East Region

SPECIAL REPORT FROM ERIE TIMES NEWS By JASON SNYDER Contributing writer By completing one shutout, McDowell goalie John Cleary earned another. Cleary capped a perfect career against hockey rival Cathedral Prep on Wednesday with the Trojans' 6-0 PIHL West win over the Ramblers at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. It was the senior goaltender's sixth win in six tries against the Ramblers (13-24-1, 8-14-0 PIHL), whose playoff chances are all but gone with eight straight losses to end the season. Behind Cleary's play in net and two goals and an assist by junior Brandon Oathout, the Trojans (19-15-1, 12-7-1 PIHL) put two potentially dangerous games against Prep behind them. "Every time we play them, I seem to get hot," said Cleary, who had 22 saves. "It might just be that Prep-McDowell rivalry that makes you want to give everything you can." For the second straight game, McDowell took a period to get going offensively, leading just 1-0 after the first off a goal by Nick DiSanti. Ryan Adams opened a four-goal second period for the Trojans with an unassisted goal off a blast from outside the blue line. Oathout, who assisted DiSanti's goal, scored on back-to-back breakaways. "(I thought), let's just bury one and put them away," Oathout said. "It was senior night and we wanted to do it for those guys and we came out and did it." Trevor Shaw and Tyler Nolf closed the Trojans' scoring. McDowell outshot Prep 45-22 and killed four Rambler power plays. Prep's biggest scoring opportunity came in the first period when a bouncing puck appeared to be on its way into the net. "Ed Maras basically saved my shutout for me," Cleary said. "He made a great dive across the net to stop the puck, and if it wasn't for that, it could have been a 1-1 game and anything could have happened." McDowell coach Paul Mancini was happy to see Cleary earn the shutout after he missed it with a last-minute goal by the Ramblers last week. "John's a rock for us," Mancini said. "We kind of owed him one after the last game. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen again." McDowell, already a lock for the PIHL postseason, still must face powers Upper St. Clair and Meadville before its playoff seeding is determined. "We're on a bit of a hot streak now,"Oathout said. "We beat Fox Chapel in overtime and now these guys twice, so hopefully we'll carry the momentum on the road."

Team Pittsburgh Head Coach Paul Taibi of Mt Lebanon has been selected to guide Team Pittsburgh at the 2006 Chicago Showcase. Coach Taibi has led the Blue Devils to a perfect 22-0-0 regular season in Class AAA heading into the 2006 Penguins Cup playoffs and 2006 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships at RMU Island Sports Center on April 8th. The 22nd Chicago Showcase will be held on April 19 - 23, 2006 at the Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville, Illinois. The tournament features teams from all over the United States and Team Pittsburgh will compete TOP A Bracket [J.J. O'Conner] with the likes of Minnesota, New York , and California and others. A year ago Team Pittsburgh went on a near magical run losing in the Semi-Finals to Team Minnesota. This tournament is a great opportunity to be seen by Junior A, Division 1 and NCAA Collegiate and ACHA Division 1 scouts and an opportunity to further a players high school career into a higher education and also continue playing hockey. Tryout information will be posted as soon as it becomes available. ***THE 2006 Team is posted*** Wednesday April 19, 2006 Team Pittsburgh 7 Team New York 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Pittsburgh breaks open a 2-1 game in the third period with five unanswered goals. Chris Urso scores a pair and Shane Ferguson adds a goal and 3 assists and Josh Mandic and Josh Fodor notch a goal and two assists