St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Bethel Park 6 Meadville 3 MEADVILLE – Meadville has rattled off 7 straight since their opening night loss to Central Catholic and arguably at 7-1-0 is off to one of its better starts in recent memory. Jamie Plunkett celebrated his 1000th game last Monday night and the Dawgs disposed Norwin in easy fashion, but this game with Bethel Park would be the measuring stick in this mid-season contest as the Blackhawks have become the measuring stick for all of Western Pa Hockey this season and over the past 9 years. Although Mt Lebanon is defending State Champions in Class AAA and Central Catholic beat the Dawgs on opening night, the game of the season for Meadville and vice versa is Bethel Park, who are undefeated on the season at 8-0-0. The Parking lot of the ‘House of Chills’ was filled and a big line outside prior to the game would mean a packed house to the rafters as the bulldog faithful lined around the glass of rowdy Bulldog faithful anticipated this game when the schedule was produce earlier this fall. Bethel Park under Head Coach Jim McVay has taken a bold step in redefining how to handle the non-sense conflicts of Travel Hockey and High School, by continuing to have a majority of his Hawks play on a split season team to assist in the ultimate goal of winning State Championships for the program. A captive audience, if you will, similar to Meadville’s, but the ability to get a jump start on the season and sustain continuity over the season’s five months. The Hawks have played the stiff competition of the Western Pa, Cleveland Tournament slate and don’t appear to be letting off the gas even though this is December. All of this is part of the commitment of the Bethel Park program and a good reason why they are ahead of their competition. Meadville came out storming in the opening minutes but Hawks goaltender Pete Cosentino was sharp early with several good saves as the nerves settled in this great rivalry of Pennsylvania’s top two programs over the past twenty years. With 11:58, Bethel Park went on the power play and after some systematic puck movement, Tom Whetsel swatted a Kenny Lehmann rebound out of the air pas Mike Licinski with 9:58 to go in the opening period for a 1-0 Bethel Park lead. A Bulldog turnover and Kenny Lehman found a wide open Logan Bannon in the slot, who made no mistake burying a snapshot through the 5-hole of Mike Licinski with 6:24 to go to put the Hawks on top 2-0. Cosentino came up with two more nice stops with 4:20 to go, but his team was whistled off for a penalty putting the Bulldogs on the power play, but it was Lehmann who nearly made it three nill at 3:36 as his shot hit the crossbar. The Dawgs Countered as Luke Killmeyer’s shot from point blank with 3:20 after a nice setup, but the Bethel goaltender was equal to the task maintaining a 2-0 lead and BP killed off the remainder of the penalty. The Bulldogs picked up the intensity and physical play as Zane O’Shurak’s open ice hit drew some ews and ahs from the faithful at the ‘House of Chills’ . Bur it was Bethel Park who struck again as David Spadacene found Kenny Lehmann on the top of the far circle and Lehmann buried a snap shot on the stick side past Licinski with 5 ticks left in the opening stanza and the Hawks silenced the MARC with a 3-0 first period lead. Bethel Park outshot Meadville 9-7. At 13:33 of the second period, Meadville was back on the power play and again BP killed it off with determination and skill. Bethel went on the power play with 11:19 to go and may have changed the momentum of this hockey game as Dan Algretti threaded a perfect lead pass to captain Pat Leone who got behind the Hawk defense and beat the BP goaltender on the backhand to give the Dawgs their first goal with 11:00 to go. At 9:39 Bethel countered with a goal as Lehmann scored low on the ice to help the Blackhawks regain a 3-goal advantage 4-1, quickly dispelling any momentum for the Dawgs. Meadville went back on the power play with 7:37 to go and the Hawks had a good chance as David Spadacene got behind Meadville’s defense, but Licinski came up big with a little over 7 minutes to go. Bethel could widen their lead with 3:42 to go on the power play, but Meadville worked hard and killed it off and would head to the locker room to regroup down 4-1. Head Coach Jamie Plunkett must have motivated his club during the intermission because they came out with purpose early in the 3rd period and forced a penalty. And this time the Dawgs converted as Morgan Nickerson slammed home a cross ice pass from Pat Leone with 12:08 on a wrist shot to cut the deficit to 4-2. Whenever Meadville countered, Bethel Park answered and the Hawks went on the power play at 11:23 and one minute later as a result of hard work, Logan Bannon scored exactly one minute later at 10:23 on a third effort sliding the puck inside the post to regain the 3-goal advantage at 5-2. Meadville came back again less than a minute later as Mike Noonan scored on a Nick Fedorka rebound with 9:28 to play to bring the Dawgs to within 5-3. The Bulldogs turned up the pressure and carried the play for much of the third period, the best chance to score came with 2:50 to play in regulation on power play and nearly got within one as Morgan Nickerson’s shot with 1:41 to go was stopped by a sliding Pete Cosentino. A penalty after the play put the Dawgs on a 5 on 3, but it would be Bethel Park who answered as Tim Davin’s clearing off the boards had eyes on it as the puck hit the post and crawl over the goal line to finish the scoring and give BP a 6-3 victory.