Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Members of the 2005 Malvern Prep Friars 5 Sean Ennis F 12 6 Geoff Mucha F 10 9 Nick Averona D 11 14 Dan Lassik D 10 17 Mac Dunton D 11 18 Kevin Huntington F 10 22 Sean Olejar F 12 30 Rob Coppock G 11 31 Josh Firely G 11 41 Rob Burns F 12 54 Chris Durante D 12 59 E.J. Astarita D 10 76 Liam Teer F 10 78 George Stevens F 11 85 Jim Behe F 12 90 Tim Horn F 12 93 Keith Ennis F 12 94 Matt Campanale D 11 95 Nick Campanale F 9 97 Evan Mucha F 12 Head Coach: John Graves Assistant: Bill Weil Father Ed Casey Trainer: Bill Mills Congratulations to the 2005 Flyers Cup Champions for the 5th consecutive year !

2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class AAA HARMARVILLE - Sometimes in hockey, programs are made by a milestone victory and for Bethel Park, it had to be the 1997 comeback victory at the Rostraver Ice Garden, when the Hawks were down 4-0 and performed a miracle coming back and winning it in overtime 5-4, which sent BP on to their first State Championship defeating Meadville in the Penguins Cup final 3-2 at the Civic Arena and then Malvern Prep in the Pennsylvania High School Championship at Ice Line 4-3 ending 23 years of a jinx from the 1983 loss in the State Final to Germantown Academy and goaltender Mike Richter. When inspecting that team you have to go back to 1994 and the humiliating 13-0 loss to Meadville in the Penguins Cup, which really molded the Bethel Park program with the decision to hire Bob Kennedy, who lead the Hawks to the promised land along with assistants Chris Stern and Jim ‘Mort’ McVay. When Kennedy and Stern left for greener pastures or Green Acres if you will, McVay stayed and led the Hawks to State Championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Part of the Bethel Park building process in that exact era was Mt Lebanon head coach Paul Taibi and while at Bethel, he instilled the discipline in many of the players who were an integral part of their State Championship season. When coach left BP for Mt Lebanon, the program which had been a revolving door of coaches was now stabilized upon his arrival the Blue Devils experienced immediate success by going to the Penguins Cup finals before losing to the Hawks at the Mellon Arena in 2002. Then, they won their first Penguins Cup in 2004 by defeating Meadville 3-0 at the Mellon Arena and then came less than 6 minutes away from their 1st State Title since 1976 but succumbed to Malvern Prep 4-3. The thirst to get back for the remaining players has been evident as they have reeled off 17 in a row to currently hold a 24-2-0 record. The climb back to the State Title game was given a severe blow, when leading scorer and captain Tony Valerino was bounced from the lineup an unavailable and it would be up to his teammates to face archrival Bethel Park. After not scoring in the February game in which the Blue Devils won 1-0 at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center, Bethel looked to score first. At 5:50 of the first period Bethel Park struck first as Kenny Lehman found a loose puck and beat Evan ‘Max’ Baehr cleanly high to the glove side for a 1-0 lead. Mt Lebanon’s hole got a little deeper early as they were whistled for a penalty at 4:03 of the 1st period. The Hawks outshot Mt Lebanon 12-2 in the opening period and carried the play. On to the 2nd we went and Mt Lebanon was sorely missing their leading scorer Tony Valerino, who could only watch from the bench in street clothes. In the games first big break a Bethel Park shot landed on the of the net causing a faceoff to the left of Baehr. At 12:55 right after the faceoff, Brian McGinty won the draw to the point where Kye Budziszewski shot it and it fumbled its way to the net where Evan Baehr could only watch it slip past him for a 2-0 Hawk lead. Mt Lebanon started to build a little zone time, but not many quality chances as BP held a 22-4 shot advantage through two periods and the teams headed to the ice cut. Coach Taibi mixed his lines up at the ice to try to generate some offense by putting together Chad Uddstrom, Shane Ferguson and freshman Tyler Murovich to try to build on the miniscule 6 shots through two. Early on and down 2-0 Mt Lebanon just refused to shoot and at 10:19 Rick Bueke had an open chance, but the Bethel Park defense dove tipping the puck out of danger and keep the score 2-0. The Blue Devils started to mount some pressure, but refused to throw everything they could at the net until at 8:12, Shane Ferguson got it and backhanded a shot which almost went in. At 7:31, Tyler Murovich was tripped and Mt Lebanon’s hopes rested with a power play. The best chance came as Tyler Murovich just missed on the backhand as the clock moved toward five minutes on Mt Lebanon’s season. Brandon Dornishs shot with 5:01 left was deflected by Bryce Merriam. And with 4:38 left Timmy O’Brien drove a stake through the heart of the Mt Lebanon bench and faithful with a slick wrist shot on the stick side for a 3-0 Bethel Park lead and an eminent trip to the Penguins Cup. With 3:52 left, Conner McLean sealed it with a wraparound to make it 4-0. Bethel Park will make its first trip to the Penguins Cup final since 2002 and a chance to bring a State Championship back to the black and orange.

