Archbishop Ryan Raiders

DELMONT ~ Latrobe coach Ron Makoski knows the capability of his team as well as any coach in Western Pennsylvania. The fact that the Wildcats went 13-10-1 and won the Northeast Division, unquestionably Class AAA’s weakest, is testimony that Latrobe can play some hockey when it sets its mind to it. Less we forget, this is essentially the same Wildcat team, who advanced to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals at Rostraver last season and came close to pulling off an upset over eventual State Champions Peters Twp. Franklin Regional looked like the perfect opponent for Latrobe, with the East Division crown under its belt, a big win over three-time Class AAA State Champion Bethel Park two weeks ago and its entire lineup healthy ready for a playoff run. Coach Jim Damp has to be almost giddy at the prospects of lining up in round two against anyone in front of them or behind them. Also, they were a sitting duck if they get a little cocky or one of the pieces gets hurt or a distraction takes place to melt down the team chemistry. As the teams took the ice for warm-up, a standing room only crowd at Center Ice, another who’s who night with Mt Lebanon braintrust Paul Taibi and Bob Montana on the camera, Gateway’s Dan Serakowski and Dave ‘must be in bed by 10 PM on non-game nights’ Scott, Central’s Kevin Z, Billy Z and goaltender Brian A [can’t spell his last name], the Bethel Camera crew in disguise and Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, who never made it but we’ll give him credit just for all of the phone calls to try to find Center Ice. Strangely missing was Franklin senior Luke DeLorenzo, who will have to give McVay directions so next time he can make it to the game to see the drama unfold. Now as you all know or don’t know, its an annual thing for me to haul off and criticize the ‘you must come to my Hornets practice’ organization or I’ll make the $ 15,000 investment your family spends to get you ‘seen’ by scouts disappear. This is an organization whose head coach and mentor coach nearly 10 years of high school hockey with Bethel Park, Upper St Clair and Central Catholic with some of the best talent in Western Pennsylvania and ‘just couldn’t win the big one’ and he’s bitter about it. So bitter, that the organization and its leaders are trying to ruin Interscholastic Hockey and have tried for the past number of years, of course there was Jimmy Fuhs leaving his Keystone Oaks team with a 1-0 lead in Kittanning last year to go to some required meeting in Cleveland at 11 PM at night and then their was Randy Bauer, who didn’t play in Pine Richland’s upset loss to Latrobe in last year’s Class AA quarter-finals, and there was Matt Schwartz and Christian Hanson of Peters Twp, who missed the Penguins Cup to go to Ottawa and almost cost them as they just edged Indiana, and on and on and on. The amazing thing is that the coaches from this organization have been selected somehow to evaluate for Team Pittsburgh, even after they wouldn’t let one Hornet player tryout for the Chicago Showcase team last year and coach McVay lead them to the Semi-Finals anyway, which was the coaching performance of 2002 !!! The bottom line is that this is extortion at its finest as these people are caught, whose checks have already been cashed are between a rock and a hard place as they are told, you cannot miss practice or your future is finished. Remember one thing before you comment……….that R.J. Umberger, you know him 1st round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks and current star a top 10 NCAA ranked Ohio State, never missed a Plum Game and never missed a Hornets game either……..so their can be cooperation and has been and now instead it’s a war between High School and Travel. The people who lose are the players, the coaches, the parents, the fans and administrators, because of the cloud over the sport. If this sport is ever to be recognized by the schools [which puts the fear of god in the travel organizations] and sanctioned then these people can tell the Travel Hockey to pound salt! So DeLorenzo was absent and joined Fuhs, Bauer, Schwartz, Hanson and many others before them, who have been extorted and robbed of a chance to represent their school in interscholastic playoff glory! These are not twisted facts …………..it’s the truth and my humble opinion ! So Latrobe not only had a chance for the upset, Makoski and his troops smelled it early as the Wildcats Matt Mesaros beat Brandon Stallard stick side at 14:42 for a great start and a 1-0 lead. Franklin looked rattled as it took a too many men on the ice penalty at 9:06, but responded with a great effort by two of its leaders as Mike Roth found Jimmy Daugherty in the slot for a huge goal and a 1-1 tie game at 8:10. Stallard made a diving save on Jordan Miller to keep the game tied at 2:48. The Panthers came right back on the power play as Luke Baughman found Roth, who buried a wrist shot past Josh Gross through the 5-hole with just 21 seconds remaining and a great turnaround by Franklin Regional with a 2-1 lead after period number one. On to the second and the next goal would be huge in this game……Latrobe’s Matt Makoski picked up a loose puck in the slot and blasted a wrist shot high over a fallen Stallard and the Wildcats were back in the game at 2-2 at 11:19. Goaltending took over in the middle of the second as Josh Gross and Brandon Stallard where outstanding keeping the game tied. Gross made an outstanding save on Scott Dakan alone in front at 6:35 and Stallard stoned Miller again with just 11 seconds left in the middle frame. Latrobe was primed for the upset as Gross looked to be getting hot in between the pipes and they were getting plenty of chances on Stallard. As we were on the ‘old cell phone’ checking the ‘out of town’ scoreboard, a car pulls up and out jumps no other than Luke DeLorenzo, who legend has it his mother drove ‘a little over’ the speed limit through the always congested Route 22 traffic to get Luke to his game, because jeez maybe he’s a senior and maybe this could be Franklin’s last home playoff game and maybe they could advance……so thank god they arrive safely ! As I entered the building and Luke dashed to the locker room, Latrobe had scored at the precise moment at 14:10,when DeLorenzo headed to the locker room and this writer was so distracted he didn’t see who got the Latrobe goal on the power play. Enter DeLorenzo, who took his first shift at 11:33 and buried a wrist shot to tie the game at 3-3. The Wildcats would have a chance to take the lead again at 8:09 on the power play, but it was Delorenzo and Roth, who not only killed the penalty, but almost put them ahead only to be stopped by Gross, who faced 35 Franklin shots on the night. With 4:14 remaining, the Panthers went on the power play and off the face-off, DeLorenzo calmly gathered the puck and buried a wrist shot between the legs of Josh Gross and Franklin was now on top 4-3 with 4:05 left in regulation. Latrobe came close to scoring late in the third on a crazy deflection, which just bounce over Stallard and the net. But this would be a story for Luke DeLorenzo, who rescued the Panthers and completed the natural hat trick with :39 seconds left to cap a comeback and advance FR to round two of the Penguin Cup playoffs. A little advice for Mr DeLorenzo is to make a precedent and hand in your Hornets jersey tomorrow, thank them for their time and spending your money because ‘Kid, you have talent and you can play Junior A and if you don’t believe me….have a little talk with Scott Dakan’s brother Todd, who left after his junior year at Franklin for the USHL and ended up playing at Penn State……you will never have another chance to play with your friends and win a State Championship…and if you don’t believe me look at the record books because the last Franklin Regional and look at the four years in a row they made it the Penguins Cup and lost…..the last time in 1996 was the best chance, a one goal loss to North Catholic. I am sure that Franklin team could have used Todd Dakan, the same as this team needs your leadership. Don’t let history repeat itself because the Panthers can win it all, but not without # 21 in the lineup for all of the games the rest of the way !