St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Pittsburgh 5 Wisconsin 4 [Shootout ] 2007 Chicago Showcase – Finals BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS – The 2007 Chicago Showcase between Team Wisconsin and Team Pittsburgh features two states that have ties of one of the most monumental moments in National Hockey League History for the Pittsburgh Penguins, when one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons Badger Bob Johnson led the Penguins to the 1991 Stanley Cup after years of service to the University of Wisconsin Badger hockey and to USA Hockey. After the greatest moment in United States Hockey history winning gold in the 1980 Olympics, growth of hockey in the USA exploded to the far reaches of the lakes of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and hotbeds such as Boston and the Northeast to places across the country. Today, 43 states across the United States compete for State Championships in places such as New Mexico, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, just to name a few, which is a testimony to the growth of the sport and for this event, the Chicago Showcase is really a celebration of Interscholastic hockey played in those aforementioned states. Team Wisconsin Head Coach Mike Calouri has been with the program for eight years now and hails from Madison after coaching for a couple of perennial powers and has dedicated his time to the Team Wisconsin program. Wisconsin advanced to the finals in 2005, only to fall to Minnesota 4-3 in the finals of the Chicago Showcase. He described to me the process of the playoff round as a ‘dogfight’ and it certainly was for Red to advance to these finals prior to defeating North New England 6-1 and Ohio 7-0. Wisconsin opened the tournament with a 4-2 loss to Minnesota and a tie with Northern New England 3-3 and then in one of the best hockey games of this tournament defeated defending Chicago Showcase champions New Jersey 4-2 in a nailbitter that went down to the final minute a one-goal game. Pittsburgh’s plight was similar, but has been a process of 23 years of first class service to Team Pittsburgh from General Manager Dave Klasnick, who passed the baton to Gina Colligan this season and unbeknownst to her would end with a joy ride to the championship under a team headed by Bethel Park Head Coach Jim McVay. The Team Pittsburgh hockey community stretches from the shores of Lake Erie to State College and throughout Western Pennsylvania and really has been boosted by the Mario Lemieux affect, which has resulted in rinks throughout the region and is evident throughout the lineup of Team Pittsburgh. Boys from places like Bethel Park, Freeport, North Allegheny, Meadville, West Allegheny, Franklin Regional, Mt Lebanon, Greensburg CC, Central Catholic, Montour, Serra Catholic, Pine Richland, Seneca Valley are the names we are accustomed to seeing their names with but representing Team Pittsburgh and Western PA Hockey is the unified goal of these young men. At 13:32 of the opening period, Wisconsin won the face-off cleanly and Ted Falk had a chance on a partial break and North Allegheny Max Richards was equal to the task. Pittsburgh’s first good chance came at 9:45 as Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson made his way through the Wisconsin D and fired a wrist shot and Bulldog teammate Luke Killmeyer pounced on the rebound, but goaltender Alan Armour made two nice saves. Pittsburgh’s inability to clear the puck out of the zone almost cost the a goal, but Mt Lebanon’s Mike Roman made a nice defensive play to clear the puck to safety. Pittsburgh took a bad offensive zone penalty with 21 seconds left in the first period. Shots on goal in the first period were Wisconsin 14 Pittsburgh 16 in a scoreless tie. On the power play, Wisconsin worked the puck to the bottom of the circle to Ian Andrews at 16:45 to Ian Andrews and Max Richards came up with a big save. Wisconsin took a penalty at 16:25 to eliminate the power play. At 14:19 of the second period West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpmiller spotted Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta at the right face-off circle, who blasted a snapshot over the glove hand of Armour to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Pittsburgh went on power play at 13:51, with a chance to go up two and did an unreal job setting up plays and shots, but Armour came up big and Wisconsin survived down by one. With 7:40 to go in the 2nd period, Pittsburgh went back on the power play and increased its man advantage at 6:33 to a 5 0n 3 and a key moment is this championship. At 6:09 of the 2nd a penalty shot was awarded to Wisconsin’s Ricky Wozniak after being hauled down on a partial breakaway and he scored on the forehand beating Max Richards to tie the score at one apiece. Pittsburgh came back as scored on the power play on a pretty passing play as West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller scored at 5:13 set up by Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. Wisconsin outmanned