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2007 National Invitational Scholastic Showcase HIGHLIGHTS
Sunday - Governor's Cup Final
Niagara Wheatfield 4 North Broward Prep 1
***Please stay tuned for complete wrap-up of NISS***
Sunday - Semi-Finals
Niagara Wheatfield 5 Glenbrook North 3
North Broward Prep 4 New Trier Green 3 [2 OT + SO]
***Please stay tuned for complete wrap-up of NISS***
Bracket Results
Bracket A - Niagara Wheatfield (3-0-0)
Bracket B - North Broward Prep (2-1-0)
North Broward Prep wins the 5th Tiebreaker as Tom Fuller scores in the sudden death shootout over Prairie Ridge. North Broward Prep (9 1/2 pts), Prairie Ridge (9 1/2 pts) and Bethel Park (8 1/2 pts) were all tied at 2-1-0 in the preliminary round.
Bracket C - New Trier Green (3-0-0)
Bracket D - Glenbrook North (3-0-0)
Saturday
Hamilton SE 6 Jesuit College 0
Highlights: Hamilton SE cruises to a 6-0 win over Jesuit College. Ryan Bell stops 23 shots to earn the shutout for HSE and Matt Myers, Alex Dobie and Matt Knafel chip in a goal and assist each to lead the way.
Glenbrook North 1 Mt Lebanon 0
Highlights: Glenbrook North and Mt Lebanon battle to a scoreless tie for 2 1/2 periods and a great goaltender dual between Blue Devils Travis Lisowski and Spartans Will Dodge. GBN's Adam Goldblatt scores with 8:32 to go to give North a 1-0 win over Lebo.
New Trier Green 5 North Allegheny 1
Highlights: New Trier scores five unanswered goals to defeat North Allegheny 5-1. Charlie MAtthews and Will Harris score a goal and an assist for the Trevians.
Holy Ghost Prep 8 St Rita 7 [SO]
Highlights: Holy Ghost Prep caps off a five goal thrid period with a shootout win to erase a four goal deficit built by St Rita. Nick Seravelli scores 4 goals for the Firebirds and St Rita's Chris Cimoch scores a hat trick.
McDowell 5 Gilmour Academy 3
Highlights: McDowell completes an impressive showing at the NISS with a win over Gilmour. Shane Reese scores a hat trick for the Trojans
Prairie Ridge 3 North Broward Prep 2
Highlights: Prairie Ridge Alex Crisci scores with 3:46 to go in regulation to give the Wolves a thrilling 3-2 win over North Broward.
Niagara Wheatfield 8 Meadville 2
Highlights: Niagara wraps up their bracket with an impressive win over the Bulldogs. Nick Melligan scores the hat trick for the Falcons
Bethel Park 6 Fenwick 2
Highlights: Bethel cruises to a 5-0 lead and 6-2 win ove Fenwick. Tom Whetsel and Tyler Trocano score twice each for the Hawks.
New Trier Green 5 Jesuit College 1
Highlights: New Trier breaks open a close 2-1 game with three goals in the third period. The Trevians outshot Jesuit 39-16 and are led by Robert Lovato with two assists.
Hamilton SE 5 North Allegheny 0
Highlights: Hamilton SE blanks North Allegheny on the strength of 3 first period goals. Logan Blackwell scores twice, Scott Gillespie adds three assists and John Holt earns the shutout for the Royals.
Glenbrook North 4 Gilmour Academy 2
Highlights: Glenbrook North rallies from a 2-1 deficit late in the 3rd period with three goals in the final 2:38 to earn a 4-2 win. Dan Vietinghoff scors twice including the game winner, Jared Lowell ties the game on a power play goal and Danny Carroll score for the Spartans.
McDowell 4 Mt Lebanon 2
Highlights: McDowell races to a 3-0 lead and holds off the Mt Lebanon rally to win 4-2. Nick Peterson, Brik Zivkovich, J.T. Conway and Chris Michalak score for the Trojans.
North Broward Prep 2 Bethel Park 1
Highlights: North Broward Prep and Bethel Park play 40 minutes of scoreless hockey. The Eagles Stephen Hamel scores with 9:43 to play and Tom Fuller adds an empty netter. Bethel's Tyler Trocano scores with 1:19 to go but the Hawks fail to gain the equalizer.
Niagara Wheatfield 6 Holy Ghost Prep 5 [OT]
Highlights: Kevin Ogiba completes the hat trick at 3:58 for Niagara Wheatfield to win in overtime. Holy Ghost Prep rallies from a 5-1 deficit Nick Seravelli scores twice for the Firebirds.
St Rita 5 Meadville 4 [Shootout 2-1]
Highlights: Meadville rallies from a 3-1 deficit to tie St Rita 4-4. The Mustangs win the shootout as Jake Ulanski and Chris Cimoch score for St Rita. Charlie Longo scores twice for Rita and Morgan Nickerson scores twice plus in the shootout for the Bulldogs.
