Archbishop Carroll Patriots - 1981 AAA 2004 AA

Every February Pa Hockey goes through the process of picking the top 25 players in Eastern and Western Pennsylvania. So before all of you tell me how political it is............or how its one man's opinion [actually two now that Matt Sacks has chimed in from Philly].....or that I have my favorites....let me ask this question ? Besides Tom Pandolfo....who has seen every team in Western Pa play ? OK after much anguish and paring down a list of about 100 players the Top 25 in Western Pa is here and its sister Top 25 in Eastern Pa is here as well. And if that isn't enough our annual list of the top 5 Fans is here and Top 5 Freshman who have bolted onto the scene as well as our Top 5 coaching performances. Finally, if you are going to battle or want to build a company the question is who would you want to be on the Board of Directors of that entity....well our Top 10 Scholars are a start and I have a sneaking suspicion some of these kids are Ivy League material ! Enjoy it ! Comments are welcome ! And if you don't like it go cry about it on PIHLWeb because I love reading uninformed nonsense and they need the 5 million [The ICSHL Website actually gets more hits than PIHLWeb for those counting over 10-15 million because they have better search engines] more hits for all that unreported income they're taking in.....The Pa Hockey Top 25 is one reason why it the # 1 Interscholastic Hockey Website in the State of Pennsylvania ! CORRECTION: Fabulous Freshman 5 should be Wes Waldschmidt whose brother Garrett is a Junior for the North Allegheny Tigers

BETHEL PARK – Nothing like a 9:00 game on a Monday night and surprise because no Junior B practice or no Hornets practice or no Midget AAA Junior Select JV Travel practice either. So everybody who is anybody was present for a big Class AA matchup between red-hot Pine Richland, fresh off a 5-1 pasting of Kittanning and Peters Twp, who shut down Indiana 3-0 in their last big game. You see there is quite a debate about Class AA between people from Kittanning, Indiana, Peters Twp, Pine Richland and of course Thomas Jefferson. So with his Jaguars playing doormat Carrick, TJ coach Don ‘the Dean’ Powell was attempting to become the first coach to scout his upcoming opponents and coach a game on the cell phone. Although BP BladeRunners has no heat, it does have pretty good cell phone reception, so coach Powell and yours truly could do their business. So with us two being the only so-called experts in the house, I will give you my take on what happened because Bulldog and Hockey North and all the other guys with big opinions, must not have any money for gas to show up for what would prove to be a classic matchup. Pine Richland and Peters Twp, in a rematch of an 11-0 game from last season, which I am sure many of the Pine Richland players remembered and would like to forget frankly. The Rams came out flying in the first period and Brian Kreit found a loose puck on the doorstep from a Ryan Tessmer shot and slammed it home for a 1-0 PR lead at 14:21. Pine Richland went on the power play at 12:41, but PT got had the best chance as Bryan Papciak raced in on the breakaway only to be turned aside by Brandon Gazzo at 11:14. Pine Richland extended its lead to 2-0 as Ryan Tessmer scored a highlight reel goal when he weaved through the Peters Twp defense and beat Rob Madore at 2:11. Pine Richland had a golden opportunity to go up 3-0 on the power play early in the second, but Peters Twp stood tall and killed it. The Indians used that momentum to cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:20 as Dan Crogan fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle to beat Gazzo on the short side. Peters Twp turned it up a notch and caught Pine Richland running around in their own end to create several chances. The Indians would tie the game at 11:05, on a terrific passing play by Chris Clackson and Si Bishop to set up Kevin Kustron, who chipped a shot past Gazzo and the game was tied at two apiece. Rams coach Jimmy Black had seen enough and called a very wise timeout to settle his troops immediately after the goal and this would pay off as Ryan Tessmer would give PR the lead again at 3:11 on a Mario Lemieux type goal as he caught Rob Madore off the post and banked it off his back at 3:11, which trickled behind the young PT goaltender to give the Rams a 3-2 advantage. Peters Twp thought they had tied the game at 12:12 but Gazzo stoned Gerry Raymond, but the Indians would not be denied as Raymond, on the back door, tipped a great pass from Bryan Papciak up under the crossbar just ten seconds later and the game was tied again at 3-3 with 12:02 remaining. The game was in the balance and both teams had chances to take the lead it through the third period with some great end to end action. Ryan Tessmer wanted to decide this game and he would be the difference. After being robbed on a great skate save by Rob Madore moments earlier, Tessmer dipsy-doodled through a host of Indians into the slot and buried a shot low on the stick side with 3:50 remaining to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. Peters would pull the goalie in the games final minute but could not tie the game and Pine Richland would prevail with an exciting 4-3 victory before an intimate gathering at BP BR.

