Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

This Game Summary is courtesy of Meadville Hockey ERIE - Meadville outshot the Ramblers 50-20 and give credit where credit is due,the Prep goaltender kept the game from being 10-1. Prep came out with the oddest of stragegies, a 1-2-2 trap but every time they had control of the puck the would dump it in without forechecking and simply set up to defend. It looked more like a controlled scrimmage than a real hockey game. Nonetheless the Bulldogs Mike Noonan took a nice feed from a hard working Morgan Nickerson and pooped in the Dogs 1st goal at the 9:52 mark. Chris Learn started the play out of the Dogs end and was credited with an assist. Prep returned the favor on a fluke goal that 2 Meadville players tipped...the Dogs earned the assist and the 2nd assist on the lone Prep tally. Erie dumped and trapped and the game was about as exciting as watching paint dry. The Dogs were loose though and took advantage of the prep strategy by blistering 31 shots on net in the second period alone. Luke Killmeyer got the game winner on the power play when he jammed home a rebound in close. Mike Noonan and Chris Learn had a whack at it and assisted on the play. Not to be outdone, Tyler Learn won his own face off beat his man to the puck behind the net and made a perfect centering pass to Nickerson for his 39th on the year...3-1 Meadville. The team played conservatively in the third and ended up outshooting Prep 50-20 in the contest. The Dogs showed great discipline refusing to get involved in the "extracirricular" and Prep found themselves shorhanded a couple of times as a result. The good news: 2 more points and another win...off to Delmont Friday for the Norwin matchup.

As many of you have stopped me in the rink this season and have been anxiously anticipating my annual address of the ‘State of Interscholastic Hockey in Western Pennsylvania’, I decided to pick the timing of my choosing to address the continuing sad state of affairs which plague this side of the state. Before I start and unveil my solution to the dwindling Class A Division and the Glorified JV Open Division, which contains many schools who could not compete at AAA or AA, who sandbagged this season in the name of winning games after miserable 04-05 campaigns, I want to address the Villans of Gotham City, who continue to raise the price of hockey, including their OWN salaries and keep raising FEES. The greatest part about the recent All-Star Event is that each of the Villans exited the Valley Sports Center shortly after the beginning of the Open Division All-Star game, which just proves my point that the Open Division is just a way to collect FEES and a political tool to keep the Villans in power. Mr Freeze, who did not even attend the All-Star Event, can keep busy writing 16-Page Manifestos about me to get re-elected, but has not been seen at one game this season nor did he attend the Joker’s big rally at Mellon Arena last weekend to support the Penguins, which turned out 500 people and not the 8000 predicted by the Ma Parker e-mail. Mr Freeze is worthless as a President of the misguided PIHL and all of the promises made in April were baseless and none have come to fruition. In fact, his beloved Quigley is down to 8 players and supposedly has phantom players on the roster just to field a team. Oh ‘Concerned Citizens of Gotham City’ Class A Hockey is dying as Quigley, along with some other Class A programs are near death and the flourishing Open Division is just as bad. The Class A All-Star game was such a mismatch that I considered not even attending the game because I knew the Southwest would trounce the Northeast and I was right 9-2. In Mr Freeze’s 16-page manifesto, his partner in crime False Face, who commands the Open Division made a public statement challenging me to come forward with my ideas about the PIHL. The first thought I have, which is a continuation of last springs JV-Freshman Philosiphy developed by several schools who were going to pull out of the PIHL prior to the Mafia Villans cashing in their chips and making millions of promises to the General Membership is to HELP REDUCE