Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

Pine Richland 6 Greensburg Salem 2 GREENSBURG – The Greensburg Salem hockey program went through quite a transition over the past Years going from the Indiana High School Hockey League to the Open Division and now into Class AA. The nice part about the re-birth of the Golden Lions is that they now get to compete for a real prize with Penguins Cup eligibility for the first time in several years. The downfall is that they have to deal with the mounds of paperwork that exists in the PIHL, who tell everyone how they treat all of the teams equally, but people who know better know the real story. So as the story would go, Greensburg Salem was really enjoying their return to Varsity hockey and after Monday’s victory over Canevin would have entered tonight’s game against Pine Richland with a 7-2-1 record and a # 2 ranking in the latest Post Gazette rankings and a big match-up with the defending State Champions. The Golden Lions [again this is second hand] showed honesty and integrity but pointing out a paperwork error on their USA Hockey Roster to the Villans of the PIHL and for their good deed were rewarded with two forfeits, a 7 game suspension for Head Coach Anthony DeFazio and a meeger $ 1,200 fine from the blood thirsty league management. If you live in the South or are one of the Villans favorite team status, this is termed an administrative error, but anyone other than that is made an example of, which North Allegheny also found out this week. Pine Richland is ranked # 1 and has a perfect 9-0-0 record under Bobby ‘Boomer’ Kennedy and it really looks than this team is a step and a half ahead of Class AA competition, which means the Rams are a good bet to repeat as Penguins Cup Champions in 2007 and as Pennsylvania State Class AA champions in late March. But anyone who has been around hockey, like Geoff and Jared Bagnato’s dad Mike Bagnato, who played on a couple of North Catholic teams, who cruised through the regular season and then got knocked off in the playoffs. I am not predicting that, but when the bell rings on March 1, Pine Richland will face some battle tested AA teams, who combined with a hot goaltender could end any teams season, which the Rams are well aware of and why they are not letting the foot off of the gas pedal. So before an intimate gathering at Kirk Nevin, it didn’t take the Rams long to get on the board in this contest as George Saad’s attempted pass deflected off a Salem defenseman and behind Shane Talarico just 33 seconds into the game to give PR a 1-0 lead. The Rams gave up a scoring opportunity at the other end but got a big save at 11:11 on Eric Yurinko as Stoney Hildreth stopped from in close. Greenburg Salem went on the power play with a chance to tie the game but the Rams killed it off. The Golden Lions did get the equalizer as Shane Davis stole the and was in on a breakaway and slipped a backhand under Stoney Hildreth to knot the game at one apiece. With 5:28 to go Pine Richland was whistled putting the Golden Lions on the power play. Salem took a penalty and at 2:51 Phil Trombetta made them pay burying a wrist shot from the right hand circle. With 1:47 PR went on the power play Evan Goetz drove a nail through the hearts of the Golden Lions as Evan Goetz found a bouncing puck and buried it to the stick hand side with :01 left on the clock to give the Rams a 3-1 advantage. Shots in the opening period were 12-9 in favor of Richland. At 12:18 of the middle period, Phil Trombetta threaded a perfect goal-mouth pass to George Saad, who made no mistake beating Talarico through the 5-hole to make it a 4-1 count. Moments later at 12:05, the line of Trombetta – Trombetta – Saad combined again but Shane Talarico made a terrific save stretching out and gloving a George Saad shot which had goal written all over it. Greensburg Salem had a 5 on 3 power play at 10:33 for a minute and a half, but Phil Trombetta intercepted a Lions pass and raced 100 feet and beat Talarico on the backhand through the 5-hole to make it 5-1. Hildreth stopped Shane Davis from point blank range in the waning moments of the 2nd period. On to the third period and if the Golden Lions were going to mount a comeback, they started the right way as Eric Yurinko scored at 14:28 to make it 5-2. Shane Talarico robbed Dylan Trombetta at 12:08 who parked on the doorstep. At 8:57, Jake Bosiljevac scored from right in front to make it 6-2 in favor of Richland, which ended up being the final score as the Rams, who outshot the Golden Lions 34 –29 on the evening.

