The historic first Flyers Cup Tournament bracket being played at the York City Ice Arena did not go as hoped for the home team, the Central York Panthers.

Central's ice hockey season came to an end Monday night with a loss to the Sun Valley Vanguards, 4-2, in a Flyers Cup Tier A play-in game.

Encompassing three levels of tournament play (AAA, AA, A), the Flyers Cup is symbolic of Eastern Pennsylvania scholastic hockey supremacy. The Eastern champs at each level meet the Western champs -- winners of the Penguins Cup -- for state titles at the end of the month. Ice hockey is not sanctioned by the PIAA.

Central (8-8-1) was making its fourth Flyers Cup appearance. It was Sun Valley's first-ever tournament match.

Central was dogged by turnover issues all evening while getting outshot, 30-15. The biggest, coming on a Panthers power play midway through the third period, resulted in a short-handed goal for Sun Valley and a 4-1 lead for the visitors from Aston.

Central fell behind almost immediately. Sun Valley's Jeremy Vernon chipped a rebound past Panther goaltender Andrew Mueller 32 seconds into the contest. The night felt like an uphill skate from there.

There's no getting around it," Central head coach Wayne Cleaver said. "Doesn't matter if it's scholastic or college hockey or the NHL. When you get down early, you play a different game. You can't press. When your (defensemen) carry the puck deep, if you turn it over, it gets away from you.

"Part

of it is just being kids. These kids see the ice and with their vision, and think they can make the play."

Central got back on track briefly

with a pretty 30-foot wrister by Eric Mueller seven minutes later, to even the score at 1-1.

But it was all Sun Valley after that.

The Vanguards (11-9-1) used a suprisingly conservative approach in the zone by playing third-man high, forcing play along the boards and bottling up Central's attack. They also refrained from playing a more physical brand of hockey, something that admittedly caught Cleaver and his club off-guard.

"Give them credit," Cleaver said of Sun Valley. "They played a great game. They came in with a bit of reputation for rumbling and mixing it up a bit, but they played a different kind of game."

Sun Valley took a 2-1 lead 6:22 into the second on a rebound chip by Vernon that was similar to his first goal.

Matt Babenko made it 3-1 Sun Valley just 3:52 later, on a fat rebound off an odd-man rush.

Central had a chance to get back into the contest midway through the third period when handed a rare power play -- nine Panthers were whistled for infractions to Sun Valley's three, one of which was a concurrent minor. But the opportunity went awry when a defensive zone turnover along the boards resulted in Zach Lazzaro slipping in behind the play and chipping the puck past Andrew Mueller on a feed from Mike Golder.

Justin Brown scored with 6:54 left in regulation for Central to draw the Panthers within two, but three penalties during the final 2:48 wiped out any shot of mounting a late surge.