BETHEL PARK ~ If there is one thing McDowell coach Marlin Coon would like to happen before the 2003-2004 season ends, it would be to play a couple of games with an entire lineup similar to the one that is used for a league roster. The Trojans were on the road to face Bethel Park without leading scorers injured Gary Peterson and suspended Brian Hammel. McDowell was also looking to get back on the scoreboard after being shut out by North Allegheny 7-0 and Franklin Regional 3-0. Bethel Park coach Jim ‘Mort’ McVay has had his own problems, with the off-ice circus, which has been a distraction for the Bethel Park team just to play hockey at times. Fortunately, the Blackhawks have overcome and have put together a pretty nice season, with their only 2nd half losses to division rival USC and a heartbreaking 2-1 setback to Erie Cathedral Prep, in a game where the Hawks outshot the Ramblers badly, but could not solve Prep’s Ryan Zapolski, who is one of the best goaltenders in Class AAA. Now BP would have one more issue as star defenseman All-Star Danny Zabkar will be out of the lineup indefinitely, so BP would have to come up with a big effort, but could be comforted that the game is at Bethel Park BladeRunners, where ‘there’s no place like home’. Bethel Park dominated the opening period outshooting the Trojans 17-2 with the play in McDowell’s end for most of the period. A Bethel Park power play at 5:33 resulted in the Trojans John Cleary robbing Michael Diethorn at 5:05 to keep the game scoreless. Diethorn would have another great chance at 4:01 and make it count as he buried a rebound from high in the slot to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. On to the second and Bethel extended their lead as Jason Hedglen finished off a nice give and go with Scott Scheeser at 12:22 to make it 2-0. McDowell picked up their game and started to get some chances on untested sophomore BP keeper Brian Meriam and posted 10 shots in the middle period to Bethel’s 7. Mark Skirzynski found the net with some hard work from linemates Ed Maras and Anthony Mihalik at 3:02 and all the sudden we had a hockey game at 2-1. McDowell dominated the third period with a 12-5 advantage in shots and several golden opportunities to tie the game. Brian Meriam made a nice save on Skirzynski at 7:05 and another one on Anthony Miahalik at 6:29, but those were just routine compared what would happen in the final 3 ½ minutes. The Trojans really started to break through the BP defense at this point and Ed Maras was parked right in front for what seemed to be a sure goal, but Meriam snatched the puck out of the air at 3:37 to keep the Hawks in the lead. Another great save on Mihalik with exactly two minutes left, as the Trojans could not buy a goal. McDowell kept coming and Skirzysnski walked in alone with ten seconds left but Meriam would deny him and Bethel Park would hold on with a 2-1 victory and a little turnabout from their trip to Erie last week.

