News and Announcements
The 2008 Keystone State Games are July 25-27 to be played at the York City Ice Center in York, Pa. All Regions will have teams at the Junior Level, Junior Female level, Midget Level and Bantam level. The Keystone Games are a great competition during the Summer to compete for a Gold Medal between the Central Region [Erie/Johnstown/Butler/Indiana/Armstrong/Altoona/Beaver/Somerset/State College] West [Pittsburgh Area], South [Philadelphia Area] and East [Hershey/Harrisburg/Poconos Area].
2008 Tournament Results
Junior Male
East 5 Central 0
West 11 South 0
South 2 Central 0
East 7 West 4
East 8 South 1
West 9 Central 3
GOLD - East
SILVER - West
BROZE - South
Midget
West 3 South 1
South 3 Central 2
South 5 Central 1
East 5 West 1
West 5 Central 2
South 5 East 1
GOLD - South
SILVER - West
BRONZE - East
Bantam
Central 7 East 2
West 5 South 3
Central 5 South 4
East 5 West 1
Central 4 West 2
East 2 South 0
GOLD - Central
SILVER - West
BRONZE - East
Junior Female
East 9 Central 1
South 4 West 2
East 6 West 2
South 4 Central 3 [3 OT]
Highlights: Somerset's Caroline Barth stops 84 of 88 shots in a marathon game.
West 3 Central 2
East 5 South 1
GOLD - East
SILVER - South
BRONZE - West
Canevin 2 Montour 1 (OT)
NEVILLE ISLAND –
Canevin (13-2-1) has had a terrific season under Kevin Zielmanski in his first year with the Crusaders. With wins over West Allegheny twice, the Crusaders appear ready to challenge for the Penguins Cup in 2008. A pretty young team with some crafty veterans and adequate goaltending is a good reason why the Crusaders are a close # 2 ranking behind Latrobe. Canevin is looking to finish strong in the regular season and wrap up a top 4 seed for the playoffs and could nail down a 2nd seed with a win over Franklin Regional, should the Crusaders run the table.
Montour (8-6-1) is part of the pack of teams that fall behind West A, Latrobe, Franklin and tonight’s opponent Canevin. The Spartans are working toward a possible # 5 or # 6 seed in the Penguins Cup playoffs, which could land them in a second round playoff game against one of the top 4. Montour has rebounded from a disinterested first half of the season with big wins over Canevin, Kittanning and Peter Twp in a modest streak for Head Coach Dan Siegel. The Spartans would love to put another notch on their belt by defeating the Crusaders for a 2nd time this season.
So before and intimate gathering of the ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ and always ‘Concerned Citizens of Canevin’ the two rivals squared off. At 12:42 of the 1st period Montour went on the Power play that was killed by the Crusaders. Montour earned a a 1-0 lead at 3:19 of the opening period as Steve Schott took a pass from behind net from Michael Harrington and buried it past Zack Bogden. A Canevin Power play at 2:31 was killed by Montour.
In the 2nd period Canevin went on the ccipower play at 7:05 and again at 5:06 but could not score. At 3:32 of the 2nd a Montour Power play and the game remained 1-0. At 1:38 Vince Nicolella just missed after set up by Cam Zappi and Canevin went back on the power play to no avail, but Canevin had significant pressure in the closing seconds but was unable to score.
Early in the Third Period at 13:16 to go Canevin Power play and this time at 11:30 of the period Vince Nicolella scored on a 2nd rebound burying a shot low to the glove side of Scott Tapler to tie the score at 1-1. At 9:41 of the period, Canevin had another power play, but could not capitalize. Another man advantage at 7:21 for Canevin and Montour was able to kill it off and the score remained 1-1. With 4:51 to go, Canevin got a little over zealous clearing the front of the net and put the Spartans on the power play, but they couldn’t score. With 3:12 to go and a delayed penalty, Vince Nicolella had a wide open net and missed a great chance to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead. Josh Daley hit the post at 1:51 after a rebound. Bogden made a real nice glove save n Michael Harrington with 35 seconds to go in regulation.
In overtime, Canevin had a lot of chances and near misses and then Josh Daley found the puck behind the net a threaded a nice pass to John Faciano # 20 who snuck a wrist shot past Scott Tapler for the game winner and give Canevin a hard earned 2-1 overtime win. When the chips were down, Canevin came up with another level to their game and never let Montour off the mat, which could be a tell tail sign of the Crusaders rise to prominence in Class AA and for the Spartans a very tough setback.
