Rustin falls to Quaker Valley in Pennsylvania Cup A final

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - Even while standing outside a morose locker room amid the disappointment of having just lost a state championship hockey game, West Chester Rustin coach Nick Russo found a way to let out a slight chuckle.

Russo was asked whether scoring 30 seconds into the Class A Pennsylvania Cup game was the type of start the Knights were looking for.

"It was exactly what we wanted to do," Russo said through a laugh, before turning serious. "We just would have liked to have kept it up for 44 more minutes."

Flyers Cup champion Rustin couldn't sustain the momentum from Jeff Nelson's goal in the game's opening minute, and the result was a 4-1 loss to Quaker Valley Sunday afternoon at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.

"We looked to getting off to a good start - and then we got it, and it helped us a lot," junior forward J.R. Barone said. "But we need to take some of that and carry it through to the end of the game. We just had to keep it up, you know?"

The Quakers' Kevin Kenny negated Nelson's goal when he scored late in the first period, and Clayton Bouchard made it 2-1, Quaker Valley, when he poked home a rebound of a Ryan Dickson shot 5 minutes, 2 seconds into the second period.

Goalie Zach Sheriko kept Rustin in the game with quality saves late in the second and throughout the third. But Ryan Lottes and Otto Schaefer each scored over the final 2:11 to put it away and give the Quakers their second Pennsylvania Cup.

"We had that letup early," Kenny said, "but then from there on out, it was all pressure, pressure, pressure."

Russo and his staff watched Quaker Valley's Penguins Cup championship victory over Mars at the Consol Energy Center 24 hours before the state title game.

"I think winning yesterday and having that excitement in their system and that adrenaline worked to our disadvantage," Russo said. "They were much more physical than we were, and I think that wore us down. They're really good defensively."

The Knights were held to 17 shots and were 0 for 5 on the power play.

This was Rustin's third appearance in the last four years in the state championship game. The Golden Knights beat Mars in 2009 but lost to the Planets in the final the following season.

West Chester Rustin   1 0 0 - 1

Quaker Valley   1 1 2 - 4

Goals: WCR–Jeff Nelson; QV–Kevin Kenny, Clayton Bouchard, Ryan Lottes, Otto Schaefer.

Saves: WCR–Zach Sheriko 21; QV–Doug Revak 16.