News and Announcements
Mt Lebanon holds off USC for 3-2 win
CASTLE SHANNON –
Thirty-Seven years ago, in April 1970, the Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair High School Hockey Clubs played a hockey game at the Alpine Ice Chalet in Swissvale. Along with Allderdice, Churchill, Penn Hills and West Mifflin North, these schools began a journey for Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey. Of those programs Churchill, Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair own two Pennsylvania State Championships in their history and only Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair remain in the hunt for Pennsylvania’s premier championship the Class AAA title.
Mt Lebanon was the last of those schools to reach the promised land in 2006, when they exorcised 30 years since their last Pennsylvania AAA title and as lore would have it Head Coach Paul Taibi, invited Blue Devil patriarch Mickey McDermott to offer a few kind words to the Mt Lebanon players prior to that championship victory and that is a great tradition of Mt Lebanon hockey as the present always embraces the past teams and traditions. The current Blue Devils are again competing and part of the process of channeling their efforts toward the Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships in March. The Blue Devils spend their off time competing against the nations best teams as they did a week ago in Jamestown, New York at the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase and went toe to toe with the defending Illinois State Champions Glenbrook North in a 1-0 thriller and this type of competition helps Lebo to excel as they did with a 1-0 victory in Meadville Monday night and to be very comfortable in close games against the competition in front of them.
Upper St Clair hockey picked up their 500th win in 2007 and the program continues to dangle in the upper Escalon of Class AAA, but the roadblocks of Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon continue to stand in the way of aspirations for the Panthers. Head Coach Dave ‘the Boy Wonder’ Fryer and his staff including long-time Shaler coach Ron Steedle and former Gateway head Lou Biancanello are trying to point the USC program in that direction. After a 4-0-0 start, the Panthers have lost three straight to # 2 Bethel Park, # 4 Meadville and # 1 Pine Richland as they prepared to host # 3 Mt Lebanon in a torid stretch of the Class AAA schedule. The inconsistencies that have plagued the program over the past 15 years of lack of commitment to Upper St Clair with more focus on their of key players needed to compete with the deep Pine Richland and capture audiences commanded by Lebo, Bethel and Meadville.
The problem exists with the Kool Aid with an Investment Junior and Midget programs, who charge between $ 6000 and 15,000 to these families and hold them hostage through their 23 man rosters and the threat of sitting them during their weekend games if they miss practice for a High School game are the main culprit. I will have an editorial on this upcoming, but folks this is extortion. Furthermore, the PIHL in their infinite wisdom continues to schedule Friday Night games between top teams, which are reduced to less than full squads and therefore has had a direct effect on lack of attendance as their product is less than stellar because many of the top players are not participating. The last time I checked, one player from Mt Lebanon or Upper St Clair has made it to the National Hockey League in 37 years and that would be Ryan Malone, whose number was retired by the club and oh by the way, played for the Panthers and graduated from USC.
The opening period was dominated by Mt Lebanon, but it was USC goaltender Max Daurora who stood tall and turned aside several Lebo scoring chances including all 11 shots. The game was scoreless after one before a very nice crowd at Ralph and Alf’s Castle and a virtual Who’s Who night with many notables in attendance.
On to the second period and the Blue Devils ramped up their attack with several power plays and USC was bending but not breaking as the Panthers were able to get a little bit of pressure of their own on Mt Lebanon’s towering goaltender Robbie Behling.
The Blue Devils finally struck after a great play by Taylor Phillips at the center point to leap in the air and keep the puck in the zone, Brandon Bianco found a loose puck at the left of Daurora and deposited it past the Panther goaltender for a 1-0 Lebo lead at 7:41 on the power play. Dan Roman extended the Blue Devil lead taking a Jame Greeno feed and whipping a wrist shot high over the glove hand over Max Daurora with 2:36 to go to make it 2-0 and Mt Lebanon head to the ice cut with a 2-0 lead and 24 –10 shot advantage.
