St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics The Murrysville Dek Hockey Center, the Municipality of Murrysville Parks and Recreation and the Franklin Regional Hockey Club in coordination with the Pa Hockey Foundation is offering a Street Hockey program that began in December 2006. Over 100 participants are in the program at the Chipmunk [6-U], Penguin [7-9] and Beaver [10-12] levels, which four teams at the Penguin and Beaver level. Attached are Flyer, Advertisement and Registration Form for the PA Hockey Developmental Clinics and the Franklin Regional Street Hockey League for Fall 2006. Over 2700 copies of the Flyer will be copied and distributed in the Franklin Regional School District to children in grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade. In addition, we will forward these for publishing in the Penn Franklin News and Murrysville Star. These flyers are now being distributed throughout the East Suburbs to help enrich the participation of the sport through the great resources we have here in the East Suburbs in FR, Gateway, Plum, Penn Trafford, Norwin, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Penn Hills, Valley, Woodland Hills, Kiski and other Eastern School Districts. The Allegheny Hockey Association and the Bob Mock Skating Academy out of the Center Ice Arena in Delmont and the North Hills Amateur Hockey Association and Carrie Smilowitz, Skating Instuctor out of the Valley Sports Complex in New Kensington offer programsto begin playing the sport and sustain participation for elementary aged children. Both the Learn to Play Hockey programs will be participating in the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition on Friday December 29th at 4:00 PM at the Center Ice Arena in Delmont preceding the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition at 4:30.

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.

Story provided by the North Allegheny Hockey Club HARMARVILLE - Freshman defenseman Tyler Wright scored his first two varsity and senior forward Dan Gaertner added two more as the Tigers downed Central Catholic, 8-4, at Bladerunners in Harmarville on Monday night. Sophomore Dylan Rohar recorded three assists and sophomore Bo Schwab a goal and two assists as the Tigers won their third straight game. Central grabbed the lead off the opening faceoff when C.J. Burke took the puck through several NA players and scored just nine seconds into the contest. The Tigers answered quickly when Gaertner scored from the right side on assists from Schwab and Wes Waldschmidt to tie the game at 1-1 with 13:22 remaining in the period. After senior defenseman Brad Schwartzmier was sent off at 11:35, Doug Dietrich scored a power play goal to put the Vikings back ahead, 2-1. For most of the remainder of the period, Central was short handed. The Tigers had a five-on-three for a full two minutes at one point but could not beat Central goalie Phil Salerno. NA had great chances by junior forward Josh Herbert and senior forward Matt Lancaster but failed to finish. With less than a minute remaining, Tiger junior goalie Max Richards made a tough save on Dietrich to keep the score at 2-1 at the end of the period. The second period belonged to the Tigers. Early in the period, Lancaster stole a clearing pass and set up Herbert who scored from the left side to tie the game just 43 seconds into the stanza. Richards made a good save on a shot by Andy Hanno at the 10:07 mark to keep the game tied. After Salerno stopped Schwab just nine seconds later, Wright's shot from the right point deflected off a Central player into the net to give NA a 3-2 advantage with 7:05 remaining. Wright scored again with a hard shot along the ice that beat Salerno at the 5:28 mark to extend the Tiger lead to 4-2. The Tigers almost scored again when Herbert hit the crossbar with two minutes remaining. As time was running out, Gaertner put in his own rebound with just 9.6 seconds on the clock as NA took a 5-2 lead into the second intermission. The Tigers outshot the Vikings, 14-6, in the period as they scored four unanswered goals. Early in the third period, Central cut the lead to 5-3 on a power play goal by Jake Roberts who scored 23 seconds into the final stanza. The goal seemed to energize the Vikings as they continued to pressure the NA goal. Burke scored his second goal of the game at the 12:05 mark to cut the lead to 5-4. The Tigers then took a pair of penalties giving Central a 5-on-3 advantage. The Vikings responded with their own pair of penalties creating a rare three-on-three situation. Wes Waldschmidt stole the