East Region

2007 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class AA – Pine Richland Rams (23-1-1) vs Haverford High Fords (20-2-0) April 7, 2007 - Ice Works – Aston, Pennsylvania Pine Richland 8 Haverford 6 ASTON – Haverford has won three consecutive Flyers Cup AA championships and done so in impressive fashion and unfortunately the first two trips to the State finals have come up empty against Peters Township and Pine Richland. The Fords have won 14 straight games dating back to the 7-6 loss to Conestoga in early December and have beaten some pretty good teams including Cardinal O'Hara, the Class AAA finalist, Conestoga and South Jersey power Washington Township. Haverford is a high scoring team with an explosive offense and seems to have its way with opponents and has built a loyal following of boisterous fans during the playoffs that could be a factor since the Ice Works is a home game for the State Finals. Head coach Brian Cleary will have to overcome a scoreless two trips to the last two Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships with a 4-0 loss to Peters Township in 2005 at the Hersheypark Arena and another 4-0 setback to Pine Richland a year ago at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. Haverford High is looking to capture its first State Crown since 1992, an 8-4 victory over Greensburg CC in the Class A game in Pittsburgh. Pine Richland has been the king of Class AA since they knocked Peter Twp out of the Penguin Cup in last year's semi-finals and if you have been around the club a little, they make you feel like they are ten time champions, which is part of the swagger of being defending champions. My feeling is that with this field in this year, that is a dangerous proposition. Sure the team went 20-1-1 and went virtually unchallenged throughout the season, but a 1-1 tie with Greensburg CC, a narrow almost 3-2 win over Moon in overtime and a 2-1 loss to upstart Franklin Regional are signs of a team not so dominant. Bobby Kennedy's club is the best team in Class AA all year and has met the challenges of repeating as Pennsylvania State Champions with wins over Hampton, West Allegheny and Thomas Jefferson to capture its 2nd straight Penguins Cup AA Championship. The final step in the road is the same Haverford team that the Rams defeated a year ago. The Rams last trip to Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State Playoffs was nearly 30 years ago, held up the road at the Lafayette Ice Rink in 1977 as Pine Richland fell short bowing to eventual champions, Churchill Chargers in the preliminary round 4-1, who are a team that Bob Kennedy’s Upper St Clair team defeated in 1980 on their way to their first State Championship over Erie McDowell. Pine Richland and Haverford met for the 2006 Pennsylvania Class AA Championship a year ago at Robert Morris Island Sports Center in a very tight low scoring contest and the re-match would be a little different and if anyone was paying attention to the Pa Hockey previews of the # 1 and # 2 ranked teams in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings, my sense of this game was a very wide open and explosive State Final between two very explosive offensive clubs. The Rams and Fords engage in combat in the opening minutes of this state final as it was obvious that Haverford was going to play the physical card off the bat and the defending State Champions were not going to back down as they matched Haverford hit for hit before a jammed pack Ice Works of spirited Haverford faithful and the always Concerned Citizens of Pine Richland. The Rams would strike first as George Saad took a Phil Trombetta pass from the left circle and buried a low snap shot past Jason Hazleton for a 1-0 Pine Richland lead. Dylan Trombetta extended the lead with 3:28 to go in the opening period taking a nice pass from brother Phil Trombetta and depositing it past Hazleton to give the Rams a 2-0 lead. George Saad struck again with just 27 seconds to play in the opening period and Pine Richland was off and running with an easy looking 3-0 lead after one period, outshooting the Fords 7-4. When Pine Richland took a 4-0 lead on a goal just 17 seconds into the second period on a goal by Eric Febert, it really looked like the Rams were going to blow out Haverford and the fact that the Fords were still unable to score a goal in a State Final was looming large at this point of the contest. A great shift by Haverford’s top line of Steve Karpinski, T.J. Haeberle and Chris Campli changed the momentum of the hockey game and on their very next shift, that combination was able to get the Fords on the board as Campli threaded a beautiful pass to Haeberle, who in one motion swept the puck past Stoney Hildreth to give Haverford their first goal in three years of the State Final at 11:57 and it was now 4-1. Pine Richland was still in control or so it seemed and Haverford rose like the Phoenix out of the ashes exactly a minute later at 10:57 as it was T.J. Haeberle again beating Hildreth to give the Fords new life at 4-2. Pine Richland was able to get the puck out of the zone after extreme pressure by Haverford, who out shot its opponent 14-7 in the second period. Matt Lohman scored a very big goal at 6:30 of the period as his long slap shot found its way through traffic and behind Jason Hazleton to