each. Brendan Conlon also scores a 3rd period tally. Team Philadelphia 12 Team Kentucky/West Virginia 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Ian DeLong scores four goals and Kent Kovalsky adds three assists as Philly gives Kentucky/WV a rude welcome to the Chicago Showcase. Thursday April 20, 2006 Team South 10 Team Kentucky/West Virginia 4 Team Connecticut 4 Team Philadelphia 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Ian DeLong breaks Connecticut's shutout bid in the thrid period Team Pittsburgh 5 Team California 1 ****GAME SUMMARIES**** Friday April 21, 2006 Team Philadelphia 5 Team South 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Philly gets the hat trick from Kevin Burke and singles from Ian DeLong and Trey Milstead to win 2nd game of the tournament. Team Pittsburgh 4 Minnesota 3 ****GAME SUMMARIES**** Saturday April 22, 2006 Consolation Round Team Philadelphia 5 Team Ohio 5 HIGHLIGHTS: Colin Henny, Chris Gaunt, Ben Souders, Trey Milstead, Trey and Daniel Altland score as Philly goes 2-1-1 in the 2006 Showcase Quarter-Finals Pittsburgh 4 Tri-State 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** New Jersey 5 Northern New England 4 [OT] Minnesota 6 Illinois 5 [OT] North Dakota 4 Wisconsin 2 Sunday April 23, 2006 Semi-Finals Team New Jersey 6 Team Minnesota 5 [OT] Team North Dakota 5 Team Pittsburgh 4 ****GAME SUMMARIES**** Finals New Jersey 3 North Dakota 2 Follow all of the actions of the 2006 Chicago Showcase with Pa Hockey and look for a complete recap Monday on Pa Hockey

Canevin 4 Peters Twp 3 SOUTHPOINTE – When we last saw Peters Twp it was in the form of Peters 66, who were dropping an 8-4 decision to Kittanning. Coach Rick Tingle’s squad would have five more players present this evening for a tilt with Canevin tied with the Crusaders with 13-5-0 and 12-4-2 records coming into tonight’s game. Canevin had a great opportunity to pull ahead of Peters in the standings last Friday night, but dropped a 4-1 decision to Moon. At stake tonight is an opportunity to keep pace with Montour and capture the inside edge on the third seed in the upcoming playoffs, since both teams hold the tiebreaker over the Spartans by virtue of winning contests earlier in the season. Goaltending set the early tone as Canevin’s Josh Daley was stopped by Mike Mastracci at 12:34 and Peter’s Dustin Roux was stopped by Joey Ziemanski at 10:09. The Indians struck first as Jeff Hannan backhanded a backdoor pass from Gerry Raymond past the Canevin goaltender at 6:47. Less than a minute later, Brandon Tingle cashed in on a quick shot at 5:52 off a cross ice pass from Dustin Roux. Mastracci made a diving save on Josh Daley with 2:18 left in the opening period and Peters displayed great penalty killing on a 5 on 3 late in the first. On to the second period and both teams played an even period through the opening ten minutes. The Crusaders cut the lead with 2:47 left as Jason Rogerio scored on a slapshot that snuck by the stick side of Mike Mastracci to make it 2-1. Peters came right back 30 seconds later as Eric Windmueller converted a Dustin Roux pass to extend the lead to 3-1. Canevin’s Michael Darnely would not be denied as he was caught on the backcheck and fought it off by turning and wrsiting a shot past Mastracci to cut the lead to 3-2 heading to the ice cut. The Crusaders had several opportunities to tie the game at the 9 ½ minute mark but Mastracci was equal to the task. Canevin tied the game as Josh Daley scored on a rebound at 8:32 to make it a new hockey game at 3-3. With 6:14 to play Jason Rogerio got the puck at center ice and was in on the breakaway and beat Mastracci on the forehand to give the Crusaders a 4-3 lead. Canevin played hard in the final 6 minutes and Peters pulled the goalie but could not score and the Crusaders held on for a huge 4-3 win over Peters Twp.

