Peters Twp Indians - 2014 AAA 2002-2003-2005 AA

Montour 5 West Allegheny 1 CORAOPOLIS – Montour has involved in a lot of close one goal games over the past month including narrow losses to Canevin and Peters Twp. Head Coach Dan Siegel knows the rigors of the playoffs and will admit I am sure that the Spartans must overcome this to become a contender for this year’s Penguins Cup. With a 13-3-0 record, Team Montour sits in 3rd position in the seedings in a battle with the aforementioned Peters Twp and Canevin for a very important bye and home playoff berth. Having said all of this there will be a fundamental decision, which will have to be made for the playoffs about the goaltending rotation or lack thereof as I believe that starting freshman Matt Skoff, who I consider the ‘Next One’ for every playoff game will give the Spartans a chance for a long playoff run and combined with the better play of the team, they can avoid the situation that presented itself a year ago when Char Valley bounced the also third seeded Spartans from the Class AA playoffs. West Allegheny knows all about getting bounced from the playoffs a year ago as an Elizabeth Forward team that lost to them 8-1 came back and upset the Indians in round one. Coach Norm Cook’s club is 17-0-0 entering this game and talk about Penguins Cups and playoff runs is dancing through many people’s heads in West Allegheny. The Indians have balance on offense and possess a mixture of veteran players and youth that will make opposing coaches heads spin. Kyle Mortimer has been outstanding in between the pipes and will be a key to any playoff run. The Indians are working on capturing the # 1 seed and any losses or two heading into the schedule ahead which includes Montour, Peters Township and Pine Richland, could vault WA out of the top spot. Before a packed house at the Airport Ice Arena the teams took the ice with an air of electricity as students, fans, parent and bystanders of the ‘Concerned Citizens of West Allegheny’ and the always ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ less Frankie Vallie and the four Spartans, who anxiously awaited Limo Service, but not from Canevin’s Kenny Vance, who was at Mt Lebanon. The opening period started with a torrid pace from the outset and the Spartans struck first at 13:56 as Josh York took a cross ice pass from Zach Perry and buried it high over the glove hand side of Mortimer for a 1-0 lead for Team Montour. At 7:26, Ryne Savisky stripped the puck from the Spartan defense and was stopped on a great save by Matt Skoff. The freshman goaltender continued to keep the Indians off the board and made an unreal save on Tony Lutz, who had a wide open net but Skoff was able to extend and glove a potential tying goal and keep Montour on top 1-0 after one period. The Spartans started period two on the power play, but West Allegheny had a great chance to tie it as Tony Lutz was in on the breakaway at the 14 minute mark but Skoff challenged him and Lutz just missed. As things would go the Spartans way less than a minute later, Keith Kurelis intercepted a bad clearing attempt and found the open net past Mortimer at 13:04 high to the glove side and all the sudden Team Montour was up 2-0. The Spartans sensed a wounded animal and Zach Perry went for the jugular at 12:19, when Mortimer made a real nice save and the puck glanced off the post keeping the WA deficit at two and this could have been a key turning point as Montour took an undisciplined penalty after the whistle. The Spartans killed off that West A power play and the third time was a charm for Perry, as at 8:09 he walked out of the corner and fired a slap shot past the Indian goaltender erupting the Montour faithful and chasing Mortimer in favor of freshman Phil Sweet. The Indians stepped up their game late in the second period at finally was able to get on the board on the power play as Steve Sarachene would not be denied getting his own rebound and beating Skoff with 3:32 left to cut the Montour to 3-1. West Allegheny had plenty of time to go in this game and the firepower to come back in the third period, but Zach Perry sucked the wind out of any comeback aspirations as he took the opening faceoff and from just inside the blue line blasted a slapshot high to the stick side past Phil Sweet to make it 4-1 with 14:43 left in regulation. The Indians freshman goaltender foiled Perry’s hat trick bid on a breakaway at 12:42. Montour was able to play solid defense the rest of the way and Paul Ciotti capped it off with an empty netter with 23 seconds remaining to earn a thrilling 5-1 victory and knock West Allegheny from the ranks of the undefeated.

