Archbishop Ryan Raiders

2005 Penguins Cup and 2005 Flyers Cup Scoreboard and Highlights

In 2004-2005, Robert Morris University fielded the FIRST NCAA Division 1 Hockey program to Western Pennsylvania playing at the Island Sports Center on Neville Island. Congratulations to Robert Morris University Head Coach Derek Schooley on the completion of the inaugural season and we are proud that his program is an integral part of Pa Hockey. Once agains to show our support for the Robert Morris program we would like to announce the Annual Junior Prep camp at Robert Morris. Several Junior A and NCAA Collegiate programs will be attending with Robert Morris University serving as the host. This is a great opportunity for ALL players in Western Pennsylvania to experience an opportunity to see what it takes to advance to a higher level in Junior A or Collegiate Hockey. So don't miss out on this opportunity and click on the Robert Morris logo to see the attached brochure [BY CLICK ON TITLE ABOVE] or contact Derek Schooley at Robert Morris University at 412-269-4477!

VALENCIA - If you live in Kittanning, the smell around March the 1st reeks of playoff fever. And their fans will turn out in droves for a home game at the Belmont. Tonight, they were on the road and loud at the Ice Connection. At stake, a home berth and a # 8 seed setting up a date with Thomas Jefferson, the only thing that remained is where? A Wildcat win or tie and Kittanning would play at the friendly confines of the Belmont and a loss could mean a trip to Rostraver. Coach Jon Yackmack’s club has been playing well of late ever since the 7-7 tie with Indiana in a game that the Cats trailed 6-0 and came back to tie it. With the possibility that TJ will not play their final game due to a pending snowstorm, which would wipe out the final game of the season, because of the brilliant scheduling of the PIHL, who are starting the playoffs the day after the regular season ends. So the games continue to be decided by people with no regard for the sport and not on the ice where they should be decided. Pine Richland defeated Peters Township on Thursday night 4-3 to clinch home ice advantage in the upcoming playoffs. At stake for Jimmy Black and the Rams is a first round bye in the upcoming first round. PR and Indiana are deadlocked in a race, which would spin the heads of many a MIT professor which has come down to this. A Richland win and an Indiana win over Somerset tomorrow night will result in a tie in the standings. A split in the season series between Indiana and Pine Richland then takes us to penalty minutes, which the Rams have a slight advantage over the Indians. Needless to say this game means something to Pine Richland’s playoff aspirations and could end up opposite Peters Twp by clinching the # 2 seed in round two. A loss by the Rams could drop them to 4th position. Both teams came out hitting in the opening minutes and the Rams struck first as Tom DiDinato chipped a backhand over Pete Tolman for a 1-0 lead at 11:07. PR went on the power play moments later and with 9:22 remaining, the Rams scored as Tom DiDinato found Josh Fodor who buried a quick shot past Tolman for a 3-0 lead. Kittanning came right back and Joey Ford would not be denied fighting for a rebound and chopping it past Tommy Zajac to cut the lead to 2-1 with 8:41 left in the opening period. Then the Wildcats struck again to erase the 2-0 lead at 5:45 as Lee Heilman and Justin Kovatch kept banging away and Kovatch got the final stick on it to forge a 2-2 tie. Kittanning received a power play chance at 2:19 and took just 13 seconds to convert as Joel Shriver scored through the 5-hole on the ice and in just a little over six minutes Kittanning took the lead 3-2 at 2:06. Back came the Rams, as Josh Fodor picked the pocket of the Kittanning defense and tied the game on a beautiful goal at 1:04. Pine Richland went back on the power play with under a minute to play anms went back scored again as Tom DiDinato overpowered Tolman on a wrist shot with just 27 seconds left in a wild first period. On to the second we went and Adam Fiscus scored a great goal as he cut between the circles and slipped a backhand past Zajac at 12:09 to knot the score at 4-4. After a great save by Tolman on Josh Fodor at one end Kittanning rushed the puck 2 on1 and it was Lee Heilman with Joel Shriver and Heilman finished it off beating Zajac on the stick side for a 5-4 lead at 8:07. Coach Black replaced Zajac with Stoney Hildreth. The Rams went back on the power play at 3:43 with a chance to tie the game, but the Wildcats killed it off. With :17 ticks left in the period Josh Fodor took a critical penalty putting Kittanning on the power play which would carry over to the third. Pine Richland killed off the penalty for their captain and the score remained 5-4. The Rams went to work in the Kittanning end and nearly scored as Phil Trombetta was stopped by Tolman, but two penalties occurred putting them on a 5 on 3 with 9:13 left and the turkey was on the table. Josh Fodor made Kittanning pay as he looped around the Wildcat defense and beat Tolman on the backhand at 8:51 to tie the game again at 5 apiece. With time still left on the penalty, PR looked to take the lead. Then the clock struck 3:00 and Joel Shriver caught Stoney Hildreth off the post and shot it from behind the goal line and off the Pine Richland goaltenders skate and in for a 6-5 Cat lead. Hildreth stopped Colin McKelvey ona breakaway at 2:06 to give the Rams a chance. The captain Fodor took an ill-advised retaliation penalty with a little over a minute to go, to put his team down. Kittanning obliged with a bad penalty of their own with 18 ticks left and a faceoff in the Wildcat zone. Kittanning held on and sent the message to start the tailgate party for Thursday night at the Belmont !

