Fairview Tigers - 1977 - 1981 - 1982 AA

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ROSTRAVER - Radnor entered the Pennsylvania Class A State Championship as the favorite to win its first State Championship. The Raiders averaged nearly nine goals a game during the regular season, while only giving up a little over two. The top line of John Brennan, Ed Devine and Chris Brennan scored a staggering 229 points in 17 regular season games and carried the Raiders to the Flyers Cup Championship. Serra's coach John Mooney knows a little about scoring as the first player in Pennsylvania High School Hockey to score 100 goals in a season in 1989 for the Eagles. You see, the Eagles have won the past Class A State Championships and while many may count out this team, the 'Moon Man' says 'hey never count out my Eagles'. So the guys with little size and not alot of speed, but a bunch of great big hearts vs an offensive machine ....an interesting matchup for 2002 Pennsylvania's Class A crown ! Radnor came out flying in the opening minutes and Timmy Johnson continued his hot goaltending stopping Ed Devine in the opening minute from the bottom of the circle. The Raiders held an early 8-4 shot advantage and Dan Brillman's shot glanced off the crossbar at 7:49 as the score remained 0-0. Then at 4:52, Dustin Songer took a Steve Leppo pass in the slot an beat Jim Danner down on the ice to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. So Radnor, was now in a position it had rarely been in the 2002 season, would have to respond and this time it was a mental mistake as the Raiders were guilty of too many men on the ice at 3:58. Serra made them pay as their quiet leader, Steve Leppo beat a Radnor forward at the blue line and walked down the slot and beat Danner upstairs on the stick side at 2:51 and all the sudden it was 2-0 Serra. Radnor opened its scoring at 12:39 of the second on the power play as John Brennan beat Johnson on a wrist shot from the slot to get the Raiders on the board. The Danner made a key save stopping Leppo on the breakaway at 11:59. Then at 9:47, John Brennan showed why he is one of Eastern Pa's finest as he took a pass in stride faked a shot to manuever around the Serra defense and fed linemate Ed Devine cross-ice, who made no mistake and tied the game at 2-2 and Radnor was back in business and looking to take control of his game. That's one of the Serra's Eagles Joey Manning said 'not so fast' to Radnor as he took a Steve Kolbe pass, slid the puck past a Radnor defenseman and lofted a backhand past Danner and those pesky Eagles were back in the lead 3-2. At 5:01, it was John Brennan again finding a loose puck and feeding brother Chris Brennan on a beautiful cross crease pass, who tied the game at 3-3. C.J. King's slapshot while falling down beat Danner with 1:35 remaining as Serra regained that lead 4-3. Then a break for Radnor put them on the power play with just 33 second left in the 2nd. Off of the faceoff, Corey Shilcock-Elliot took a wrist shot through traffic and Ed Devine somehow got a stick on it to re-direct it past Johnson and in a wild second period the game was tied at 4-4 with just 26 ticks left. Serra took a bad penalty at the end of the 2nd and it almost cost them early in the third, but Timmy Johnson stoned John Brennan at 14:06 to keep the score tied. Radnor was coming in waves and dominated the third period, but Johnson and the Eagles kept them out Johnson made key saves at 7:10 on Brennan and another flurry at 4:20. Serra was holding on for dear life and got the puck into the Radnor zone to take the heat out of the Eagle defensive zone. Now John Mooney, in his infinite wisdom late in the season benched Devon Kane, who sat out the early part of the season on suspension from last years State Final and the coach was sending a message to his junior forward that if your gonna be an Eagle, your contribution is on the ice and boy did that pay off for Serra Catholic. With 3:10 remaining, a Radnor defenseman made one of hockey coaches nightmares, a clearing attempt up the middle of the defensive zone and there he was, Devon Kane, positioned to pick off the clearing attempt and in one motion, Kane mad no mistake beating Danner and giving Serra a 5-4 lead and sending a huge Eagle contingent into a frenzy of believing this threepeat was a reality ! These Eagles, who had been counted out and no one believed in except themselves, were on their way. Radnor was not done and Brennan and company were all over Serra outshooting the Eagles 12-3 in the third, but Johnson and these Serra kids dug down deep and when C.J. King made a great defensive play to clear the zone with a half a minute left Serra never let the Raiders get close again and the cardiac kid Serra Eagles pulled it off with a 5-4 heartstopping third straight Pennsylvania Class A championship.

