Archbishop Ryan Raiders

North Allegheny 3 McDowell 1 CRANBERRY – When North Allegheny hired Tom Pandolfo three years ago, there was an instantaneous change to the hockey program with a reputation of being rich on talent, but never winning anything. Sure, the Tigers won the WPIHL Championship a handful of times in 1977, 1995 and 1999, but the true measure in this Interscholastic Hockey era is the success in the Penguins Cup and the State Championship of the State of Pennsylvania. This is and always has been the goal of the program, but now its attitude and expectations are geared toward it. After the Penguins Cup finals loss to Bethel Park a year ago and loss of some key personnel, the Tigers have re-tooled and are once again on course for another strong regular season at 10-1-0, but more importantly positioning for another playoff run in March. North Allegheny’s tribute to consistency over Pandolfo’s tenure was evidenced by its 3rd consecutive Director’s Cup title in a 4-2 win over Defending Pennsylvania Class AAA State Champions Bethel Park. The McDowell hockey program has a long history in Class AAA in Western Pennsylvania, which began to take form in the inaugural Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships in 1975. In the early days, the Trojans were the dominant team in the Lake Shore Hockey League in Northwestern Pennsylvania, who were in the hunt for Class AAA State Championships in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, & 1980, only to fall short by a game or two. After some pretty good success in the early 2000’s with a couple of Penguins Cup semi-final appearances, coach Paul Mancini has inherited a group laking the front line talent to compete with the Bethel Park’s. Mt Lebanon’s, Meadville’s and now North Allegheny’s for the ultimate prize as the Trojans are off to a respectable 6-4-0 start. McDowell skated stride for stride with the Tigers for the opening 14 minutes as John Cleary kept NA off the board. North Allegheny went on the power play in the final minute of the period to take the lead. At 13:39 of the second period, NA finally solved Trojan goaltender John Cleary with just 3 seconds left in the power play as Alan Halapin scored on a rebound to make it 1-0. With 9:04 remaining in the period, Dylan Rohrer picked up a loose puck at center ice and raced toward John Cleary only to be stopped, but had the presence and tenacity to pick up his own rebound and score a very big goal to make it 2-0. McDowell came back to cut the lead to 2-1 at 6:10 of the second period as Andy Kohler scored on a high shot over the shoulder of Max Richards, which seemed to fool the Tiger goaltender. With 8:15 remaining Alan Halapin scored a huge goal sneaking a snapshot past John Cleary to make it 3-1, which gave the Tigers Insurance. North Allegheny was able to skate out the clock defeating their former division rivals and moving closer to a home playoff berth.

Bishop McCort 2 Mars 0 CRANBERRY - Bishop McCort is off to an 8-1-0 mark after the first half of the season and for head coach John Bradley is in perfect position to defend their Penguins Cup title from a year ago. The Crimson Crushers appear to be part of a triumverate including undefeated Quaker Valley and Serra Catholic leading a sparse Class A group of contenders that will chase for the title in March and unseat Penncrest, who defeated McCort in the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship. Old hat for a program that’s leads all Class A programs in Pennsylvania with 5 State Championships since its inception in 1989. The problem for Western Pennsylvania is that Eastern Pa owns the past three titles. Mars coach Eric Glover coached in the inaugural Pennsylvania Class A State title game for the Plum Mustangs as an assistant coach to Jim Murray for a team which defeated Cardinal O’Hara 10-4 to capture Plum’s one and only State Championship. The Mars hockey program has been a direct benefactor of the growth in the Cranberry / Seven Fields area and given time will create the numbers needed to produce some hockey powerhouses, similar to neighbors North Allegheny and Pine Richland, who have enjoyed consistent success over the past few seasons along with stability in the coaching. The Crimson Crushers took the lead at 9:41 as Marc Domonkos took advantage of a shorthanded opportunity and gave his team a 1-0 lead. Brent Troyan had a strong first period keeping the Planets off the board. Bishop McCort and Mars engaged in end to end action with the Planets looking to score the equalizer. The Crushers would get a huge insurance goal with just 1:27 remaining in the 2nd period as Marc Domonkos found an empty net on the back door after collecting a Shawn James rebound and depositing it past Planets goaltender Whiteford for a 2-0 count at the end of two. The Crimson Crushers completed a strong defensive effort in the 3rd period clinching the shutout for Troyan for an impressive 2-0 victory over a feisty Mars squad. If the Planets find some scoring between now and March, they could be a factor in spoiling someone’s playoff run or possibly creating one for themselves. Expect Bishop McCort to be there looking to atone for their loss to Penncrest and maybe take it one step further for # 6.

