St Joseph's Prep Hawks

WHEELING - Wheeling Park has built a nice hockey program after coming into existence in 1995 and coach Steve Kerr had his # 6 ranked Patriots gearing to finish the season strong with an 11-4-0 record into the seasons final week. A high powered offense which has scored 96 goals in just 15 games. Conemaugh Valley is a little different animal as they have tried to build a more defensive club around all-start netminder Corey Stahl. The Blue Jays have had some great moments this season including a 3-2 OT upset victory over Bishop McCort, but nothing would be sweeter for Matt Yingling’s club than nailing down their first ever playoff berth. Wheeling Park had all of the momentum early in this game but Stahl came up with some real nice stops to keep the Patriots off the board including saves on Andrew Dague in a 13-4 shot onslaught in the opening period. Conemaugh Valley struck first as Zach Szwast scored on a wrist shot at 11:05 for a 1-0 lead. At 9:07, Ryan Reynolds shot from the point sailed high over the glove hand of Justin UpDegraff for a 2-0 Blue Jay lead. Conemaugh Valley struck early and often in the second period as Rick Price scored after a WP turnover in the slot at 14:31 and Dan Pollino scored on a weak shot from the point which trickled past the Wheeling goaltender for a 4-0 lead. Wheeling showed its frustration taking a 4 penalties at 13:10, which resulted in a couple of CV 5 on 3 power plays and the Blue Jays buried their chances as Brad Vogel [12:40], Szwast [11:57], Mark Muir [11:57] and [7:02] and Matt Tilson [3:03] scored made it a 7 goal CV second period and a 9-0 lead over a stunned Wheeling Park team. WP’s Mark Maguire finally broke through on Stahl with just :14 remaining in the 2nd and the teams went to the locker room as Conemaugh Valley held a 9-1 lead. Wheeling Park rallied with five goals in the third period as Andrew Dague and MaGuire scored a pair apiece and Steve Mercer cut the Conemaugh lead to 9-6 with 2:50 remaining. The Blue Jays Brad Vogel scored at a 1:25 and Joe Heltzel sandwiched a Wheeling goal by Kurt Schenkel in the final minute and a half to pace Conemaugh Valley to an 11-7 scoring fest and clinch the Blue Jays first playoff spot in their six year history with a 9-11-0 record.

Its looks like the drive to see all 65 Varsities may have a slight chance of happening in 2002-2003.........Saturday's game's with Wehheling Park and Conemaugh Valley brought the total to 62 teams with three left............ Norwin we'll need to see this week possibly Trinity and Forest Hills in the playoffs next week !

VALENCIA ~ Canevin has clinched a playoff spot and is working on preparing for the upcoming playoffs. Coach Brian Henderson has done a wonderful job getting the Crusaders back in the playoffs after a two year sabbatical and is now working on teaching his players what it takes to go to the next level including discipline. Canevin would be playing without Justin Holzer, who was suspended for this contest, but will be needed if the Crusaders have hopes of advancing, which has been a tradition. Hampton has been one of the biggest mysteries of the 2002-2003 season, starting off with a 2-6-0 record. Something happened as the Talbots have had a great second half and could be a factor in the upcoming playoffs, which I am sure pleases head coach Craig Clontz. Senior night was celebrated and the underlying message of this senior night was the admiration amongst the players, who have matured into a team that is willing to put in on the line in the trenches, which is critical for any team thinking of a playoff run…..and this is the number one reason Hampton has turned their season around along with the improved play of goaltender Brian Troiano. Canevin had its chances in the first period to grab the lead on the road as Regis McGrath missed on a breakaway in the games opening minute. Both teams had power play opportunities, but Troiano and Canevin’s Patrick Smith kept the game scoreless. With the Crusaders on the power play in the final minute of the period, Troiano robbed Dane Hetland with :01 on the clock and the first period was scoreless. The Hampton goaltender was stealing the show as he stopped Hetland and Pawlos at 11:52. Hampton looked to break out on top as Brandon Kolich hit the post at 8:28 and the Talbots gain some momentum and scored the opening tally as Michael Briston’s shot from a weird angle banked off Smith to give the Talbots a 1-0 lead. The Crusaders came right back as McGrath took a picture perfect pass from Jordan Goff and the game was tied at one apiece. In the third period, Hampton appeared to take the lead as John Bongiovanni’s goal at 10:09 was waved off on a high stick. On the next shift, after Briston won the faceoff, Grant Patterson cut inside the Canevin defender and beat Smith low on the short side and the Talbots had a 2-1 lead. Then with 5:22 remaining, Canevin was whistled for a penalty and coach Henderson was livid and picked up a bench minor putting Hampton on a 5 on 3. Bongiovanni scored on the rebound with 4:58 left for a big insurance goal and a 3-1 lead for the Talbots. Jared Coleman put Canevin back in reach with a goal just 10 seconds later to make the score 3-2. Brian Troiano would have the last say in this game as he stoned Crusader sniper Dane Hetland on a clear breakaway with 2:38 remaining and shut the door the rest of the way for a 3-2 Hampton victory.