THE COST OF HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY as follows: 1 – Each School would be responsible for providing 16 Ice Slots for Varsity [2 Hour] and 12 for Junior Varsity and Freshman [1 ½ Hours] and negotiate their own ice costs, EMT’s, Security and League Reps. Therefore you can eliminate the $ 83 per game Admin Costs charged by the PIHL. Essentially, this would eliminate the League Scheduler, Egghead, who has created an absolute fiasco with Schedule Changes in 05-06 and has changed over 100 Varsity Games and don’t blame it on the Weather because we have had a mild winter. Any leftover ice could be used for make-up games or practice time. 2 - Eliminate the Commissioner’s Office and SAVE $ 150,000 in administrative costs and pay Stipends to a Statistician, Registrar, Bookkeeping [for Administrative Costs Only], Referee Liasion and Operations Director. You would not need anyone to schedule Games, EMT’s, Security or League Reps, because this would be the responsibility of the school. 3 – Get a real website that promotes hockey Period ! 4 – Attached is my Re-Alignment Proposal that will create a SOLID Class A, AA and AAA Division for years to come and it will be very competitive and in addition align Western Pennsylvania with Eastern Pennsylvania: CLASS A - <560 Enrollment 1 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL BISHOP MCCORT 211 2 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL CONEMAUGH VALLEY 215 3 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL FERNDALE 101 4 A EAST GALLACTIC ICE JOHNSTOWN 443 5 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL WESTMONT-HILLTOP 234 6 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE BISHOP GUILFOYLE 153 7 A F EAST PLANET ICE FOREST HILLS 313 8 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE HOLIDAYSBURG 558 9 A F EAST PLANET ICE RICHLAND-CAMBRIA 194 10 A F EAST PLANET ICE SOMERSET 345 11 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN ELIZABETH FORWARD 405 12 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN SERRA CATHOLIC 110 13 A SOUTH ICEOPLEX TRINITY 546 14 A SOUTH ICE CASTLE WEST MIFFLIN 465 15 A SOUTH BELMONT FREEPORT 251 16 A WEST CRANBERRY AMBRIDGE 432 17 A WEST BEAVER BEAVER 267 18 A WEST AIRPORT QUAKER VALLEY 226 19 A WEST AIRPORT QUIGLEY 97 20 A WEST ISLAND SPORTS SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 120 CLASS AA - >560 Enrollment 1 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG C C 235 2 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG SALEM 440 3 AA EAST CENTER ICE KISKI AREA 590 4 AA EAST VALLEY PENN HILLS 668 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE WOODLAND HILLS 754 6 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN HEMPFIELD 834 7 AA F EAST KIRK NEVIN LATROBE 541 8 AA F EAST BELMONT BUTLER 1052 9 AA F EAST BELMONT KITTANNING 313 10 AA F EAST INDIANA INDIANA 429 11 AA F EAST GALLACTIC ICE ALTOONA 970 12 AA F EAST PSU STATE COLLEGE 1053 A SOUTH BETHEL PARK SOUTH PARK 309 11 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN THOMAS JEFFERSON 369 12 AA SOUTH AIRPORT CHARTIERS VALLEY 473 13 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN CONNELLSVILLE 822 14 AA SOUTH ICEOPLEX CANON MCMILLAN 533 15 AA SOUTH ICE CASTLE CARRICK 581 16 AA WEST ICE CONNECTION HAMPTON 438 17 AA WEST MT. LEBANON CANEVIN 137 18 AA WEST CRANBERRY MARS 317 19 AA WEST AIRPORT MOON 363 20 AA WEST ISLAND SPORTS MONTOUR 435 21 AA WEST AIRPORT WEST ALLEGHENY 449 CLASS AAA – Open Enrollment 1 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK BETHEL PARK 735 2 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK UPPER ST. CLAIR 583 3 AAA SOUTH ICE CASTLE BALDWIN 696 4 AAA SOUTH MT LEBANON MT LEBANON 730 5 AAA SOUTH ICEOPLEX PETERS TOWNSHIP 483 1 AAA EAST CENTER ICE FRANKLIN REGIONAL 521 2 AAA EAST CENTER ICE GATEWAY 586 3 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PENN-TRAFFORD 615 4 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PLUM 568 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE NORWIN 668 1 AAA SOUTH HARMARVILLE CENTRAL CATHOLIC 657 2 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE FOX CHAPEL 609 3 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE SHALER 798 4 AAA NORTH ICE CONNECTION PINE-RICHLAND 458 5 AAA NORTH ISLAND SPORTS NORTH HILLS 689 1 AAA WEST ECC CATHEDRAL PREP 388 2 AAA WEST JMC ARENA MCDOWELL 977 3 AAA WEST MEADVILLE MEADVILLE 394 4 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY NORTH ALLEGHENY 1057 5 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY SENECA VALLEY 887 Please E-Mail me your comments or post them on the Roundtable under 06-07 Re-Alignment

