Downingtown East Cougars

NEW KENSINGTON ~ The Johnstown hockey program has hit the skids in the late 1990’s and into the 21st century and coach Tom Rizzo’s squad has improved to two victories in Class A, but considering how weak Class A hockey is this season, its hard to measure the improvement. An opportunity is the form of winless Valley presented itself for the Trojans. Valley, on the other hand, had one of its best outings of the year against a ranked team in Richland-Cambria before the Rams finally took control in the 3rd period and defeated the Vikings 6-2. In fact, although winless Valley has put up a pretty good battle with some of the better teams in Class A and maybe this would be the night the Vikings could break their 0-14-0 season and put a victory on the board. The first period was evenly played as the Vikings held a 9-8 shot advantage and took the lead late in the period as Anthony Perriello scored on the power play at 3:42 to give Valley a 1-0 lead. Perriello set up linemate Dave Roberts only twenty seconds late to extend the lead to 2-0. The Vikings were in rarified air at 7:01 of the second as Perriello added his 2nd goal on an assist from Roberts with a shorthanded tally for a 3-0 Viking lead. When Brandon Gazzo scored at 5:14, the Vikings were on their way to victory. Johnstown’s Marcus Botteicher broke Logan Harding’s shutout bid at 10:05 of the 3rd as Valley outshot Johnstown 32-20 on the evening and picked up their first victory of the season 4-1 over the Trojans. Special Thanks to Kevin Keller for this report

NEW KENSINGTON ~ The Johnstown hockey program has hit the skids in the late 1990’s and into the 21st century and coach Tom Rizzo’s squad has improved to two victories in Class A, but considering how weak Class A hockey is this season, its hard to measure the improvement. An opportunity is the form of winless Valley presented itself for the Trojans. Valley, on the other hand, had one of its best outings of the year against a ranked team in Richland-Cambria before the Rams finally took control in the 3rd period and defeated the Vikings 6-2. In fact, although winless Valley has put up a pretty good battle with some of the better teams in Class A and maybe this would be the night the Vikings could break their 0-14-0 season and put a victory on the board. The first period was evenly played as the Vikings held a 9-8 shot advantage and took the lead late in the period as Anthony Perriello scored on the power play at 3:42 to give Valley a 1-0 lead. Perriello set up linemate Dave Roberts only twenty seconds late to extend the lead to 2-0. The Vikings were in rarified air at 7:01 of the second as Perriello added his 2nd goal on an assist from Roberts with a shorthanded tally for a 3-0 Viking lead. When Brandon Gazzo scored at 5:14, the Vikings were on their way to victory. Johnstown’s Marcus Botteicher broke Logan Harding’s shutout bid at 10:05 of the 3rd as Valley outshot Johnstown 32-20 on the evening and picked up their first victory of the season 4-1 over the Trojans. Special Thanks to Kevin Keller for this report

