St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Quigley opened the scoring at 12:49 of the first period with a power play goal, after #44 Matt Mahouski of Carrick was called for roughing at 13:52.  The goal was scored by #16 Grant Faulkner, assisted by #33 Graham Harkins and #3 Josh Marshall.   The Cougars clawed their way back 2 minutes later to tie the game at one apiece when #68 Mitchell Faust scored unassisted at 10:42.  Carrick Forward #19 Nick Derbish knocked in a loose puck around the Quigley net at 7:04 to give his team a one goal lead.  The goal was assisted by #10 Matt Maurice and #44 Matt Mahouski.  The remainder of the first period was back and forth.  Both teams had good scoring chances, but neither could get the puck past the other’s goaltender until #4 Ryan Dolence for Quigley picked up his first goal of the game at :48 to tie the game at the end of Period One at two. Shots on goal at the end of period one were Quigley 15 Carrick 14. The Second Period began slowly. Each team had a power play opportunity but neither capitalized.  Carrick Defensemen #21 Tommy Hanna finally broke the ice at 1:44 while #4 Ryan Dolence was in the penalty box serving a High Sticking minor.  Hanna’s goal was assisted by #6 Steve Nath and Hanna’s defensive partner #14 Ian Gugliuzza.  The goal put Carrick up by a score of 3-2 but the lead was short lived.  Just 27 seconds later #16 Grant Faulkner found the back of the Carrick net for his second goal of the game after a nice pass from #3 Josh Marshall who got the puck from Graham Harkins.  The Spartans were not content with a tie going into the second intermission.  Eight seconds after the following center ice face-off #4 Ryan Dolence notched his second goal of the game with a blistering slap shot that found its way through Carrick goaltender Jimmy Helbig’s pads to give his team a one goal lead going into the ice cut.  Josh Marshall picked up his second assist of the night on the goal by Dolence. Once again the teams played evenly giving up 14 shots each.   Period number three started with The Carrick Cougars down by a goal and desperate to tie the game after giving up a late goal at the end of the second period.  Their desperation paid off just 7 seconds into the third period, when Forward Mitchell Faust took matters into his own hands after receiving a pass from his linemate #7 Jay Kass.  Faust scored the even strength goal to knot the game up at four.  #34 Brian Wagenhofer for the Spartans was penalized for Interference at 12:36 and Tommy Hanna scored his second of the game at 11:12.  The tie breaking goal was assisted by Sophomore Forward #82 Jonathon Larkin.  Carrick Defensemen Ian Gugliuzza accidently caught one of the Quigley players with a High Stick which gave the Spartans the opportunity they needed to get back in the game.  They did not squander the chance as #95 Nathaniel Altman scored a Power Play goal at 7:58 to tie the game at 5.  Altman’s goal was assisted by Faulkner and #13 Jeremy Dolence.  Quigley killed two power plays and Carrick survived a penalty to #15 Eric Kincaid with just 1:13 left in the third period to stretch this exciting game to Overtime.  Shots on goal in the second period were Carrick 6 Quigley 5. 

The OT started with The Cougars killing off the remaining time of the Kincaid penalty and then an Interference minor to team Captain Jay Kass at 6:56.  Carrick and Quigley tightened up their defense allowing only two and four shots respectively.  Once again it was up to the Assistant Captain Mitchell Faust to provide the heroics and come through when his team needed him.  Faust chased a loose puck in behind the Spartan net and was trying to work it in front when he was hit by a Quigley player and knocked into Jeremy Dolence.  Dolence then hit Faust with a cross check drawing a minor penalty and tried to take the big Carrick forward with him to the penalty box by striking Faust with a left.  But Faust just skated away to get his team the chance they needed to end the game.  Dolence was given a second penalty for Roughing and a 10 minute Misconduct.   Faust however was not finished.  He notched his third and the game winning goal at :44.  Matt Mahouski picked up his second assist on the Faust goal.  The win sends the Cougars into Thursday night’s Nailer Cup Final game against the winner of the Morgantown vs. Wheeling Central matchup.

