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December 10, 2006 -- PLUNKETT COACHES GAME 1000, MONDAY DECEMBER 11TH VS NORWIN IN MEADVILLE ...GAME TIME 7:15PM Reprinted feature and excerpts by Matt Martin, Erie Times News. Jamie Plunkett has left his indelible stamp on the Meadville hockey program. After 20 seasons of shaping the Bulldogs into one of the state’s elite programs, Plunkett has proved he owns a blueprint for coaching success.The most significant figure on Jamie Plunkett’s coaching resume isn’t the most obvious. It’s not the eight state championships his Meadville Bulldog hockey program has won, or the record five straight from 1992 to 1996. It’s not the 730 career victories, thought to be the second-most coaching wins in U.S. high school hockey history. No, 20 is the number that should stand out. Twenty years as coach of a program that unfailingly is among the state’s elite. Plunkett hired on in May 1986, surely one of the most serendipitous coaching moves in northwestern Pennsylvania sports history. He’d been coaching a Midget house league team at DeArment Arena after a short stint with the club team at Allegheny College, where he was and remains head athletic trainer. The Bulldogs went 19-3-2 and won a state title that first season. They’ve lost exactly 11 playoff games since. With few exceptions, coaches don’t coach with any one high school for 20 years. Especially not a coach whose team wins state titles in seven of his first 10 seasons, who never has had a losing record, and who appears to be the winningest high school coach, in any sport, in state history. Monday night, Plunkett will make history again as he coaches his 1000th game for the Bulldogs vs Norwin at the "House of Chills". What others see in his two decades in Meadville: · Plunkett locked down ice time at DeArment Arena, making practice a priority. The team’s players, parents and supporters raised money for several years for construction of a pro-style dressing room in whose stalls the youngest players now dream of one day hanging their sweaters. Most of Meadville’s opponents had no such ice-time or home-ice advantage, and many remain nomadic today. The sense of ownership that’s developed in players and fans has made the House of Chills one of the toughest road venues in the state, in any sport. · He brought pro, junior and college sensibilities to a high school club program that feasted on the dedication those sensibilities instilled and required. The Bulldogs traveled to face the best competition; they played 50, even 60 games some seasons; they made dry-land training in August as important as skating drills in December. Plunkett’s best teams haven’t been just good, but feared. From 1986 to 1995, the Bulldogs never lost more than eight games, and averaged just six losses per season. · Every move speaks to Plunkett’s lead role in a cultural shift in western Pennsylvania hockey. Pittsburgh-area teams, whose officials dominated the sport’s governing body, all but refused to acknowledge the arrival of Meadville’s program despite evidence it was in place to stay as early as the late 1980s. By thetime Meadville was grudgingly accepted as an equal, the Bulldogs were anything but; the southwestern quarter of the state spent the mid-90s playing catch-up -largely following Plunkett’s blueprint - as the Bulldogs hoisted the Pennsylvania Cup five straight years. If Plunkett were just concerned with wins, he’d be a success. But his success isn’t found only in wins, titles and records. His players have grown up under his watch, the sons of his friends and neighbors. He’s worked their skate blades dull, and they have the gold medals and golden memories to show for it.Some have gone on to play in college, or tried their luck in the minors. Others have returned to Plunkett in new guises - as assistant coaches, as assistant trainer at Allegheny,with families of their own. And Meadville’s sports fans, whose winters have been given to basketball and wrestling for so long, have gladly learned how to make DeArment Arena warm for the home team, icy for the visitors. None of that happens in just a few whirlwind seasons. For the very fortunate communities, it’ll take at least 20. MATT MARTIN, managing editor/sports, can be reached at (814) 870-1704 or by e-mail at matt.martin@timesnews.com. Congratulations Coach on your 1000th game behind the bench.