2005 Penguins Cup AAA Semi-Finals HARMARVILLE - For North Allegheny this game this evening is icing on the cake. Oh sure they have aspirations of moving on to the Penguins Cup and possibly a State Championship game. The real wish of many NA followers is to be a part of the process, like Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon have been at the Class AAA level over the past 5-10 years and that opportunity can be attributed to one man who has made the difference in what I’ll call ‘the new NA approach’. Tom Pandolfo can say in 2004-2005 that his opponents ‘have to play NA hockey! North Allegheny has never gone past this game in the modern Penguins Cup format, which went into play in 1984 and results in the Eastern Flyers Cup champion vs the Western representative Penguins Cup champion. Like a messiah of Tiger Hockey, the first coach in 1973, Bill May has been a staple at the recent games and if he might have one thing to say to Tom Pandolfo, it would be take nothing for granted as coach May came the closest in 1977 to going all the way only to fall short. The Flyers Cup winner of Germantown Academy – Malvern Prep will not be uttered and the team must be focused as the pressure and games will get tougher each step of the way. The process is now at the half way point and redemption is on the plate in the form of Upper St Clair, the only team to beat NA all regular season and playoffs. Upper St Clair is the wild card of the playoffs and after stomping convincingly Franklin Regional 8-1 and a gut wrenching hard fought 3-2 overtime victory over a very good Plum team, the Panthers enter tonight’s Penguins Cup semi-final for the 2nd consecutive year knowing they can and have beaten North Allegheny, but also know that November 1st was a long time ago. The storied hockey history of Upper St Clair first won the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship in 1980 as a young coach by the name of Lenny Semplice lead the Panthers on a magical ride through the playoffs and defeated Erie McDowell 4-3 at the old Erie County Fieldhouse, which started a string of success which culminated in the 1987 undefeated championship team coached by Dave Hornack, which capped it off with a 4-3 win over Malvern Prep on a goal by Chris Whittmore and has been on the skids like Mr Haney’s truck breaks ever since. John Harford knows the formula and it will take all 18 of USC’s talented players to be in attendance and match NA shift for shift and maybe an extraordinary effort by Kevin Gorder to derailed any Tiger plans for Hershey’s kisses. As the teams were introduced, it was noticeable that Andrew Blazek, who scored the overtime time winner against Plum was not here and someone forgot to tell the USC fans that their team was in the Penguins Cup semi-finals as an intimate gathering was in attendance compared to half of Wexford in attendance for NA. At 12:52 of the opening period Paul Dittrich shot the puck which headed wide and bounced off Brendan Surma and behind Kevin Gorder for a 1-0 Tiger lead. USC had some pressure around the ten minute mark and Brian Gorder’s shot ended in the mid-section of Jeff Kristan. The Panthers went on the power play moments later and the Tigers killed it. An errant clearing attempt at 6:43, found its way on the stick of Matt Pekins and Kevin Gorder came up big for the Panthers. At 5:30, St Clair’s Mike Penkrot got loose but shot wide. The usually let them play crew of Dave Donatelli and Chet Steen called their 2nd penalty of the first on North Allegheny with at 4:39. At 3:04 the Panthers nearly scored but Jeff Kristan kept them out. An errant clearing attempt by Kevin Gorder and Mat Pekins picked it off but couldn’t beat Gorder, who recovered nicely to make the save right before the power play ended. The hitting picked up at this point of the first as now the whistle went in the pocket and the Tigers held a slim 1-0 lead after one. On to the second and the teams continued a going back and forth and at 9:36 the line of Waldschmidt, Waldschmidt and Pekins delivered as Wes