make it 5-2 in favor of the Rams. Back came the Fords at 4:43 as swift skating defenseman Shane Coyle showed great presence on the power play of throwing the puck to the net from the far boards and handcuffing Ram goaltender Stoney Hildreth with 4:43 to play and the ravenous Fords fans were back in the spirit and their team back in the game 5-3. On the very next shift, the Haverford faithful were thrown into a frenzy as Jimmy Hazleton found the puck in the left circle and fired a low wrist shot low on the ice past Hildreth with 4:24 to go in the middle period and the Fords were now within one goal at 5-4 and had it going all their way in a wild second period. In this state championship, Pine Richland would take advantage of key moments and again late in the period would scored a very big goal in the hockey game. After an icing brought the face-off the length of the ice with under a minute to play, the line of Dylan Trombetta, Phil Trombetta and George Saad, as they have done all season long for the Rams, would deliver in a very big way as Saad wone the faceoff and the crafty Dyaln Trombetta threaded an almost unreal pass to brother Phil on the back door, who slapped the puck out of the air from just off the ice with just :01 remaining the period, sending Haverford to the ice cut down 6-4 and probably wondering how the momentum of a second period that they absolutely earned in 15 minutes could be suck right out of them. The third period picked up right where period number two left off as Reed Loney’s slapshot from just over the blue line found its way past Hazleton to make it 7-4 for the Rams with 13:48 to play in regulation. The Haverford faithful were on their feet again as Jimmy Hazleton took the puck from behind his own net and weaved through center ice firing a wrist shot low on the ice past Hildreth at 13:05 to cut the count to 7-5. The Fords showed great resilience time and time again in this State Final and it looked like a very good chance that they may be able to win the State Championship that has eluded them for three years when T.J. Haeberle scored a terrific goal shorthanded on a great display of passing with Chris Campli as Haeberle took the return pass and buried it up under the crossbar with 9:49 to play and this game was now 7-6 and anyone’s hockey game. Pine Richland showed why at this point they are a championship team as they gathered their composure and began to play defense in front of Stoney Hildreth, who to this point was not having his greatest game of his career, but he showed the fortitude as he has throughout the playoffs for Pine Richland to come up big when his team needed him the most. Jimmy Hazelton had a tremendous opportunity from the left circle to tie the game at 7 apiece and he cut loose a wrist shot, similar to his two goals in the contest low to the glove side and Stoney snagged it out of the air as to say ‘not today gentlemen’, which in my opinion was the turning point to the fortunes for both clubs. After that save Pine Richland’s defensive unit of Kyle Adams, Matt Lohman, Geoff Bagnato, Evan Goetz and the forward lines began to play great defense in front of their goaltender and forced Haverford to take a penalty with 4:49 to play with hard work and great effort. Pine Richland’s George Saad would put the exclamation point with a huge insurance goal, again combining with Phil and Dylan Trombetta, who set up the play and give the Rams an 8-6 lead and renewed confidence in their ability to play defense. The Ram sophomore forward Saad added that “the team was really nervous when the game was tight and he was proud that the team was able to play strong defense and rally around Stoney (Hildreth) to create a momentum swing” which ultimately was the difference in the contest. Haverford became frustrated as the Rams shut them down like a carnival ride at midnight and the Fords unraveled over three years of empty trips to the State Finals and the game turned ugly with really cheap and undisciplined play by Haverford, who turned a terrific and exciting hockey game into an ugly spectacle of unsportsmanlike behavior and a score of penalties and misconducts, which is unacceptable at any level and will more than likely be swept under the rug by a playoff committee more interested in squabbling over trophies and making coaches wear helmets to practice than enforcing discipline to protect the players (The history includes the 2001 Class A State Final bench clearing brawl between Serra and Springfield, where both teams were assessed 10 players getting 10-game misconducts, only to see the PIHL and Eastern Pennsylvania reduce those penalties to lesser penalties and in my mind endorse un acceptable behavior giving the sport of ice hockey in Pennsylvania a black eye administratively). To Pine Richland’s credit, they turned the other cheek and showed tremendous restraint in taking NO penalties over the final 20 minutes of the contest, which is a testimony to a champion in itself. Pine Richland was able to survive the final minutes and walked away with an exciting 8-6 victory for the 2nd straight year over Haverford completing an excellent coaching job by Bobby Kennedy, who captured his third overall State Championship as a player and coach, including Bethel Park’s first State Championship in 1997 and in 1980 as a player for Upper St Clair.