1/17/04 ~ Meadville defeats undermanned TJ, win proves costly ! Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met Thomas Jefferson, the # 1 AA team in Pennsylvania. Meadville was looking to advance into the semi-final round to defend its 2003 Bulldog Invitational title, while the Jaguars were trying to survive without leading scorers Luke Wawrzeniak, Brandon School and Derek Kelly. Although TJ put up a valiant effort through 2 ½ periods, Meadville took control of this one as Phil Siverd registered the hat trick and Evan Wisinski score twice in a 7-1 win for the Bulldogs. The win proved costly as Meadville’s leading scorer Christian Nickerson was ejected from tournament play late in the third period of a 6-1 game. 1/17/04 ~ Meadville peaks a little and soundly defeats LaSalle Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania and 2-0 in the Invitational met LaSalle, the # 4 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania and also 2-0 in the Bulldog. Both teams were looking to advance and claim the # 1 seed in their bracket into the semi-final round of the 2004 Bulldog Invitational. Meadville, playing without Christian Nickerson, played an inspired game as Rick Thomas scored two goals and David Moyer, Anthony Scarpino and Phil Siverd scored singles. L.G Gatson and John Williams scored for the Explorers, who had plenty of chances but were denied by Danny O’Sharuk, who made several key saves in the second and third periods to preserve the victory. 1/18/04 ~ Malvern shows why they are # 1 in Pennsylvania Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Malvern Prep, the # 1 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met archrival LaSalle, the # 4 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania in the Bulldog Invitational. The Friars entered the playoff round with impressive wins over Sylvania Northview 8-3, Cleveland St Ignatius 3-2 and a 6-1 drumming of Central Catholic. LaSalle defeated Thomas Jefferson 5-0 and Toledo St Francis before bowing to Meadville 5-2. Malvern flexed their muscles in this one with a 4-0 victory over the Explorers as freshman Bryan Mountain picked up the shutout stopping all 19 shots he faced. The Friar scoring machine for coach John Graves of Justin Martin, Chris Campanale, Tim Gehring and Warren Byrne scored and Malvern, the 2002 Bulldog champion, claimed a spot in the Bulldog Invitational finals waiting for the winner of 2003 champion Meadville and three-time Bulldog champion [1999,2000 & 2001] Cleveland St Ignatius. 1/18/04 ~ St Ignatius has the magic in Bulldog & beats Meadville Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met Cleveland St Ignatius for the right to face Malvern Prep in the Bulldog Invitational final. Meadville may have been caught looking ahead a little, while the Wildcats were looking forward to a rematch of an outstanding preliminary round 3-2 contest with Malvern Prep. St Ignatius was impressive in this semi-final as Nick Anderson scored twice for the Wildcats with single scores from Jack Ubbing, Kevin Colleran and Chris Schmoldt. The Wildcats Ted Riolo faced only 12 Meadville shots as Anthony Scarpino’s second period tally was the only highlight for the Bulldogs. The Wildcats advanced to their 5th Bulldog Invitational final in 8 years to face Malvern Prep.

HARMARVILLE – Upper St Clair coach Kip Guenther knows his team is a contender for this years Penguins Cup. The Panthers defeated long time nemesis Bethel Park 7-2 and 4-1 and played some very impressive games in a 3-3 tie versus top ranked Mt Lebanon and 3-2 loss at Meadville, so they know they can compete and beat the top level teams. The problem occurs, it seems when USC looks ahead of teams, which frankly makes them a candidate for a first round upset like the 5-4 loss to Butler a week ago. One thing we need to remember is that the Panthers are a young team and only a year removed from a sub .500 season, so this team has made great strides with the strong play of players like Kris McDonough, Ian Joyce, Jeffrey Greenberg and David Crockett. Shaler coach Ron Steedle, has watched his team compete with the top teams too and took Central Catholic deep into the 3rd twice before bowing, and watched closed games with North Allegheny, Butler and Bethel Park, slip away late in the 2nd period and early in the third with some spurts of offense by their opponents, who put the Titans away. With a team, who’s highest returning forward with 4 goals in 2002-2003, Shaler knows it must play tight defensive hockey to compete with the USC’s, Bethel’s, NA’s and Fox Chapel’s of the world in their quest to sneak into the playoffs. The Titans became the aggressor in the opening period as Mat Yost found Josh Bauer streaking to the net, who buried a one-timer past Kevin Gorder for a surprising 1-0 Shaler lead at 13:43. A back and forth first period with close checking ensued as the Titans took a slim advantage at the break as Nick Bennardo stopped several USC chances. On to the second and Shaler went on the power play early on and made it count as Al Gore blasted a slapshot upstairs through a screen in front past Gorder at 9:56 for a 2-0 Titan lead. USC picked up the pace forcing Shaler into some late 2nd period penalties and finally got on the board as Brian Gorder scored on the power play with 2:49 remaining to cut the lead to 2-1. The Panthers came right back as Anthony Sirabella, capped off a great second effort poking a loose puck past Bennardo inside the post to tie the game at 2:18 and we had a new hockey game 2-2 at the intermission. The third period was much like the first with great end to end action and excellent goaltending by USC’s Kevin Gorder and the Titan’s Nick Bennardo. Enter Shaler captain Graham Papciak, who took a super head man feed from Bobby Snyder and streaked down the off wing and loft a wrist shot over the glove side of Gorder to give Shaler a 3-2 lead with 12:33 remaining. The Titans had an excellent chance to go up by two goals, but John Shannon’s shot hit the crossbar with a little over 7 ½ left in regulation. Back came the Upper St Clair Panthers, as they outshot the Titans 10-4 in the 3rd and 25-18 on the evening, but the bounces would go Shaler’s way as Kris McDonough hit the post late and Ian Joyce and several USC players could not find the net and Shaler pulled of one of the biggest upsets of the season with a 3-2 victory at BladeRunners and improved their record to 7-7-1, after starting 1-4-0.