Canevin 5 Montour 3 MT LEBANON – Montour is ranked # 2 in the latest Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll with a 14-3-0 record and fresh off a 5-1 victory over previously undefeated West Allegheny 5-1 late last week. Canevin is ranked # 4 in those same rankings with a 10-3-2 mark and is tied with Peters Twp for the 4th seed in the playoffs. Both teams have been playing well in the 2nd half of the season and this is a rematch of a 3-2 Canevin win on January 2nd. Needless to say this game will have monumental impact on the Class AA bye picture and seeding later this month. Peter Gegick gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead as he shoveled a rebound past Nick Galioretto 8:19 of the first period. Paul Ciotti tied the game for the Spartans after a nice play by Adam Rizza along the boards getting the puck to Zach Perry who shoveled it toward the net to tie the score at one apiece. With 18 ticks left in the opening period, Keith Kurelis found a loose puck on the doorstep to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Jason Rogerio lit the lamp unassisted on the power play on a shot from the point to knot the score at 2-2. Josh Daley scored on a rebound 4:03 remaining in the 2nd period after a scramble in front to give the Crusaders a 3-2 lead beating Nick Galioretto. Just 7 seconds into the third period, Zach Haluzchak controlled the puck from the opening faceoff and fired a low shot on the ice through the 5-hole to give Canevin a two goal margin 4-2. At 12:21 of the third, Haluzchak beat Gallioretto with a long wrist shot from the top of the circle, which was shorthanded and gave Canevin a 5-2 lead. A 4 on 4 situation and a face off in the Canevin end resulted in a Montour goal by Zach Perry with 9:23 remaining and now a 5-3 hockey game. The Crusaders received a 4 on 3 advantage with a little over 9 minutes to go, which was nullified by a bad penalty creating a 3 on 3 with 8:56 left in regulation. After a countless exchange of penalties, the Spartans hada 5 on 3 chance with a little over 5 minutes to go and the Crusaders killed it and essentially any Montour chance of a comeback. Tempers flared in the final minute and a big scuffle occurred and was curfewed with the Crusaders picking up a big 5-3 win over Montour.

Upper St Clair 9 Butler 2 CASTLE SHANNON – Several years ago, actually in 1996, a process began to re-count the history of hockey in Western Pennsylvania and after compiling several years of archives and the standings of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, South Hills Interscholastic Hockey League, the Lake Shore Hockey League [still incomplete], South Penn Hockey League [mid-1970’s to late 1980’s] and the Ohio Valley High School Hockey League including League Playoffs and Penguins Cup playoffs [f/k/a Western Regional Playoffs], the realization of the first hockey program in the State of Pennsylvania to reach 500 wins came down to Upper St Clair and Armstrong/Kittanning. The list of coaches who led the Panthers at the Class AAA level throughout their history, which began in 1971-72 at the Alpine Ice Chalet includes a who’s who of Pennsylvania hockey as R.T Ford, Buzz Dugiovanni, Taylor Railton [who led Conestoga to Pennsylvania State Titles in 1985 and 1986], Lenny Semplice [who lead the Panthers to their 1st Pennsylvania State Title in 1980], Dave Hornack [who led USC to an undefeated State Championship in 1987], Joe Gaul, Bobby Kennedy, Chuck Kelly, former Pittsburgh Penguins Star Warren Young, Kip Guenther and currently John Harford to accumulate through last week a staggering 499 wins in 786 Regular Season and Playoff games, which