Bishop McCort 3 Freeport 1 KITTANNING – Bishop McCort is 16-2-1 on the regular season and currently sits in 2nd position tied with old foes Serra Catholic, but owning the tiebreaker, for the upcoming Penguins Cup playoffs by virtue of a 1-0-1 record against the Eagles in the two meetings, the latest a 0-0 tie this past Sunday afternoon. The Crimson Crushers have a schedule with Freeport, Mars and Sewickley Academy and if they fall in one of those games could face one of them in round one of the playoffs. BM appears to be headed for a matchup with King Arthur’s Mighty Hilltoppers of Westmont, who they defeated to capture Head Coach John Bradley’s 200th coaching victory last week at the War Memorial. Freeport sits at 13-5-1 and holds a slim lead over Sewickley Academy team and with games against # 2 Bishop McCort, # 1 Quaker Valley and doormat Ferndale, it is likely that the Yellow Jackets will end up with the 4th or 5th seed and face Sewickley Academy unless of course the Panthers drop a pair in their 5 game stretch, which means they would likely face a very much improved and oncoming Mars club that has arguably been the hottest team in Class A outside of Quaker Valley. What Head Coach Daved Hepler has to be looking for in the final regular season games is to see if his team is capable of competing against the top teams and whether it can translate into an opening playoff win and a trip to Penguins Cup Semi-Finals for the first time since their only time in 2002, when the Yellow Jackets were beaten by eventual State Champions Serra Catholic. The Crimson Crushers opened the scoring in this contest when Zack Seidel gathered a puck in between the circles and fired a bullet high over the glove hand side of Tim Zahumensky with 5:36 remaining in the opening period. McCort upped its lead to 2-0 just a minute and a half later as Jordan Jaco found a loose puck to the left of the Freeport goaltender and shipped it past him at 3:51 putting the Yellow Jackets in a hole after one period. Freeport had a great opportunity to cut the lead in the middle of the second period with a 5 on 3 power play, but the Crushers survived. Bishop McCort went on the power play late in the second period, but the Yellow Jackets killed off the first minute of the disadvantage and headed to the locker room for the ice cut. Freeport tried to stretch the ice several times early in the 3rd period and it paid dividends at 9:53 with a power play. Just 6 seconds into the power play, the Yellow Jackets struck as Zach Hepler unloaded a wrist shot that beat Brent Troyan high over the stick hand side to cut the McCort advantage to 2-1. The Crushers showed why they are defending Penguins Cup champions at 8:05 as Paul Reilly scored on a wrist shot down low past Zahumensky to regain a two goal margin for McCort. Freeport went on the power play at 6:47, but Brent Troyan and the Crusher defense stiffened. Freeport pulled their goalie in the games final minute, but was unable to score as McCort was able to earn a 3-1 victory at the Belmont Ice Complex.

Kittanning 8 Peters Twp 4 KITTANNING - On my way up route 66, which was the old route we used to take in the 1970’s, the mind began to wander back to my first game at the Belmont in 1972 to see the Armstrong Arrows take on my favorite team, the Churchill Chargers in a West Penn High School Hockey League tilt attracting a packed house, a band, two of Western Pa Hockey’s top teams and even television. This was High School Hockey in Kittanning and things haven’t changed much over the 35 years in between. Sure the teams, the players, the coaches and the fans have come through the gates, but the Armstrong and Kittanning program has been winning hockey games consistently over that time period. Pat McCue, the first great player for Armstrong, returned to participate in the Alumni game this year, as do many others like Scott Patterson, Andy Walbert, current Head Coach Jon Yackmack, his assistants Lee Grafton, and Jamie King, who are just some of the players who have donned uniforms starting in the excellent in-house programs tutored by folks like John Wilson and Dave Crain and finishing their careers with Armstrong or Kittanning. Some outstanding coaching including Jon Spangler, the late Bob Patterson, Joe Ritchey and more recently Al Stipp and Jeff Smouse have engineered the program along with others to 499 wins in Regular Season, League playoff and Pennsylvania State Playoffs to this point over 35 seasons and tonight is the first opportunity to