Franklin does enough to win and defeat West Allegheny 4-2
Franklin Regional 4 West Allegheny 2
CORAOPOLIS –
West Allegheny (13-4-0) just completed its roughest stretch of the season with losses to Franklin Regional and Canevin back to back to fall out of a top two spot and back to 4th ranked in a Class AA that has only really four teams in contention at this point to contend for a Penguins Cup. The Indians have rebounded with a win over Indiana and would like to send a message to Class AA, that West A intends to contend in March and a great way to start wold be to knock off Franklin Regional, which is the 5th and final game against the other top 3 contenders. Head Coach Norm Cook will also need to establish depth in the playoffs to compete for the Class AA Penguins Cup.
Franklin Regional (13-2-1) is ranked # 3 in the latest Post Gazette Class AA rankings and after losing to Kittanning a week ago after surrendering another third period lead similar to their only other loss to Latrobe. Head Coach Jim Daugherty is looking for his club to adopt the killer instinct it displayed in their first meeting with West Allegheny where the Panthers outshot the Indians by a wide margin and walked away with a 4-0 victory. If the Panthers hope to contend for a Penguins Cup a little over a month away, they must be able to put teams away in the third period when they have the lead. The loss at Kittanning was just another reminder that this team despite its record has its flaws, which may become exposed in March.
Good action in the opening minutes as Franklin’s Eugene Mack hit the post and then Ryan Kumpfmiller was stopped by FR’s Anthony Livecchi. At 12:40 of the opening period, the puck was forced to the front of the net and Ryan Crossey got a freebie tap in to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. At 7:23 of the period, Ryan Crossey had a great chance on a breakaway, but Kyle Mortimer made the save. A little over a minute later at 6:16, Shane Corssey made a terrific play to keep the puck in the zone after a rebound was kicked out near the blue line and Crossey raced down the slot amnd beat Mortimer to make it 2-0 at 6:16. Franklin could not capitalize on the man advantage at 5:49 and the scored remained 2-0 after one as the Panthers outshot West A 11-5.
On to the second period and Kyle Mortimer made a terrific toe save stop on Anthony Talamo after a real nice setup by Ryan Crossey at 11:22. West Allegheny would answer as Jeff Cupelli took a lead pass from Ryan Kumpfmiller and beat Livecchi to cut the lead to 2-1 in favor of Franklin. West Allegheny had a chance to tie it on the power play at 10:16, but Franklin had an even better scoring opportunity on a 3 on1 at 8:32 but was unable to even register a shot.Mortimer made another great save on Ryan Crossey, which seemed to lift his team and the Indians responded by turning up the heat in the Franklin end in an effort to tie the game. West A took a very bad penalty with 1:46 to play in the period and the Panthers made them pay as Eugene Mack walked the Indians defense and buried a wrist shot with 57 seconds to play in the period for a huge goal and an even bigger momentum swing as FR outshot West A 9-8 in the 2nd period.
Officials can have a significant influence in a hockey game if they want to and if Franklin wasn’t noticing, the same official who stuck it to them in their Semi-Final loss to Thomas Jefferson was up to his old tricks again turning a pretty good hockey game into a fiasco with a West Allegheny power play at 12:52, another one at 11:09 and a 5 on 3 at 10:07 of the third period. Some of the penalties were marginal calls and lead to a significant shot advantage for the Indians in the third period. Franklin Regional penalty killing and some poor West A shot selection led to the Panthers killing off the flurry. With 6:57 to go, Anthony Livecchi robbed Tyler Fitzgerald and FR and its goaltender stood tall in the unfriendly confines of the Airport Ice Arena. Eugene Mack, on a great individual effort won a battle for a loose puck at 4:47 and slid it under Kyle Mortimer to make it 4-1 Panthers. West Allegheny’s Justin Haskins chipped a loose puck over Livecchi with 3:57 to go to make it 4-2 and Franklin held on for their lives the rest of the way for a 4-2 win. Not exactly a convincing third period, but found a way to kill off some bad penalty calls and a very good West A power play, which is a recipe for winning in the playoffs, which will be tested a little over a month from now.