2008 West Virginia State Championship

 Wednesday February 27, 2008 - Wheeling Civic Center 

   Wheeling Park 4 Morgantown 2 

      Read the Wheeling Intelligencer Championship Story http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/506401.html?nav=523

         

 Semi-Finals -

      Wheeling Park 7 University 0

      Morgantown 4 Wheeling CC 0

West Virginia Champions

2007 - Wheeling CC Maroon Knights

2006 - Wheeling Park Patriots

2005 - Wheeling Park Patriots

   Read the Article in the Wheeling Intelligencer

PREFACE

    I want everyone to read this game summary carefully. The funny part about it is that for years, I have been reporting the corruption that exists in this sport and really this shouldn’t be news to anyone reading. What is at stake here is the integrity of the sport, which is continued to be violated by officials in a league who want CERTAIN outcomes for people who are in positions of power politically and grant favors to teams, schools and people with favored status against people who the powers to be do not want to win…..and folks this is the definition of cheating in the dictionary and it’s ruining Interscholastic Hockey in Western Pennsylvania. So before you start writing e-mails and burning the phone lines or writing on forums, the Canevin and Franklin Regional clubs had nothing to do with it and are really both victims of it. And as I discuss this with one of the Canevin people for roughly an hour after the game, he saw it very similarly to what I witnessed and the other 100 people in the stands did as well. It’s a shame, that people pay a lot of money to watch their kids play hockey and put a lot of years in to at least have a chance to compete for something only to watch officials, both administrative and on-ice, take it all away. If you don’t believe me, use your free cell phones and call Woodland Hills and Ford City, who are playing tonight and still trying to figure out why thy played and paid for a whole season of hockey and do not have a clear champion of their division title. What we all came to see was two teams ranked # 1 and # 2 in Class AA play a hockey game and may as well have just been cancelled, but now Franklin will have to play their first playoff game without their top scorer, one of Pa Hockey’s top 25, do you think the referees for this game knew that?

 

 

 Canevin 4 Franklin Regional 0 

Mt Lebanon –    

  Canevin (17-2-2) has had an interesting inaugural year under first year head coach Kevin Zielmanski and finds itself at the top of the Post Gazette Class AA rankings with a Division title under its belt. The Crusaders have run the table in the 2^nd half of the season and have not lost since early December after falling to Montour without their top line in the lineup. This team is an interesting mix of a young group of up and coming players and some veteran leadership with a goaltender Zach Bogden who has filled his role nicely in providing some solid play in between the pipes to lead the way for Canevin.  

      Franklin Regional (17-2-1) has enjoyed a pretty good season under Jim Daugherty with the memory of a Penguin Cup semi-final loss to Thomas Jefferson a year ago ringing in the ears of all of the players who returned from last years team. The Panthers have been able to beat all of the teams behind them, but have yet to beat a team in front of them in the standings, which is cause for concern for the FR faithful, who feel this could be the year they erase 27 years of a Penguin Cup and State Championship drought. A win over Canevin would put the Panthers in the driver’s seat to secure the # 1 seed in the upcoming Penguins Cup playoffs. 

   So before a little more than an intimate gathering at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center, the Crusaders controlled the opening minute of play. Building on the momentum of the good start, the Crusaders cashed in at 10:56 as Josh Daley beat the first defenseman and then threaded a beautiful cross ice pass to Vince Nicolella, who buried it to give Canevin a 1-0 lead. At 7:37 of the first period, the games first power play went to Franklin Regional and then a 5 on 3 at 6:14 for 38 seconds for FR. A nice penalty kill by Canevin of first penalty and poor shot selection for Panthers lead to the kill and at  5:02 Zach Bogden made a nice save on Ryan Crossey from right on the doorstep to preserve the 1-0 lead for Canevin. Anthony Talamo hit post with 11 seconds to go and Chad White had good shot at buzzer, but the score remained 1-0 in favor of Canvein with  Franklin holding the edge in shots 11-8.  