BETHEL PARK – Nothing like a 9:00 game on a Monday night and surprise because no Junior B practice or no Hornets practice or no Midget AAA Junior Select JV Travel practice either. So everybody who is anybody was present for a big Class AA matchup between red-hot Pine Richland, fresh off a 5-1 pasting of Kittanning and Peters Twp, who shut down Indiana 3-0 in their last big game. You see there is quite a debate about Class AA between people from Kittanning, Indiana, Peters Twp, Pine Richland and of course Thomas Jefferson. So with his Jaguars playing doormat Carrick, TJ coach Don ‘the Dean’ Powell was attempting to become the first coach to scout his upcoming opponents and coach a game on the cell phone. Although BP BladeRunners has no heat, it does have pretty good cell phone reception, so coach Powell and yours truly could do their business. So with us two being the only so-called experts in the house, I will give you my take on what happened because Bulldog and Hockey North and all the other guys with big opinions, must not have any money for gas to show up for what would prove to be a classic matchup. Pine Richland and Peters Twp, in a rematch of an 11-0 game from last season, which I am sure many of the Pine Richland players remembered and would like to forget frankly. The Rams came out flying in the first period and Brian Kreit found a loose puck on the doorstep from a Ryan Tessmer shot and slammed it home for a 1-0 PR lead at 14:21. Pine Richland went on the power play at 12:41, but PT got had the best chance as Bryan Papciak raced in on the breakaway only to be turned aside by Brandon Gazzo at 11:14. Pine Richland extended its lead to 2-0 as Ryan Tessmer scored a highlight reel goal when he weaved through the Peters Twp defense and beat Rob Madore at 2:11. Pine Richland had a golden opportunity to go up 3-0 on the power play early in the second, but Peters Twp stood tall and killed it. The Indians used that momentum to cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:20 as Dan Crogan fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle to beat Gazzo on the short side. Peters Twp turned it up a notch and caught Pine Richland running around in their own end to create several chances. The Indians would tie the game at 11:05, on a terrific passing play by Chris Clackson and Si Bishop to set up Kevin Kustron, who chipped a shot past Gazzo and the game was tied at two apiece. Rams coach Jimmy Black had seen enough and called a very wise timeout to settle his troops immediately after the goal and this would pay off as Ryan Tessmer would give PR the lead again at 3:11 on a Mario Lemieux type goal as he caught Rob Madore off the post and banked it off his back at 3:11, which trickled behind the young PT goaltender to give the Rams a 3-2 advantage. Peters Twp thought they had tied the game at 12:12 but Gazzo stoned Gerry Raymond, but the Indians would not be denied as Raymond, on the back door, tipped a great pass from Bryan Papciak up under the crossbar just ten seconds later and the game was tied again at 3-3 with 12:02 remaining. The game was in the balance and both teams had chances to take the lead it through the third period with some great end to end action. Ryan Tessmer wanted to decide this game and he would be the difference. After being robbed on a great skate save by Rob Madore moments earlier, Tessmer dipsy-doodled through a host of Indians into the slot and buried a shot low on the stick side with 3:50 remaining to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. Peters would pull the goalie in the games final minute but could not tie the game and Pine Richland would prevail with an exciting 4-3 victory before an intimate gathering at BP BR.

BETHEL PARK ~ If there is one thing McDowell coach Marlin Coon would like to happen before the 2003-2004 season ends, it would be to play a couple of games with an entire lineup similar to the one that is used for a league roster. The Trojans were on the road to face Bethel Park without leading scorers injured Gary Peterson and suspended Brian Hammel. McDowell was also looking to get back on the scoreboard after being shut out by North Allegheny 7-0 and Franklin Regional 3-0. Bethel Park coach Jim ‘Mort’ McVay has had his own problems, with the off-ice circus, which has been a distraction for the Bethel Park team just to play hockey at times. Fortunately, the Blackhawks have overcome and have put together a pretty nice season, with their only 2nd half losses to division rival USC and a heartbreaking 2-1 setback to Erie Cathedral Prep, in a game where the Hawks outshot the Ramblers badly, but could not solve Prep’s Ryan Zapolski, who is one of the best goaltenders in Class AAA. Now BP would have one more issue as star defenseman All-Star Danny Zabkar will be out of the lineup indefinitely, so BP would have to come up with a big effort, but could be comforted that the game is at Bethel Park BladeRunners, where ‘there’s no place like home’. Bethel Park dominated the opening period outshooting the Trojans 17-2 with the play in McDowell’s end for most of the period. A Bethel Park power play at 5:33 resulted in the Trojans John Cleary robbing Michael Diethorn at 5:05 to keep the game scoreless. Diethorn would have another great chance at 4:01 and make it count as he buried a rebound from high in the slot to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. On to the second and Bethel extended their lead as Jason Hedglen finished off a nice give and go with Scott Scheeser at 12:22 to make it 2-0. McDowell picked up their game and started to get some chances on untested sophomore BP keeper Brian Meriam and posted 10 shots in the middle period to Bethel’s 7. Mark Skirzynski found the net with some hard work from linemates Ed Maras and Anthony Mihalik at 3:02 and all the sudden we had a hockey game at 2-1. McDowell dominated the third period with a 12-5 advantage in shots and several golden opportunities to tie the game. Brian Meriam made a nice save on Skirzynski at 7:05 and another one on Anthony Miahalik at 6:29, but those were just routine compared what would happen in the final 3 ½ minutes. The Trojans really started to break through the BP defense at this point and Ed Maras was parked right in front for what seemed to be a sure goal, but Meriam snatched the puck out of the air at 3:37 to keep the Hawks in the lead. Another great save on Mihalik with exactly two minutes left, as the Trojans could not buy a goal. McDowell kept coming and Skirzysnski walked in alone with ten seconds left but Meriam would deny him and Bethel Park would hold on with a 2-1 victory and a little turnabout from their trip to Erie last week.