Freeport Yellow Jackets

Plum has been one of the surprises early on in the 2003-2004 season, but lately has shown signs of not being able to overcome tough situations, with a 4-3 upset loss to Baldwin prior to the break in which the Mustangs clearly outplayed Baldwin, but ran into a hot goaltender in Matt King and lost. So Stu Relnick’s squad figured the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase would be a proving ground and the Mustangs were impressive in beating Greensburg CC and Latrobe, but came up short in losing to Holy Ghost Prep in overtime in the opener of the tournament. Plum is missing that intangible in becoming a true contender in this years Penguins Cup race and would be tested again against Central Catholic before a packed house at the Center Ice ‘Genie Garage Door Opener’ rink in a who’s who’s night in Western Pa Hockey. Central Catholic coach Kevin Zielmanski could offer Relnick a little advice because coach Z has seen just about everything this season including you guessed it an overtime loss to Holy Ghost in the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase semi-finals last Sunday night. Undoubtedly, after a few Pizza Pub sessions [the favorite stop of many at the half way point on the Route 22 maze], we all come to realize the factor of a few bounces here and there and the fact that a hot goaltender may be a block in the road or maybe just maybe just one time our players will have a little discipline and do what we all tell them time and time again is gonna occur if we maybe ‘listen’. Hey, every coach’s frustration is ultimately satisfying when the old light bulb goes on and these teams start clicking and great hockey occurs…..and that’s why many of the who’s who were in the house jostling between Center Ice rinks to watch Baldwin-Franklin Regional and Central Catholic-Plum. With my faithful assistant Jamie, with stick in hand, and even Ms Pa Hockey made the trip, the assistant of the Starship Pa Hockey Dave ‘Scotty’ Scott, Jamie’s surrogate parents Ed and Sherry Martin, former Plum stud Robbie Tunon, longtime Plum staple Fred Bruce, Penn Hills coach Jan Battista, Central diehard Billy [why is he not on the bench when there are at least 100 people I’ve seen with NO proper coaching level certification on the benches] Zuri, former Central defenseman Zach Roberts, John Fedorek [who did a random audit of the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Wall of Champions], NA skipper Tom ‘I scouted Derry’s and Ringgold’s JV last night’ Pandolfo, Bethel Park’s Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, Mt Lebanon’s Paul ‘the Rock’ Taibi and the infamous Bob ‘five penalty’ Montana, with camera in hand in our first true ‘who’s who night amongst the filled to the rafters crowd at CI Arena. The goaltenders, Russ Hefner [CC] and J.P. Balson [Plum], dominated the landscape of the first period as the teams exchanged scoring chances. Russ Hefner robbed John Kalichuk in the middle of the first in the games best scoring opportunity. On to the second and Plum tried to confuse the Central defense by stretching the ice and it worked as Aaron Arnold found himself in on the breakaway and beat Hefner to the stick side at 11:48 to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. The Vikings poured on the pressure in the middle period holding a 15-7 shot advantage through two periods, but J.P. Balson was the difference as he stooped consecutive chances for Matt Urso and Matt Friday at 3:01 and then made a great poke check of Chris Urso on the breakaway at 2:04. Plum used this mometum to seize a 2-0 lead as Jon Smith beat Hefner high to the glove side on a 2 on 0 with 1:03 left in the period. Balson kept Central off the board with an unconscious save on Matt Urso with just 26 seconds remaining in the 2nd. Central just kept on coming in the third period and would take 10 more shots on Balson for a 25-14 advantage for the game. Matt Urso finally got Central on the scoreboard with a wrist shot high over the glove side of Balson to cut the lead to 2-1 with 5:40 remaining. With Plum’s best player Travis Senchur in the box for a misconduct penalty, he could only watch as Balson stoned Urso at 4:57 and hope that his team could hold on. The drama built as the Vikings pulled Hefner for the extra attacker and Plum and Balson seemed to be closing in a huge win, but Central kept banging away and after Balson stopped Billy Connelly in a scramble in front it would be Eddie Martin, who would swoop out of no where and ship the puck past Balson to tie the game with just 35 seconds left in regulation. For Plum, a ‘Holy Ghost’ nightmare from exactly a week ago at the same time, in the same rink and for Central Catholic maybe redemption for ‘the Holy Ghost nightmare’ from Sunday night when they watched a 3-1 lead evaporate in the game final four minutes and lose in overtime. So now for both teams ANOTHER chance and a lesson, for if you go to overtime ‘ you always have a chance’. This would be the lesson which coach Z learns and maybe coach Relnick and his star players will learn too……no matter what happens in a game all overtime is …is a chance to steal a game that maybe you should or shouldn’t win and Central Catholic seized the moment as freshman Chris Urso delivered the big blow at 4:22 by re-directing a puck past Balson which just seemed to trickle into the net sending the Viking faithful into a frenzy and the Plum faithful back down Route 22 wondering when its team would get a bounce…..only the Father, Son and Holy Ghost MAY know and that’s why who’s who night on this night was a thriller !