UPDATE 3-22-2005 - Penguins Cup Special Ø The 84 Lumber Penguins Cup Championships have turned in to Green Acres Ø The appropriate timing of Homer Bedloe [a/k/a Pa Hockey top 5 Fan Bob Sebastian] playing the Green Acres theme song prior to the Canon McMillan – Peters Twp, the only people who heard it were the fans and the players since the ‘rest of the world’ was under the stands at Harmarville auditioning for the next Green Acres Ø The reincarnation of Newt Kiley voting & making decisions on player eligibility issues less than an hour prior to a game to absolutely distract Canon McMillan coach Dave Fryer and Peters Township coach Mark Cooper, who did he best Hank Kimball trying to figure out whether to play Rob Madore or not, this after Madore played for the Peters team all year Ø In light of the Peters – Canon Mac fiasco, I am sure the Flyers Cup committee will be very interested in the paperwork of the Western teams and don’t think they forgot the 1998 Unionville player that was ruled ineligible the day of the State Championships at Rostraver. Ø While many thought Rob Madore was at Mr Haney’s Pixley Bizaar on Tuesday Night, he was really in the runway after being told he was ineligible or was he eligible by Hank Kimball? Young Madore entered the game with his team down 4-1 and pitched a shutout in relief and his team now moves on the Penguins Cup. Wonder if Shane Frey will start in the State Championship if Peters gets there? Oh he plays for Radnor and they were eliminated by Central Bucks West in the Flyers Cup A 4-0 in their opener. Guess young Rob will have to play, that is if he’s eligible, but don’t ask Mr. Kimball and certainly don’t involve Mr Haney, unless of course, there is an all important practice ! Ø Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel showed up at Harmarville on Tuesday night and was relishing in the fact that the Indians of Peters and the Indians of Indiana were playing back to back games and he also found the Peter’s Twp television crew and Power Play Productions doing television for the Peters – Canon Mac game, but Doug Heck, who was hired by the Indiana Red Line club and has filmed the past three seasons was told he could not film the game between Indiana and Pine Richland. Mr Kimball citing reasons unknown to him could not find Interscholastic Hockey or Sports for that matter in 11 states, but found it here in Green Acres, cause he knows the sport will be fully funded in 5-10 years, but didn’t bother to tell anyone he was raising the ticket prices from $ 5 to $ 7, when its clearly states in the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship rules that the gate is $ 5. I guess it’s for the amusement tax? Ø The decision of the PIHL not to let any cameras in the Mellon Arena due to their contract with FOX to show the games on Sunday March 27, 2005, the day after the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships. Would this be considered a ‘rerun’….maybe TV Land would be interested ? Oh, that would be during the 24 hours of Green Acres slot and they don’t curfew that ! Ø Ladies and Gentlemen, Interscholastic Hockey is Green Acres at the crossroads Ø So before we begin looking to replace the current commissioner and conducting interviews for a new one, maybe it should be considered to eliminate the position and re-distribute the jobs to volunteers, who will do a way better job and save the members schools $ 150,000 – 200,000 or roughly 20 % of the PIHL Budget because the sport doesn’t need Green Acres, it just needs people who are dedicated to running it and care about what they are doing and will do it for FREE ! Ø I just want to let the current PIHL President know that I found the resumes for the hiring of the commissioner, which he lost in 2000-2001, when I requested them and the Commissioner’s Review we conducted that year and the minutes from the meeting in October 2000 where the Executive Board voted 3-2 to open up the job of finding the Commissioner ….can anyone help me find the minutes from October ….they must be archived with the PIHL Discussion Forum Ø The Team Pittsburgh coaching selection less than two weeks prior to the tryouts when in my tenure for five years the applications were due by 12/31 and the coach was selected January 15th, so he could go out and get a look at potential players and maybe encourage some good ones to try out. I