Waldschmidt beat Kevin Gorder through the 5-hole to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Right after the goal, USC had their best pressure as NA could not get the puck out of the zone, but Kristan gloved a hot and held on to calm his team and get a line change. Penalty # 3 against North Allegheny behind the play was called at 7:22 of the middle period as the table was tilted on the power plays. An injury to St Clair captain Anthony Sirabella sopped play at 6:34. Another North Allegheny penalty behind the play # 4 on the Tigers to none against St Clair with 2:06 remaining in the 2nd. With 1:21 left Jono Lohman had a great chance but Jeff Kristan stopped him. And with 14 seconds left in the 2nd the first penalty for USC came for holding to even up the power play. The Tigers headed to the locker room with a 2-0 lead in search of their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup final. 15 minutes remaining in regulation. John Markwell had a near shorthanded breakaway in the opening minute, but a brilliant defensive play by Paul Dittrich nullified the chance diving to clear the puck out of danger to keep the 2-0 lead. Uncharacteristically, North Allegheny only had 10 shots in the game wound under 10 minutes to USC’s 16, but the scoreboard remained 2-0, a testimony to NA’s ferocious commitment to defense and backchecking …hence winning hockey. The Tigers had several chances for the third goal including at 8:23 as Kevin Gorder robbed Garrett Waldschmidt from point blank range. Coach John Harford called a timeout with 6:03 left in regulation and enough time for PG writer Marky Bilson to head to hospitality room and abscond with the remainder of the cookies, in which Earl Bugaile and Bob ‘Homer Bedlow’ Sebastian were looking forward to for the post game. And with 4:38 left, North Allegheny looked like a team heading to Mellon Arena, as Derek Rusbarsky, who has been out since the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase in December, shot the puck and Brandon Lied pounced on the rebound to make it 3-0. And step # 3 was now looking pretty good as the Tigers just need to play defense, their specialty giving up only two shot over the last ten minutes to clinch their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup final and that former JV championship banner is now in a safe place as this version of the North Allegheny Tigers is now going to uncharted waters next Wednesday at the Mellon Arena against Bethel Park for the 2005 Penguins Cup.

HARMARVILLE - 2005 Penguins Cup AA Semi-Finals Pine Richland has a long history in high school hockey in Western Pennsylvania and has been very successful recently with twelve consecutive winning campaigns from 1993 to present. The period from 1996 thru 2001 saw the Rams contend for the Penguins Cup at the Class A level to the move to Class AA twice ... in 1996, losing to Bishop McCort at the then Civic Arena 2-1 and again in 2001 to Beaver 4-1 at the Cambria County War Memorial, as both teams they fell to went on to win their respective State Championships. Coach Jimmy Black has big aspirations for Richland and he is excited about the depth in the program at the lower levels and their would be no time like the present to show it off as the Ram lineup has only 3 seniors and is loaded with half a team of sophomores and freshman including two players, sophomores Tommy DiDinato and Phil Trombetta, who are turning their play up a notch along with Junior Josh Fodor and could make the future the present in a hurry. So a short drive down Route 910 could an indirect route to Mellon Arena, but a necessary step is to go through Indiana, who the Rams have split with during the regular season trading 4-1 road wins. Indiana is a team who could write the book on the school of hard knocks in the Penguins Cup playoffs as the Indians have lost in heartbreaking fashion including last years Penguins Cup to Peters and in 2002 and in 1996 to Greensburg CC. The sympathetic Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel has traveled all the way