St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Top 5 Fan for 5 years running needs our help and PA Hockey answers ! For many of you who have followed the sport of Interscholastic Hockey over the past ten years, we have all followed or at least been exposed to the Center Ice Report by Earl Bugaile. Earl does a tremendous job in covering hockey at the Interscholastic level and in addition reports on the progress of all players at the Junior and Collegiate level, which is a great service to our hockey community. UPDATE 11/25/06 - The 'Concerned Citizens of Gotham' have spoken and we have raised enough $$$ to keep Earl on the air, details and a story will be upcoming only on Pa Hockey ! The phone rings during the Pa Hockey Season countless times during the season and more times than not its a game report or score or to talk about what team has what and how they stack up in the Penguins Cup chase or Flyers Cup chase as the season works its way toward the Pennsylvania State Finals each March. This time the phone rang and a call for help was fielded and it was answered by the 'Concerned Citizens' of Western Pa Hockey. An e-mail chain was started and in one day we raised over $ 2,500 to keep 'Center Ice with Earl Bugaile' on the air for the 2006 - 2007 season, which is a great grass roots show for folks tuning into the 95.3 FM radio station in Washington. Why did this happen ? Becuase people care about the interest and passion that Earl brings to their car radio's every morning throughout the hockey season at 7:30 AM and 5:30 PM with his report and they also understand because Earl is a volunteer of his own time and really enjoys bringing us the news of the day. While the cost of hockey continues to skyrocket to unreasonable rates secluding the masses of people, who may be interested in the sport, into other choices thanks to the Villans who promote themselves more than the sport. Isn't it interesting that NOT ONE DIME came in from the PIHL to help a person who selflessly promotes all of hockey and came out of the pockets of the people of Pa Hockey. Earl is moving toward an unprecedented 6th consecutive Pa Hockey 'Top 5' Fan and its because of his generosity to us as a hockey community to promote the sport we all love. In a passing conversation with a few of the donors the response was something like 'Hey, I had to help Earl because he does a great job of promoting hockey for FREE'.........and our way of thanking him was to keep it going......thanks Earl !

Latrobe 3 Franklin Regional 2 Greensburg - Latrobe is off to a quick start keeping pace with Greensburg Salem in the East Division. Head coach Ron Makoski likes getting to the rink early in anticipation of his teams games as the Wildcats are 2-0 and ranked # 4 in the early Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings. In fact, the Class AA rankings will take many twists and turns throughout the 06-07 season and come February it is the goal of the Wildcats to be in the mix for a top 4 seed this season as the Latrobe program is been building since coach Makoski’s return to become an annual contender in Class AA and there would be no better time to do it than with this years squad. Franklin Regional has found Class AA to be not as inviting as anticipated as the Panthers have started 1-2-0 with losses to Greensburg Salem and Thomas Jefferson. Head Coach Jim Daugherty has not had much luck with injuries as promising sophomore Pat Coyne is on the shelf for the Panthers, with uncertainty of their return status and Turner Andritz has finally returned to the lineup. FR has a real nice group of underclassmen and will have to find leadership and scoring within that group to flourish in a night-to-night grind in Class AA, which will command the Panthers Before anyone could get settled in their seats, Jeff Joe Regula flew through the neutral zone and buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of Anthony Livecci to give Latrobe a 1-0 lead at 13:29. Latrobe had a 5 on 3 power play on a questionable call and at 3:01 they scored on the power play as Tyler Ridder scored from right in front. Michael McCurdy add to the assault with 2:30 remaining in the opening period as he walked down the slot and beat Livecci to make it 3-0 in favor of the Wildcats. Franklin Regional scored with 15 ticks left as Turner Andritz scored on a slapshot through traffic that made its way through the 5-hole to cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of one period. The Panthers went on the power play to start the 2nd and upped the pressure and the shots and were rewarded with a second man advantage as a result of hard work but could not capitalize and the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Wildcats. The next power play would be a charm as Eugene Mack tipped in a Tim McDonough slap shot through the 5-hole with 4:13 remaining to cut the lead to 3-2. Anthony Livecci stoned two Latrobe scoring opportunities with under a minute to go in the second period. Shots through the 2nd stanza were 18 – 14 in favor of the Panthers. The Panthers continued to carry the play in the 3rd period but could not beat Latrobe goaltender Nick Loycana. The Wildcats went on the power play at 6:55 with a chance to regain a two-goal advantage, but the Panthers killed it. With 1:13 Andrew Ong had a breakaway, but Livecci laid his body on the ice to make a spectacular save. Franklin Regional had several chances in the final minute but could not beat Nick Loycana and held on for a 3-2 win for Latrobe [3-0-0]. The Panthers outshot the Wildcats 29-22.