Somerset holds off McCort rally in the third for huge Class A win !
JOHNSTOWN –
Over the mountain and through the woods to the friendly confines of the Cambria County War Memorial we went on a cold and blustery Thursday evening for a double header with Serra Catholic and the mighty Hilltoppers of Westmont and the nightcap between Somerset and Bishop McCort. The opener was a tough pill for King Arthur’s Hiltoppers as they were thumped by a pretty good Serra club 10-0. Much of the game was a good time to debate some hockey with a couple of 6 year old Mites who will be the future as Lane McQuillan, son of the Hilltopper Head Coach and Matthew Sliva, son of the Eagle Head Coach were bringing me up to speed of the happenings of the Warriors and Badgers, their teams. A breath of fresh air in what has become a pretty stale hockey community over the past five years and you wonder what lies ahead for these two youngsters in seven years, when they don the uniforms of Westmont and Serra.
A great example of this is Bishop McCort, who for the past 15 years have dominated the Class A landscape along with Serra Catholic. The Crimson Crushers made it to the 2005 Pennsylvania State final, only to lose to Penncrest in a very good hockey game. So it has been nine years since the Crimson Crushers have tasted victory in the States and the toll on the Johnstown Hockey community as a whole has been very noticeable. Once proud and strong hockey programs such as Forest Hills, Johnstown, Richland Cambria and even Westmont Hilltop have become minor players in the Penguins Cup chase. McCort, this season with five losses is off to one of its worst starts in their history going back nearly 20 years at 9-5-0.
The reason is pretty simple and was one of the fears of the Unification, which is now known as the PIHL. The Open Division, which is a conglomeration of co-op schools, West Virginia and some pure schools with no home has cause the scheduling of Serra Catholic for six trips to Johnstown and is absolutely unnecessary. Furthermore, the cost structure in the PIHL is way out of line and the Board of Governors of the league is unable to have ANY influence nor impact on a League Administration that is out of control, been around way too long and has its hands on all of the money that they are hemorrhaging from the schools, many whom can no longer afford to pay and are losing players fast to amateur and travel hockey, because of the poor product on the ice in the PIHL.
Somerset, who plays their home games nearly an hour away in Johnstown at Planet Ice has a program which is teetering again on extinction. The Eagles advanced to the Penguins Cup one time in 2004 and this year’s squad has rebounded from an 0-5 start with seven wins in their past eight games, including a win over Serra Catholic, and is right back in the playoff hunt at 7-6-0. Head Coach Matt Cavrack’s Eagles, after being bounced around in Class AA and then exiled to the Open Division, after their only Penguins Cup appearance, last beat Bishop McCort back in 2004, were out to avenge an early season loss to the Crimson Crushers.
McCort broke out on top in the opening period as Matt McIntyre scored the opening goal of the contest. Somerset tied the game late in the period on a goal by Hunter Specht.
Chad James gave the Crimson Crushers a 2-1 lead early in the 2nd period. Back came the Eagles to tie the game again as Craig Eddy took a drop pass from Alladin Faily and blistered a wrist shot past Danny Mock and we were tied at two apiece. The two culprits were back at it again with 5:10 to go in the period as Faily patiently waited on a two on one and feed the puck across to Eddy who buried it to give Somerset it’s first lead 3-2. The Eagles had an opportunity on the 5 on 3, but McCort killed it off prior to the ice cut.With 13:47 remaining in the third period, Craig Eddy completed the hat trick beating the McCort defense with speed and Mock to give the Eagles a 4-2 advantage. Back came the Crushers as Chad James came down the left side and lofted a wrist shot high over the glove hand of Somerset’s freshman goaltender Caroline Barth to cut the lead to 4-3 with 10:37 to play. With 6:55 to go, Danny Mock came up big for McCort stopping Eddy, but a half a minute later at 6:25 Eddy would score again through the 5-hole to make it 5-3. The Crushers lost their composure and took a couple of untimely penalties digging a bigger hole, but Todd Thomas had other ideas shorthanded as he danced with the puck just inside the Somerset zone and buried a wrist shot up high over the glove of Barth and McCort was backing the game 5-4. The Crushers pulled the goaltender but could not get the equalizer as Somerset held on for a 5-4 victory over Bishop McCort.
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