1/17/04 ~ Meadville defeats undermanned TJ, win proves costly ! Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met Thomas Jefferson, the # 1 AA team in Pennsylvania. Meadville was looking to advance into the semi-final round to defend its 2003 Bulldog Invitational title, while the Jaguars were trying to survive without leading scorers Luke Wawrzeniak, Brandon School and Derek Kelly. Although TJ put up a valiant effort through 2 ½ periods, Meadville took control of this one as Phil Siverd registered the hat trick and Evan Wisinski score twice in a 7-1 win for the Bulldogs. The win proved costly as Meadville’s leading scorer Christian Nickerson was ejected from tournament play late in the third period of a 6-1 game. 1/17/04 ~ Meadville peaks a little and soundly defeats LaSalle Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania and 2-0 in the Invitational met LaSalle, the # 4 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania and also 2-0 in the Bulldog. Both teams were looking to advance and claim the # 1 seed in their bracket into the semi-final round of the 2004 Bulldog Invitational. Meadville, playing without Christian Nickerson, played an inspired game as Rick Thomas scored two goals and David Moyer, Anthony Scarpino and Phil Siverd scored singles. L.G Gatson and John Williams scored for the Explorers, who had plenty of chances but were denied by Danny O’Sharuk, who made several key saves in the second and third periods to preserve the victory. 1/18/04 ~ Malvern shows why they are # 1 in Pennsylvania Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Malvern Prep, the # 1 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met archrival LaSalle, the # 4 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania in the Bulldog Invitational. The Friars entered the playoff round with impressive wins over Sylvania Northview 8-3, Cleveland St Ignatius 3-2 and a 6-1 drumming of Central Catholic. LaSalle defeated Thomas Jefferson 5-0 and Toledo St Francis before bowing to Meadville 5-2. Malvern flexed their muscles in this one with a 4-0 victory over the Explorers as freshman Bryan Mountain picked up the shutout stopping all 19 shots he faced. The Friar scoring machine for coach John Graves of Justin Martin, Chris Campanale, Tim Gehring and Warren Byrne scored and Malvern, the 2002 Bulldog champion, claimed a spot in the Bulldog Invitational finals waiting for the winner of 2003 champion Meadville and three-time Bulldog champion [1999,2000 & 2001] Cleveland St Ignatius. 1/18/04 ~ St Ignatius has the magic in Bulldog & beats Meadville Meadville ~ BULLDOG INVITATIONAL Meadville, the # 3 Class AAA team in Pennsylvania met Cleveland St Ignatius for the right to face Malvern Prep in the Bulldog Invitational final. Meadville may have been caught looking ahead a little, while the Wildcats were looking forward to a rematch of an outstanding preliminary round 3-2 contest with Malvern Prep. St Ignatius was impressive in this semi-final as Nick Anderson scored twice for the Wildcats with single scores from Jack Ubbing, Kevin Colleran and Chris Schmoldt. The Wildcats Ted Riolo faced only 12 Meadville shots as Anthony Scarpino’s second period tally was the only highlight for the Bulldogs. The Wildcats advanced to their 5th Bulldog Invitational final in 8 years to face Malvern Prep.