Freeport Yellow Jackets

MONROEVILLE – Franklin Regional is arguably Class AAA’s hottest team with six consecutive wins including recent victories over Mt Lebanon and Plum. Coach Jim Damp’s team is now in position to capture their first division crown since 1996, when those Panthers were coming off four consecutive Penguin Cup final appearances. This year’s team has people in the hockey circles talking about a possible contender as one of the teams who could surprise in the upcoming playoffs. Gateway knows all about that ‘potential playoff run team’ talk as the Gators have been a potential team for the past several years, who have showed that they can beat the best teams in the league……and frankly they are tired of hearing about it. So Dan Serakowski’s squad came into their most important game of the year knowing two important factors. First, Gateway would be playing without speedy Zach Flora, who is a key component to their playoff hopes and second that when the Gators score first they are 12-1-0 and when they don’t they are 1-6. So it was plain and simple for the Gators, get that first goal and their odds were real good in this one. The first period was evenly played with both teams getting a few decent scoring opportunities in the first nine minutes and the game remained scoreless until Matt Kopaczynski found himself with the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and he blasted a snapshot over the glove hand of Brandon Stallard and the Gators owned that coveted first goal at 6:30. Gateway appeared to have a 2-0 lead, but Lucas Pepper’s goal was directed in with a high stick and waived off at 2:51. Franklin came right back as Mike Roth found the net as his shot trickled past David Himes to tie the game at 1-1 with 2:36 left. Then the Panthers went on the power play and Roth buried a rebound off of a Jimmy Daugherty shot with just 31 ticks left in the opening period. In the second period, the Gators tied the game as Kopaczynski made a great move at the blue line and beat Stallard low to the stick side at 7:46. The game remained tied as neither team was able to capitalize on power play chances. The third period started and the Gators took the lead at 13:52 as Kopaczynski walked around the Panther defense and put a shot through the five hole for a 3-2 Gateway advantage. Then a break for the Gators occurred as Justin ‘L.A.’ Scott picked up a FR turnover and buried a wrist shot on the short side at 12:28 to give the home team a 4-2 lead. Gateway, learning from their last letdown against McDowell, started to play smart and simple hockey with some excellent work down low and pinning the Panthers in their own end for much of the third period. Franklin got a last ditch chance with a power play with 1:18 remaining and a 6 on 4 [goaltender pulled] but could not score on Himes. ‘L.A.’ Scott put the exclamation point on a huge Gateway victory with a [between 140 and 145 feet by the Gateway faithful in the lobby] long shot into an empty net with :03 left and a 5-2 Gator win.