puck in the NA end and then raced the length of the ice to beat Salerno and make it a 6-4 game with 8:37 remaining. When the NA players returned from the penalty box, the Tigers capitalized on the five-on-three with their first power play goal of the game by senior Mike Peterson to extend the margin to 7-4. With a Central player still in the box, the Tigers scored again when Schwab found the net out of a scramble in front to give NA a commanding 8-4 lead. At this point, Central turned up the physical play which resulted in a succession of penalties against the Vikings. Central played shorthanded for the remainder of the game as six penalties were called against the Vikings in the waning moments. The Tigers did not score again but still went home with a convincing 8-4 victory. It was a quality win for the Tigers against the #2 ranked Vikings. Special credit should be given to Wes Waldschmidt who rarely sat down during the contest. For his efforts, however, the North Allegheny Sports Network named Tyler Wright as the Player of the Game. Although Central scored four times, Richards made some key saves in stopping sixteen Viking shots. With the win, the Tigers increased their lead over Central in the North Division to four points as they improved their record to 9-3-0. NA will participate again in the Scholastic Showcase Tournament at the Center Ice Arena in Delmont over the winter break. The Tigers have been tournament champions for the past three years. GAME SUMMARY NORTH ALLEGHENY - 8 CENTRAL CATHOLIC - 4 SCORE BY PERIODS 1 2 3 FINAL NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 4 3 8 Central Catholic 2 0 2 4 INDIVIDUAL SCORING FIRST PERIOD CENTRAL CATHOLIC C.J. Burke (unassisted) 14:51 NORTH ALLEGHENY Danny Gaertner (Bo Schwab, Wes Waldschmidt) 13:22 CENTRAL CATHOLIC Doug Dietrick (Renars Rukmanis) PP 10:34 SECOND PERIOD NORTH ALLEGHENY Josh Herbert (Matt Lancaster) 19:17 NORTH ALLEGHENY Tyler Wright (Thomas Gillespie) 7:05 NORTH ALLEGHENY Wright 2 (Mike Peterson) 5:28 NORTH ALLEGHENY Gaertner 2 (Dylan Rohar, Schwab) 0:09 THIRD PERIOD CENTRAL CATHOLIC Jake Roberts (Chris Urso, Burke) PP 14:37 CENTRAL CATHOLIC Burke 2 (Andy Hanno, Josh Martin) 12:05 NORTH ALLEGHENY Wes Waldschmidt (unassisted) 8:37 NORTH ALLEGHENY Peterson (Schwab, Rohar) PP 8:01 NORTH ALLEGHENY Schwab (Lancaster, Rohar) PP 5:19 SHOTS ON GOAL TEAM 1 2 3 TOTAL NORTH ALLEGHENY 6 14 7 27 Central Catholic 8 6 6 20

When Evgeni Malkin fled his Russian team Magnitagorsk earlier this year, there was celebration in Pittsburgh in anticipation of the new season. Malkin, who reportedly signed a contract under duress at 3 AM, dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League. Communism supposedly fell with the Berlin wall more than a decade ago, but the fact that this kid, who is only a year or so older than some of our High School Hockey players, was unable to freely do what he wanted to is a sign that the Iron Curtain still exists. Read the plight of Evgeni and you will start to see where I am headed with this editorial. http://www.russianprospects.com/public/article.php?article_id=472&PHPSESSID=eb584c3cb756e1a33a9688fb0ba55a7e When Communism supposedly fell, many of those politicians in Russia, may have made their way the United States and are now working in the ranks of youth Hockey in the United States. I am not Joseph McCarthy or the Red Scare, but I can tell you the the resemblance of what Malkin went through is pretty similar to what goes on around the rinks of Western Pennsylvania. Evgeni had NO CHOICE but to leave Russia and pursue his dream and many kids in this area are doing the same because of the political landscape of the PIHL and the ridiculous nature of how it’s run and where it is headed. The administrative nightmare and red tape of paperwork to run a hockey game is way out of hand as it is now over $ 1000 to play a HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY game at Mt Lebanon Recreation Center and there are MANY OTHER RINKS WITH SIMILAR COSTS SO I AM NOT PICKING ON MT LEBANON. The ice is $ 240 an hour, which I can stomach and about average so $ 480 is the norm. $ 50 for the EMT, which from what I understand from one local rink is not what the EMT personnel receives, which is $ 5 less than the league charges, which is why the PIHL needs to be Audited and never has been. $ 150 for referees is $ 75 per game for Varsity and up from $ 45 in 2000-2001 [I wish we all got raises they are enjoying]. League Reps get $ 25 and for the mound of paperwork they fill out they should, but it used to be $ 10. A $ 211.52 charge for two Mt Lebanon