HARMARVILLE – Deer Lakes defeated Forest Hills Wednesday night in Johnstown by the score of 10-3 as Matt DiSanti tallied five goals. So coach Al Pawloski was licking his chops at the opportunity to face Mars since they would be without top forwards Bob Finney and Jim Roche, who are vacationing in Colorado. Mars, on the other hand, saw its perfect season go down the tubes last week as Roche, Finney, Bobby Beckert and Steve Meyers were out of town with their amateur teams and the Planets fell to Blackhawk 9-4. Mars had requested a schedule change early in the season, knowing that these players would be out of town and didn’t get a return phone call from the PIHL, which is a common ‘shell game’ tactic if your school is not in the favor of a pathetically run organization. Not to say that I in favor of changing games, which I am not, but when there are at least three dozen games which have been changed by the PIHL, why wasn’t Mars given an opportunity? Well, maybe since they are tied with Serra for the # 1 seed now, that’s all we need to know! Well, enough of that …..people get upset and start writing e-mails when objectivity and honesty surfaces and besides Deer Lakes was here for a hockey game and not another one of ‘those’ boring ‘twisted facts’ editorials, right ? Stop it ! Mars opened up the scoring as Pa Hockey top 25 selection Steve Meyers took advantage of an opportunity to play forward with a goal at 12:23 for a 1-0 lead. The Lancers netminder Roman Drivenosky stopped the Mars onslaught with the best chance coming off the stick of Bobby Beckert with 2:15 remaining, but the big Planet forward would get the final say as he banged home a rebound with :49 seconds left after three cracks to give Mars a 2-0 lead. Bryan Ross kept the high scoring Lancers off the board stopping DiSanti at 10:57. Meyers appeared to go up 3-0 at 7:08 but the goal was whistled down on a high stick. Drivenosky made a nice stop on a Beckert re-direction at 5:52 and the score remained 2-0 until with 2:28 remaining Steve Meyers walked through the DL defense and beat the goaltender on the forehand for his second goal and a 3-0 advantage. DiSanti came right back on a similar goal to Meyers just twelve seconds later to get the Lancers on the board at 3-1. On to the third period and Beckert scored his second goal at 11:45 to put the Planets on top 4-2. Bryan Ross made a splendid save on Andreas Backstrom at 7:45 but the Lancers kept plugging and DiSanti scored a power play goal with 6:39 left and the lead was cut to 4-3. But the night belonged to Meyers and Mars as the senior forward / defenseman took the puck from the center zone and warded off defenders and jammed home a shot on the forehand to give Mars a 5-3 victory and hope for that # 1 seed.

MONROEVILLE ~ Upper St Clair has had a breakthrough season in some respects and a disappointing season in other respects. Kip Guenther’s club has proved it can compete with the best Class AAA has to offer in tying Bethel Park and Meadville and defeating Mt Lebanon and Franklin Regional. The flip side is some of the dreadful defeats to mediocre clubs, which have plagued the Panthers in the standings and comes with the territory associated with a young talented club, which has not fielded a full lineup consistently throughout the season. Penn Hills coach Lou Biancanello would like to have such problems as the once proud program has fallen on hard times of players who go to the school and will not suit up for the Indians or maybe it’s a sign of economics of a sport which is pricing out a lot of people in Interscholastic Hockey. One thing that PH can be proud of is the effort of those players who have suited up and given their best in an otherwise very trying 5-14-1 start. Upper St Clair came out in the first period and dominated the territorial play and this resulted in a Dan Duda goal at 12:14 and a 1-0 lead. Penn Hills answered two minutes later as Jay Gilardo’s slapshot beat Kyle Wolfey through the five hole on the ice. Then with 7:57 remaining, Pa hockey top 5 Freshman selection Kris McDonough’s wrist shot from the right point found its way through traffic and past Kyle Bolte for a 2-1 Panther lead. Penn Hills scored a huge goal with just :02 left in the opening period as Ryan Jones scored to tie the game at two apiece. With USC on the power play early in the second, Jones was in behind the Panther defense and undressed Wolfley on the forehand at 11:59 for a shorthanded goal and a surprising 3-2 Penn Hills lead. After killing off a 5 on 3 shorthanded situation, Upper St Clair used that momentum to mount a charge as McDonough scored with 4:21 left in the 2nd and Ian Joyce put the Panthers ahead on a power play goal with 2:25 remaining. Back came the Indians and Jones completed the hat trick on a third assist from linemate Jay Gilardo and the game was tied again 4-4. On to the third and Jones was now possessed to make this his and the Indians game as the talented sophomore made USC look defenseless on the rebound at 13:13 and PH was back in front 5-4. The Panthers came back as Joyce picked up his second goal on a great shorthanded effort at 10:20 and the game was tied again 5-5. Just when USC looked as if it was gaining momentum and an advantage in the play, Jones struck for # 5 coming out of nowhere to poke a Gilardo feed past the outstretched Wolfley and give the Indians a 6-5 lead with 7:38 remaining. Jay Gilardo added an insurance goal with 2:49 left and Kyle Bolte shut out USC the rest of the way as the Panthers pelted the Penn Hills goaltender with rubber in the games final few minutes making the final count 7-5 in favor of Penn Hills.