St Joseph's Prep Hawks

 

Franklin Regional 6 Thomas Jefferson 3 

 

DELMONT –

 

         Franklin Regional’s hockey program has been in operation since 1981, when at the time it combined with Gateway [which was allowed at the time, to form a co-op team]. The very next year, the Panthers went on their own and history ever since has been 5 trips to the Penguins Cup finals and that is all of the further the program has ever advanced. The program has struggled in recent years with numbers and has enough to field a Varsity and Junior Varsity squad, but is unable to field a freshman team in a school district that is somewhat affluent and in my tenure with the program from 1996 to 1999 had two freshman teams in addition to the JV and Varsity. Success in the program resulted directly from those years, which was a culmination in those numbers with four consecutive Penguins Cup final appearances in Class AA from 1992 to 1996 and those two freshman teams in 1998, that was your Penguin Cup AAA finalist in 2003, which fell to eventual State Champions Meadville.

 

           There is a plan in place not only for Franklin Regional, but for almost a dozen programs in the extended East Suburbs through the Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics through a cooperation with Allegheny Hockey Association and North Hills Amateur to begin developmental hockey at the age of pre-school through Dek Hockey, which graduates into Learn to Skate and Learn to Play Hockey in amateur programs and Supplementary High School Developmental Programs that have a cooperation [are you listening Hornets and Junior B Penguins ? I doubt it!] between Amateur and High School Programs, while stressing enrollment in the Amateur Programs as a prerequisite to playing with the school program. The long term effect of this philosophy will be healthy PAHL programs and healthy High School Programs for a long, long time.

 

            The Murrysville Dek Hockey Program developed by the PA Hockey Foundation now has over 160 players under the age of twelve and is feeding Allegheny and NAHA Developmental Hockey Programs in an open exchange, which has stressed skill development, fun in a school and community based program that has participation from Franklin Regional, Penn Trafford, Norwin, Gateway, Plum, Greensburg Salem, Kiski and several other East Communities and will foster the future of the respective High School programs. The Franklin Regional Little Panthers will take to the ice in December with over 20 players from grades Kindergarten through 6^th grade with roughly 40 total players in the pipeline to secure the future of Franklin Hockey for many years.

 

            The current edition of the Panthers is currently ranked # 2 in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings after only losing 3 players from a team that advanced to the Penguins Cup Semis a year ago before falling to this evening’s foe Thomas Jefferson. Coach Jim Daugherty has a squad which is very much capable of challenging for a Penguins Cup final appearance with plenty of depth and two pretty strong goaltenders in James ‘Bobby’ Orr and Anthony ‘I am not from California’ Livecchi. The Panthers are an interesting mix of players with different hockey pedigree, who could mesh into a very interesting contender come March.

 

             Thomas Jefferson’s hockey program has been one of the most successful in Class AA for 25 years dating back to 1981, when a member of the old South Penn League, the Jaguars advanced to their first Penguins Cup. The Dean of AA coaching Don Powell entered the program in the early 90’s and built a powerhouse in the SHIHL and subsequent PIHL into Champions with a High School and Amateur cooperation with some very talented players including current Los Angeles King John Zeiler and resulting in State Championships in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and a tradition of winning that culminated in another trip to the Penguins Cup a year ago before falling to two-time Pennsylvania Class AA champions Pine Richland. Part of that championship run was a young man by the name of Patrick Kenney, who was a terrific hockey player and a wonderful free spirited kid who fell on the wrong side of the tracks, which can happen to any young adult and lead to his disappearance and tragic death, which was recently publicized and brings a tear to anyone who knew him and was a part of the Jaguar family a few years ago. New TJ skipper Ray Landucci has plenty of coaching experience and will do a great job transitioning the program as its first new head coach in nearly two decades. The Jaguars will be in the hunt for the Penguins Cup and their chances increased with the return of Jeffrey Wojanovich in between the pipes, who will join Spencer Neel to give the Jags a very capable goaltending tandem.