Prairie Ridge 2 Fenwick 1
Highlights: Johnny Pottala scores with 2;53 to go in the 3rd period to give Prairie Ridge the victory. Fenwick goaltender Peter Szczepanski holds off the Wolves with a solid goaltending effort in defeat.
Friday
North Allegheny PA 4 Jesuit College Prep Tex 3 [OT]
Highlights: NA's Andrew Black scored his 3rd goal of the game at 2:35 of overtime to defeat Jesuit College. Ryan Mack scored twice for Jesuit College.
Holy Ghost Prep Pa 5 Meadville Pa 3
Highlights: HGP's Thomas Seravelli scored three goals as the Firebirds broke a 2-2 deadlock in the 3rd period to turn back Meadville. Morgan Nickerson scored twice for the Bulldogs.
Bethel Park 3 Prairie Ridge 2 [SO 2-0]
Highlights: Zack Blake and Tommy Whetsel score for Bethel in the shootout and Ben 'Jerry' Garcia pitches a shutout in goal for the Hawks
North Broward Prep 5 Fenwick 2
Highlights: Steven Gutowitz scores twice as North Broward Prep knocks off Fenwick by scoring four unanswered goals including two goals in the final minute and a half of the 2nd period.
New Trier Green 3 Hamilton SE 1
Highlights: After a scoreless opening two periods, New Trier strikes for three goals in the 3rd period as Michael Sullivan, Will Harris and Michael Vail score for the Trevians.
Niagara Wheatfield 7 St Rita 3
Highlights: After spotting St Rita a 3-1 lead, Niagara Wheatfield explodes for six unanswered goals for a 7-3 win. Kevin Ogiba leads the way with a hat trick and Nick Melligan adds a pair and two assists.
Glenbrook North 4 McDowell 2
Highlights: McDowell opens up a 2-0 lead late into the 2nd period, but Glenbrook North erases the deficit with four goals in less than four minutes for a 4-2 victory. Kevin Memolo, Danny Carroll, Matt Vishny and Jared Weiss score for the Spartans.
Mt Lebanon 4 Gilmour Academy 1
Highlights: Mt Lebanon scores four unanswered goals to defeat Gilmour Academy 4-1. James Greeno, Chris Cummings, Jon Wilen and Chris Ford score for the Blue Devils.
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 ~ Niagara Wheatfield [NY] captures the Governor’s Cup over North Broward Prep [Fla]
Niagara Wheatfield entered the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase from the Western New York Large School Club League as a team with a perfect 5-0-0 record in league play to test it’s level of play against some pretty good competition. People who follow the Falcons will tell you that forwards Nick Melligan and Kevin Ogiba come with a pedigree and reputation that has led Western New York to a string of championships in the Empire State Games including in the 2007 games. In their opener against powerful St Rita (28-5-1) of Illinois, the Falcons rattled off 6 unanswered goals for a 7-3 victory, then on Saturday against 2007 Flyers Cup champions Holy Ghost Prep, Niagara surrendered a 5-1 lead giving up 4 goals in the 3rd for a tie game and overcame the Firebirds in overtime 6-5 on a goal by Melligan and then dismantled 8-time Pennsylvania champions Meadville 8-2 in the nightcap. Head Coach Tom Beamish’s roller coaster and resume building ride continued into the Governor’s Cup semi-finals with a thrilling 5-3 victory over Illinois Blackhawk Cup Red State Champions, as the Falcons killed off some late Spartan surges to gain a spot in the finals.
North Broward Prep coach Mel Andrews hails from the State of New York and has been coaching hockey for over 20 years and when the opportunity came to bring North Broward Prep to Jamestown to compete against some excellent competition, the Eagles jumped on a plane and were off to test their 2007 Florida State Finalist and Panthers Cup Champion finishes from a year ago. North Broward Prep opened up with a 5-2 victory over perennial Illinois power Fenwick and then held off 5-time Pennsylvania State Champions Bethel Park in a thrilling 2-1 contest on Saturday morning. This trip got even more interesting on Saturday evening as the tiebreaker system of the NISS was put to the test once again as Bethel Park, Prairie Ridge and the Eagles were all in the hunt for a spot in the Semi-Finals. Bethel Park took care of Fenwick 6-2, but only took 4 points out of a possible five leaving them with 8 ½ points in the 4th tiebreaker. When Prairie Ridge scored late in the 3rd period to defeat North Broward Prep 3-2, both teams ended up at 2-1-0 with Bethel Park with a win and loss each amongst the three teams tied and both had earned 9 ½ points, sending the bracket to a 5th tiebreaker a five player shootout to determine the spot in the semi-finals. The Eagles Tom Fuller redeemed his team for a late penalty in the Prairie Ridge with the clinching goal in the shootout and North Broward marched forward into the Medal Round.
