Announcement
CRANBERRY –
After the 12th Annual Meadville Bulldog Invitational played this past weekend, it is pretty clear that LaSalle is one of if not the prohibitive favorite to win the Pennsylvania Class AAA State Championship in 2008. That being said the Western Pennsylvania teams are lining up to take a run at the Penguins Cup and more than likely an opportunity to face the Explorers when the title is on the line.
History is on Western Pa’s side as the Penguins Cup champions have won 13 out of the last 16 Pennsylvania Class AAA titles and three of those years when Pa Hockey had Malvern Prep ranked # 1 for much of the season in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and the Friars failed to close the deal, except in 2004. North Allegheny, the defending AAA State Champions, took an 11-0 pasting from the Explorers and then regrouped to face Meadville in a very important seeding contest. Although, the Tigers have clinched a playoff spot, North Allegheny is focused n securing a # 2 or 3 seed to avoid any possible match-up with Pine Richland. Meadville, who is currently around the 8th seed is anxious for the return of Billy Espy, who may return tto the lineup for the stretch run. The Bulldogs are currently a one trick pony with Morgan Nickerson, Nick Fedorka and Drew Finton carrying the offensive load and any additional depth will bolster Meadville’s chances in the Penguins Cup playoffs. Head Coach Jamie Plunkett faces division foes NA, McDowell and Seneca Valley over the next few games and will be a key point in the Dawgs schedule, if they hope to ramp up their playoff seeding.The opening period featured some pretty close checking as Meadville outshot the Tigers 6-5. NA’s Brady Waldschmidt’s shot at 11:53 appeared to go up under the crossbar but the official did not make the goal signal. The Tiger’s Josh Herbert fired a lasar off the corner of the crossbar at 10:41 to no avail. Meadville had its beat chance at 2:37 as Aaron Nye stole the puck and shot the puck from the faceoff circle, but Max Richards came up big.
Meadville went on the power play early in the 2nd ,but NA was equal to the task. The Bulldogs best chance came as Morgan Nickerson had a breakaway, but Richards stopped him. North Allegheny had its chances as well as Donnie Lewis had a quick backhand turned aside by Bryan ‘the Duck’ Danczak at 9:07. Josh Herbert was turned aside at 7:55 and then Joe Snatchko rung one off the pipe with 4:39 to go in the 2nd.
The Tigers finally broke the ice at 7:55 of the 3rd period as Josh Herbert scored on the wraparound to make it 1-0. NA and Meadville.played strong defense in the third period similar to a playoff game limiting the scoring opportunities around Max Richards and Bryan Danczak. Josh Herbert added an empty netter from the Red Line with :32 to go to make the final count 2-0 in favor of the Tigers. Final Shots for the game were 21-21. .