don’t care if Eddie Figas is Eddie Olczyk, he would have trouble putting this team together at this juncture. Ø While Homer Bedloe tried to shut down the Canonball, he should consider a new agenda and shut down the PIHL, the ‘Open Division’, the overpaid Commissioner and the Pixley Rotary Club a/k/a PIHL Executive Board and their new movie playing in Pixley ‘Backwards to the Future’ in consideration of a NEW, fresh and simple idea of Mr John Eddy, who will run and win the PIHL Presidency on April 13th Ø The new Junior Varsity / Freshman philosophy now has over 20 schools interested including four additional schools who called on their own and will continue down the tracks no matter what happens on April 13th in the PIHL Elections and will save the members schools a minimum of $ 4000 per season. Its not a vendetta, it common sense and may save a couple of hockey programs from landing in the ‘Teams that are’t there anymore’ of the Pa Hockey Team Website section Ø And for the Journalists covering Green Acres, the availability of Sam Drucker’s store phone at the top of a telephone pole, which will have better reception than the cell phones inside Harmarville BladeRunners, so some can call in the CORRECT information about the Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon game and not rely on Hank Kimball’s version of Merriam, not McLuckie and O’Brien’s wrist shot not Slapshot Ø See you all in Hershey ! Originally Posted March 1, 2005 Connellsville finally won something! The Falcons went on a torrid two game winning and three game unbeaten streak to end the season at 6-14-1 to win the PIHL Open South Division over West Mifflin [4-16-1] and Trinity [4-17-0]. West Mifflin fielded a varsity team for the first time since 1996-97 and Trinity is a program on life support as well. Connellsville entered the 2004-2005 season with an all-time record of 9-170-3, including a 4-20-0 record last year in Class AAA. The Falcons are coached by Jeff Fleck, who knows a little about hockey playing in Prep School at Hotchkiss in Massachusetts after attending Penn Hills. So they have a coach ! This years season brings the tally to 15 wins 184 losses and 4 ties. So Ralph and Alf have the South Division Championship banner completed and now where do the hang it? The Ice Mine is about to join Golden Mile and Somerset Ice Traks as abandoned rink within 45 minutes of Connellsville and it is my understanding that Rostraver is now the home of the Falcons, so they can put the Banner there. The Open Division was a bad idea from the beginning and is a patch job to a league in trouble ! Chartiers Valley and Carrick could have played Class AA and Penn Hills should have played with their rivals Gateway and Plum in Class AAA and would have made the AAA playoffs without the Open Division. The 3 Wheeling Schools and Linsly are good programs and will move on to play in Ohio and West Virginia at some point as the 1st West Virginia State Championship game is played on March 1, 2005. So where does this leave Connellsville, with 17 seniors graduating on this team, no rink within shouting distance, no developmental amateur program and no future? This program is going to die people and there is no lible in that. In fact, I predicted that of the 13 programs in the Open Division over half will not be playing in the PIHL or be folded in 5 years. Rumors have been flying abound Western Pennsylvania about a new league towards Johnstown and State College and last week it became a reality as the Allegheny Mountain High School Hockey League was founded with 12-15 schools in that area. It was also announced at the February PIHL Board of Governors meeting. The basis of this league is less travel and less cost, which was supposed to be the mission of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League when it was founded in 1999-2000. The PIHL Billing machine is strapped with League Fees and Fines and Costs, which are so exorbitant that the Erie Teams are now beginning to constitute the old Lake Shore League in Western New York and Ohio, with another 15 + schools, including Mercyhurst Prep, Ft LeBouf, Harborcreek, and Fairview from Pennsylvania. In fact, Meadville, Cathedral Prep and McDowell are also on the fence with this league as they have parked their Junior Varsity and Freshman teams in, brace yourselves, a low cost option. When I left the PIHL