Central Region

NEVILLE ISLAND - Montour coach Paul Bonetti knew the mental aspect of the battle of division leaders would have to result in his Spartans scoring on Peters Twp early. Especially after Montour was manhandled by the Indians in a preseason exhibition matchup. Montour went toe to toe with the very balanced Indian attack in the first half of the first period, but the Indians struck as talented freshman Chris Clackson broke past the Spartan defense and wristed on by Jeff Milnarcik to make it 1-0. Montour then tried to exercise puck control, which led to chances, but a turnover at the Peters blue line resulted in transition and a Brandon Rubeo breakaway and a 2-0 Peters Twp lead. Peters Twp goaltender Kyle Kittleberger then displayed why he is one of the top goaltenders in the PIHL, robbing Joe Federoff with 20 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Montour carried the pressure into the second and missed several chances as Supan, Dugan and the F-Troop tried to crack Kittleberger, but to no avail. Then Peters, like a cat in an alley, saw an opening, a loose puck on the doorstep and an opportunistic Matt Schwartz pounced on it and chipped it by Milnarcik.... 3-0 Peters. Christian Hanson, only a minute and a half later, picked up another rebound and deposited it as the Indians were taking care of business at this point. Montour was determined in the third and again pressured but no score ! Meanwhile, Christian Minella took a beautiful pass in stride from Mike Papciak and bombed a shot in for a 5-0 runaway. The whole game could have been summed up at the 2:17 mark of the third, when Montour was on the power play and Joe Federoff grabbed the puck out of the air and threw it past Kittleberger, which was of course disallowed, but exemplified the frustration of the Spartans inability to beat Kittleberger. Fianlly, Dave Strobel took a nice pass from Federoff and scored with :28 left to break the shutout. Peters went on to win outshooting Montour 50-24 on the evening.