ROSTRAVER - Archbishop Carroll coach Bill Hammond has been there before, three years to be exact, and each time he has been confident about his Patriots chances to get that elusive State Championship that a group of Patriots accomplished 21 years ago in Class AAA in 1981. Peters coach Mark Cooper had some sleepless night this past week on what to do with his two superstar players Christian Hanson and Matt Schwartz, who missed the Penguins Cup. And I heard it 'hey Jeff you're killin me', but maybe coach Cooper's decision was already made because these two kids had learned their lesson and they wanted what all of their 18 Indians wanted .....the Pennsylvania Cup Class AA crown. The game started slowly as Tim and Max may have put 16:40 on the clock instead of 14:60, because the bystanders in Murph's were getting restless as the game was a minute in and the clock hadn't started, but the adjustment made and 'no harm... no foul' ! Mike Papciak had Peters first chance in alone and Ken DiOrio stopped him at 12:44. Then the Patriots got tha power play and Ta Ung slipped a backhander which handcuffed Kyle Kittlebeger and gave Carroll a 1-0 lead. Now coach Hammond had to like this as his team now had the lead and seemed to be matching Peters Township. This is when the Indians are dangerous, as they lull teams into false insecurity and strike quickly and quickly they did as Matt Schwartz beat DiOrio to tie the game with 1:32 left. Then just 34 seconds later, it was Christian Hanson blasting a slapshot stickside on a great feed from Schwartz....so now coach 'Coop' is liking this decision and its 2-1. And then Mike Papciak added the salt to the wound as he scored with :01 left on the clock and Peters Township had a 3-1 at the end of one period. In the second period, Stefano Teece scored early for Carroll to cut the lead to 3-2 at 13:15, but Hanson scored again at 12:53 with a shot upstairs on the glove side to give Peters the two goal cushion with a huge goal. Matt Schwartz got his second just ten seconds later at 12:43 to extend the lead to 5-2 as Peters Township enjoyed a 29-14 shot advantage through two periods. At 13:05 of the third period, Dom DiSanto brought Archbishop Carroll within two again on a shorthanded goal. It only took less than a minute for Papciak to score again at 12:09 and the Indians were on there way to a State Championship at 6-3. Hanson, Papciak, Chris Clackson, and Jeremy Simmons added goals in the games final 7 1/2 minutes to make the outcome a convincing 10-3 victory over Archbishop Carroll.