  On to the 2nd period, Franklin Regional had a lot of long shots from the perimeter and no rebound chances including zone time with no results. After the Panthers got another power play at 11:19, they took a bad penalty behind the play to even it up 4 on 4. Then a very good 1-0 hockey game turned into a circus of bad calls giving Canevin more than five minutes of 5 on 3 power play time from an officiating crew that really should be ashamed of their performance in a very important game for both teams. A real weak call at 9:19 and then another one behind the play gave Canevin a 5 on 3 and then another penalty at 8:47 and then another marginal call behind the play at 7:31, would result in over 5 minutes of 5 on 3 power play time in a 1-0 hockey game. A disgraceful display of officiating and even the Canevin folks agreed afterwards that it was horrible officiating and THEY WON THE GAME [So I wasn’t the only one disgusted]. Canevin scored at 6:53 as referee Josh Deliman was in the right position as Frankie Vance’s shot wound up in the air and bounded past James Orr and crossed the line goal to give Canevin a 2-0 lead. After it was all said an done, Franklin Regional was able to survive a situation that was very similar to their game against Thomas Jefferson in the Semi-Finals a year ago. Would this team be able to rebound and show some character or go into a funk, much like they did against TJ.    With 1:55 to go in the 2^nd period, Shane Crossey had a wide open chance and the puck fluttered off his stick wide of the net. Shots in the 2^nd period were Canevin 8 and Franklin  5, with 15 minutes to play in the hockey game and plenty of time for anything to happen.         

   Games sometimes can turn on momentum or missed chances and early in the period At 14:44 Josh Daley missed a golden chance, from point blank range. Franklin Regional was just plain sloppy in their own end as three Panthers had an opportunity to clear the puck and the Canevin defense was able to find a wide open Josh Daley with 14:01 to go in regulation behind the FR defense and he made the most of that second chance and beat Orr on stick side to make it 3-0 and drive a stake through the Panthers and any chance of a comeback. Then with the outcome in hand, Franklin got a 5 on 3 on another bad call at 12:51, and turned right around and took an undisciplined penalty at 10:52, which was coupled with another penalty at 10:24 on Canevin and Franklin Regional took another penalty at 9:37. And I thought I was driving to Mt Lebanon to watch a hockey game between the # 1 and # 2 teams in Class AA and not a circus. With 7:03 to go, Josh Daley banked an attempted cross-ice pass shot off an FR defenseman and behind Orr to make it 4-0. With Canevin well in control of this hockey game at 4-0, the casual observer may be looking to see the resolve of Franklin Regional and see their ability to maintain composure and with 2:52 to go the lost their cool. And the result another 5 on 3 for Canevin and this time there wasn’t a bad call, just a stupid undisciplined hockey for a team looking very disinterested and will ultimately cost them one of their better players for the first round of the playoffs. And people wonder why kids travel out of Pittsburgh to play hockey elsewhere? Poor officiating! To put the icing on the cake, with :03 to go another undisciplined penalty and a pretty dangerous play by for a very frustrated Franklin Regional and the outcome would be Canevin 4 Franklin 0. Shots were Canevin 10 – 6 in the 3^rd period for those of us interested in watching hockey. For Canevin a very big win and a shutout for Zach Bogden to keep the # 1 ranking heading into the playoffs, with a possibility of these two teams maybe meeting again down the road, that is if Franklin Regional is interested in playing hockey any more.     

       $ 1019 = Cost of tonight’s game at Mt Lebanon    

       $ 140 = Cost of pathetic refereeing display tonight    

       $ 100 = Cost per hour at South Park skating rink site of Thursday’s outdoor game         between Mt Lebanon and Bethel Park   

         $  75 = Cost of the post game meal for the ‘King f the Crusaders’ at Quaker Steak and         Lube    

     $ 15 = Cost of Gasoline to get from Murrysville to Mt Lebanon Rec Complex in your favorite          Minivan or SUV     $

…..the Power of the Pen, a Rusty Screwdriver Set needed to write tonight’s ‘totally

    irresponsible’ Game Summary!……………Priceless!

Western Pa Hockey - Open Division Playoffs

   Open Championship  

  WCC   5              WH  4          Overtime    8:30 into OT

  Nailers Cup Finals

        Wheeling CC 5 Carrick 0

   Chiefs Cup Finals

       Woodland Hills  6 Altoona 5 (OT)

          Highlights: Billy Sullivan scores four goals including game winner in OT to lead Wolverines
            to the Chiefs Cup. Jamsey Rossi scored four goals for Altoona.

Tuesday 2/26/08

Nailers Cup Semi-Finals

Carrick 6 Quigley 5 (OT) ***GAME SUMMARIES***
Wheeling Central Catholic 6 Morgantown 2

Chiefs Cup Semi-Finals
Woodland Hills 8 Ford City 4

 Highlights: Billy Sullivan and Zack Brown both had 3 G .Matt Frank and Nate Simon also scored.

