Churchill Chargers - 1977 & 1979 AAA

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 !

BETHEL PARK - Bethel Park coach Jim McVay knew his team would face a tough opponent in Meadville. Jamie Plunkett's Bulldog's needed a win to win the West/Lake Division and position themselves for the upcoming playoffs. The Blackhawks on the other hand were 22-0 and playing for a perfect season. There was also another record at stake, which will mark Bethel as a team for the ages, but lets talk about the game first. The Bulldogs came out flying in the first and pressured the Hawks. Brian Bahurinsky took a Jeff Holabaugh cross ice pass and buried it upstairs past Matt Feige to give the Dawgs a 1-0 lead at 12:39. Then Bethel settled in and began to swing the momentum late in the first, but could not beat Danny O'Sharuk, who made nice stops on C.J. Strauss and Lee Volensky in the middle of the opening frame. Then the turning point of the game took place as Justin Glock, working like a surgeon flagged down a great keep in by Tom Starkey, and proceeded to turn to Meadville defenseman inside out and use him as a screen to beat O'Sharuk with just :19 seconds left in the 1st to make it 1-1. Meadville tried to regain thelead as Bahurinsky walked around the BP defense, but Feige cam up big. Bethel's Tom Starkey found Jason McLean behind the Dawg blueline and McLean was stopped by O'Sharuk. Seconds later, McLean found Tony Sands, who chipped the puck past the Meadville goaltender to give BP a 2-1 lead at 9:15. Then a little controversy, as an apparent tying goal by Rick Thomas was waived off by the officials in favor of a delay of game penalty for moveing the net and the score remained 2-1. On to the third and Bethel Park came out flying as the Hawks outshot Meadville 11-3. O'Sharuk kept his team in the game and kept the score 2-1 late including a stop on McLean again at 5:30. Then Meadville was whistle and BP went on the power play and capitalized as Tom Starkey scored on a backdoor pass from Brandon Hanley to ice the game 3-1. Bethel Park finished the season with a perfect 23-0-0 record and erased a 20 year old AAA goals against record of 18 set by North Catholic in 1981, by allowing only 14 goals in 23 games.

The night began with a lot of questions and ended with an unbelievable finish .... as in AAA Bethel Park regained its # 1 form by defeating Meadville. A great finish in Erie as Prep scored with 2:30 left, to knock off NA and hand the West Lake Division title to Meadville. And Gateway finished strong with Dave Himes shutting out Plum, who celebrated a division title, 3-0. In AA, Pine Richland scored late to defeat Greensburg CC. Beaver knocked Canevin out of the playoffs 3-2. And in a shocker at Nevin, Norwin beat Latrobe 4-3. The upset of the year came in the 11th hour as Ian Episcopo stoned # 1 Peters Township with 38 saves and helped South Park win a big game 3-0. In Class A, the Hilltoppers of Westmont pounded # 2 seed Mars 8-1. And in nailbiting fashion, Deer Lakes held off Forest Hills 5-3, in a one goal game with an empty netter, as on the other side of Western Pa, Center was upsetting Blackhawk 6-4 in another one goal game with an empty netter to knock the Cougars out of the playoffs ! The craziest part was the ongoing conversation with Earl Bugaile between 10:30 PM and 11:30 PM with each call bringing, "you are not going to believe this one" as a preface to each score update. A great night for Pa Hockey and maybe a prelude to some real excitement in the upcoming playoffs ....... Good Luck to all of teams and see you all at the rink because the fun is just beginning ! So after seeing over 100 regular season games and seeing 60 of 68 varsity teams play this year, I can honestly say the playoffs are now open or should I say wide open !