The plot thickened Saturday evening as assistant coach Peter Worrell’s [NHL’r of the Florida Panthers] van keys came up missing at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena and with the Buffalo Sabre’s Rob Ray no where in sight, it was discovered that semi-final opponent New Trier Green was the culprit in the mix-up and thanks to NISS Registrar Larry Kempert, the keys were located and 2007 National Invitational Scholastic Showcase. NBP went on to defeat New Trier Green in a heartstopping shootout 4-3.
Niagara Wheatfield and North Broward Prep battled through the opening period to a scoreless tie as goaltenders Zack Andrews of the Eagles and Mike Slawich of the Falcons made several nice saves.
Niagara went on the games first power play and made it count as Nick Melligan found a rebound to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead at 10:31. Prep’s scoring machine Steven Gutowitz was whistled for a boarding penalty and given a misconduct penalty putting North Broward Prep in a hole at 5:56 of the 2nd period. Wheatfield made that hole even bigger as Nick Melligan scored a goal at 3:17 of the 2nd period on a beautiful wrist shot from the top of the circles to make it 2-0. The Eagles were looking for a break and to cut Niagara’s momentum and they got one as Jake Dauermann’s long shot hit a seem in the glass and came right back to him to deposit into an empty net and cut the lead to 2-1 with a whole period to play with just :40 remaining in the 2nd.
On to the third period and the game was in the balance, but Nick Mulligan showed why he was named the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase Most Valuable player as he took control of this contest almost single-handedly scoring a huge goal with 13:58 and gave Niagara Wheatfield a 3-1 lead. Melligan added the exclamation point with 11:06 to go in the hockey game with a rocket wrist shot up under the crossbar past Zack Andrews to give the Falcons a 4-1 advantage. Goaltender Mike Slawich shut the door on the North Broward Prep offense and Kevin Ogiba added three assists in the hockey game of note and the Falcons claimed the 2007 NISS Governor’s Cup at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena.
2007 National Invitational Scholastic Showcase Governor’s Dozen All-Tournament Team Ø Most Valuable Player o Nick Melligan – Niagara Wheatfield – Forward Ø Mike Slawich – Niagara Wheatfield – Goaltender Ø Zack Andrews – North Broward Prep – Goaltender Ø Nick Shiro – Niagara Wheatfield – Defense Ø Kevin Memolo – Glenbrook North – Defense Ø Matthew Young – New Trier Green – Defense Ø Kevin Ogiba – Niagara Wheatfield – Forward Ø Charlie Matthews - New Trier Green – Forward Ø Danny Carroll – Glenbrook North – Forward Ø Steven Gutowicz – North Broward Prep – Forward Ø Chris Cimouch – St Rita – ForwardØ Logan Blackwell – Hamilton Southeastern – Forward
2007 National Invitational Scholastic Showcase Governor’s Cup Semi-Final ~ Niagara Wheatfield 5 Glenbrook North 3 JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK –
The semi-finals matchup between defending Illinois champs Glenbrook North and 2007 NY Semi-Finalist Niagara Wheatfield opened up like a basketball game with three goals in the first two minutes as Nick Burns gave Niagara 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the contest and then the Spartans Matt Vishny and Danny Carroll scored six seconds apart to give Glenbrook a 2-1 lead. The Falcons Chris Weinholtz tied the game at two apiece on a tap-in with 7:11 to go in the opening period.
Niagara seized the lead in the game as Kevin Ogiba scored twice in the 2nd period at 12:27 and then again with 1:31 to go in the 2nd period to extend the Falcon lead to 4-2. GB North’s Adam Goldblatt scored with 44 ticks left in the middle period to cut it to 4-3 and make it anyone’s hockey game heading to the 3rd period. After GB North attemoted to kill off a 5 on 3 power play in the middle of the 3rd of Niagara’s, their hopes were dashed as Mark Lucatra scored with 3:48 to play to give the Falcons a 5-3 victory and a date with North Broward Prep in the Governor’s Cup finals
2007 National Invitational Scholastic Showcase Governor’s Cup Final ~ North Broward Prep 4 New Trier Green 3 [2 OT + SO] JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK –New Trier Green raced to a 3-0 lead on goals by Robert Lovato, Kevin Hoff and Mark Harris. North Broward Prep rallied to tie the contest on goals by Jake Dauermann, Mat Duncan and the game tying goal by Steven Gutowicz with 1:41 remaining in regulation time. After a scoreless two overtime periods the game went into a shootout.
New Trier’s Mark Harris and NBP’s Steven Gutowicz exchanged goals and the shootout headed to the final shooters. The Eagles Joey Bonacci converted and then North Broward’s Zach Andrews stopped Kevin Hoff to give the Eagles a 4-3 shootout win and trip to the Governor’s Cup final.
2007 Pa Hockey Elite 8 Statewide Rankings