as President in 2001, I reported to all of you that this day would come and it hasn’t yet, but it’s around the corner. The scheduling fiasco with Junior Varsity and Freshman and the Seeding Meeting fiasco of the Penguins Cup playoffs may have been the straw that broke the camels back for a majority of people. The reality is that High School Hockey is going BANKRUPT and if it isn’t why is the PIHL trying to borrow money, which is in their December Minutes and running around telling everyone they are going to CHARGE teams for Broadcasting games, who are promoting the sport for free. The MSA Sports Network, WBVP Beaver County, Moon High School Television, WJPA Radio, Peters Twp Television, Bethel Park Television, Upper St Clair Local Access, the NA Tiger Sports Network, Family Life Television, Charter Cable in Johnstown, Shaler TV, Murrysville Cable Access FRTV, Fox Radio 970, Indiana PA TV, Butler Radio, Kittanning 1490 Radio, the Allegheny College Sports Network WMGW Radio, and of course Power Play Productions are broadcasting games on the radio, television and the internet and NONE of them have a written agreement with the PIHL. I was approached in December to do a game between Sewickley Academy and Forest Hills by Erik Hoolihan and Bx Video. I contacted Forest Hills president Alice Single to make her aware that we were doing a test game for the future of broadcasting high school hockey. It turned out great and the reviews were fantastic. Then we did the medal round of the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase and those are still available to see. And along with Bx Video, we have come up with a plan to broadcast Interscholastic Hockey across the country including here in Pennsylvania. The plan includes help schools subsidize Hockey and affect all of you! Enter the PIHL, whose President, Commissioner and Secretary show up at the Bx Video offices not to embrace the idea, but to steal it from Pa Hockey and take it for their own. The greed is unreal and now Bx Video is sour on the idea and wants to have nothing top do with the PIHL. The greatest part of this plan is that the Pa Hockey Network would promote hockey and cost the organizations absolutely NOTHING. Our brothers from Philadelphia have embraced the idea and are willing to sell it to their 140 schools immediately, while the PIHL is more interested in lining their pockets some more. The PIHL is a 501 c 3 and their financial statements are public record under the Blue Sky laws of Pennsylvania. Attached is a copy of their budget, which I was amazed to find that has only been downloaded less than 100 times. People are starting to become aware the money involved. A couple of months ago, I was approached by a group of schools who are concerned about the viability of their hockey programs. One program I am very familiar with charges over $ 1500 for freshman hockey and has gone from 75 kids when I coached there to in the low 40’s. The ball started and now its rolling as we had a meeting last week to talk about options for the 2005-2006 season, which includes Junior Varsity and Freshman teams. The KGB agent from the PIHL showed up and asked to be included in the meeting and was asked to leave, only to say quote “the PIHL is interested”. It’s too late! PIHL officials have been burning the phone lines all last week and showing up at rinks to hand out trophies and glad handing everyone in sight with favors. Why? Because the league is in trouble! So we are going to meet again and we are going to continue to discuss better and cheaper ways to run our programs and we may decide to move forward with our plan which will be run by the schools. This is not a grand scheme to break up the PIHL, it is survival and I think a lot of schools are in the same boat. And if the PIHL administration shows up, they will be asked to leave again because they have made their statement over the past five years and they are not welcome. Since they never called me to ask about how we could ‘work together’ with the Pa Hockey Network /Bx Video plan and how it can help them get out of their mess and went behind my back to harpoon it…you can bet we are not interested in what they have to say. We have to 'work together' went out the window five years ago and I have over 80,000 reasons why I know you’re not interested because this is the Last Year of the PIHL ………as we know it !