Greensburg CC 6 Kittanning 4 Greensburg – Greensburg CC’s Bill Bucholtz has been hit hard by a departure of several key players from the Greensburg Central program, most notably Alfonso Arevalo. To make things even more interesting for the Centurians, Franklin Regional has moved in from Class AAA and this season’s upstart Greensburg Salem has stepped to the plate making the East Division of Class AA very interesting and for the first time in many moons, the Centurians are not the favorites or even really thought of as the top team in their division. Kittanning is coming off a Penguins Cup final appearance from a year ago and Jon Yackmack knows that his team is only as good as its last shift. Unfortunately, the Wildcats have become a target on the schedule for all of their opponents including a loss to division foe Hampton. Kittanning is off to a 2-1-0 start and must play every night to duplicate the feat from a year ago, which will be a lot tougher given the parity in Class AA. At 13:47 of the opening period, Shane Troup beat Ryan Homanics through the 5-hole to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Moments later at 12:57, Kittanning went on the power play and appeared to score a 2nd goal as Jurgen Koster was parked at the left post for a back door play, but Ryan Homanics robbed him as he sprawled and just got enough stick on the puck to keep it out. The Centurians countered at 9:32 as after some substantial Chris Kovalchuk scored after a scramble in front beating Joey Mecurio to tie the score at 1-1. With the Wildcats on the power play, Luke Vukemarovich played opportunist scoring on a wrist shot down on the ice with 4:28 remaining in the opening period to give GCC the lead 2-1. With Kittanning on a late man advantage, Homanics made a real nice save at the buzzer as GCC outshot Kittanning 15-10. On to the 2nd period and Kittanning freshman Jurgen Koster lit the lamp at 13:04 to knot the score at two apiece. Greensburg CC continued to outshoot Kittanning carrying the play in the middle period. Greensburg CC regained the lead at 13:28 as David Mattock scored on the ice to the stick side on a partial breakaway to give the Centurians a 3-2 lead. With a power play opportunity at 12:05, GCC had a chance to put a cushion between them and the Wildcats and they did as Todd Kacin cashed in on a pass from Luke Vukemarocvich at 11:12. Kittanning came right back at 10:36 as Joey Ford scored on a Nick Troup rebound to cut the lead to 4-3. The Wildcats went on the power play at 9:47 and equaled the score at 8:53 as Klaus Koster scored from the doorstep beating Ryan Homanics to make it a brand new hockey game. Greensburg CC went on the PP in the games final moments and Luke Vukmarovich buried a shot just inside the post with 1:05 remaining on the power play to give the Centurians a 5-4 lead and David Mattock closed it on with an empty netter with 14 ticks left to give GCC a 6-4 victory including a 35-27 shot advantage.