Mt Lebanon 3 North Allegheny 0 MT LEBANON – A Who’s Who night at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center as Ralph of Ralph and Alf guided us into the secure Batcave Parking location deep below the Rec Center rather than the albatross parking lot up top. Bobby Montana, sporting a new long California look accompanied Head Coach Paul Taibi and Dave ‘Hershey’s Chocolate Milk’ Dorsey on the Blue Devil bench, while Tom Pandolfo, sporting a new look lime Scott Hoch golf shirt with Sport Jacket guided the Tigers. Also in attendance for our who’s who night were Bob ‘King Tut’ Sebastian, Chuck Kelly, Mr.Canevin Kenny Vance, Jack ‘I am not taking pictures for Mort but I have my camera’Bliek, Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, Jamie ‘I forgot we have a game against Butler’ Plunkett, Jamie Cummings, stripes Tim ‘No Regrets’ Morgeret and Chet Steen, W&J Coach Peter Taglianetti, Gina Colligan, Bob ‘I have no nickname’ Behling, and John ‘the Scheduler’ McKelvey. Mt Lebanon entered tonight’s contest with a perfect 16-0-0 record and has gone unchallenged in Class AAA for most of the season. The Blue Devils are on a mission which many teams would like to think about, but only a few have accomplished in the 36 years of Class AAA hockey. The history tells us that 1986 Conestoga, 1987 Upper St Clair, a couple of Meadville teams in the 1990’s and 2002 Bethel Park went the entire regular season and playoffs undefeated and captured the State Championship and the Blue Devils are well on their way to that feat. For coach Paul Taibi, it may be time to be thinking about putting the foot to the floor for the stretch drive. If there is anyone who can feel for the Blue Devils, it is North Allegheny as their run a year ago came to as close as perfect as you can get as from the second game of the season until the 2005 Penguins Cup, no one beat the Tigers and just one goal and one slip against Bethel Park cost the Tigers an opportunity to complete the magical run. Coach Tom Pandolfo has formed a new young group of Tigers, who have only lost once this season and sit adjacent to the Blue Devils in the standings. The irony is that no one is talking about the great season NA is having and no one expects them to do anything because all of the discussion has revolved around Mt Lebanon. This game tonight for the Tigers is a test and a part of the process and don’t be surprised if when the Penguins Cup come knocking that NA is sniffing again. I am sure that Bethel Park will have a say and possibly Meadville, which is why both of their head coaches were in the building tonight. In a fast paced opening minutes, Mt Lebanon showed emotion first as Matt Bartkowski maybe was a little over-zealous with an open ice check and was whistled for a penalty at 12:12, giving NA a power play chance, which the Blue Devils killed effectively. Blue Devils goaltender Matt Vaughn made the games first big save as he swatted aside a Josh Herbert shot ticketed for the far corner with a stick save. The Tigers continued to give Mt Lebanon a lot of different looks on the forecheck including Paul Dittrich at forward. Max Richards made the first big save on Sean McDermott at 3:10 and drew a penalty putting the lethal Blue Devil power play to work on their first opportunity. The teams play to a scoreless opening 5 minutes with NA holding a 7-4 advantage in shots. On to the second period and Mt Lebanon committed penalty # 2 and 14:12 giving the Tigers a chance to draw first blood. Blue Devils Shane Ferguson almost struck early in the penalty, which was saved by Max Richards and Lebo 100 killed off the rest. Mt Lebanon would have the next chance on the power play with 9:40 remaining. Max Richards made a nice stop on Shane Ferguson at 6:55. NA went on the power play with a little over 5 minutes to go but James Cichra had other plans stealing the puck and forcing a penalty with 4:05 remaining creating a 4 on 4 situation. Tyler Murovich prove his slippery ability almost banking the puck off the skate of Max Richards with 3:18 to play and the game remained scoreless. The Tigers took an undisciplined penalty at 2:54 putting the Blue Devils on a 5 0n 3 and they capitalized as Tyler Murovich found the net after some great puck movement with 2:36 to play to give Mt Lebanon a 1-0 lead. 15-10 In the third period, Mt Lebanon turned up the heat early on and Max Richards made a super save on Jesse Root at the 12 minute mark. With 9:59 remaining, the Blue Devils had NA on the run and Brandon Dornish found a loose puck in the slot and scored just inside the post to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead. The Tigers went on the power play with 9:29 left. Then the closer as Sean McDermott was the recipient of a tap in at 5:13 after tic tac toe by Jesse Root and Jon Wilen to make it 3-0. The final shots were 25 in favor of Lebo 100 and 12 for North Allegheny, which is amazing considering NA held a 7-4 advantage in the first. So the Blue Devils are now 17-0-0 and heading for a date with the defending State AAA Champions Bethel Park next Monday.