police officers to provide security and the stands are less than half full unless its Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon? and then ……………..there’s the $ 90 per game PIHL Administrative fee….for what ? So the Joker can sit at his website and update the scores? Or so all of the schedule changes can go into a black hole of e-mails? The total is $ 1006.52 for one High School Hockey Game, which can be curfewed , if it is 30 seconds past the second hand on the sun dial. Folks, this is extortion and it’s priceless! So what you have is a league that is overcharging and what does the product look like. My favorite subject is the Open Division, but before I start on that subject, let’s talk about the idle threats of fines and such that Mr. Freeze and the Villans tried to impose prior to the season if any organization even attempted to FIELD A JV OR FRESHMAN TEAM OUTSIDE OF THE LEAGUE to god forbid SAVE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. I have news for all of the stupid and yes I said stupid people who are buffaloed by this tactic. There are no less than a dozen to two dozen clubs playing JV and Freshman and Developmental games outside of the League, in fact it is my understanding that the Board of Governors voted it down and its still being threatened. Two years ago when we tried to start an independent JV / Freshman League, people were all for it as as many as 20 clubs joined the discussion until the Villans started spreading threats and calling in the chips like the mafia. Teams in the Lake Shore are playing in an independent league and the Laurel Highlands League is still alive and there are independent JV teams playing hockey in Western Pennsylvania, so not everyone is stupid. And you thought that Evgeni had it tough? Varsity Hockey is now to the point, where the Pittsburgh Post Gazette will not even publish the standings and hasn’t to date for this season. Why? Because nobody cares about the product and if the Penguins do not stay in Pittsburgh, which will be decided soon because of the politicians letting this thing being decided politically with the Isle of Capri debacle. So here we are on a Thursday night in December, which used to be the BIGGEST night of High School Hockey and 12 out of the 18 games on the schedule are the Open Division. 26 out of the 76 schools represented by name are in the Open Division, including 5 West Virginia schools, who will eventually form their own division and at least a half dozen IMPURE NON-HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS with players from an array of schools representing one school. How can a school principal from Quigley or Valley or Ringgold sign off on a roster with for a school team with players who don’t even attend the school? Forest Hills and Ferndale, left the safe haven of Class A to take even bigger beatings in the Open Division against a bunch of sandbagging Class AAA schools, who are playing down to play for what?……….NOTHING! Because there is NO State Championship for the OPEN Classification and more importantly NO CRITERIA to establish one and when I speak to people in the Eastern Pa hockey circles, they shutter and say well maybe we can have our second Varsities play them! And people think the PIAA is interested………..not in our lifetime? And we wonder why Kool-Aid is the beverage of choice. Players at the Bantam and even Pee Wee level are now forgoing playing High School Hockey to travel and play outside of this area. I not saying that they should, they are just making a choice because although they are not being forced to sign contracts at 3 AM by Magnitagorsk, their decisions are becoming pretty clear cut. All of you people who turn a deaf ear and close your eyes when this is discussed in the rinks or provide a stupid blank look when you are enlightened to what is going on here, will be long gone when the next group comes along in five years. For the people who care, THERE IS AN ELECTION IN APRIL and the Hockey Community needs to ‘Stand as One’ a rid themselves of a BIG problem and elect some new people and CLEAN HOUSE. The Joker, the Riddler, Mr Freeze, Cat Woman, Bookworm, Egghead, and all of the Villans need to be sent to Gotham State Prison with Warden Crichton. And hockey needs to be restructured toward Split Seasons, Cooperation and not in Competition with PAHL and with a GOAL to be cost effective. There are lots of rinks that Mario Built and Sidney and Evgeni can build and keep open, the hockey community just needs to have the politicians and people looking to pad their own pockets out of the picture to make it happen!