ROSTRAVER - One day after Bethel Park 2-1 victory in the 2001 Pennsylvania State Championship, Malvern Prep head coach John Graves made it known that his team had some unfinished business against the two time State Champion Bethel Park Blackhawks. So the Friars were on a mission as they won the ICSHL, the prestigous Meadville Bulldog Invitational and then capture their second consecutive Flyers Cup. There was something different about this Malvern Prep team and its was depth and more skill at more positions. Now coach Bethel Park coach Jim McVay, is the master of preparation and his 78-2-1 three year run would only be complete with a 3rd straight Pa State AAA title and Mort knew he had his hands full this year and so much that he travelled to Philly Thursday to take in a little Flyers Cup final action, to get a glimpse of the Friars. The first period was back and forth as Bethel Park and Malevrn Prep locked up in a classic dual of backchecking and tight defense which yielded only three shots. Then at 2:08, defenseman Dan Zabkar deep in the Malvern zone gathered the puck and threw it toward the net and it hit a skate in front and bounded past Max Sorenstrom to give Bethel a 1-0 lead. On to the second and Malvern Prep continued to pressure Bethel Park and had some excellent opportunities but could not beat Matt Feige. Feige stopped Mike Curran with a little over 7 minutes left in the middle frame and then stone Mike McMullen's backhand at 4:03 to keep the Hawks in the lead. The Friars outshot Bethel 9-8 in the period, but could not tie the score ad it was 1-0 Bethel Park after two periods. On to the third and Malvern went on the power play and Bethel Park responded with some terrific penalty killing. While Malvern was trying to tie it, Bethel was looking for the knockout so the next goal would be huge in this this see-saw affair. The game opened up and at 8:52 Tim Wochek of the Friars found himself alone high in the slot and a rebound on his stick and he blasted a slapshot headed for the upper corner, but Matt Feige made an unbelievable glove save to keep the 1-0 score. Malvern kept on coming, which prompted a Blackhawk timeout at 7:59, but shortly thereafter Jason Ferrell was in on a breakaway and Feige just got his leg out to make the stop at 6:49. The frustration was mounting for the Friars and an undisciplined penalty led to a Bethel Park power play. The Hawks best chance came with Tom Starkey on the back door but the puck bounced and the score remained 1-0 with 3 1/2 to go. Then the prayers were answered for the Friars as Will Averona's wrister from the right point was tipped by Brett Watson and snuck past Feige at 3:09 and the score was tied at 1-1. Then with the game in the balance, Malvern seemed to have the Hawks on the run and Luke Benner took a shot from the left point which Feige stopped, but this time Michael Curran found the rebound and backhanded it home to give the Friars and improbable turnaround and put them 1:58 away from that State Championship they were seeking. Rostraver is a funny place and has some history for some classic games, and for those of who have been following the sport a long time, we all remember the 'stick measurement' game in the 1998 Penguin Cup Semi-Finals between Thomas Jefferson and Pine Richland. BP coach Jim McVay was in attendance that evening and he invoked a rule with his Bethel Park team that they will never be caught with an illegal stick. Most of the store bought sticks that you find in rinks have illegal curves and Malvern was caught with one and assessed a two minute minor. People may say that McVay stretched the rules, but I believe it was a gutsy call because if he were wrong....then Bethel Park is a man short with less than two minutes to go and probably loses the State Championship. Bethel Park then gained the Malvern zone and feverishly worked the puck down low with Tom Starkey and Brandon Hanley providing the grit. The puck squirted to the front of the net and there was Tony Sands, who broke Malvern's back a year ago and he did it again beating Sorenstrom to tie the game with 1:34 remaining and sent it to overtime at 2-2. The shots at the end of regulation were 23-21 in favor of Malvern. In overtime, the Friars had a golden opportunity to win it at 7:36 when Phil McKeon tipped a shot from the point which hit the post and bounced right back to McKeon whose second chance hit the post and Bethel's Steve Preite, the kid who is the first Bethel Park player to every game usually and hour and a half before each game, saved a sure open net opportunity by sliding to save the day for the Hawks and clearing the puck into the corner. Now it was Bethel's chance and Tony Sands took a Dan Mackin pass but Sorenstrom made a great stop at 6:13. Back and forth they went and at 4:59 the puck came to the right point and C.J. Strauss took a long shot and a cutting Justin Glock got the tip of his stick on it and it found its way behind Sorenstrom and Bethel Park won its third straight Pennsylvania State Class AAA Championship. This game will go down as one of the greatest State Finals in the history of Pennsylvania Hockey as Bethel Park finished a perfect 27-0-0 becoming the 2nd school in State History to go undefeated, the other being the 1987 Upper St Clair team, which McVay was the goalie. For Malvern Prep, a tough loss for the second year in a row and they will talk about that final 1:58 they were away and the McKeon near miss and can only think how close they were to winning that elusive State Championship.