SV, Mars pick up wins
WARRENDALE — Seneca Valley and Central Catholic knew defense was going to be the key in their PIHL Class AAA matchup Tuesday, but was anybody going to score?
Casey Kramer cashed in on a power-play opportunity with 11:52 left in the second period and Seneca Valley made it stand in a 1-0 victory over the Vikings at BladeRunners.
“Central Catholic has played toe-to-toe with a lot of teams,” said Raiders coach Anthony Raco. “They are a playoff-caliber team.”
“Defense has been the key for us,” Central Catholic coach Bill Connelly said. “Both teams did a great job clearing out and blocking in front of the net.”
The Raiders entered the game allowing just 41 goals in 13 games, while the Vikings had surrendered 42 in 14 games.
The defense was so sterling Tuesday, the teams combined to go 1-for-13 on the power play, including 1-of-6 for Seneca Valley (10-3-1).
Kramer took passes from Peter Kippin and Brendan MacFarland and rifled a shot that hit just inside the top of the net to give the Raiders the lead.
“We've been trying to work on special teams and to try and keep special teams from going in transition,” Raco said.
Both goalies — the Raiders' Tanner Pfeffer and the Vikings' Brian Burger — turned away shot after shot, finishing with 33 and 40 saves, respectively.
The Vikings (8-6-1) had a golden opportunity early in the third period when they enjoyed a two-man advantage for 1:37, but the Raiders stayed strong.
“We've been working on the 5-on-3 and that was important tonight,” Raco said.
Plus, the Vikings had a power-play shot with 4:10 to play when Spencer Schutte received two minutes for charging.
Still, Pfeffer made three saves in that span, while Chris McCambridge had a shot hit the post and deflected away with 2:57 left.
The Raiders continued to control play despite trying to kill the clock.
“Our scoring chances were high,” Raco said. “We were getting shots deep and wearing them down in their end and our third line did a great job tonight.”
Said Connelly, “We had a couple of lineup changes, guys fighting that late-season bug, but our guys still responded well.
“It's been two weeks between games. We had to find our legs in the first two periods, but we got them going in the third period,” he added.
The Planets dominated this contest from the start, using five goals in each of the first two periods to cruise to the Class A win at BladeRunners.In an odd twist, 12 different players netted goals with Craig Mazzotta being to only two-goal scorer and added three assists.“It's always fun to see young kids, jayvee kids get in there,” Mars coach Steve Meyers said. “You never want to run it up. (South Fayette) was missing a lot of guys.”The Lions (3-12-1) lacked depth — as the team dressed just 12 players — and it showed as Mars peppered South Fayette goalie Nick Blocher with 64 shots.The Lions, on the other hand, could muster just four shots on net.Also scoring for the Planets (12-2-1) were Dan McCann, Nick Makozy, Nick Berteotti, Ian Houk-Graves, Jason Schwartz, Owen Vasbinder, Noah Master, Mike McCann, Max Master, Chad Friday and Reed Salada.Makozy and Noah Master chipped in with three assists, while Max Master, Vasbinder and Berteotti had two assists apiece.“We're starting to get healthier, starting to get together,” Meyers said. “It's a maturing process.“It's still a growing process. We know we are not the team to beat. Quaker Valley is, but we have seven or eight games left (before the playoffs) and hopefully we can continue to get better.”
