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CASTLE SHANNON - West Allegheny started the 2001-2002 season with a 1-4-1 start after a tough loss to Bishop McCort. The Indians knew they had a decent team and figured this may be their year if they could put the pieces together. Steel Valley had suprised many after two victories over Serra Catholic and a tie with McCort and this young Ironmen squad was looking to test its newfound confidence in the playoffs. The Ironmen came out pressing in the first period outshooting WA 13-6, but Phil Sweet kept them off the board. Meanwhile, Derek Keller found a Matt Knapp rebound and chipped it over Dave Kwolek to give the Indians a 1-0 lead at 11:27. Finally, at 2:03 of the 1st, Jim Barka trickled an Allen Zivic rebound past Sweet to tie the game at 1-1. On to the second and on the power play it was Josh Fuoco, taking a great pass from Knapp through traffic and burying a wrist shot to give the Indians a 2-1 lead, which they took to the intermission. In the third period, Steel Valley continued its onslaught on Sweet, who was equal to the task. Then Keller caught the SV defense pinching too much and stripped the puck and was in alone and beat Kwolek to give the Indians a huge goal and a 3-1 lead at 8:30. Steel Valley came right back as Gary Gerson scored at 3:20 to make it 3-2. With the Ironmen continuing to press for the tying goal, Tom Quinn stole the puck and scored on another breakaway at 2:40 for a big insurance goal and Matt Knapp sealed the victory with an empty netter with 21 seconds left as West Allegheny scored a big upset victory and a trip to Johnstown to face Bishop McCort next week.

CORAOPOLIS - Quigley had the momemtum coming into the playoffs and they had the experience of the past few playoff years. Besides, Elizabeth Forward is fielding its first varsity team in 4 years and they should be happy with their season, shouldn't they ? Somebody forgot to tell them ! The Warriors came out flying in the first period as Joe Persang and Mike Mitchko tallied and gave EF a 2-0 lead with goals 14 seconds apart and a shot advantage of 8-1. Back came the Spartans late in the opening frame as Jason DiVito took a great pass from Allen Randolph and cut the lead to 2-1. EF's freshman stud Jeremy Delmaster scored just 19 seconds into the second to stretch the lead back to 3-1. DiVito came back for Quigley and scored on his own rebound to make it 3-2 at 12:34. Then the goaltending picked up as Luke Belsky and Adam Reichl made several key saves in the middle of the period. Then Delmaster got open ice and had a 2 on 1, which he used as a decoy and beat Belsky on the short side to exend the margin to 4-2 at 6:59 and the Warriors took the lead to the locker room. In the third period,Belsky kept the Spartans in the game with several key saves. Then Mike Haney blasted a slapshot past Reichl and the EF lead was now only 4-3 with 7:48 left in regulation. Quigley kept pressing and Reichl shined as he made several key saves to match Belsky including an improbable stop on Haney with just 2:10 to go. EF could taste it now and the Warriors were throwing their bodies in front of Quigley shots and players to keep the slim one goal lead. Then the prayer was answered as Joe Persang flung a long shot into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining and the upstart EF Warriors moved on with an impreesive 5-3 win.

CRANBERRY - North Allegheny has had it's share of disappointments in the first round of the Penguins Cup playoffs over the past few years. Franklin Regional has had a run of playoff disappointments as well. So both schools were looking to erase some playoff history in this years first round. A well played first period saw the upstart Panthers outshoot NA 8-6 and a pretty good goaltender dual between Chris Zelenak and Thierry Clermont. Franklin broke the ice early in the second at 14:30 as Mike Roth stormed down the slot and got his own rebound and beat Clermont to make it 1-0. The game continued to go end to end with both teams having good scoring chances, but the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Panthers. At 13:14 of the 3rd Jeff Hall was robbed by Zelenak from in front as the NA players celebrated prematurely. Then at 9:59, Adam Burger found Roth in alone on Clermont and he made no mistake pulling Clermont out of the net and lofting the puck into the empty net to give FR a stunning 2-0 lead and the Panthers were thinking upset ! It took only 54 seconds as the Tigers money player Dan Lobas walked out of the corner and held on to the puck for what seem to be eternity and beat Zelenak on a huge goal to cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:05. Then on the next shift, it was Lobas again as he spot Jeff Hall barrelling down the middle of the ice and beat Zelenak to tie the score at 6:26. Smelling a wounded opponent, Joe Rosenberg walked around the FR defense but a great save by Zelenak kept the score tied at two. Then with two minutes left, Tyler Haldane of NA was robbed again as Zelenak make an improbable save. The game ended at 2-2 and headed for OT. Through the first overtime and into the second, both schools had chances but failed to end it until, on the power play at 8:57 of the 2nd OT, Lobas found Hall again streaking through the slot and hit him with a pass and Hall buried the backhand to give North Allegheny a hard fought 3-2 victory and a spot in the second round in Class AAA.

CASTLE SHANNON - The South Park Eagles were riding high coming into this years playoffs after an unbelievable upset of Peters Twp to end the regular season. Keystone Oaks has been arguably the hottest team in Class AA, losing only once in its last ten games. A standing room only crows at the Ice Castle was on hand as the 'KO Crazies' were back in playoff form. The home tem came out smokin in the first period as they outshot South Park 12-5, but Ian Episcopo had the hot hand he showed against Peters. At 4:24 of the opening period, Bobby Dipippa wheeled around in the SP zone and found a wide open Jim Fuhs, who deked the Eagle goaltender and gave KO a 1-0 lead. In the second, KO's Dylan Wyrostek took a great cross ice pass from Fuhs and buried and the KO Crazies were in hysteria and the score was 2-0. Then Fuhs wound it up in his own end and skated through the South Park defenders, unleashed a shot and DiPippa banged home the rebound for a 3-0 advantage at 7:57. On to the third, South Park went on a 5 on 3 and just couldn't capitalize, the best chance coming as Justin Juha banked a wide open scoring opportunity off the post. Keystone Oaks went on to a 3-0 victory as Adam Beck got the shutout for the Golden Eagles.

From the first round to the State Finals, we will bring you all of the action from across the Commonwealth !