is around a .667 winning percentage in the programs history. The interesting contrast to tonight’s contest, which is Upper St Clair Senior Night, is that the Butler program the Panthers will face has been up and down and is more on the downside of a 1-16-0 season and out of playoff contention for the 2005-2006 season. Their lone win was over Gateway and the Golden Toronadoes also dropped a game to Shaler, in the opening game, that has since dropped 17 straight. If you ask any one the difference between the two programs can solely be placed on numbers within the St Clair program and there lack of for Butler. As the game unfolded and started, it didn’t take long for the Panther to strike as Dave Crockett scored on a bank shot just 9 seconds in the opening period. USC took a 2-0 lead as Crockett picked up goal # 2 with 6:09 remaining. The senior forward completed the natural hat trick with 2:20 left in the 1st to make the count 3-0. Butler got on the board with just 53 seconds elapsed in the 2nd period as Steven Stepanian scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1. The Panthers came right back 2 minutes later as Dom Pegnatero scored on a rebound to increase the lead to 4-1. David Crockett picked up his 4th goal of the contest with 9:06 left in the middle period, which sent the water bottle flying to increase the count to 5-1. Just 13 seconds later at 8:53, Kevin Lucas scored on a rebound and the Panthers now led 6-1. Fletcher Crouse scored with 3:17 to go for Butler to make it 6-2, but Davey Crockett lit the lamp on the power play with just 11 seconds remaining in the period to give St Clair a 7-2 lead. Crockett scored his 6th goal of the evening with 2 ½ minutes gone to extend the lead to 8-2 and Rich Kline closed out the scoring as the Panthers registered a 9-2 win over the Golden Toronadoes and picked up their 500th win of all time.

Canevin 5 Montour 3 MT LEBANON – Montour is ranked # 2 in the latest Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll with a 14-3-0 record and fresh off a 5-1 victory over previously undefeated West Allegheny 5-1 late last week. Canevin is ranked # 4 in those same rankings with a 10-3-2 mark and is tied with Peters Twp for the 4th seed in the playoffs. Both teams have been playing well in the 2nd half of the season and this is a rematch of a 3-2 Canevin win on January 2nd. Needless to say this game will have monumental impact on the Class AA bye picture and seeding later this month. Peter Gegick gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead as he shoveled a rebound past Nick Galioretto 8:19 of the first period. Paul Ciotti tied the game for the Spartans after a nice play by Adam Rizza along the boards getting the puck to Zach Perry who shoveled it toward the net to tie the score at one apiece. With 18 ticks left in the opening period, Keith Kurelis found a loose puck on the doorstep to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Jason Rogerio lit the lamp unassisted on the power play on a shot from the point to knot the score at 2-2. Josh Daley scored on a rebound 4:03 remaining in the 2nd period after a scramble in front to give the Crusaders a 3-2 lead beating Nick Galioretto. Just 7 seconds into the third period, Zach Haluzchak controlled the puck from the opening faceoff and fired a low shot on the ice through the 5-hole to give Canevin a two goal margin 4-2. At 12:21 of the third, Haluzchak beat Gallioretto with a long wrist shot from the top of the circle, which was shorthanded and gave Canevin a 5-2 lead. A 4 on 4 situation and a face off in the Canevin end resulted in a Montour goal by Zach Perry with 9:23 remaining and now a 5-3 hockey game. The Crusaders received a 4 on 3 advantage with a little over 9 minutes to go, which was nullified by a bad penalty creating a 3 on 3 with 8:56 left in regulation. After a countless exchange of penalties, the Spartans hada 5 on 3 chance with a little over 5 minutes to go and the Crusaders killed it and essentially any Montour chance of a comeback. Tempers flared in the final minute and a big scuffle occurred and was curfewed with the Crusaders picking up a big 5-3 win over Montour.