St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Mt Lebanon 4 Orchard Park 1. 2005 Mt Lebanon Invitational MT LEBANON – Orchard Park returns to Western Pennsylvania every couple of weeks it seems as the Quakers played in the Central Catholic Invitational at the end of November and will compete next weekend in the McDowell Invitational. This weekends festivities brought OP to the Mt Lebanon Invitational, which features the # 1 ranked host team Blue Devils, Ohio power St Ignatius, 2004 Pa State AAA and 5-time defending Flyers Cup Champions Malvern Prep, and perennial Cleveland power Gilmour Academy. The Quakers gained the final with a three team tiebreaker with Malvern and Gilmour. This game would serve as a rematch of the CC Invitational game won by Mt Lebanon 6-1. The Blue Devils have been rolling since the schedule commenced in late October and the realization that this team is the top team in Western Pennsylvania and arguably the state at Class AAA is here and they just keeping rolling through team after team. Coach Paul Taibi is very interested in seeing how his team performs without some of his top guns, Tyler Murovich and Steve Bartkowski, heading a group of 5 traveling with their amateur teams. Some of the usual suspects where in attendance showing how much depth this team has led by veterans Shane Ferguson, Josh Mandic, Kyle Dornish and goaltender Matt Vaughn and now supported by new impact players Sean McDermott and Jesse Root The Quakers looked like a motivated team in the opening period as they used physical play and hustle to outshoot the Blue Devils 10-5 and grabbed a 1-0 lead as Tyler Matthews scored just :29 into the game. Matt Vaughn settled in and stopped every shot Orchard Park could mount. Mt Lebanon finally mounted some pressure late in the period and it paid off as Jesse Root scored a goal beating Ian Szalinski low on the ice on a quick transition play assisted by Shane Ferguson and Josh Mandic with just :43 seconds left to tie the score at one apiece. The Blue Devils came right back and took the lead as Mandic rifled a shot past the OP goaltender upstairs with :28 remaining to gove Lebo a 2-1 lead. On to the 2nd period and Orchard Park started to take their liberties, resulting in penalties, which put a lethal combination of power play time and the Mt Lebanon power play to work, which didn’t result in a goal, but maybe more importantly swung the momentum and shot advantage to the Blue Devils. A great pass would result in the turning point in this hockey game as Jesse Root hit a streaking James Cichra behind the Quaker defense, who re-directed the puck past Szalinski at the 8:07 mark to give Mt Lebanon a 3-1 lead. Orchard Park seemed distracted in the 3rd period and more interested in inflicting pain on the Blue Devils in frustration rather than scoring goals, even though the outshot them 10-3. Mt Lebanon would score the only goal of the final period as Brandon Dornish was the recipient of a 3rd Jesse Root assist with 7:12 remaining to give Lebo a 4-1 lead and ultimately the championship of the 2005 Mt Lebanon Invitational. An impressive run considering many of its players where not in the lineup due to travel commitments and a message to Western and Eastern Pennsylvania that this team has the depth and weapons to win it all in March.