reach 500. The flipside of the equation for this evenings contest is Peters Twp, who have won 3 out of the past 4 Pennsylvania Class AA titles. Head Coach Rick Tingle’s squad enters with a 13-4-0 record tied for 3rd seed with Canevin and facing a tough stretch with Kittanning, West Allegheny, Canevin and Indiana for the final four contests. The Indians are again one of the favorites to be in contention and after a year ago when they proved everyone wrong by going on a magical playoff run there is no question anyone will count them out until they are eliminated from the playoffs. The unfortunate part for Peters is that their team only plays together when ALL of their players are in attendance. Due to the extortionist policies of the ‘Penguins’ Hornets, Peters has been without a half dozen players for many games this season and for Peters sake hopefully all will get ten games in necessary for the Pennsylvania High School playoffs. And hopefully, the league in which they play in will have their act together to avoid the fiasco, which took place a year ago surrounding the Peters Twp – Canon McMillan Penguins Cup semi-final at Harmarville, which was a great hockey game, with a sour taste for many including the winners and the losers. So before and packed house at the Belmont, Kittanning and Peters 66, not to be confused with Lebo 66 [their neighbor down Route 19], locked horns in what has been a great rivalry over the years and with a little piece of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania High School Hockey history at stake as the Wildcats look to become the 2nd program in two weeks time to achieve their 500th all-time victory. With 12:00 remaining in the opening period Wildcat goaltender Joey Mecurio stopped Chris Papciak from in close for the games first big save. With 9:50 left in the opening period, Steven Phelps scored on a rebound beating Mike Mastaracci, from the right side of the crease to give Kittanning a 1-0 lead. Justin Kovatch lit the lamp on a breakaway with 7:00 left on the clock to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. Forty seconds later it was Kovatch, who collected a rebound with 6:20 to go and chipped it past Mastracci to make it 3-0. Then at 5:57, after Mastracci was chased in favor of Fitzgerald, Nick Troup made shot # 1 against the new Peters goaltender count beating him low to the stick side to make it an amazing 4-0 advantage for the home team in a little over 6 minutes. With 2:17 remaining, Evan Blodgett threaded a perfect pass on the back door to Colin McKelvey, who made no mistake and increased the score to 5-0. On to the second period and Kittanning continued the onslaught at 14:17 as Justin Kovatch tipped in a Kyle Adams shot from the point to make it 6-0. At 12:35 Brandon Tingle got the Indians on the board on the power play and then lit the lamp again at 12:04 to give Peters its second goal and make it 6-2. With 9:26 remaining in the second, Brandon Tingle completed the hat trick with a rocket snapshot high over the glove hand side of Joey Mecurio to make this a hockey game at 6-3. Mike Mastracci returned to the game after the 6th Kittanning goal and made a huge save on Lee Heilmann on a breakaway at 6:32 and keep his team within range at 6-3. Peters went on the power play with a little over 4 ½ minutes to go and a chance to cut the lead again and with 3:17 left in the second Dustin Roux unleashed a wrist shot beating Mecurio on the stick side for a power play goal and now a 6-4 hockey game with 4 unanswered goals. With 1:54 remaining, Brandon Tingle followed the bouncing puck over the Kittanning defenseman’s stick and was in on a breakaway, but this time Joey Mecurio stopped him with a big league save. After the ice cut, Kittanning went on the power play at 13:34, but Peters was able to kill it off. The Wildcats would settle into a tight checking third period and with 1:38 left in the period, when Lee Heilmann scored from on the doorstep, a hush fell over the Belmont crowd of relief and then a collective roar of the ‘Concerned Citizens of Kittanning’ as the score read Kittanning 7 Peters Twp 4 and Joey Ford added an empty netter in the waning moments, the celebration began as 35 years and 500 wins was a reality for a great hockey program, a great hockey town, who was able to come cheer a great accomplishment for everyone who has stepped on the ice as a player, coach, referee [you too Larry !] and the fans, young and older, like myself who enjoy making the trip to the Belmont !