Montour 5 West Allegheny 1 CORAOPOLIS – Montour has involved in a lot of close one goal games over the past month including narrow losses to Canevin and Peters Twp. Head Coach Dan Siegel knows the rigors of the playoffs and will admit I am sure that the Spartans must overcome this to become a contender for this year’s Penguins Cup. With a 13-3-0 record, Team Montour sits in 3rd position in the seedings in a battle with the aforementioned Peters Twp and Canevin for a very important bye and home playoff berth. Having said all of this there will be a fundamental decision, which will have to be made for the playoffs about the goaltending rotation or lack thereof as I believe that starting freshman Matt Skoff, who I consider the ‘Next One’ for every playoff game will give the Spartans a chance for a long playoff run and combined with the better play of the team, they can avoid the situation that presented itself a year ago when Char Valley bounced the also third seeded Spartans from the Class AA playoffs. West Allegheny knows all about getting bounced from the playoffs a year ago as an Elizabeth Forward team that lost to them 8-1 came back and upset the Indians in round one. Coach Norm Cook’s club is 17-0-0 entering this game and talk about Penguins Cups and playoff runs is dancing through many people’s heads in West Allegheny. The Indians have balance on offense and possess a mixture of veteran players and youth that will make opposing coaches heads spin. Kyle Mortimer has been outstanding in between the pipes and will be a key to any playoff run. The Indians are working on capturing the # 1 seed and any losses or two heading into the schedule ahead which includes Montour, Peters Township and Pine Richland, could vault WA out of the top spot. Before a packed house at the Airport Ice Arena the teams took the ice with an air of electricity as students, fans, parent and bystanders of the ‘Concerned Citizens of West Allegheny’ and the always ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ less Frankie Vallie and the four Spartans, who anxiously awaited Limo Service, but not from Canevin’s Kenny Vance, who was at Mt Lebanon. The opening period started with a torrid pace from the outset and the Spartans struck first at 13:56 as Josh York took a cross ice pass from Zach Perry and buried it high over the glove hand side of Mortimer for a 1-0 lead for Team Montour. At 7:26, Ryne Savisky stripped the puck from the Spartan defense and was stopped on a great save by Matt Skoff. The freshman goaltender continued to keep the Indians off the board and made an unreal save on Tony Lutz, who had a wide open net but Skoff was able to extend and glove a potential tying goal and keep Montour on top 1-0 after one period. The Spartans started period two on the power play, but West Allegheny had a great chance to tie it as Tony Lutz was in on the breakaway at the 14 minute mark but Skoff challenged him and Lutz just missed. As things would go the Spartans way less than a minute later, Keith Kurelis intercepted a bad clearing attempt and found the open net past Mortimer at 13:04 high to the glove side and all the sudden Team Montour was up 2-0. The Spartans sensed a wounded animal and Zach Perry went for the jugular at 12:19, when Mortimer made a real nice save and the puck glanced off the post keeping the WA deficit at two and this could have been a key turning point as Montour took an undisciplined penalty after the whistle. The Spartans killed off that West A power play and the third time was a charm for Perry, as at 8:09 he walked out of the corner and fired a slap shot past the Indian goaltender erupting the Montour faithful and chasing Mortimer in favor of freshman Phil Sweet. The Indians stepped up their game late in the second period at finally was able to get on the board on the power play as Steve Sarachene would not be denied getting his own rebound and beating Skoff with 3:32 left to cut the Montour to 3-1. West Allegheny had plenty of time to go in this game and the firepower to come back in the third period, but Zach Perry sucked the wind out of any comeback aspirations as he took the opening faceoff and from just inside the blue line blasted a slapshot high to the stick side past Phil Sweet to make it 4-1 with 14:43 left in regulation. The Indians freshman goaltender foiled Perry’s hat trick bid on a breakaway at 12:42. Montour was able to play solid defense the rest of the way and Paul Ciotti capped it off with an empty netter with 23 seconds remaining to earn a thrilling 5-1 victory and knock West Allegheny from the ranks of the undefeated.