2007 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class A – Freeport Yellow Jackets (18-3-2) vs West Chester Henderson Warriors (18-5-2) April 7, 2007 - Ice Works – Aston, Pennsylvania West Chester Henderson 4 Freeport 1 ASTON - West Chester Henderson lost in the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League South Division Championship to Kennett it's final two games prior to the Flyers Cup. Prior to that, the Warriors have been on a terror since mid-November, only losing to Lower Merion and racking up a lot of goals. When Henderson dispatched a very solid Hershey squad in the Semi-Finals 6-2, it opened some eyes and then they were able to defeat the number one seed and Division rival Kennett in the Flyers Cup final 4-2. The Warriors are looking for their 2nd State Championship in school history to go with their lone title in 1982 over Baldwin, which was a 7-6 victory at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown in the Class AAA championship. While the original school district has grown in size and now sports three high schools including West Chester East and Bayard Rustin, the Henderson program remains a very strong part of the history of the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League and is looking to capture it’s first Pennsylvania title in 25 years for Head Coach Art Marcellus. One of the quiet success stories of this season has been Freeport, who has won some pretty big hockey games this season over Bishop McCort, Mars and Serra Catholic. In their only meeting prior to the Penguins Cup with Quaker Valley, they were thrashed 11-0 and one factor is that Zach Hepler, Beau Zack and Tim Zahumensky did not play in that game was a huge factor when the teams met again in the final. Freeport knocked off Westmont Hilltop 4-1 and Mars 3-1 before shocking the defending State Champion Quakers in the Penguins Cup finals 4-1, in one of the biggest upsets in Pennsylvania High School Hockey playoff history. Coach Dave Hepler, the former University of Pittsburgh punter from the late 1970’ & early 80’s , has led a group of 14 boys, a majority of the teams is brother combinations including his two sons Zach and Jeremy to the biggest stage that Freeport has ever known. Anyone familiar with the movie Hoosiers can only relate what must go through the minds of this team, who can become the first school in Armstrong County to ever capture a state championship in hockey for a small town in Western Pennsylvania, which when you think about it is really what a State Championship aspires to be in the spirit of sportsmanship and can only bring lore if the Yellow Jackets are able to complete the dream. The first period was scoreless as goaltenders Rob Mattern of Henderson and Tim Zahumensky of Freeport were flawless stopping 9 and 8 shots respectively. The Warriors killed off two Freeport power plays and established themselves defensively with excellence backchecking and tremendous defensive plays limiting the scoring chances of the high scoring duo of Beau Zack and Patrick Spangler, who combined for 70 goals in the regular season and have been the catalyst of the Yellow Jacket offense in the Penguins Cup playoffs. Freeport went on the power play at 8:18 of the 2nd period, but it was West Chester Henderson who would strike first in this contest and capitalized with a shorthanded goal by Billy Latta, who took the puck from the center ice area and beat the Freeport defense and Tim Zahumensky ay 6:16 on the forehand to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets went on the power play again at 3:39 and again it was Billy Latta again scoring on another shorthanded breakaway with 3:27 remaining taking nice lead pass of the far boards by Joe Carlin 2-0 and made a move on the Freeport defense and was gone in on Zahumensky beating him