Plum Mustangs - 1989 A

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class AA Canon McMillan has come to the Penguins Cup semi-finals as the # 1 seed in this years Class AA playoffs with a 20-1-2 including last weeks win over Chartiers Valley 5-2 in their playoff opener. The Big Macs have been rated # 1 in the state of Pennsylvania for most of the 2nd half of the season and are the team looking for their first trip to the Penguins Cup in their brief 12 year history. CM has all the stars aligned to do it and but as they were prior to the season nobody has picked the Big Macs to do anything and they still have more doubters than anyone, but coach Dave Fryer believes, as do his players and the big throng of Canon Mac fans who made the trip ‘cross town to Harmarville. Peters Twp on the other hand is the wild card in the playoffs mainly because the Indians have won three straight Penguins Cups and they are the champions until someone beats them. After ending the Big Macs unbeaten season in February, many installed Peters as favorites to win the Penguins Cup again. Coach Mark Cooper loves the underdog role and when he turned his teams jerseys over in the third period of the last regular season game against bitter rival Thomas Jefferson, many called it bush league, but I call it a coach trying to get his teams attention, which has helped in rounds one in a win over South Park 7-4 and again in round two in a hard fought 2-1 triumph over a very good Greensburg CC squad. I think Coop should have his team’s full attention as they enter the Penguins Cup semis and have a chance for a 4th straight title, even though his star goalie was possibly stuck in traffic? At 7:59 of the first period Peters went on the power play and Jeff Hannan started where he left off in the last win over Canon McMillan 4-2 at 7:08 of the first as he wheeled out of the far corner and beat Drew Stanton low to the stick side to give PT a 1-0 lead. Then with 4:48 left in the first period, Drew brother Doug Stanton found a bouncing puck of a Justin Cormack rebound and deposited into the net past Justin Mahramas to tie the score 1-1. At 4:19 of the opening period, the Big Macs went on the power play with a chance to take the lead and Adam Harnen had a chance but Jake Machel made a nice defensive play to tie his man up. After Jeff Hannan missed a breakaway, Canon Mac came back and took the lead at 2:18 as Doug Stanton scored on the rebound to give CM a 2-1 lead and held an 11-5 shot advantage after one. In the 2nd period, CM went on the power play and had several near misses early but it was the pass at 13:08 by Justin Cormack on the back door for a tap in to Jesse Patnesky to give the Macs a 3-1 lead. Then at 8:26, Eric Lang wound up and buried a slapshot which beat Justin Mahramas, who could only fell helpless as the Big Macs no were up 4-1 and in command causing a timeout for coach Cooper, with CM holding a 19-7 shot advantage. At 5:58 Rob Madore entered the game between the after attending Mr Haney’s Bizare in Pixley with his team down 4-1 and his team responded as Gerry Raymond blistered a slapshot over the glove of Drew Stanton at 4:49. And just like that just 4:38, just 11 seconds later, Dustin Roux scored on a loose puck on the backhand and we now had a 4-3 game. So Coop calls a timeout, Madore shows, Peters scores twice all in three minutes and forty eight seconds and was coincidentally not all. The other side was that Canon McMillan had NO shots and their lead had evaporated and their fans were silenced by a miraculous turn of events. Bryan Papciak continued driving the playoff bus as he stuffed home a shot inside the skate of Drew Stanton and the game was tied at 4-4 with 2:19 left in the 2nd and we headed to the final period of regulation with the shots 20-13, but more importantly 6-1 in favor of the Indians in the final 8 ½ minutes of the period. At 12:06 of the third period, Peters Twp. Made it official as Gerry Raymond scored on a wraparound to give the Indians a 5-4 lead. At 11:02, Matt Lazzaro was stopped by Drew Stanton and then it was Chris Papiak robbed moments later. Canon Mac came back and Rob Madore made his first key save at 10:36 on Doug Stanton to keep it a one goal game 5-4 in favor of PT. Then at 9:32, the drive from Neville Island became even more interesting as Madore gloved a Justin Cormack wrist shot. Then at the 9 minute Doug Stanton’s chance was kept out by Madore, who had been perfect to this point. The Big Macs went on the power play on the play with a chance to tie it and PT killed it off led by their goaltender. So as we entered the final 6 + minutes, the game was in the balance and with the game on the line there is one name that has become a trademark in clutch scoring as Bryan Papciak outfought the CM defense and fed freshman brother Chris Papciak who made it look easy chipping the puck over Drew Stanton with 5:08 remaining and giving thoughts of elimination in the heads of the Big Macs as Peters took a 6-4 lead. And Madore, who has been much maligned for his play with his travel team would be the difference pitching a shutout in relief and another trip back to the Penguins Cup for 4th consecutive year and another chance to go back to the State Championship to win their 3rd PA Cup in 4 years.