Canon McMillan 5 South Park 3 CASTLE SHANNON - Canon McMillan entered this week with a 7-5-3 mark holding down the # 8 slot tied with Indiana. For coach Dave ‘a/k/a the Boy Wonder’ Fryer, it has been an interesting campaign, especially wince the Big Macs captured the # 1 seed a year ago. Canon Mac will have to win some big games down the stretch to secure home ice in the opening as earning a bye in the opening round may be a stretch. South Park, on the other hand, is fighting for their playoff lives and after a 1-7-0 start head coach Ray Sabitini has to like the way his club is playing, posting a 3-1-1 maek since the first half break. The Eagles have playoff tradition with 16 straight playoff appearances dating back to 1990, reaching the Penguins Cup only once in 1995 losing to Bishop McCort in Class A. SP currently holds down the 12th and final spot in a battle with Latrobe and Moon. Canon McMillan opened up a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Jesse Patnesky 45 seconds in the game. South Park’s tied the score at one apiece at 10:53 as Chris Ondek scored on a long shot for a shorthanded tally. The Big Macs regained the lead with 6:34 left in the opening period as Erik McKown gave his team a 2-1 lead. Shane Bickar continued to keep the Eagles in the game stopping all 9 shots in the middle period and the CM lead to 2-1. Matt Nichol scored a beautiful goal with a wrist shot over the glove side of Mike O’Neill with 3:55 remaining in the 2nd to knot the score at two apiece. At 13:27 of the third period, Justin Cormack scored as he picked up his own rebound off the boards and deposited it past Shane Bickar. Matt Nichol tied the score with 8:53 on a rebound goal to make it 3-3. The Eagles took a penalty with 4:55 to go and opened the door for a Canon McMillan power play, which reaped benefits as Josh Tohey found Jesse Patnesky on the back door who beat Shane Bickar to the far post and gave CM a 4-3 lead with 3 ½ to go in regulation. Justin Cormack scored a huge insurance goal with 1:19 to go intercepted a SP clearing pass and lofted a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Bickar to make it 5-3 and lock down a big win for Robin the Boy Wonder’s Concerned Citizens of Canon Mac.

Upper St Clair 3 Plum 1 CASTLE SHANNON – Plum has struggled this season with loss to graduation and lack of numbers to replace the key components after a very good 2004- 2005 campaign. The Mustangs need to gain every point possible to possibly grab the 12th and final playoff spot in March. Plum has earned a playoff berth 8 out of the past ten seasons including the 1997 and 1998 seasons when Head Coach Sean Keller and a fellow by the name of R.J. Umberger donned the Purple, Gold and White before moving onto Ohio State and now plays for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. The club will retire Umberger’s jersey toward the end of this season as R.J. will come back to see his alma mater play, which may be an inspiration to the young Mustangs. Upper St Clair has the only other player in the National Hockey League from Western Pennsylvania in Ryan Malone who plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins who has his number 12 retired and now hangs at the Ice Castle. For the Panthers, there is another number that is in front of them, which will place the USC program # 1 in Regular Season and Western Pennsylvania playoff wins as the first program to reach 500 wins. USC currently stands at 498 and with a win against Plum and Butler next week will be the 1st program to accomplish this feat. Kittanning at 496 wins is running a close second, but it appears the Panthers, who started play in 1971 at the Alpine Ice Chalet will do it. After a scoreless opening period, USC opened the scoring as Tucker Green scored on a partial break with 12:28. Back came the Mustangs at 11:40 to tie the game as Matt Giunta ??? scored picking up a loose puck in front and beat Kevin Gorder with 11 ½ left . The Panthers went on the power play at the midway point of the 2nd period and Davey Crockett won the faceoff and scored on his own rebound at 6:51, beating John Bronder on a rebound to give St Clair a 2-1 lead. Just 32 seconds later, the Panthers scored again as Jono Lohman beat Bronder high over the glove hand side to make it 3-1. The third period began and after fear of no backup power of the Bat Computer and the Bat Phone, it was Ralph and not Alf, but the Terminator to the rescue with an extension cord to keep our Game Summary rolling on. Upper St Clair maintained the pressure in the third period, keeping the puck in the Mustangs end trying to score and put the game on ice. The Panthers were able to kill the clock and pick up win # 499 setting up an opportunity next Monday night on Senior Recognition night to win the 500th game in Upper St Clair history.