Pittsburgh to the zone and was abale to tie the game at 3:19 as Keith Clawson scored finding a loose puck and chipping it past Richards. Pittsburgh went back on the power play at 3:0. Pittsburgh was really sloppy in its own end and Max Richards came up with a big save and apparently the official thought Wisconsin was overzealous and gave Pittsburgh a 5 on 3 and they converted as Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson scored from the bottom of the circle at 1:21 low on the ice on a pass from West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. Shots on goal in the 2nd period were Pittsburgh with 20 and Wisconsin with 16. On to the third period and with 14:05 to go Wisconsin went on the power play with an opportunity to get the equalizer, which was killed by Pittsburgh. With 10:29 to go Wisconsin got a gift call for a power play chance and Pittsburgh killed it off surviving several good chances for Wisconsin. With 7:42 to play after a terrific play by Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson to keep the play in the zone and freeze the Wisconsin defense, Seneca Valley’s Nick Jones fired a wrist shot from the right circle on a super pass by Bethel’s Bryan Brown to give Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead. With 7:00 to play, Wisconsin answered as Alex Gerke scored on a long shot from the point to cut the lead to 4-3. With 1:11 to go Pittsburgh failed to clear and Wisconsin made them pay as they found the loose puck on the doorstep as Alex West poked it home to tie the game 4-4 and the game went to overtime. Shots Wisconsin had 24 and Pittsburgh with only 4 as Red dominated the third period. With 7:14 to go in overtime, Wisconsin was whistled for too many men on the ice and Pittsburgh was unable to really mount any good scoring chances. David Spadacene had a breakaway with :03 left and Alan Amour made a great glove save. Wisconsin was whistled for a penalty on the play. The overtime period ended and the teams play a 5-minute overtime would be played. 3:43 Bannon breakaway stopped by Amour…with 3:05 to play Logan Bannon apparently scored the game winner, but it was ruled the net was moved before the puck went in. With 2:33 to play, Wisconsin’s Ryan Smet got behind the Pittsburgh defense and Max Richards made a great glove save. 32 Morgan Nickerson great chance and puck just went wide. After the two overtime periods and two tremendous teams battling tooth and nail for a better part of 5 periods, tournament officials decided to have this one decided by a shootout. The goaltenders in the shootout were Alan Armour of Hayward, Wisconsin HS and Max Richards, from the Pennsylvania AAA State Champions North Allegheny Tigers. Both young men made countless stops in this contest and were to be counted on for more heroics in the 5-man shootout. Pittsburgh shot first, giving Wisconsin the opportunity to counter. First shooter Morgan Nickerson missed for Pittsburgh, as did Ryan Smet for Wisconsin. Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta and Central Catholic’s Chris Urso scored and couple with misses by Wisconsin gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. Wisconsin facing sudden death scored on two of their last three chances to forge a 2-2 tie as Tedd Falk and Ricky Wozniak came through in the clutch. There seemed to be confusion as to the shootout procedure as both teams used some of the same players from the original shootout. After four consecutive misses by both teams, Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Chris Urso and Wisconsin’s Zachary Kohn from Arrowhead HS traded goals as the score remained tied at 3-3 until the 5th Sudden Death shooter. Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Chris Urso made a nifty move to score his third shootout goal to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead. Zachary Kohn shot again and this time North Allegheny’s Max Richard’s stoned him giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 win in the shootout and a 5-4 win over Wisconsin in as thrilling of a hockey game as you will ever see. Pittsburgh captured their first Chicago Showcase National Title in 23 years with an impressive run of wins over North Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, New York and Wisconsin. As the cell phones rang and the joy erupted you can’t help but feel a special congratulations to General Manager Dave Klasnick, who has conducted this Team Pittsburgh program with class from the beginning in 1984 and was not able to attend the finals, but as always was more thrilled for the 20 young men who accomplished their goal of bringing Pittsburgh a hockey title for the ages ! Shootout Summary [Tied 2-2]: Pittsburgh # 11 No Goal # 17 Goal # 19 Goal # 9 No Goal # 6 No Goal Wisconsin # 23 No Goal # 21 No Goal # 9 Goal # 12 No Goal # 21 Goal Sudden Death Shootout Summary [Pittsburgh 2 Wisconsin 1] Ø 1st o P # 17 No Goal o W # 16 No Goal Ø 2nd o P # 11 No Goal o W # 21 No Goal Ø 3rd o P # 19 Goal o W # 19 Goal Ø 4th o P # 9 No Goal o W # 9 No Goal Ø 5th Ø P # 19 Goal Ø W # 19 No Goal