Council Rock North Indians- 1991 AAA & 1992 AA

VALENCIA - Woodland Hills coach Tim Wilt was looking for positives from his squad and probably looked at the schedule and said "Hey, Knoch could be a good opportunity for a win !". Both clubs dropped their respective openers and Woodland Hills was looking to improve on its 2-17-1 record from a year ago. The Wolverines struck first as Mark Chernega and Andrew Philp scored early in the first to give Woody High a 2-0 lead. The Knights scoring machine Johnathon Chiplock countered with 2:35 left in the first to cut the lead in half. The teams traded chances in the second period and into the third and it was Chernega on a long slapshot and picking up a rebound to complete the hat trick to push Woodland Hills to a 4-1 advantage. Chiplock closed out the scoring for Knoch and P.J. Schweinberg dashed the Knoch hopes with an empty netter and a 5-2 Wolverine victory. Tim Gribbin stopped 24 of 26 Knoch shots including several from in close to lead Woodland Hills between the pipes !

Valencia - Mars coach Joe Honzo has a lot of horses in the Mars stable this season. The Planets are off a running and faced a young but talented Freeport squad in an early season battle of unbeatens. Steve Meyers, who wears # 55 looked more like # 66 as he shreaded the Yellow Jackets for four goals and two assists to lead Mars to a 9-6 victory over Freeport. The smooth skating forward along with linemates Bobby Beckert (two goals) and Jared Lemankowicz combined for 7 of the 9 Planet goals. Freeport, which fell behind 6-2, got its scoring from Mike Bender (3 Goals) and the super freshmen tandum of Nick DeCroo (2 Goals) and Chris Plocki. The Yellow Jackets suffered their first loss, but look to be a playoff contender as the season progresses.

MONROEVILLE - Mt Lebanon Coach Paul Taibi has stressed defensive hockey in his short tenure with the Blue Devils. As any coach knows, great defense is born out of great goaltending. This is an area where Mt Lebanon has struggle the past few years, but has seemed to right itself early on in the 2001-2002 season. Mt Lebanon came out flying in the 1st period outshooting the Gators 12-4 and broke out on top with a pair of Mike Colligan goals, the first just 33 seconds into the game. Less than three minutes later, Colligan chipped a rebound past David Himes to give Mt Lebanon the 2-0 lead. Then just 16 seconds into the second, Mike Jordan scored on a rebound and all the sudden Gateway was in a hole 3-0. But the Gators pressed the attack and gain momentum in the 2nd and it paid off when Rob McCoy scored with 1:46 remaining in the second. That momentum carried forward into the third as Gateway outshot the Blue Devils 23-12 over the last two periods. Matt Kopaczynski buried a wrist shot forty seconds into the 3rd and all the sudden it was a one goal game. Enter Collin Sebastian, the Mt Lebanon goalie who shut the door on the Gators the rest of the way. Mike Colligan completed the hat trick and Jason Schultz added another at the buzzer,both on with Himes pulled as Gateway tried to score. The win sets up a big early season matchup next Monday for Mt Lebanon against Bethel Park.

MONROEVILLE - Ram coach George Reed was looking for his squad to rebound from a disappointing tie against Kittanning on Sunday. Woodland Hills was in its first action of the 2001-2002 season. After Andrew Philp gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead, Pine Richland rattled off ten straght goals to coast to a 10-1 win. Ryan Tessmer led the Rams with five points (2 Goals 3 Assists), while a whole host of players got into the scoring column in a very lopsided win for PR.

CRANBERRY - Central Catholic's nickname is the Vikings, who are effectionately known in their brief 2001-2002 season as 'Midnight Madness'. A game tying goal against North Hills with just 31 seconds remaining in the opener and Tuesday affair with Brian Cersosimo's upstart Seneca Valley Raiders. Less than a minute into the first, SV's Dave Syska pounced on a rebound to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. Central's Jeff Race and Glen Donahue scored less than a minute apart to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead at the end of one period. Central's Pete Wood took a CJ Bruce pass and beat John Hoffman to extend the lead to 3-1. But Seneca showed character as speedy Trevor Kuhlmann and Chris Hudson tallied to deadlock the game at 3-3. Race gave Cetral the lead back as he took a Hoffman rebound and beat him on the backhand with 3:50 remaining in the second. Eddie Martin then picked up a Race rebound on the power play and slammed it home to give the Vikings a two goal lead. John Zegarelli gave the Raiders new life with a goal with just :21 seconds remaining. In the third both teams had several chances, but the curfew clock decided another close game when it was halted with :19 seconds left. The rule that never seems to go away....while the league administration is at home sleeping and is worried more about frivilous items, its opportunity to become a legitimate school sport and have marketability and integrity are shallowed by a minor league rule, as Seneca watched any chance of tying diminish with the curfew buzzer (Imagine if that was a Woodland Hills - Penn Hills Football game... Riot gear would be appropriate). Final Score - Central Catholic 5 Seneca Valley 4