from Indiana and could be seen rolling around in the parking lot in anticipation of a double feature including the Indiana nemesis Peters Twp in the nightcap. Head coach Dom Glavech just keeps coming back for more and after Indiana’s miracle finish last week in overcoming an upset minded Elizabeth Forward squad 3-2 with a goal in overtime after Cory Mills tied the contest late in the game. So will the Indians atone for their shortcomings in the Penguins Cup playoffs, one thing I know is that they like their chances more now than they did with about three minutes left in the EF game and sometimes comebacks like those propel a team to never look back, which will be interesting to watch against Pine Richland. The early part of the was uneventful and Indiana brought their faithful to their feet at 8:25 as Adam Rusiewicz threw a harmless shot to the net which eluded Tommy Zajac to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. Pine Richland came right back as Josh Fodor beat the Indian defense to the puck and found a wide open Tommy DiDinato in front of an open net at 7:48 and the game was tied at one apiece. The Rams nearly took the lead at 7:03 in a big scramble in front , but came right back to take the lead as Phil Trombetta flew down the left side and unleashed a wicked shot low inside the post to give the Rams a 2-1 lead at 6:17. Indiana was in a little trouble and found themselves shorthanded at 5:22 and a 12-5 shot disadvantage, but the Indians killed the penalty and could think about re-grouping only down one. Pine Richland went back on the power play and Tommy DiDinato found himself alone again with the puck at its feet with :53 seconds left and turned and fired an off speed shot through the 5 hole of Mike Kennedy for a 3-1 Pine Richland lead at the end of one. Indiana started the 2nd with the power play and Michael Jack delivered with a blistering slapshot past Tommy Zajac at 13:53 to pull within one. Moments later Phil Patterson and a host of Indians had several cracks at a tie game but Zajac came up big at 13:08. Phil Trombetta was robbed by Kennedy at the 10:42 to keep it 3-2. At 6:56, as we said in the outset the continuing maturation of the Rams kept going as Phil Trombetta buried an overpowering wrist shot high over the glove side of Mike Kennedy at 6:52 for a 4-2 Pine Richland lead. Then it was Josh Fodor’s turn as he turned on the jets and beat Kennedy on the forehand with 5:55 remaining for a commanding 5-2 Ram lead. Indiana went on a near need power play with 2:57 left in the 2nd period and PR did a real nice job keeping the scoring chances for the Indians to a minimum taking a 5-2 lead to the final period of regulation. On to the third we went and Indiana was now in a real big hole and the Rams would be content with leaving them in there for another 15 minutes and continue their excellent team defense that yielded only 17 shots thru two periods. The leader of the defensive charge was the captain Josh Fodor, who was the one making the smart plays and the one making the simple plays and having said that coach Jimmy Black called a timeout with 7:01 remaining to remind his guys to get it deep, keep three guys high and bury any chances. With 4:30 left, Tommy DiDinato intercepted a pass and could not beat Kennedy, but he didn’t need to as his club had a three goal advantage and just needed to kill the clock. The Rams only yielded three shots in the third period and played textbook defense. But what happened next was not good unless you are Indiana. The PR defense played too much with the puck and Cory Mills made them pay soaring in on a breakaway and beating Zajac with 4:16 left to cut the score to 5-3 with now a lot of time left. The Rams made a fundamental error with 2:47 left and put Indiana on the power play called for too many men on the ice. The Indiana season went down in flames with 48 left as Josh Fodor drew a penalty with a 5-3 lead and the Rams were on their way to the Penguins Cup Class AA championship next Wednesday at Mellon Arena for the first time since 2001.