Thomas Jefferson 6 Pine Richland 4 ROSTRAVER – Thomas Jefferson is a very young team with a lot of tradition on its side with 3 State Championships under the dean of Class AA coaching Don Powell. The Jaguars have had a very nice season thus far with wins over Peters Twp. and Greensburg CC under their belts. TJ’s season ended a year ago at the hands of Pine Richland giving a little motivation for the Jaguars to knock off PR. Pine Richland has been on a role for the first half of the season and owns two ties against Canevin and Canon McMillan, in games where both teams hung around enough to cause trouble. Moon also gave the Rams a little trouble before falling in overtime after holding a lead. For head coach Jimmy Black, the key is that his team scores on its opportunities and extends the lead like they did against Montour, Peters Twp and Greensburg CC in the first half of the season. The Rams would be looking to exercise that magical formula against a Thomas Jefferson team that is pesky and figures to be a factor when the playoff bell rings in March. The game opened up and Pine Richland went on the power play at 13:17, which the Jaguars killed off. Then at 11:16, just one second after the first penalty expired PR got another opportunity and the Rams were unable to convert. In fact, the best chance came with 9:07 remaining in the period as TJ netminder Jeffrey Wojonovich stopped Jordan Yoklic with a kick save from the slot area. So the Jaguars survived an early barrage and the game remained scoreless. With 6 ½ remaining, the Jaguars had their first good scoring opportunity as Brock Heinauer was stopped on a partial breakaway by Stoney Hildreth. The initial score of the hockey game came at 6:09, as Jordan Yoklic went upstairs over the glove side of the Thomas Jefferson goaltender to give the Rams a 1-0 lead, which would turn out to be the only score of the opening 15 minutes. With a little over 11 minutes left in the 2nd , the Jaguars used some nice head man passing to spring Josef Madar who whipped a shot to the net, which Dan Pistilli got a stick on and found its way through Hildreth to tie the score at one apiece. At 6:09 of the 2nd, the Rams regained the lead as Phil Trombetta redirected a shot from the right point and PR had a 2-1 lead.TJ would have an opportunity to tie the score before the ice cut as the went on the man advantage with 1:55 remaining, but were unable to mount a serious attack as Pinr Richland effectively killed off the disadvantage. On to the third and with 14:15 remaining in regulation, Josef Madar scored on a rebound to knot the score at 2-2. The Rams came back at 11:12, as Phil Trombetta picked up his own rebound, which Wojonovich made the initial save on, but trickled on the goal mouth, which # 29 deposited into an empty net to give Pine Richland a 3-2 advantage after the Jaguars had toed it moments earlier. TJ went on the power play and less than a minute after the Rams seized the lead, Brock Heinauer scored on the power play to tie the score again at 3-3. PR regained the lead with 8:33 left, as Jordan Yoklic picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat the TJ goalteder though the 5 hole from the slot for a 4-3 count in favor of the Rams. TJ would have a great chance to tie the score with 4:47 remaining on the power play. The Jaguars would not be denied as Josef Madar score on the power play with 3:36 remaining to tie it again at 4-4. With 2:31 remaining, Jaguar goaltender Jeffrey Wojonovich made two spectacular sprawling saves on Jordan Yoklic and then on Phil Trombetta to keep the game tied at four apiece from right on the doorstep. With 1:25 remaining, the Rams were whistled for goaltender interference, putting the Jaguars on the power play with a chance to go on top, which was compounded by another penalty with 46 ticks left putting the Jags on a 5 on 3. And the big Jaguar delivered as Brock Heinauer walked off the near boards and rifled a wrist shot high over the glove side of Stoney Hildreth with 22 seconds remaining to give Thomas Jefferson a 5-4 lead. An empty netter by Josef Madar with 16 seconds remaining made the final count 6-4 sending Pine Richland to their first loss of the season.

