St Joseph's Prep Hawks

2005 Penguins Cup AA ~ Pine Richland Rams vs Peters Twp Indians Mellon Arena - Pine Richland has advanced to the Penguins Cup twice in their history in 1997 in Class A against Bishop McCort and lost 2-1 in a nailbitter. The second appearance was in 2001 as the Rams met Beaver at the Cambria War Memorial and lost to the eventual Class AA State Champions and Richland has never been back since. Over 29 years of Pine Richland hockey has yielded 380 + wins and lots of excellent players have come out of the program including Kenny Trombetta, who found his way to Division 1 hockey for Yale and goes all the way back to the Coles of the early 1970’s, when the program started. Unfortunately, all of that is nice but hasn’t measured up to any championships outside of the 1999 WPIHL AA crown under Bobby Black. Bobby’s brother Jimmy is now coaching the Rams and he understands what it takes to win it all having been an assistant on the 1991 Beaver Class AA State Champions. Jimmy Black comes from a hockey family and his father the late Frank Black epitomized a hockey person as a rink manager at the old Sewickley rink and one of the founding fathers of USA Hockey in Western Pennsylvania with dedication to serving the hockey community for many years, as a volunteer and did what it took in the early days to promote the sport and its players. What would really bring smiles to the Black family would be a State Championship and Pine Richland may be at the beginning of a nice run with a wealth of talent in the organization. There is no time like the present for Pine Richland as they take the ice at Mellon Arena hoping the 3rd time is a charm. The Peters Township Indians and their charismatic head coach Mark Cooper enter tonight’s Penguins Cup as the 3-time defending Penguins Cup champions, with two Pennsylvania State High School Hockey Championships in 2002 with a 10-3 beating of Archbishop Carroll at the Rostraver Ice Garden and impressive 9-3 throttling of a highly Holy Ghost Prep squad at Ice Line to capture a 2nd straight title. It was all going to be pretty easy for the Indians after they came back to defeat Indiana in the 2004 Penguins Cup with a great comeback, but reality set in real quick as PT lost to Archbishop Carroll at RMU Neville Island Sports Center, leaving a void in their run. The 2004-2005 season has been memorable for the Peters Township Hockey program with moments of greatness and moments to forget. With all of the distractions of the season behind them, this team has hit stride in the playoffs with exciting wins over a very good Greensburg CC club 2-1 in round two and last weeks 6-4 comeback victory over the # 1 seed Canon McMillan in the Penguins Cup semi-finals at Harmarville. Coach ‘Coop’ has the boys playing for the names on the front of the jersey’s after a season of playing for the ones on the back for most of the season. Peter’s is poised to win it again and is far from a # 7 seed with 8 losses and everyone in Western Pennsylvania knows it and what was expected has transpired. In their way is a Pine Richland team who beat them 4-3 in February, but that was a different time and the game had a lot less riding on it as a team who has been though the process Peters meets an up and comer Pine Richland for the 2005 Penguins Cup for the right to move on to this Saturday to face the Haverford High Fords, the 2005 Flyers Cup AA Champions and # 1 seed, who defeated Cinderella Council Rock South 5-1 at the Haverford Skatium last night. The game had chances for both teams early on but the games first great scoring opportunity came at 12:25, as Jake Della Valle took a nice feed from Eric Windemueller, but stopped on a great save by Tommy Zajac. At 5:50 of the first with the Rams on the power play, Tommy DiDinato had a great chance but Rob Madore made a great stop to keep it scoreless. At 1:32 of the first the Indians struck as the forgotten player on their roster for most of the season, who has sat on the sidelines, Matt Lazzaro backhanded a rebound past Tommy Zajac after a shot from Jake Delle Valle to give Peters a 1-0 lead. Pine Richland outshot Peters in the first 12-8 in the opening period. Rob Madore continued to pitch a shutout since 8:12 of the 2nd period of the Canon McMillan semi-final win with save after save into the 2nd. And then it happened, a great play without the puck by Tommy DiDinato at 11:48 to elude the defender and take a perfect cross ice pass from Brendan Conlon and snapped on down on the ice to tie the game at 1-1 and a power play goal. With 8:26 remaining in the second period, Peters got a big break and a lucky goal which they’ll take as Matt Lazzaro played pinball with a Ram defenseman and the puck waundered past Tom Zajac for a 2-1 Peters lead. The Indians went on the power play moments later with the lead and a chance to expand, Zajac made a great stop on Gerry Raymond, but Peters scored with just five seconds left as Eric Windemueller was parked in front and chipped home a rebound for a 3-1 lead with 6:01 left in the middle period. The Indians were now sniffing a wounded animal and started to apply pressure on the Rams defense and with 5:17 left Garrett Rooney’s shot was tipped in by Eric Windemueller for a 4-1 Peters advantage. Josh Fodor had an excellent chance at 4:43, but again it was Madore, who got enough of a piece of it to keep it out. At 4:11, the Indians were whistled and the Rams went on the power play and needed to start thinking about getting back in the game. At 3:35 Rob Madore stoned Evan Goetz. At 2:38, PR’s Tommy DiDinato had a golden opportunity but could not find the handle for an open net. And Peter’s took a 4-1 lead to the locker room and 15 minutes away from a trip back to the State Finals. Yes, 15 minutes until the end for this version of Pine Richland’s season and maybe a little less individuality and a little more passing or possibly a break or some desperation from a young squad. At 13:10, Rob Madore stopped Josh Fodor from in tight. Peter’s came back with a chance with 12:50 left as Jeff Hannan hit the crossbar. Then with 11:50 left, the Rams finally solved Madore as Fodor slid a rebound into the empty goal after Madore made the initial save on Tom DiDinato to make it 4-2. Now the break…as Peters pulled down a loose Phil Trombetta with 9:16 left to give Richland a chance to pull within one. Then a mistake and Jeff Hannan made a play at 7:29, that Peter’s fans better become accustomed to as he picked off a pass and beat the PR defense and Zajac for a shorthanded goal and a comfortable 5-2 with 7:29 remaining. And now it was Rob Madore’s turn to close the deal and send his team to Hershey as the clock and Jake Delle Valle stole Madore’s thunder trickling a shot past Tom Zajac with 5:14 left in regulation to help start the reservations for a 4th trip in a row for Peters to the State finals with a 6-2 lead. So for all of Mark Cooper’s critics, who wanted to hang him for turning the jersey’s over in the final regular season game against Thomas Jefferson, I will say it. Let the people raise the money for the program and let the coach coach his team, because Coach Coop’s squad is now playing for the Indians on the front, which will make Arnold ‘Slick’Ziffel proud and his squad will be moving on to face Haverford High in the 2005 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship at the Hersheypark Arena.