It was gut check time for Upper St Clair and the first five minutes of the third period was all St Clair as at 13:23 James Kline took a beautiful cross ice saucer pass from freshman Barrett Keib and slid it under Behling to cut the lead to 2-1. The Panthers came right back less than a minute later at 12:26 as this time Kline threw the puck to the net and Rocky Cersosimo pounced on the rebound and beat Behling scoring to tie the game at two apiece with plenty of time to go. Now for Upper St Clair, losers of three straight a great opportunity to make a statement and knock off Mt Lebanon and a chance to build some momentum toward turning the corner. Mt Lebanon has been here in these games and settled by solid shifts in the middle of the third period to thwart the USC upset bid. The dagger came with 6:32 to go in the third period as Upper St Clair failed to clear the zone after several attempts and the puck ended up on the stick of Lebo defense Mike Roman, who rifle a slapshot low to the glove side past Daurora to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead. Mt Lebanon dug in and built a wall in front of Robbie Behling, who shut the door on Upper St Clair and earned a hard fought 3-2 victory. Mt Lebanon moves to 9-1-0 and Upper St Clair falls to 4-4-0 and could be a playoff match-up down the road and unless things change dramatically on either side, a very similar result will occur.
Shorthanded Pine Richland jumps on Bethel 6-1
BETHEL PARK –
Pine Richland Head Coach Bobby Kennedy has won three Pennsylvania State Championships, one as a player with Upper St Clair in 1980 and two as a coach including Pine Richland a year ago over Haverford and in 1997 with Bethel Park. As history would have it, the Hawks have gone on to win five Pennsylvania Class AAA titles including four under current Head Coach Jim McVay. Kennedy was paraded around after the first ever State title with Bethel and then moved on to his alma mater Upper St Clair and then to Shadyside Academy prior to heading to Pine Richland. The Rams are undefeated since moving to Class AAA and have been virtually unchallenged by the competition rolling up 45 goals in seven games and only yielding 8. Implant goaltender Dan Szymanski has fit into the PR plans nicely and just adds to the aspirations of a March run.
Bethel Park has quietly started off the season at 6-0-0 and now heads into a stretch of games with Pine Richland, Mt Lebanon and Meadville over the next week. Head Coach Jim McVay’s squad is depleted with injuries to key players including one of his leading scorers Matt Quigley, which will add to his challenge ahead. The Hawks recently competed in the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase in Jamestown, New York and fared the best of the five Western Pa teams, narrowly missing out on a Medal Round appearance for the second straight year. Bethel Park has improved immensely since the season’s opening bell and looks to be one of those teams that will be in the run when the Penguins Cup chase begins in March.
Bethel Park was the aggressor early on in this contest between the Pa Hockey Elite 8 Class AAA # 1 ranked and # 3 ranked teams in Pennsylvania as they hemmed up the Rams in the opening minutes. As we have become accustomed to with Pine Richland, when they strike they score and Dylan Trombetta was the culprit as he collected a rebound and deposited it behind Hawk goaltender Ben ‘Jerry’ Garcia at 12:54 to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. The game was pretty evenly played in the opening period with PR having an 11-7 shot advantage.
Bethel had an opportunity to tie the game on the power play at 11:29, but PR’s Bryan Watt had the best scoring opportunity at 9:58 and Garcia made a nice stop. The Hawks tied the contest shortly after the man advantage as Zach Blake’s blistering shot from the right point beat Dan Szymanski at 9:22 and we were tied at one apiece. The Rams got a power play at 8:02 and regained the lead as Evan Goetz converted a centering pass from Dylan Trombetta to give Pine Richland a 2-1 lead a 6:24. Bethel Park received another great opportunity with a power play at 5:37 and then a 5 on 3 at 4:44, but Pine Richland’s Dylan Trombetta had other ideas as he stripped the Bethel defense and raced 120 feet and undressed Garcia with a great move on the forehand for a huge turning point in the hockey game and a 3-1 Ram lead with 4:24 to go in the 2nd. Bethel had another man advantage with 1:44 to go and held an 11-7 shot advantage in the second period, but the damage was done as it was 3-1 after two periods.