 

              As aforementioned, development through Amateur Hockey and cooperation with High School Programs is a recipe for success for both programs and the majority of the champions and successful programs across Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania and for that matter the United States. The are pitfalls and problems with ice hockey and they are not mutually exclusive to hockey as High School Programs in every sport experience recruiting through amateur and club programs in Football, Basketball and every HS Sport participated in by student athletes. A year ago, the much publicized transfers of Tino Sunseri to Central Catholic from North Carolina and Rob Gronohowski to Woodland Hills from Buffalo made headlines thoughout the Media and the WPIAL’s handling of those cases was just awful. Neither of those students families moved to Pittsburgh by establishing new residences in Western Pennsylvania, as Sunseri live with his uncle and Gronohowski moved into an apartment, while maintained a very nice residence in an affluent community near Buffalo [my confirmed sources live in both of those school districts in New York and North Carolina]. After much controversy and debate about both cases, the WPIAL and it’s Executive Director Tim O’Malley and PIAA have taken action by rewriting the new Transfer Rule, which will be ratified by the PIAA in Early 2008 and go into play for the 2008-2009 school year. My correspondence with Mr O’Malley in the fall of last year resulted in a suggestion prompted the rule effectively allowing any student who transfers schools if the family changes residences and has school to school sign off from the principals to become immediately eligible for the next season. Otherwise, the Student Athlete is ineligible for a period of one year for Varsity competition, but is eligible to participate in the sport at the Junior Varsity and Freshman level. This rule philosophy comes from the State of Minnesota High School League and my discussion with Mr Dave Stead, who e-mailed me the rule at the time we were debating the rules for the PIHL in 1998.                

 

            The original PIHL rule was exactly the one the PIAA has taken 8 years since to find and the PIHL has twisted and turned into free agency with promotion of Co-Op teams and free agency amongst Public Schools who have used the rule to make quick fixes to their lineups in pursuit of Penguins Cup and State Championships. Mt Lebanon, Peters Twp and Bethel Park of note, both had players with similar circumstances and were permitted to play hockey for those schools over the past couple of years. The Original Unified PIHL Rule also developed a process of appeal through an INDEPENDENT Rules Interpetor, whose job is to rule on WRITTEN Transfer Requests and a right to appeal through a President’s Commission of representatives from a different classification other than the school in question. If the student is not satisfied with the President’s Commission ruling, an appeal could be filed with an Independent Arbitrator and the Legal System for a final ruling and the timing written in the ORIGINAL RULE would allow all of this to be concluded in roughly 30 days, which is plenty of time to rule on a case since school starts in August and the Hockey Season begins in November.

 

           The rule went to the test in the very first year it was implemented as Greensburg CC sued in court regarding a player from Franklin Regional, who lived in the district and was developed by the FR Hockey Club and was recruited by GCC through a spring league. The result was the League backed down and the judge never ruled on the case. The next test was in 1999, when an ineligible player from Shadyside Academy ended up going through the process and into the hands of high-powered attorney’s and the Independent Arbitrator, who ruled that the rule was a very good process, but due to the lack of knowledge of the NEW rule of the family, the player was declared eligible. So the process and rule withstood the legal test as well.

 

           The rule and the process has changed over the first nine years of the PIHL, due to political pressures from the member schools, a lack of leadership with the league and the lack of an independent rules Interpetor, who seems more interested in letting every player play hockey for whatever school they want than upholding the rules. So now we come to the story of Patrick LaFrankie, who played in the Thomas Jefferson program for several years and was rostered and participated for the Jaguars in the St Margaret Fall Face-Off in October. Apparantly, he was also practicing with Serra Catholic as well and plays for the amateur coach in the Amateur Penguins organization, that coaches Serra Catholic. When Thomas Jefferson refused to sign off on the paperwork, they were told that the player would be eligible because of academic or religious reasons by the PIHL Rules Interpetor and is now playing for Serra Catholic.

 

          So with all of the discussion of Development and ways of building a hockey program from the ground up, it all goes for not if there is recruiting, a transfer rule which is not being abided by and the Rules Interpetor who rules based on political agenda’s rather than upholding the rules. The State of Texas High School Hockey Association stripped the 2005 Texas State Championship from Plano West due to an ineligible player, which gives a black eye to the sport, but is an example of upholding the rules. Folks, the PIHL is a convoluted organization, which favors some schools and penalizes others by choice and if you don’t believe it, you are blind and maybe you can answer why Franklin Regional ended up in a division with Montour [Due West], Cathedral Prep [Due North] and Kittanning [somewhat North]?  That is a joke!