Pine Richland 6 Greensburg Salem 2 GREENSBURG – The Greensburg Salem hockey program went through quite a transition over the past Years going from the Indiana High School Hockey League to the Open Division and now into Class AA. The nice part about the re-birth of the Golden Lions is that they now get to compete for a real prize with Penguins Cup eligibility for the first time in several years. The downfall is that they have to deal with the mounds of paperwork that exists in the PIHL, who tell everyone how they treat all of the teams equally, but people who know better know the real story. So as the story would go, Greensburg Salem was really enjoying their return to Varsity hockey and after Monday’s victory over Canevin would have entered tonight’s game against Pine Richland with a 7-2-1 record and a # 2 ranking in the latest Post Gazette rankings and a big match-up with the defending State Champions. The Golden Lions [again this is second hand] showed honesty and integrity but pointing out a paperwork error on their USA Hockey Roster to the Villans of the PIHL and for their good deed were rewarded with two forfeits, a 7 game suspension for Head Coach Anthony DeFazio and a meeger $ 1,200 fine from the blood thirsty league management. If you live in the South or are one of the Villans favorite team status, this is termed an administrative error, but anyone other than that is made an example of, which North Allegheny also found out this week. Pine Richland is ranked # 1 and has a perfect 9-0-0 record under Bobby ‘Boomer’ Kennedy and it really looks than this team is a step and a half ahead of Class AA competition, which means the Rams are a good bet to repeat as Penguins Cup Champions in 2007 and as Pennsylvania State Class AA champions in late March. But anyone who has been around hockey, like Geoff and Jared Bagnato’s dad Mike Bagnato, who played on a couple of North Catholic teams, who cruised through the regular season and then got knocked off in the playoffs. I am not predicting that, but when the bell rings on March 1, Pine Richland will face some battle tested AA teams, who combined with a hot goaltender could end any teams season, which the Rams are well aware of and why they are not letting the foot off of the gas pedal. So before an intimate gathering at Kirk Nevin, it didn’t take the Rams long to get on the board in this contest as George Saad’s attempted pass deflected off a Salem defenseman and behind Shane Talarico just 33 seconds into the game to give PR a 1-0 lead. The Rams gave up a scoring opportunity at the other end but got a big save at 11:11 on Eric Yurinko as Stoney Hildreth stopped from in close. Greenburg Salem went on the power play with a chance to tie the game but the Rams killed it off. The Golden Lions did get the equalizer as Shane Davis stole the and was in on a breakaway and slipped a backhand under Stoney Hildreth to knot the game at one apiece. With 5:28 to go Pine Richland was whistled putting the Golden Lions on the power play. Salem took a penalty and at 2:51 Phil Trombetta made them pay burying a wrist shot from the right hand circle. With 1:47 PR went on the power play Evan Goetz drove a nail through the hearts of the Golden Lions as Evan Goetz found a bouncing puck and buried it to the stick hand side with :01 left on the clock to give the Rams a 3-1 advantage. Shots in the opening period were 12-9 in favor of Richland. At 12:18 of the middle period, Phil Trombetta threaded a perfect goal-mouth pass to George Saad, who made no mistake beating Talarico through the 5-hole to make it a 4-1 count. Moments later at 12:05, the line of Trombetta – Trombetta – Saad combined again but Shane Talarico made a terrific save stretching out and gloving a George Saad shot which had goal written all over it. Greensburg Salem had a 5 on 3 power play at 10:33 for a minute and a half, but Phil Trombetta intercepted a Lions pass and raced 100 feet and beat Talarico on the backhand through the 5-hole to make it 5-1. Hildreth stopped Shane Davis from point blank range in the waning moments of the 2nd period. On to the third period and if the Golden Lions were going to mount a comeback, they started the right way as Eric Yurinko scored at 14:28 to make it 5-2. Shane Talarico robbed Dylan Trombetta at 12:08 who parked on the doorstep. At 8:57, Jake Bosiljevac scored from right in front to make it 6-2 in favor of Richland, which ended up being the final score as the Rams, who outshot the Golden Lions 34 –29 on the evening.

Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics The Murrysville Dek Hockey Center, the Municipality of Murrysville Parks and Recreation and the Franklin Regional Hockey Club in coordination with the Pa Hockey Foundation is offering a Street Hockey program that began in December 2006. Over 100 participants are in the program at the Chipmunk [6-U], Penguin [7-9] and Beaver [10-12] levels, which four teams at the Penguin and Beaver level. Attached are Flyer, Advertisement and Registration Form for the PA Hockey Developmental Clinics and the Franklin Regional Street Hockey League for Fall 2006. Over 2700 copies of the Flyer will be copied and distributed in the Franklin Regional School District to children in grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade. In addition, we will forward these for publishing in the Penn Franklin News and Murrysville Star. These flyers are now being distributed throughout the East Suburbs to help enrich the participation of the sport through the great resources we have here in the East Suburbs in FR, Gateway, Plum, Penn Trafford, Norwin, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Penn Hills, Valley, Woodland Hills, Kiski and other Eastern School Districts. The Allegheny Hockey Association and the Bob Mock Skating Academy out of the Center Ice Arena in Delmont and the North Hills Amateur Hockey Association and Carrie Smilowitz, Skating Instuctor out of the Valley Sports Complex in New Kensington offer programsto begin playing the sport and sustain participation for elementary aged children. Both the Learn to Play Hockey programs will be participating in the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition on Friday December 29th at 4:00 PM at the Center Ice Arena in Delmont preceding the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition at 4:30.

Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics The Murrysville Dek Hockey Center, the Municipality of Murrysville Parks and Recreation and the Franklin Regional Hockey Club in coordination with the Pa Hockey Foundation is offering a Street Hockey program that began in December 2006. Over 100 participants are in the program at the Chipmunk [6-U], Penguin [7-9] and Beaver [10-12] levels, which four teams at the Penguin and Beaver level. Attached are Flyer, Advertisement and Registration Form for the PA Hockey Developmental Clinics and the Franklin Regional Street Hockey League for Fall 2006. Over 2700 copies of the Flyer will be copied and distributed in the Franklin Regional School District to children in grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade. In addition, we will forward these for publishing in the Penn Franklin News and Murrysville Star. These flyers are now being distributed throughout the East Suburbs to help enrich the participation of the sport through the great resources we have here in the East Suburbs in FR, Gateway, Plum, Penn Trafford, Norwin, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Penn Hills, Valley, Woodland Hills, Kiski and other Eastern School Districts. The Allegheny Hockey Association and the Bob Mock Skating Academy out of the Center Ice Arena in Delmont and the North Hills Amateur Hockey Association and Carrie Smilowitz, Skating Instuctor out of the Valley Sports Complex in New Kensington offer programsto begin playing the sport and sustain participation for elementary aged children. Both the Learn to Play Hockey programs will be participating in the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition on Friday December 29th at 4:00 PM at the Center Ice Arena in Delmont preceding the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition at 4:30.