Pine Richland used its momentum from killing off the penalties and surviving the Bethel attack in the second to catapult themselves to an easy win in the third period. Evan Goetz made it 4-1 on a backhand goal after a nice give and go with Dylan Trombetta at 9:28 for another shorthanded goal. Reed Loney scored on a centering feed from Bryan Watt at 8:59 and then Evan Goetz closed it out with an exclamation point goal with 1:43 remaining in the contest to make the final count 6-1. An impressive win on the road for Pine Richland against a Bethel Park team that has only been defeated at home once in three years to 2006 State Champions Mt Lebanon. Considering Brandon Saad and George Saad were not in the lineup, it only adds to the victory, but one must remember that Pine Richland has tremendous depth and many players fighting for playing time on the top three lines, which will make the hill to climb for Class AAA very steep come March, but as we have seen the last three consecutive years, the favorite has been knocked off in the Penguins Cup twice. This is why the Rams are ranked # 1 in the State of Pennsylvania and March should be interesting, stay tuned!
2007 Pa Hockey Elite 8 Statewide Rankings
NA claws their way to a close 3-1 win over previously undefeated Seneca
North Allegheny 2 Seneca Valley 1
CRANBERRY –
North Allegheny exorcised 35 years of demons for their program in 2007 by winning the Pennsylvania Class AAA title over Holy Ghost Prep. The State Championship was part of a process started by the teams the preceding two seasons that lost in the Penguins Cup final to eventual champions Bethel Park in 2005 and Mt Lebanon in 2006. Head Coach Jimmy Black, who won the State Title at Class AA with Pine Richland in 2006 repeated the feat at North Allegheny last season. The Tigers had not had a terrific start at 3-2-0 and they didn’t last year either, but sometimes it’s more how you finish the season than begin. NA will test it’s valor nationally in the 2nd National Invitational Scholastic Showcase in Jamestown, New York against Illinois powerhouse New Trier Green, Indiana State Finalist Hamilton Southeastern and Texas Semi-Finalist Jesuit College Prep and do so having to travel back to Cranberry Friday Night for a PIHL game with State College, in a league that has trouble scheduling roughly 20 games in 18 weeks and would not permit the Tigers to re-schedule the game.
Seneca Valley is currently 4-0-0 and ranked # 2 in the latest Post Gazette/ Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings. The Raiders have defeated Bethel Park (St Margaret’s Fall Face Off) and McDowell of note last week. The Seneca program has risen from the ashes of no varsity program a couple of years back to strong numbers in development and a lot of depth for Head Coach Mike Schall. The Raiders are a squad who in my opinion has been building toward joining the club of Class AAA’s Elite programs such as Meadville, Mt Lebanon, Bethel, and now North Allegheny, who are now in pursuit of Pine Richland who appears to be a notch above the AAA competition. So this game on the schedule is a measuring stick and a rivalry game and possibly could be a playoff matchup later as these teams point toward the Penguins Cup playoffs in March.
At 11:33 of the opening period, Seneca Valley would have the first opportunity on the power play and NA would kill it off. The teams were back and forth with limited scoring opportunities until with 1:32 Matt Jarrett’s blistering wrist shot from top of circle found its way over the glove hand of Max Richards for a 1-0 Raider lead..
Early in the second period at 14:33, NA had a 5 on 3 power play to tie the score and Seneca Valley killed it off and went right back on the power play at 12:33, but NA’s Dylan Rohar dazzled the Seneca defense forcing a penalty at 11:21. The Tigers went on an abbreviated power play and made it count at 10:18 as Donnie Lewis sped down the left side and beat Ryan Schutte on the short side to tie the game at one apiece. Seneca Valley went back on the power play at 7:55, but had trouble getting out of their zone due to some effective penalty killing by the Tigers. The Raiders would have the games next good chances as with 4:43 to go in the period Brandon Platt stopped by Max Richards on the breakaway and then Tyler Rose’s shot rang off the right post at 4:31, but the score remained 1-1. With 1:45 to play in the period, Ryan Schutte robbed Brett Schindler with a glove save to keep the game knotted.