on the forehand to make it 2-0. Latta felt his team could win the game at this point “we gained confidence after the second goal and we knew we could win it as Rob (Mattern) and our defense was doing a great job penalty killing, which we have worked on in practice”. The Warriors held a distinct advantage in the territorial play and the shots in the 2nd period 14-7, due to the play of the defensive unit of B.J. Blaker, Joe Carlin and Cory Speroff and a deep group of defensive forwards, who limited Freeport’s opportunities and kept the puck out of their end and kept the pressure on the Yellow Jackets. On to the third period and West Chester Henderson continued its smart play and great defensive effort holding Freeport in check. Freeport had a flurry early in the 3rd period, but once again Robbie Mattern kept the Jackets off the board. The backbreaking goal came with 2:56 to play on a rebound goal as T.J. Wallace found a loose puck on the door step after hard work by linemates Jack Kelly and Nick Ramondo and poked it past Tim Zahumensky to give the Warriors a commanding 3-0 advantage. Just 13 seconds later at 2:43, the Warriors struck again another breakaway goal by Billy Latta to complete the hat trick and make it 4-0 and West Chester on their way to the Pennsylvania Class A State Championship. The sophomore Latta used the some move to score all three goals and credited studying tapes of NHL players for his success. Freeport’s Jeremy Hepler scored inside the post to break the shutout of Rob Mattern with 41 seconds to go and make the final count 4-1 as the Warriors captured their first Pennsylvania Class A title in 25 years since 1982. Billy Latta summed it up best saying “Nothing is better than winning a State Championship for his senior teammates in their last game”. Final Shots in the contest in favor of West Chester Henderson were 31 – 25, but the underlying theme of this contest was the great team effort offensively and defensively by the Warriors, who skated three lines throughout the contest, used its depth in the offensive and defensive ends, with timely goaltending from Robbie Mattern and an extraordinary performance of a very talented sophomore Billy Latta, who was almost as refreshing to talk to as he was to watch.

2007 Pennsylvania Cup Class AAA Champions - North Allegheny Tigers 2007 Penguins Cup Class AAA Champions - North Allegheny Tigers 11 - Daniel Gaertner 40 - Thomas Gillespie 61 - Joshua Herbert 67 - Matthew Lancaster 22 - Donald Lewis 35 - Adam Lutty 39 - Michael Peterson 33 - Max Richards 3 - Dylan Rohar 12 - Brett Schindler 18 - Robert Schwab 38 - Bradley Schwartzmier 4 - Corey Sheran 10 - Tyson Stupy 7 - Brady Waldschmidt 65 - Weston Waldschmidt 42 - Jacob Williams 28 - Tyler Wright Head Coach - Jimmy Black Assistant Coach - Rich Conlin Assistant Coach - Bobby Black

2007 Pennsylvania Cup Class AA Champions - Pine Richland Rams 2007 Penguins Cup Class AA Champions - Pine Richland Rams 7 - Kyle Adams 16 - Geoffrey Bagnato 36 - Jared Bagnato 18 - Jake Bosiljevac 3 - Tyler Deal 11 - Eric Febert 77 - Stephen Gates 28 - Evan Goetz 30 - Andrew Hildreth 26 - Zachary Kramer 6 - Matthew Lohman 38 - Reed Loney 78 - Joe Mahovey 99 - George Saad 81 - Jordan Shelleby 19 - Dylan Trombetta 29 - Philip Trombetta 12 - Ryan Warner 90 - Bryan Watt 37 - David Zajac Head Coach - Bobby Kennedy Assistant Coach - Troy Loney Assistant Coach - Matt Richert

2007 Penguins Cup Class A Champions - Freeport Yellow Jackets 9 - Cody Barker 61 - David Bonitsky 23 - Shane Gallagher 22 - Jeremy Gent 24 - Jeremy Hepler 15 - Zachary Hepler 62 - Nate King 55 - Zachary King 58 - Braden Mcqueen 3 - Wyatt Mcqueen 33 - John Reichenbaugh 10 - Patrick Spangler 18 - Beau Zack 8 - Timothy Zahumensky Head Coach - Dave Hepler Assistant Coach - Melvin Reichenbaugh Assistant Coach - Don Zack