Bethel Park 6 Meadville 3 MEADVILLE – Meadville has rattled off 7 straight since their opening night loss to Central Catholic and arguably at 7-1-0 is off to one of its better starts in recent memory. Jamie Plunkett celebrated his 1000th game last Monday night and the Dawgs disposed Norwin in easy fashion, but this game with Bethel Park would be the measuring stick in this mid-season contest as the Blackhawks have become the measuring stick for all of Western Pa Hockey this season and over the past 9 years. Although Mt Lebanon is defending State Champions in Class AAA and Central Catholic beat the Dawgs on opening night, the game of the season for Meadville and vice versa is Bethel Park, who are undefeated on the season at 8-0-0. The Parking lot of the ‘House of Chills’ was filled and a big line outside prior to the game would mean a packed house to the rafters as the bulldog faithful lined around the glass of rowdy Bulldog faithful anticipated this game when the schedule was produce earlier this fall. Bethel Park under Head Coach Jim McVay has taken a bold step in redefining how to handle the non-sense conflicts of Travel Hockey and High School, by continuing to have a majority of his Hawks play on a split season team to assist in the ultimate goal of winning State Championships for the program. A captive audience, if you will, similar to Meadville’s, but the ability to get a jump start on the season and sustain continuity over the season’s five months. The Hawks have played the stiff competition of the Western Pa, Cleveland Tournament slate and don’t appear to be letting off the gas even though this is December. All of this is part of the commitment of the Bethel Park program and a good reason why they are ahead of their competition. Meadville came out storming in the opening minutes but Hawks goaltender Pete Cosentino was sharp early with several good saves as the nerves settled in this great rivalry of Pennsylvania’s top two programs over the past twenty years. With 11:58, Bethel Park went on the power play and after some systematic puck movement, Tom Whetsel swatted a Kenny Lehmann rebound out of the air pas Mike Licinski with 9:58 to go in the opening period for a 1-0 Bethel Park lead. A Bulldog turnover and Kenny Lehman found a wide open Logan Bannon in the slot, who made no mistake burying a snapshot through the 5-hole of Mike Licinski with 6:24 to go to put the Hawks on top 2-0. Cosentino came up with two more nice stops with 4:20 to go, but his team was whistled off for a penalty putting the Bulldogs on the power play, but it was Lehmann who nearly made it three nill at 3:36 as his shot hit the crossbar. The Dawgs Countered as Luke Killmeyer’s shot from point blank with 3:20 after a nice setup, but the Bethel goaltender was equal to the task maintaining a 2-0 lead and BP killed off the remainder of the penalty. The Bulldogs picked up the intensity and physical play as Zane O’Shurak’s open ice hit drew some ews and ahs from the faithful at the ‘House of Chills’ . Bur it was Bethel Park who struck again as David Spadacene found Kenny Lehmann on the top of the far circle and Lehmann buried a snap shot on the stick side past Licinski with 5 ticks left in the opening stanza and the Hawks silenced the MARC with a 3-0 first period lead. Bethel Park outshot Meadville 9-7. At 13:33 of the second period, Meadville was back on the power play and again BP killed it off with determination and skill. Bethel went on the power play with 11:19 to go and may have changed the momentum of this hockey game as Dan Algretti threaded a perfect lead pass to captain Pat Leone who got behind the Hawk defense and beat the BP goaltender on the backhand to give the Dawgs their first goal with 11:00 to go. At 9:39 Bethel countered with a goal as Lehmann scored low on the ice to help the Blackhawks regain a 3-goal advantage 4-1, quickly dispelling any momentum for the Dawgs. Meadville went back on the power play with 7:37 to go and the Hawks had a good chance as David Spadacene got behind Meadville’s defense, but Licinski came up big with a little over 7 minutes to go. Bethel could widen their lead with 3:42 to go on the power play, but Meadville worked hard and killed it off and would head to the locker room to regroup down 4-1. Head Coach Jamie Plunkett must have motivated his club during the intermission because they came out with purpose early in the 3rd period and forced a penalty. And this time the Dawgs converted as Morgan Nickerson slammed home a cross ice pass from Pat Leone with 12:08 on a wrist shot to cut the deficit to 4-2. Whenever Meadville countered, Bethel Park answered and the Hawks went on the power play at 11:23 and one minute later as a result of hard work, Logan Bannon scored exactly one minute later at 10:23 on a third effort sliding the puck inside the post to regain the 3-goal advantage at 5-2. Meadville came back again less than a minute later as Mike Noonan scored on a Nick Fedorka rebound with 9:28 to play to bring the Dawgs to within 5-3. The Bulldogs turned up the pressure and carried the play for much of the third period, the best chance to score came with 2:50 to play in regulation on power play and nearly got within one as Morgan Nickerson’s shot with 1:41 to go was stopped by a sliding Pete Cosentino. A penalty after the play put the Dawgs on a 5 on 3, but it would be Bethel Park who answered as Tim Davin’s clearing off the boards had eyes on it as the puck hit the post and crawl over the goal line to finish the scoring and give BP a 6-3 victory.