Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

NEVILLE ISLAND - Thank you to Plum Hockey for providing this report ! The Plum Mustangs and North Hills Indians met at the Island Sports Complex in a battle for one of the two remaining playoff spots. The Indians dominated the early play, outshooting Plum 12-5 in the opening period; but Plum’s goalie, John Bronder, was able to keep North Hills off the board with several sparkling saves. Three minute into the second period, it was the Mustangs who were able to take the lead. Jonathan Smith came free on a breakaway, but North Hills’ netminder Kevin Gubish made the save. Gubish then stopped Ben Colosmo on the rebound, but Matt Giunta shoveled the second rebound over Gubish into the net to make the score 1-0. At 8:31 of the second period, Smith took a pass from Colosmo, skated to the high slot and blistered a wrist shot past Gubish’s blocker to put Plum up by two. The Indians halved that margin at 6:15. Nick Rostek walked out from the corner and wristed the puck off the crossbar over Bronder’s glove to bring North Hills within striking distance. Three minutes later, the Indians took advantage of a Mustang penalty. Plum was unable to clear the puck, and it was Rostek again finding himself all alone in the slot. Rostek waited patiently and beat Bronder with a wrist shot past the blocker to knot the game at two. The game remained tied into the third period. At 8:15, North Hills’ Dave Hansell came in free on a breakaway, but Bronder came up big with the save to keep the game tied. Plum went on the power play with seven minutes remaining, but it was North Hills coming up with several scoring opportunities on the penalty kill. Bronder stopped Rostek with two sharp leg saves, and the Mustangs were able to survive their own power play. With only 3:23 remaining in the third, it was the Giunta-Smith-Colosmo line coming up big again. Giunta carried the puck into the Indians’ zone down the right wing and spotted Smith trailing down the left wing. Giunta hit Smith with a cross-ice pass, and Smith one-timed the puck to Colosmo who came flying down the slot. Colosmo deflected the Smith pass toward the open cage, and the puck slowly trickled into the net to put Plum up 3-2. North Hills put the pressure on in an effort to get the game-tying goal. With 1:13 to go, the Indians pulled Gubish for the extra skater. North Hills had several scoring chances, the last one coming on a slapshot with five seconds remaining; but Giunta sacrificed his body, going down and blocking the shot out of the Plum zone to seal the victory. The Indians outshot Plum 30-24 in the game.

JOIN US IN CELEBRATING PLUM HOCKEY ASSOCIATION'S RETIREMENT OF RJ UMBERGER'S #20! Join us at Center Ice in Delmont on Friday, February 24, 2006, as Plum Hockey Association honors RJ Umberger! RJ was the 1st Pittsburgh-born player drafted in the 1st round of the NHL Entry Draft and is now playing for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. RJ will be on hand to greet fans, friends, old teammates and coaches and to sign autographs from 8:30PM until 9:00PM. An on-ice ceremony to celebrate Plum Hockey Association's retirement of RJ's #20 will take place before the start of the 9:20PM Varsity game between Plum and Bethel Park. All are welcome!

Fox Chapel 5 Upper St Clair 2 HARMARVILLE – When you enter mid-February, it’s all about playoff positioning and for Upper St Clair (11-5-0) and Fox Chapel (12-5-2), the most important part of preparing for this post season [since both teams have clinched playoff spots] can be spelled out in one word, avoidance. If you are a Class AAA school and you capture spots 8 through 12 in the upcoming playoffs, the prospects of advancing to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals are slim to none. Why? Because your team will be staring the Mt Lebanon steamroller, with twelve shutouts in 19 games to their credit, and it WILL be a short postseason. Upper St Clair has six games remaining entering the tilt with Fox Chapel and has taken a Blue Devil beating twice this season, so coach John Harford knows all about what needs to take place over the season’s final two weeks. The Panthers will also have to make a choice of goaltenders for the playoffs in either freshman Max Daurora or veteran senior Kevin Gorder and that choice will likely fuel any playoff run for USC. Fox Chapel on the other hand has a no-brainer in between the pipes as Eric Thiessen has been one of the best goaltenders in Class AAA and along with fellow top 25 selection Meadville’s Bryan Danczak, have been a major reason why the Foxes and Bulldogs are up near the top of the heap. If you think Head Coach Jim Damp’s team starts and ends with goaltending, that would be a mistake as FC has found leadership in Kyle Misour, Joey Budz and more recently Justin Kreps, who along with a nice support cast make the Foxes an interesting and equally dangerous playoff team come March to knock off a couple of teams and waltz into the Semi’s, where as we know anything can happen. The game involved very tight checking early on as FC and USC kept the scoring chances to a minimum until Panther scoring machine Mike Penkrot got loose behind the Foxes defense, but Eric Thiessen made a terrific save to keep the contest scoreless. Fox Chapel built momentum off their goaltender and struck first as Zack ‘not Eddie’ Crowe found a loose puck on the doorstep and buried it to give FC a 1-0 lead with 5:31 remaining in the opening period. On to the second period and the Foxes Kyle Misour weighed in to the game burying a wrist shot past Daurora at 14:12 to extend the lead to 2-0. Fox Chapel put the Panthers on the power play and paid for it as Mike Penkrot walked off the near boards and rifled a snap shot up under the crossbar beating Thiessen, who appeared to have the angle, but could not score a major league shot at 12:06 of the 2nd. This game appeared to be headed for a key turning point in the next few minutes, with the next team who scored being able to take a stranglehold of this game. Fox Chapel capitalized on an odd man situation as Joey Budz converted a great pass by Kyle Misour to give the Foxes a 3-1 lead at 9:59. USC had a chance to cut the lead back to one as David Crockett was in on the breakaway, but Thiessen came up big at 8:38. Fox Chapel smelled a wounded Panther and started to press and dominated the later part of the second period scoring chances and converted twice as Dan Uminski beat Daurora low to the glove side for a power play goal at 4:45 and then Chris Hughes scored a big insurance goal at 4:04 to open up this game to a 5-1 Fox Chapel runaway at the end of two periods. Fox Chapel and Thiessen beared down in the third period and limited Upper St Clair’s chances and any momentum. David Crockett scored for the Panthers with 13 seconds left to make the final count 5-2 and give the Foxes a big win in their quest to capture the 7th seed or better with upcoming games against McDowell and the aforementioned Blue Devils.

Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics & Franklin Regional Street Hockey League [Fall] 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 beginning on September 23rd and 24th, 2006. Information will be posted soon Attached are Flyer, Advertisement and Registration Form for the PA Hockey Developmental Clinics and the Franklin Regional Street Hockey League for Fall 2006. Over 2000 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. Our hope is to build a developmental hockey program to introduce players to the sport of hockey and our goal is to help enrich the participation of the sport through the great resources we have here in the East Suburbs and expand to places outside of Murrysville, such as Gateway, Plum, Penn Trafford, Norwin, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Penn Hills, Valley, Woodland Hills, Kiski and other Eastern through our affiliation with the Municipality of Murrysville, who is interested in helping us bring participation to the FR Street Hockey League from outside Murrysville, with the long term goal of building programs in other municipalities throughout the East. I would like to thank 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 for becoming the olive branch to begin players eager to participate in Ice Hockey for their support of this program. In addition, the Penn Hills Dek Hockey Center and the YMCA's of Eastern Suburbs for their participation to greater elevate the opportunity to begin playing the sport and sustain participation for elementary aged children. Both the Learn to Play Hockey programs from North Hills Amateur and Allegheny Hockey Association will be invited to participate in the 11th Annual Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Skills Competition on Friday December 29th at the Center Ice Arena in Delmont. Additional information regarding the Showcase is available at www.pahockey.net

Fox Chapel 5 Upper St Clair 2 HARMARVILLE – When you enter mid-February, it’s all about playoff positioning and for Upper St Clair (11-5-0) and Fox Chapel (12-5-2), the most important part of preparing for this post season [since both teams have clinched playoff spots] can be spelled out in one word, avoidance. If you are a Class AAA school and you capture spots 8 through 12 in the upcoming playoffs, the prospects of advancing to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals are slim to none. Why? Because your team will be staring the Mt Lebanon steamroller, with twelve shutouts in 19 games to their credit, and it WILL be a short postseason. Upper St Clair has six games remaining entering the tilt with Fox Chapel and has taken a Blue Devil beating twice this season, so coach John Harford knows all about what needs to take place over the season’s final two weeks. The Panthers will also have to make a choice of goaltenders for the playoffs in either freshman Max Daurora or veteran senior Kevin Gorder and that choice will likely fuel any playoff run for USC. Fox Chapel on the other hand has a no-brainer in between the pipes as Eric Thiessen has been one of the best goaltenders in Class AAA and along with fellow top 25 selection Meadville’s Bryan Danczak, have been a major reason why the Foxes and Bulldogs are up near the top of the heap. If you think Head Coach Jim Damp’s team starts and ends with goaltending, that would be a mistake as FC has found leadership in Kyle Misour, Joey Budz and more recently Justin Kreps, who along with a nice support cast make the Foxes an interesting and equally dangerous playoff team come March to knock off a couple of teams and waltz into the Semi’s, where as we know anything can happen. The game involved very tight checking early on as FC and USC kept the scoring chances to a minimum until Panther scoring machine Mike Penkrot got loose behind the Foxes defense, but Eric Thiessen made a terrific save to keep the contest scoreless. Fox Chapel built momentum off their goaltender and struck first as Zack ‘not Eddie’ Crowe found a loose puck on the doorstep and buried it to give FC a 1-0 lead with 5:31 remaining in the opening period. On to the second period and the Foxes Kyle Misour weighed in to the game burying a wrist shot past Daurora at 14:12 to extend the lead to 2-0. Fox Chapel put the Panthers on the power play and paid for it as Mike Penkrot walked off the near boards and rifled a snap shot up under the crossbar beating Thiessen, who appeared to have the angle, but could not score a major league shot at 12:06 of the 2nd. This game appeared to be headed for a key turning point in the next few minutes, with the next team who scored being able to take a stranglehold of this game. Fox Chapel capitalized on an odd man situation as Joey Budz converted a great pass by Kyle Misour to give the Foxes a 3-1 lead at 9:59. USC had a chance to cut the lead back to one as David Crockett was in on the breakaway, but Thiessen came up big at 8:38. Fox Chapel smelled a wounded Panther and started to press and dominated the later part of the second period scoring chances and converted twice as Dan Uminski beat Daurora low to the glove side for a power play goal at 4:45 and then Chris Hughes scored a big insurance goal at 4:04 to open up this game to a 5-1 Fox Chapel runaway at the end of two periods. Fox Chapel and Thiessen beared down in the third period and limited Upper St Clair’s chances and any momentum. David Crockett scored for the Panthers with 13 seconds left to make the final count 5-2 and give the Foxes a big win in their quest to capture the 7th seed or better with upcoming games against McDowell and the aforementioned Blue Devils.