Greensburg CC 6 Latrobe 2 GREENSBURG – Latrobe was off to a great start and leading the East Division with a 5-2-1 record. The Wildcats dropped two contests against Canon McMillan and Pine Richland to end the first half of the season, which puts them back on the playoff bubble in Class AA. Coach Ron Makoski’s club is young and should mature in the second half of the season, but it will be important for the Cats to put up some W’s in January and February should they have playoff aspirations. Greensburg CC is off to a 6-3-1 mark, which gives them a one game lead over the Wildcats in the East Division. The Centarians are fresh off an appearance in the Ice Line Extravaganza, where Bill Buchholtz’s club lost in the finals to 2005 Flyers Cup AA champions Haverford High Fords 4-3. GCC should have confidence after a very strong showing in Philadelphia, to spearhead a nice run in the 2nd half of the season and position themselves for the playoffs. Marc Perez opened the scoring for the Centurians with a rebound goal with 11:19 remaining in the opening period as GCC held a 9-2 shot advantage for the games first 9 minutes. Evan George capitalized on a Latrobe defensive turnover at 4:18 of the 1st beating Jason Hendrick to the stick side to make it 2-0. Latrobe’s Matt Mesaros cut the lead to 2-1 and beat Ryan Homanics with a blistering slapshot high to the stick side with 1:09 remaining in the period. On to the 2nd period and Ryan Homanics made a terrific stop on Jeff Joe Regula with 13:01 remaining to keep the Centurians on top. GCC extended their lead to 3-1 at 7:02 as Alfonso Arevalo score from in close. GCC scored a very big insurance goal in this contest as Evan George capitalized on a partial break and buried a backhand high over the short side of Hendrick to make it 4-1. In the third period, Ryan Homanics continued to frustrate the Wildcats as he stopped Michael McCurdy at 13:53 on a sprawling save. Latrobe finally broke through on the power play at 10:45 as Brad Roth scored on a rebound beating Homanics, who could not recover in time and the score now stood at 4-2. Jason Tetkoski’s shot from the point on the power play was tipped by Shane Purvis and snuck past Hendrick to make the count 5-2 with 8:45 remaining in regulation. With 4:52 remaining, Marc Perez used the Latrobe defenseman as a screen and whistled a wrist shot past Hendrick’s stick side to make it 6-2. Final shots were 29-26 in favor of the Centurians.

2005 Ice Line Extravaganza AAA Division Standings 1st St Mary's [NY] 3-0-0 2nd Gonzaga [Md] 2-0-1 3rd University School [OH] 2-1-0 4th LaSalle 1-1-1 Holy Ghost Prep 0-3-0 Malvern Prep 0-3-0 Preliminary Round St Mary's [NY] 5 LaSalle 4 Gonzaga [Md] 2 Malvern Prep 1 University School [OH] 1 Holy Ghost Prep 0 Gonzaga [Md] 0 LaSalle 0 St Mary's [NY] 9 Holy Ghost Prep 3 University School [OH] 2 Malvern Prep 0 LaSalle 6 University School [OH] 1 Gonzaga [Md] 8 Holy Ghost Prep 1 St Mary's [NY] 7 Malvern Prep 3 Playoff Round - Semis St Mary's [NY] 4 LaSalle 3 [OT+SO] Gonzaga [Md] 3 University School [OH] 0 Playoff Round - Finals St.Mary's [NY] 4 Gonzaga [MD] 3 Comgratulations to St Mary's for winning the AAA Extravaganza 2005 Ice Line Extravaganza AA Division Standings - Red Conestoga 0-2-1 4th Greensburg CC 2-0-1 West Chester Henderson 0-2-1 2nd Neshaminy 2-0-1 Preliminary Round Neshaminy 2 Greensburg CC 2 West Chester Henderson 2 Conestoga 2 Neshaminy 3 Conestoga 0 Greensburg CC 3 West Chester Henderson 0 Greensburg CC 6 Conestoga 2 Neshaminy 5 West Chester Henderson 2 Standings - White Calvert Hall Prep [Md] 0-3-0 1st Kittanning 2-0-1 8th Pennsbury 1-1-1 7th Springfield 2-1-0 Preliminary Round Springfield 5 Pennsbury 2 Kittanning 5 Calvert Hall Prep [Md] 0 Kittanning 4 Springfield 1 Pennsbury 4 Calvert Hall Prep [Md] 3 Springfield 4 Calvert Hall Prep [Md] 3 Kittanning 3 Pennsbury 3 Standings - Blue 6th Downingtown West 2-1-0 3rd Haverford High 2-1-0 Landon School [Va] 0-3-0 5th LaSalle II 2-1-0 Preliminary Round Downingtown West 3 LaSalle II 1 Haverford High 10 Landon School [Va] 1 Haverford High 3 Downingtown West 1 LaSalle II 3 Landon School [Va] 1 Downingtown West 4 Landon School [Va] 3 LaSalle II 4 Haverford High 3 Playoff Round - Quarter-Finals 1st Kittanning 4 8th Pennsbury 1 2nd Neshaminy 3 7th Springfield 1 3rd Haverford High 4 6th Downingtown West 3 OT 4th Greensburg CC 2 5th LaSalle II 1 Playoff Round - Semi-Finals Greensburg CC 3 Kittanning 2 Neshaminy 2 Haverford High 6 Playoff Round - Finals Greensburg CC 3 Haverford High 4 Congratulations to the Haverford High Fords for winning the AA Extravaganza