Raiders blank NA; Planets pound Center
WARRENDALE — In the Seneca Valley hockey team's first meeting with North Allegheny this season, the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Tuesday night, there was no doubt as to which was the better team.
The Raiders scored four goals in the second period and defeated the rival Tigers 5-0 at Warrendale BladeRunners.
SV's win was the second game of a doubleheader at the venue. In the first contest, Mars dominated Center, 12-0.
In the first period, it appeared as though Seneca Valley and North Allegheny would battle to another stalemate, as both squads played stingy defense and combined for just five shots on goal.
Then came the second period.
Seneca Valley's first goal came from Michael Rohm with 12:51 left in the period as the Raiders capitalized on a 5-on-3 advantage.
Sam Jarrett scored the first of his two goals 6½ minutes later.
<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE64468211.MOV" width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>Tyler Mesisca and Erik Larson followed with scores to give the Raiders (10-5-4) a four-goal edge at the second intermission."In the first game, we didn't play 45 minutes of solid hockey, but we did tonight," said Jarrett. "And I thought we played better on defense, too."An NA comeback never materialized, as the team managed just five shots on goal in the third period, while Jarrett capped the scoring with a goal with just over 11 minutes left to play."We had a short bench tonight because a lot of our players are sick," said Raiders coach Denis Kirstein. "But we came out flying tonight."I think we got a few bounces to go our way because our guys were working hard," he added.SV's Ryan Schutte made 17 saves while NA's Lindsay Holdcroft made 11 stops."We've been going back and forth with starts (at goal) between Ryan and Mike Single," said Kirstein. "We do want to go with one starter by the time the playoffs start."Rohm added two assists in the win.The Raiders' victory created a bit of separation between SV and the Tigers (8-6-5). The two teams entered the game in second and third place, respectively, in Section 2-AAA.The Raiders play at Bethel Park Thursday.
Jake Robash scored a hat trick to lead Mars (18-1) to the lopsided win.The Trojans managed six shots on goal, three of them coming during the team's two 5-on-3 advantages.The Planets got off to a fast start, tallying three goals in the first five minutes of play, getting a pair from Matt Wingert and one from Brady Sipe.Also scoring in the win were Elliot Tisdale (2), Tyler Whiteford, Steven Tracy, Kevin Leslie and Matt Davidson.Martin Lamneck made six saves for Mars, while Nate Wormald stopped 24 shots for Center (3-15).The Planets have won 16 games in a row and will travel to Johnstown to take on Bishop McCort Feb. 19.
