Freeport Yellow Jackets

2004 Kittanning Invitational ~ Semi-Finals Downingtown 7 Kittanning 3 Downingtown East and Kittanning would hook up in the finals of the 2004 Steve Bryan Memorial Invitational with perfect 3-0-0 records in the round robin tournament. Kittanning was the 2002 champions, while Downingtown is making their first trip to Western Pennsylvania for an event now in its 9th year featuring the top Interscholastic teams in Pennsylvania. Former champions include Central Catholic [2003], Kittanning [2002], Indiana [2001], McDowell [2000 & 1997], South Park [1999], Canevin [1998] and Conestoga [1996]. The Cougars grabbed the first lead of the game as Sean Crowley converted a nice pass from Dustin Malandra at 5:32 of the first period. Kittanning would respond in the 2nd period as Justin Kovatch took a Joel Shriver pass and beat Andrew Miller on the backhand to tie the game at 14:37. Ben Souders gave the Cougars the lead again blasting a big slapshot past Joey Mecurio at 9:32 for a 2-1 Downingtown lead. The Wildcats came right back at 8:42 as Adam Fiscus outreached the defense and goaltender Miller to the puck and whipped a backhand low on the ice and a tie game at two apiece. Kittanning got their first lead as Tyler Adams scored on a bang – bang play as Joel Shriver fed the puck to the front of the net and Adams crashed and scored at 8:34. A key turning point of this game came a little under a minute later as Shriver hit the crossbar and then Kittanning got sloppy on a line change and was whistled for too many men on the ice at 6:58. Ben Souders would make them pay, as the tournament MVP beat the Kittanning defense and Mecurio to tie the game at 3-3 with 5:14 remaining. Sean Crowley gave East the lead at 4:58 burying a shot up under the crossbar for a 4-3 advantage for D-Town. Dustin Malandra would add to a five goal outburst for the Cougars in the 2nd period with goals at 4:18 on the backhand and 1:08 from out of the corner to give Downingtown East a commanding 6-3 lead after two. The Cougars would ice the game on a five minute power play as Pete Psyriss scored on a rebound at 5:19 of the final period to give Downingtown East an impressive 7-3 victory and the 2004 Steve Bryan Memorial Kittanning Invitational championship. 2004 Kittanning Invitational ~ Semi-Finals Kittanning 6 Butler 2 Kittanning and Butler met for the 2nd time in the Kittanning Invitational as the Wildcats defeated the Golden Toronadoes in preliminary round action 5-3 on Friday evening. Butler would face an even more daunting task in this semi-final playing without defensive stalwart Mike Guetner and leading scorers forwards Spencer Crouse and Greg Rogerson. Kittanning and Butler also start this campaign as Leo Cancilla has taken the reigns from Bob Hoehn at Butler and the Jon Yackmack era has now begun at Kittanning with very capable assistants Lee Grafton and Jamie King. Kittanning wasted no time jumping on Butler in the first period with a pair of power play goals by Joey Ford [12:28] and Nick Troup [10:09] gave the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage. Butler’s Jerome Hensel scored with 5 ½ minutes left to cut the lead to 2-1 after the first period. Kittanning came out smoking again in the second period as Colin McKelvey [14:38] and Lee Heilman [13:39] opened up a 4-1 lead. Butler pulled back within two as Bryan Rodgers scored with just 49 seconds remaining in the middle frame. This game would belong to the Wildcats as Joel Shriver and Jake Greenbaum closed out a penalty marred final period for a 6-2 Kittanning victory and a trip back to the finals for the first time since 2002, when Kittanning defeated South Park to win the championship. Downingtown East 4 Serra Catholic 3 [OT-Shootout] Downingtown East made the trip from Eastern Pennsylvania out to test its squad against some pretty stiff Western Pa. Competition, but had passed the test nicely in games against 2004 Penguins Cup AA finalist Indiana and 2004 Penguins Cup champion Serra Catholic. A rematch with Serra Catholic would provide another opportunity for the Cougars warm up for a tough Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League schedule, which awaits them when they return next week for the 2004-2005 season. Serra Catholic has some pretty tough shoes to fill as the Eagles have won 4 of the past Class A Penguins Cups, including three Class A Pennsylvania Cups preceding the 2004-2005 season. Head Coach Tom Mooney begins his first full season as the boss, but has been aboard for the championship ride over the past five seasons. Interestingly, Serra has the most players on their roster in recent memory with a few old faces and a few new one, who should make them a favorite to repeat and possibly get back to the State Finals. Downingtown controlled the early play of this semi-final match up as Steve Regester opened the scoring at 7:45 for a 1-0 lead. Speedy Sean Crowley gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead as he beat Nick Koroly on a wrist shot at 3:12 to extend the lead to 2-0. Those ‘never say die’ Eagles cut the lead late in the opening period as Joey Manning banged home a rebound to make the game 2-1 at the end of one. On to the 2nd and Manning tied the game just six seconds in and our score was knotted a two apiece. The Eagles seized the lead on a very pretty goal as Manning spotted a streaking Aaron Nolte, who re-directed a perfect pass from Manning at 5:10 to give Serra Catholic its first lead at 3-2. The Eagles looked like they were on their way to the finals, but Serra was whistled for a penalty with just under two minutes remaining in regulation time and put Downingtown on the power play. The Cougars would tie the game as Justin Miller’s wrist shot from the center point had eyes on it and beat Koroly through a screen to deadlock the score at 3-3 with 1:54 left. The teams would battle through overtime scoreless with the shots almost dead even at 31-30 in favor of Downingtown. The Cougars would march onto the finals as Ben Souders and Steve Regester would score in the five man shootout, while Downingtown goaltender Chris Ryan would shut the door on Serra Catholic’s first 4 shooters resulting in a Kittanning – Downingtown final.