Quaker Valley 5 Mars 1 CORAOPOLIS – Mars is ranked # 2 with a 4-0-1 record and off to its best start in recent memory under Eric Glover. The last time the Planets had a good start was 2003 and they advanced to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals before being knocked off by Westmont Hilltop. This year’s rendition is a club with speed, balance and size, who can score goals, which has been a missing ingredient over the past couple of seasons. Goaltender Greg Lewis has been solid throughout the early season and looks to be able to lead the Planets on a playoff run. History tells us that Mars will have to overcome Serra and Bishop McCort, who are perennial Class A powers and now Quaker Valley can be counted on as the Quakers have been sniffing the Pennsylvania Cup for a few years and captured their first in 2006. Quaker Valley is ranked # 1 and at 5-0-1 as won five straight after an opening tie against Serra Catholic. Head coach Kevin Quinn is looking forward to defending the title they earned a year ago and now understands the process of winning it all, which is something that his team is poised to do in 2007. The Quakers have all of the ingredients including two game breakers in Colin South and Mikail Lemieux, that no other team in Class A can match up with. The opening period was pretty uneventful except for some solid goaltending from QV’s Zac Zinger and Mars Greg Lewis. The scoreless period featured an equal number of chances at both ends. Mars went on the power play at 12:32 and failed to get many opportunities thanks to some good penalty killing by the Quakers. The Planets went back on the man advantage at 8:16 and at 6:54 of the period Greg Dyer picked off a pass in the neutral zone and fed Mikail Lemieux who buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of Greg Lewis to give QV a 1-0 lead. Mars lost their composure a little and took two bad penalties putting Quaker on the power play in cluding a 5 on 3 for over a minute, which could be a key point in the hockey game. Another penalty at 5:03 put the Planets further in the hole and with just 14 seconds left in the first penalty, Breton McNamara picked up a loose rebound and deposited it into an empty net to make it 2-0. With a 5 on 3 for over 40 seconds, QV went to work again, but Mars defense stiffened and the score remained 2-0. With 1:52 remaining, The Planets would have an opportunity on the man advantage top cut the lead with 1:52 to go and although they picked the physical play, maybe got a little overzealous and took another bad penalty with 42 seconds left negating the power play and a chance to gain some momentum heading to the third period. On to the third period and QV would go on the power play eight seconds in and Mars killed it off. Moments later at 13:27, Colin South found a loose puck and banked it off a Mars defenseman in front and past Lewis to make it three zip. The Planets turned up their game a notch and they finally got a bounce as Sam Mashuda’s shot bounded in the air and behind Zac Zinger to make it 3-1 with 8:40 to go in regulation. Mars started to press and was trying to beat Zinger and the mometum got sidetracked with a penalty with 6:10 to go and the Quakers capitalized as Mikail Lemieux fed a streaking Colin South in the slot who made no mistake with 4:38 to go and QV had some breathing room at 4-1. Moments later at 3:59 Rob Balotsky added a breakaway backhand goal to increase the lead to 5-1. So Quaker Valley maintains their stranglehold on the top spot in Class A,with a rematch awaiting on Janusry 30th at Cranberry BladeRunners, with an impressive 5-1 victory over upstart Mars.