS A FIRST.....so sit back and click and WATCH AND LISTEN as PA Hockey comes into your office.... your home .....your school or wherever you may be on the planet ! Along with long time Central Catholic coach Kevin Zielmanski we called the game and BX Video brought us the technology to bring to you a Class A Pa Hockey game between Sewickley Academy and Forest Hills. Watch it and let us know what you think.....it will be archived in the Team Websites section of Forest Hills and Sewickley Academy .............and it is the beginning of the PA Hockey Network ! Click on the Sewickley Academy logo imageimageimage
CORAOPOLIS – Quaker Valley ended the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs with a disappointing loss to Somerset and the losses of several key players cast an uncertain future for QV. The pipeline for Kevin Quinn still looked pretty good coming into this season with several proven freshman from the amateur level and a proven scorer in Furman South, who was mysteriously absent from QV’s biggest game of this early season after two easy blowouts in their opening two tilts. Serra Catholic has won 4 out of the last 5 Penguins Cups and head coach Tom Mooney is pinching himself these days as the Eagles have gone from their customary 12 or 13 players on the bench to a full squad. For all the people who cry foul, many of them needed to attend this game and watch the ‘old guard’ Serra players of Justin Lubasch, Joey Manning and Josh Jones mentoring the newest Eagles how it’s supposed to be done. And believe me these new Eagles are fast learners, which translates into the FACT that Serra has excellent coaching and a very disciplined system of how to win. So # 1 vs # 2 would be contested or would it be? The Eagles started out with their normal feeling out process defensively in their own end, but Quaker Valley could not create any solid scoring chances. Mike Ellis held the puck in at the left point and fired a bullet, which Aaron Nolte tipped past Zac Zinger to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 11:56. Just 52 seconds later, with the Eagles shorthanded, Joey Manning show the patience of a surgeon as he held onto to the puck what seemed forever before moving it to the net where Josh Werner crashed and scored and Serra was quickly ahead 2-0 at 11:04. Eagle netminder Nick Koroly did his best Timmy Johnson impression as he stopped QV freshman Tim Hall at 9:22 and Kelly Elson at 6:20. After a questionable icing with under a minute to play in the 1st, Tim Hall made a great play off the faceoff, side stepping the Serra center and moving the puck to the net where a wide open Jason Burress popped home a rebound to cut the lead to 2-1 with just 17 seconds left in the opening period. Momentum is a big factor in big games and early in the second after Nick Koroly robbed Tim Hall from point blank range, it looked like QV was mounting a comeback. The very next shift was when Serra took control of this hockey game as Justin Lubasch, Philip Ivkovich, Steven Gruhalla and Josh Jones controlled the Quaker zone for well over a minute and put Quaker Valley on their heels. Josh Jones made a great play as the Serra defenseman walked off the far board and buried a snap shot through the 5-hole of Zac Zinger to make it 3-1 at 10:46. QV came back as Mikail Lemieux, took a great pass from Hall and scored low on the ice to cut the advantage to 3-2 at 8:22. The big goal in this game came at the eight minute mark as Bryan Hickey would not be denied scoring on a second rebound after a great save by Zinger to make it 4-2 Eagles. Quaker Valley seemed to deflate and Serra was the opportunist as Justin Lubasch added goals with 6:39 and just 35 seconds left in the second period to turn this one into a Serra rout through two periods. Championship teams know how the put the exclamation point in statement games and Serra wanted to send a little message to Class A teams that the Penguins Cup in theirs until someone knocks them off and the third period was a prime example as Joey Manning scored on a wrist shot at 14:06 and set up Justin Lubasch on a great play late in the final period to mark an impressive 8-2 thrashing of a very good Quaker Valley team, who should be one of the Eagles biggest threats in Class A. imageimage
CORAOPOLIS – For the patrons attending the late game at the Airport arena last night, it was very noticeable how spacious the room was on both the South Fayette and the Quigley benches. For the Lions, it is very understandable since South Fayette is a first varsity program and according to club officials, its just a battle to keep players due to money concerns and the ‘kool aid’ effect of amateur programs, who are looking to steal any players they can and might I add at a much lower cost. So SF had the league minimum twelve players on the bench at the start of the game and added two more when the freshman game next door was over midway through the second, which is a testimony to Head Coach Tim Darnely and the SF people. Welcome to life in the PIHL South Fayette ! Quigley, well they know all about this life as the Spartans have been battling for years to keep their program afloat. When returning goaltender Craig Mohr decided just to play for the Junior B team, Quigley was stuck and almost wasn’t able to field a team. Fortunately, Kyle Milbert, having never played goalie before volunteered and with the help of former standout goaltender Luke Belsky and the Quigley coaching staff, the Spartans now have a goaltender and a team. The first period was back and forth with both teams having some decent chances and as we all know games are built on breaks and momentum. At 8:49 of the first, Quigley received the ultimate ‘gift’ as a South Fayette defenseman trying to clear the puck to safety accidentally scored on his own net. The play happened so fast that neither the crowd nor Lions goaltender Sean Kennedy could react and it was 1-0 Quigley. The Spartans scored the conventional way at 7:40 as Sean Wormald scored on a rebound to make it 2-0. South Fayette pulled within one at 7:13 as Jason Pastorious tipped in a shot from the point past Kyle Milbert to cut the lead to 2-1. On to the second period and while SF goalie Sean Kennedy was frantically trying to get back his stick, Quigley freshman Josh Marshall took advantage with a slick shot to the stick side at 10:22. On the very next shift, it was Marshall again after a nice feed by Tim Powell, beating Kennedy to the stick side and the Spartans now had a 4-1 lead with 8:32 left in the period. Marshall had two good chances for the hat trick, but was robbed by Kennedy at 7:12 and shot one off the crossbar with a backhander at 3:49. Late in the 2nd period, Michael Darnely scored to pull South Fayette within two at 4-2. The third period was all Quigley as Michael Conti, Sean Wormald and Jake Belsky scored to make the final 7-2 in favor of the Spartans. imageimage