   WH led 3-2 after 1 period and broke the game open with 4 tallies in the 2nd period

  Shots on Goal  WH 35  FC 48. Ryan Hast stopped 44 of 48 shots for WH
Altoona 4 Ligonier Valley 1

Chiefs Cup 1st Round
Altoona 5 Greater Johnstown 3 

 Highlights: Julian Fazi and Chad Murray score twice and Derek Mathews adds another as Mountain Lions win over Johnstown
Woodland Hills 6 Hollidaysburg 5 (OT) 

 Highlights:  Billy Sullivan scored after almost 4 minutes of overtime play. Zach Brown and Billy Sullivan both had a hat trick (3G). Sullivan also added 3 assists. Shots Holidaysburg 30, WH 24
Ford City 10 Connellsville 2 

Highlights: Ian Ferguson scored three of his five goals during the first 54 seconds of the third period Sunday night to lead Ford City's hockey team to a 10-2 rout of Connellsville in the first round of the PIHL Open Division playoffs. At the end of the second period, Ford City had a 4-1 lead. The six-goal third period was capped with Keifer O'Neill scoring two goals in a 14-second span. Sunday's win is Ford City's eighth consecutive victory. This is Ford City's first hockey season in 11 years. Each team scored once in the first period. Ford City took control of the game with a three-goal second period. Ferguson, Alex Gladysiewski and Bryan Spangler each scored. Ferguson, a junior at Ford City, also had an assist to go along with his five goals. Ford City's first two goals were on power plays. Cameron Coccia put the Sabers on the board first with 11:54 remaining in the first period. Connellsville tied the game 1:36 later, when Joe Bucci scored off an Eric Bogden pass. Bogden assisted both of the Falcons' goals. Rich Wicker scored Connellsville's second goal late in the third period. Tyler Smith recorded four assists for the Sabers, and O'Neill, a senior from West Shamokin, had two. Gladysiewski, Spangler and Eli Smith also had assists for Ford City (14-6-1). Ford City outshot Connellsville, 31-24. Sabers goalie Joseph Kiehlmeier recorded 22 saves, while Falcons goalie Mark Cable ha

 Ligonier Valley 4 Kiski 1

d 21.

Nailers Cup 1st Round
Morgantown 12 John Marshall 1 

 Highlights: Ryan Wise and Chip Matala score two goals each as Mohawks scalp John Marshall.
Carrick 8 Ringgold 1

 Highlights: Mitchell Faust scores twice and Jon Larkin adds a goal and 3 assists as Carrick pounds Ringgold

 Highlights:
Quigley 10 Taylor Allderdice 4

 Highlights: Graham Harkins and Josh Marshall net hat tricks for Quigley as they ice the Dice

Wheeling CC 7 vs Ambridge 3

Congratulations to the following schools for clinching Division titles

Morgantown Mohawks

Carrick Cougars

Altoona Mountain Lions

Woodland Hills Wolverines (tie)

Ford City Sabers (tie)

Note: Ford City and Woodland Hills tied with the same number of points although Woodland Hills played one less game, so both schools will be recognized by Pa Hockey as Division Champions......Congrats to all and good luck in the Playoffs !

 

 

   Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon will play their regular season finale at the South Park outdoor hockey rink on February 28th at 8:00 PM. Both schools have clinched playoff spots in the upcoming Class AAA Penguins Cup playoffs and will be looking to replicate the Buffalo - Pittsburgh game played on New Year's day.

  The paths of Interscholastic Hockey began 37 years ago when I first met Jamie Cummings, who was a goaltender for Mt Lebanon playing at the Alpine Ice Chalet in the first season. At the time, Mt Lebanon hockey prided itself on defense and great goaltending and that tradition continues today as the # 2 seed Blue Devils prepare to take their run at the 2008 Penguins Cup AAA title. Tonight, another first in Western Pennsylvania High School Hockey as Cummings son, Chris and teammate Robbie Behling [pictured above], owner of eight shutouts this season will take on rival Bethel Park in an outdoor Charity Classic at South Park OUTDOOR rink off Corrigan Road.

   The idea came from the Pittsburgh Penguins / Buffalo Sabres Winter Classic game in January in Buffalo. Blue Devils coach Paul Taibi and Hawks coach Jim McVay headed up the effort to have the game benefit Junenile Diabetes, so the $ 5 admission will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, headed by Jamie Cummings, who son Chris is a diabetic, along with coach McVay and Taibi. Pa Hockey is donating $ 58 to the effort and will be on hand to cover the action !