 

         But don’t fret ‘Concerned Citizens’, help is on the way because the PIAA WILL ratify a similar rule that the PIHL had in place nine years ago and has failed to recognize in favor of politics and favors to keep their high paying jobs and control of the money and cost, which is threatening to ruin the sport of Interscholastic Hockey as teams are paying nearly $ 1000 a game to play hockey. Wheeeeeeeeeeew…….I feel better now, but TJ is still smarting from that ruling because the JV Program they have been spending the past few years to build is now extinct…trust me because they know as I know that it is wrong and if you don’t !

 

        So when I write about the cause and effect of the Open Division and Co-Op teams, maybe some of you ‘Concerned Citizens’ or so-called ‘Concerned Citizens’ [i.e. Kool-Aid Drinking Politicians] will get the old Fog Horn Leg Horn Bat over the head and wake up. And when you ask me to get involved in the betterment of HS Hockey, my answer is I am. Even though I will not seek political office against a current President who I will hold a undefeated lifetime record of 1-0 against and a commissioner who is unqualified,  does nothing to promote hockey [except bad attempts to steal some of my ideas from Pa Hockey] and never submitted a resume and was supposed to hire the Commissioner and not be it. The problem of recruiting and the problems of the PIHL will continue to co-exist until of course some ‘Concerned Citizens’ step forward and do something about it. The PIAA did and you can too…..but it’s my kids senior year and I need to get a Freshman Parent to go to the PIHL Meetings…..second Wednesday at CCAC Boyce and don’t forget your pillow and coffee!

 

         Oh wasn’t I here tonight to cover a hockey game? Better be careful who I send this one to? So Franklin Regional and Thomas Jefferson commenced there with identical 2-0-0 records and ranked # 2 and # 3 in the Post Gazette Hockey Rankings for Class AA. The Jaguars took advantage of some sloppy play by the FR defense early in the opening period as Dan Jantzi picked out a bad clearing attempt and deposited it low to the glove side of James Orr to give TJ a 1-0 lead at 14:18. The Jaguars had an opportunity to increase the margin on the power play at 13:15, but the Panthers killed it off. Franklin mounted some zone time in the TJ end and Eugene Mack threaded a perfect feed to Johnny Cecere, who buried a wrist shot high over the stick side of Jeffrey Wojanovich to tie the game. The Panthers were not done as Cecere’s backhand pass to Jared Yesko found it’s way thru traffic and Yesko scored from on the doorstep to give Franklin a 2-1 lead at 7:53. Thomas Jefferson went on the power play at 1:38, but this time it would be FR’s Eugene Mack who got behind the TJ defense and beat the Jaguar goaltending on a pretty move to up the FR lead to 3-1 at 1:16. The Panthers outshot TJ 14-11 in the first.

 

          On to the 2^nd period and FR scored again as Shane Crossey pounced on a loose puck and scored to make it 4-1 with 13:10 remaining in the middle frame. The game opened up and Thomas Jefferson’s Dan Nath sped down the right side and lofted a bullet high to the short side over the shoulder of Orr to make it 4-2 at7:33. Franklin answered less than a minute later and got a pretty good break as Wojanovich poke checked Johnny Cecere on the breakaway, but Jared Yesko came late and beat the Jaguar goaltender to increase the margin to 5-2. TJ hooked up to cut the lead again as Dan Nath found a wide open Dan Jantzi on the back door, who made no mistake going upstairs over the glove of James Orr to make it 5-3 with 3:26 to go. Jeff Wojanovich made a spectacular save on Steve Shirk with :04 left in the period and the Jaguars were still in it heading to the third period. FR outshot TJ 14-6 in the 2^nd Period.

 

          Franklin Regional had a great chance to increase the lead as Anthony Talamo’s shot rung off the post at 13:11. TJ turned up the offense in the middle of the period, but could not beat Orr as the lanky FR goaltender made two key saves on Dan Nath at 5:11 and AJ Parkinson at 4:37. The Panthers added an empty netter with :27 to go as Yesko completed the hat trick to give Franklin Regional a 6-3 win over Thomas Jefferson outshooting the Jaguars 34-25 on the night.