HARMARVILLE – McDowell coach Paul Mancini sat on the sidelines after his team took 15 + penalties in their game against rival Cathedral Prep. The Trojans have had a splendid season at 17-4-2 and had a golden opportunity to move up to as far the 4th seed entering this evenings game and a loss would put them in the 6th seed just behind Upper St Clair and Plum. The boys from Erie have defeated Meadville and Cathedral Prep twice this season and Upper St Clair and their blemishes are like many others include Bethel Park, North Allegheny [twice] and Mt Lebanon. A typical hard hitting Trojan squad with feisty skaters, good positional play and strong goaltending of John Cleary, but they will have to be disciplined to have a chance of advancing deep into the Penguins Cup playoffs. Fox Chapel coach Jim Damp would enter tonight’s game with his team owning a 13-10-0 record and in a battle with Central Catholic and a resurgent North Hills team to claim the 9th seed and a trip to Meadville, which doesn’t bother the Foxes, who defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 earlier this season. Tonight’s test would be interesting since leading scorer Matt Quigley was sidelined and FC would start senior Brandon Beal on Senior Night instead of Eric Thiessen, who has handled a majority of the Foxes big games. When Beal is on he has displayed the ability of just being stellar, but a recent subpar performance against Shaler, put him on the bench in the games final minutes, which may have motivated him to play better. A packed house at Harmarville including coaches from North Allegheny, Mt Lebanon and Meadville in anticipation of the playoffs next week were on hand. Several years ago, there was a meeting at the then Civic Arena to discuss the officiating in Western Pennsylvania, especially at the high school level and after several heated arguments between the referees association [WPHOA] and the high school leagues [WPIHL and SHIHL] at the time. After some heated discussions, it was decided that their would be referee evaluations of the officials by the coaches, which would put into a database and a monthly meeting to discuss issues and potentially would mean officials who don’t meet the criteria, would see limited if any action late in the season and be eliminated for the playoffs. This was back when we ALL were volunteers and the database was maintained and as Vice President of the WPIHL at the time, I attend these meetings and it worked. Now that there is PAID administration, we now see the same guys who were in 1996-1997 were banished from late season competition and having an adverse affect on results of games. Supposedly, in our current environment and according to some coaches, the infinite wisdom of the PIHL is pulling the best officials from first round playoff games and letting ALL officials have an opportunity to call games. So on display tonight were two guys, who in 1997 didn’t cut it and HAVE NEVER IMPROVED and in my opinion cannot handle playoff action in a very important game between McDowell and Fox Chapel and with only 7 games on the schedule tonight, you would think whoever is scheduling these games would check the standings and put their BEST on the ice instead of their near WORST in this situation! Fortunately for McDowell and Fox Chapel, their first round playoff games will be in Erie, where there are some decent officials including McDowell coach Paul Mancini [who is one of the best officials in Western Pennsylvania] who is a veteran of many years of playoff tilts and the Ontario Hockey Association [Major Junior A] in Erie over the past ten years and could only shake his head in disgust at the proceedings early on in this game. Anyway, a weak call in the games first minute of this game put Fox Chapel on the power play and BOOOM….Joe Budz took a Kyle Misour feed and beat John Cleary at 12:38 to give FC a 1-0 lead. Before the bus legs of McDowell could go away, the Foxes caught the Trojan defense napping again and Kyle Misour took a great pass from Budz out of the corner and beat Cleary through the 5-hole and it was 2-0 with 10:21 left. Another questionable call at 9:50 put the Foxes on the power play again and give Fox Chapel credit, they pounced on this game early and knew the consequences as Misour blasted a slapshot from the right point which sailed past the McDowell goaltender and Fox Chapel was now up 3-0 with 8:51 left in the opening period. A series of makeup calls proceeded in the second half of the 1st period and McDowell applied some decent pressure but only resulted in 3 shots to Fox Chapel’s 12. On to the 2nd period and the game was back and forth as the Foxes went on another power play, which the Trojans killed off. McDowell finally had a flurry at around the 10 ½ minute mark, but Brandon Beal would stopped them at every turn as he made a great sliding save on Mark Skirzynski at 9:58 and several other saves to keep the Trojans off the board. Fox Chapel would score the only goal of the middle period, again on the power play as Dan Umanski unloaded a slapshot from the right point, which John Cleary never moved on and went high over the stick side and Fox Chapel held a 4-0 lead with 2:17 left. To add insult to injury, Beal stopped Skirzynski on a breakaway with 40 seconds left and the Foxes went to the locker room with a commanding lead. The third period was just ugly hockey with the teams more interested in getting into individual battles than scoring and after a slew of more penalties and causing League Rep Steve Sturm to use more scoresheets than normally necessary, Justin Kreps put the dagger in McDowell on a 5 on 3 power play, he deposited a rebound past Cleary with 6:33, which put McDowell on the bus headed back to Erie to prepare for Central Catholic in the first round, while Fox Chapel earned a trip to Meadville to face the Bulldogs. You can bet Erie’s best officials will be scheduled on those games!