HARMARVILLE – 2005 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class AA Canon McMillan has come to the Penguins Cup semi-finals as the # 1 seed in this years Class AA playoffs with a 20-1-2 including last weeks win over Chartiers Valley 5-2 in their playoff opener. The Big Macs have been rated # 1 in the state of Pennsylvania for most of the 2nd half of the season and are the team looking for their first trip to the Penguins Cup in their brief 12 year history. CM has all the stars aligned to do it and but as they were prior to the season nobody has picked the Big Macs to do anything and they still have more doubters than anyone, but coach Dave Fryer believes, as do his players and the big throng of Canon Mac fans who made the trip ‘cross town to Harmarville. Peters Twp on the other hand is the wild card in the playoffs mainly because the Indians have won three straight Penguins Cups and they are the champions until someone beats them. After ending the Big Macs unbeaten season in February, many installed Peters as favorites to win the Penguins Cup again. Coach Mark Cooper loves the underdog role and when he turned his teams jerseys over in the third period of the last regular season game against bitter rival Thomas Jefferson, many called it bush league, but I call it a coach trying to get his teams attention, which has helped in rounds one in a win over South Park 7-4 and again in round two in a hard fought 2-1 triumph over a very good Greensburg CC squad. I think Coop should have his team’s full attention as they enter the Penguins Cup semis and have a chance for a 4th straight title, even though his star goalie was possibly stuck in traffic? At 7:59 of the first period Peters went on the power play and Jeff Hannan started where he left off in the last win over Canon McMillan 4-2 at 7:08 of the first as he wheeled out of the far corner and beat Drew Stanton low to the stick side to give PT a 1-0 lead. Then with 4:48 left in the first period, Drew brother Doug Stanton found a bouncing puck of a Justin Cormack rebound and deposited into the net past Justin Mahramas to tie the score 1-1. At 4:19 of the opening period, the Big Macs went on the power play with a chance to take the lead and Adam Harnen had a chance but Jake Machel made a nice defensive play to tie his man up. After Jeff Hannan missed a breakaway, Canon Mac came back and took the lead at 2:18 as Doug Stanton scored on the rebound to give CM a 2-1 lead and held an 11-5 shot advantage after one. In the 2nd period, CM went on the power play and had several near misses early but it was the pass at 13:08 by Justin Cormack on the back door for a tap in to Jesse Patnesky to give the Macs a 3-1 lead. Then at 8:26, Eric Lang wound up and buried a slapshot which beat Justin Mahramas, who could only fell helpless as the Big Macs no were up 4-1 and in command causing a timeout for coach Cooper, with CM holding a 19-7 shot advantage. At 5:58 Rob Madore entered the game between the after attending Mr Haney’s Bizare in Pixley with his team down 4-1 and his team responded as Gerry Raymond blistered a slapshot over the glove of Drew Stanton at 4:49. And just like that just 4:38, just 11 seconds later, Dustin Roux scored on a loose puck on the backhand and we now had a 4-3 game. So Coop calls a timeout, Madore shows, Peters scores twice all in three minutes and forty eight seconds and was coincidentally not all. The other side was that Canon McMillan had NO shots and their lead had evaporated and their fans were silenced by a miraculous turn of events. Bryan Papciak continued driving the playoff bus as he stuffed home a shot inside the skate of Drew Stanton and the game was tied at 4-4 with 2:19 left in the 2nd and we headed to the final period of regulation with the shots 20-13, but more importantly 6-1 in favor of the Indians in the final 8 ½ minutes of the period. At 12:06 of the third period, Peters Twp. Made it official as Gerry Raymond scored on a wraparound to give the Indians a 5-4 lead. At 11:02, Matt Lazzaro was stopped by Drew Stanton and then it was Chris Papiak robbed moments later. Canon Mac came back and Rob Madore made his first key save at 10:36 on Doug Stanton to keep it a one goal game 5-4 in favor of PT. Then at 9:32, the drive from Neville Island became even more interesting as Madore gloved a Justin Cormack wrist shot. Then at the 9 minute Doug Stanton’s chance was kept out by Madore, who had been perfect to this point. The Big Macs went on the power play on the play with a chance to tie it and PT killed it off led by their goaltender. So as we entered the final 6 + minutes, the game was in the balance and with the game on the line there is one name that has become a trademark in clutch scoring as Bryan Papciak outfought the CM defense and fed freshman brother Chris Papciak who made it look easy chipping the puck over Drew Stanton with 5:08 remaining and giving thoughts of elimination in the heads of the Big Macs as Peters took a 6-4 lead. And Madore, who has been much maligned for his play with his travel team would be the difference pitching a shutout in relief and another trip back to the Penguins Cup for 4th consecutive year and another chance to go back to the State Championship to win their 3rd PA Cup in 4 years.