North Allegheny started the third period with roughly a minute on the power play but could not convert. With 8:49 to go Brett Schindler wound his way through the Raider defnse and lofted a wrist shot past Ryan Schutte to give NA a 2-1 lead. Seneca Valley tried to build pressure to tie the game in the closing minute and pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker and with :23 to go and the Raiders with the puck on the doorstep in Seneca Valley and the whistle blew and a penalty call on the Raiders ended Seneca Valley’s chance to tie game. North Allegheny salted the a pretty big with with a Bo Schwab empty netter with :15 to play and held on for a 3-1 victory over the Raiders.
Mars holds off Quaker Valley and clearly establishes # 1 ranking!
Mars 5 Quaker Valley 2
CRANBERRY –
Mars (6-0-0) is off to a quick start under first year Varsity coach Tim Coleman, who has been with the program for a few years. The Planets dispatched Serra Catholic 3-0 last week and are holding down a # 1 ranking in the Post Gazette / Pa Hockey Poll for week 5 and as we know that really doesn’t mean much at this point of the season, but for Mars who hasn’t been ranked # 1 a whole lot in the history of their program, I am sure the eyebrows are raised when anyone mentions it. The Class A schedule is filled with lot’s of yawners, but when you say Quaker Valley, it gets even more attention.
Quaker Valley (6-1-0) is off to another nice start and after being ranked # 1 for the entire 2006-07 campaign, they are testimony that rankings don’t mean a whole lot. After the Quakers were dispatched in last year’s Penguins Cup Class A final by Freeport after being everyone’s consensus choice to repeat as State Champions, I am sure Kevin Quinn will tell you that they still have a little sting. Back to work for a program, that year in and year out for the last nine years has been a part of the Class A chase, QV now is taking a little different role in 2007-08 and I am sure they are not telling anyone. You see sometimes just being a part of the process of contending is something that the Quakers are used to and Mars is just beginning to be a part of with last years Semi-Final appearance and don’t be surprise if these two teams meet again in March, when the playoff bell rings.
After some nice crisp play in the opening period and no score at 4:44 of the opening period Colin South found an opening and took a nice centering feed from George Jackson and buried a shot shot past Greg Lewis to give QV a 1-0 lead. Mars went on the power play at 4:10, Zack Taylor made some solid stops and his defense contributed some very nice blocks in front of him as the Quakers held a 1-0 lead after one period.
Mars rebounded early in the 2nd and Mike Mazzota forced a turnover and Ian Finney made it count beating Zach Taylor over the glove side to tie the game at one apiece at 13:28. Quaker Valley turned up the heat and had a very good chance to go ahead as Rob Balotsky’s shot from the slot fluttered and Greg Lewis made the save with 8:06 to go. Great hustle by John Chilcots drew a penalty and put the Quakers on the power play at 5:31. Mars played opportunist at 4:59 as Mike Heltman won the puck out of the corner and beat Taylor on the backhand for a shorthanded goal and a 2-1 Mars lead. Then after the Planets killed the penalty, they scored again at 3:14 as Tyler Whiteford scored on a wrist shot that handcuffed Zach Taylor to make it a 3-1 count.
On to the third period and Quaker Valley got a break with 12:06 to go as Lee Drake’s long shot on the ice found it’s way through traffic and past the stoick side inside the post to cut the Mars advantage to 3-2. Lewis made a real nice stop on QV’s George Jackson from on the doorstep at 11:19. Mars answered as Ryan Magdenic’s shot from the left point down on the ice at 9:58 beat Zach Taylor through the 5-hole and crushed all of the momentum built by the Quakers in the first five minutes of the period to give the Planets a 4-2 lead. Colin South beat the Mars defense on the power play, but could not beat Greg Lewis on the backhand at 7:47. The Quakers would get a golden opportunity at 7:33 with a 5 on 3 for a minute and five seconds. Mars dug in and killed off the penalties led by some great work by Mike Heltman to limit the high-powered Quaker chances. Mars put another dagger in the Quaker chances as MattWingert re-directed a Brady Sipe shot from the left point with 3:58 to go to make it 5-2 in give Mars a firm grip on this hockey game. Mars went on to hold off QV over the final minutes of the contest and took a stranglehold on the # 1 spot in Class A by defeating its two main foes who will challenge the Planets for the 2008 Penguins Cup.
