St Joseph's Prep Hawks

South Park 2 Kittanning 1 KITTANNNING – The Kittanning hockey program earned their 500th victory in 2006 which was a monumental accomplishment and when you look at the big picture people like the Montebells, John Ford, Joe Ritchey and the recently passed George Capone are the builders who have a piece of the history of a great program with players such a Pat McCue [who was in the house tonight from Augusta, Georgia] that has been the home of many memories and very good seasons. For head coach Jon Yackmack, very good can only get better if the Wildcats take that next step and capture a Penguins Cup, which was only one step away a year ago, but the pretty big step was in the form of Pine Richland, who seems to be the main obstacle in Class AA again this season. After a 4-2 start, Kittanning will need to focus every night on the task at hand. Unfortunately for Kittanning there are many other obstacles to contend with as the Class AA chase has been joined by a herd of teams from the beginning of this season. South Park hopes to be one of those teams that would like to join in the fun this season and Ray Sabatini’s squad appears to be one of those roller coaster teams who will make this season fun to watch. A 9-8 loss to Greensburg Salem, a 4-3 win over Peters Twp and a disappointing loss 7-2 to Elizabeth Forward and a 6-4 win over Cathedral Prep in Erie has landed the Eagles at 3-2 and in Kittanning looking for a little respect and possibly an upset victory. After a physical and scoreless opening period, Kittanning started to turn up the heat in the second period and South Park goaltender Shane Bickar decided to turn this contest into a goaltending clinic early in the period. Bickar robbed Nick Troup at 7:17 from point blank range. The Eagles struck first with 5:35 remaining in the second period as Chris Ondek scored from on the rebound beating Joey Mecurio to give SP a 1-0 lead. The goal by South Park evened the playing field and put Kittanning on their heels as South Park began to attack the Wildcats. The home team started to show frustration as South Park stood with Kittanning blow for blow. With :22 seconds left in the period, the Eagles were whistled for interference behind the play, which would carry over to the final period. The Wildcats held a 22-11 advantage in shots. On to the third period and Kittanning nearly tied it with 10:17 to go as Evan Blodgett’s shot from the left point rang off the pipe. The Wildcat’s woes deepened as Nick Troup was whistled for a misconduct at the end of the 2nd period. Coupled with Joey Ford and Jurgen Koster were missing to reindeer practice [tis the season you know] with the under .500 Hornets [read the editorial for more info]. With three and a half to go Kittanning turned up their game a notch with several quick shots on Shane Bickar to no avail. Bickar robbed Colin McKelvey on a rebound with 3:03 to go and then South Park turned the pressure into a chance at the other end and Chris Ondek found the loose puck to the left of Mecurio and buried a wrist shot high over the glove hand side to give the Eagles a pretty comfortable 2-0 advantage. Interestingly, Shane Bickar played on the Mr Haney’sU-18 Hornets, but has parted ways with the Kool-Aid society and now can play for South Park. Bickar stopped McKelvey and Zack Avi from on the doorstep with a minute and a half to go. Kittanning would have a 6 on 3 for the final :45 seconds as the Eagles were whistled for being a little over agressive. Colin McKelvey finally broke the ice with :30 seconds to go with a wrist shot on the ice just inside the post. With a 6 on 3 still and 30 ticks Kittanning pressed for the equalizer but could not get it and the Eagles escaped stealing a thrilling 2-1 victory sending the stunned Kittanning faithful to the parking lot. The Wildcats outshot SP 41-16 and 19-5 in the third period.