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Upper St Clair 3 McDowell 3 (OT) ERIE - Upper St Clair coach John Harford does his homework on opponents and when he looked at the McDowell lineup, he saw a lot of experience staring his Panther squad right in the face. The fact is that if USC expects to be in the top 4 or 5 in class AAA at years end it will have to edge out teams in the top 8 like McDowell or possibly a Plum or Penn Trafford. The Panthers have a lot of ingredients returning this season including some real solid players promoted from their developmental ranks. With the strong goaltending duo of Max Daurora and Kenny Feldmann, St Clair could be a real interesting team come February and March, who may surprise even the coveted top 4. McDowell is in the process of still learning the ways of new Head Coach Nels White, who has taken the helm of an organization with some numbers and some solid returning talent. The Trojans have underachieved the past few seasons and while Rom wasn’t built in a day, with a dozen or so seniors, this year needs to end on a more positive note than the past few winners. Nels White knows how to win and how to elevate a hockey program as he did with Cathedral Prep many times. He also knows that in order to run with the big dogs of Class AAA, his best players must expand their comfort level and perform above expectations. After tonight’s contest, the Trojans will face New Trier Green, one of the best HS teams in the USA, Midwest Prep power Buffalo St Francis and Holy Ghost Prep, arguably Eastern Pa’s top AAA [a 5-3 winner over Flyers Cup champ Cardinal O’Hara] in the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase this weekend in Jamestown, New York. Maybe not games against pushovers, but playing the kind of teams necessary to compete at the level of Bethel Park or North Allegheny or Central Catholic or Meadville. This is a part of the process familiar to Bethel and Meadville, which has brought 13 combined State Championships to those respective programs in the past 20 years. The Panthers had the game’s first power play, but it was McDowell who scored first at 11:25 as Ryan Presnar tallied a shorthanded goal to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead. Upper St Clair tied the game at 1-1 at 7:26 when Jono Lohman scored on a breakaway beating Drew Ericson to the glove side on the ice. At 3:48 Upper St Clair went on the power play with an opportunity to take the lead. Ericsson made a nice stop on Lohman from in between the circles. Miles Gates had a golden opportunity at the other end, but Max Daurora made a real nice sliding save at the buzzer. Shots in the opening period were McDowell with 15 and USC with only 5. On to the 2nd period and the Trojans struck at 12:53 as Matt Stahon scored an unassisted goal. Moments later McDowell went on the power play again and Andy Kohler cashed in 12:15 as his shot from the right circle handcuffed the USC goaltender and trickled behind him giving the Trojans a 3-1 lead. Daurora made a terrific stop at 7:47 on a Chris Michalak backhand of a Nick Disanti rebound to keep the Panthers within two. McDowell made a mental mistake at 5:34, caught with too many men on the ice, but was able to kill off the penalty, but may have awaken St Clair, who built a little momentum. The Panthers edged closer as Mike Bagdy scored a huge goal at 2:41 to draw USC to within one at 3-2. Daurora came up with some nice saves late in the period to keep the game a one goal margin as the teams headed to the ice cut. McDowell added 15 more shots in the middle period USC had a chance to tie the game with a power play with 11:10, but the Trojans killed it off. McDowell’s Matt Stahon had a breakaway with 9:00 to go but was turned aside by Max Daurora. Moments later, USC’s Adam Bogert was in on a breakaway but was hooked putting the Panthers back on the man advantage with 8:41 to go and McDowell killed it off to preserve their slim 3-2 lead. With 6:41 to go, the Panthers received power play #3 of the 3rd period, prompting a timeout for the Panthers John Harford. This time USC was able to capitalize as Jono Lohman scored with 6:28 With a quick wrist shot low to the glove side knotting the score at three apiece. With 2:11 to go the Trojans got their chance on the power play prompting a Nels White timeout. Then a gift as the puck took a weird carom off the boards and bounced onto the stick of Nick Disanti who deposited it behind Max Daurora and an apparent winning goal at the buzzer and after a conference, it was decided that the puck crossed the line after time expired sending the game to OT. Shots 35 17 With 1:25 to play in the extra seesion, Erik Frits blocked a shot heading for a =wide open net to stop a golden opportunity for the Panthers. Ericson stopped Jono Lohman from right in front and then the puck banged off the post and the game ended in a 3-3 tie in a very entertaining hockey game at the Erie Civic Center.