Freeport Yellow Jackets

MT LEBANON - Since we haven’t had one in a while it is the time of the year one would expect a Who’s Who night and with the stars aligning and NO Bob Montana [supposedly off on a cruise…. probably on the Goodship Lollipop] in sight, we all decided it would be a great night to commence. In attendance tonight, Mt Lebanon Rec Center staples Jamie Cummings, Rick Woods, Dave Hornack, & Chuck ‘the real Mr Hockey’ Kelly, my sidekick and fellow Shaler head coach Ron Steedle, Jack ‘Camera in Hand’ Bliek, Plum braintrust Jerry ‘Dr Evil’ Bass and Stu ‘they need a Pizza Pub in the South Hills’ Rulnick, Ralph ‘Mr Ice Castle’ Murovich, Bob ‘can sing a mean National Anthem, but is saving it for Sunday’ Sebastian, with Ron ‘I am Tom and Tony’s father’ Valerino and his old pals Mr. Sloan and Uddstrom, Bethel’s Jim ‘Mort’ McVay and NA’s Tommy ‘Tax Season’ Pandolfo. The only ones missing by my count were our contractor Mr. Haney and our scheduler Mr. Kimball, who took the night off for more important duties. What a difference a year makes between games for Fox Chapel and Mt Lebanon. Coach Jim Damp’s Foxes have struggled to a 10-7-0 campaign after their greatest season in history a year ago due to some key graduation on defense and between the pipes. The Blue Devils on the hand have fought off roster distractions to post a strong 14-2 record with losses only to current # 1 seed Bethel Park and current # 2 seed North Allegheny. Coach Taibi is trying to gear up for a big rematch with Bethel next week, which should be a good barometer of the progress of the Blue Devils. In last year’s game, FC All-Star Matt Quigley played the first two periods of a 0-0 tie game and left for reindeer practice only to not see his team succumb to Mt Lebanon 3-1. This years game started with no # 14 in the lineup for the Foxes, which has been a common distraction for a team in need of a win over a team ahead of them in the standings and also trying to secure a home playoff game as the current # 8 seed. The first period was all Mt Lebanon and at 9:35 James Cichra walk in alone and beat FC netminder Eric Thiessen high over the glove hand for a 1-0 Mt Lebanon lead. At 4:08 of the opening period, Tony’Tom’ Valerino beat Thiessen with slick move on the forehand for a 2-0 Mt Lebanon lead. To cap off the first at 1:01 Eric Thiessen stopped Chad Uddstrom twice, but Rick Beuke found the puck on the doorstep and deposited it into the empty net for a 3-0 advantage and a 13-4 shot total in favor of Mt Lebanon. On to the 2nd Period and at 7:52 Fox Chapel broke through on the power play as Kyle Misour banged home a rebound of Tyler Keenan to cut the lead to 3-1 in favor of the Blue Devils. Then at 6:34, the Foxes came right back as Justin Kreps would not be denied and scored on his own rebound to make it a 3-2 game after some good work by linemates Joe Budz and Kyle Misour. Mt Lebanon would turn the tide with 5:05 left in the 2nd as Rick Beuke had a golden opportunity to regain a two goal advantage and missed a wide open net as the puck fluttered off his stick and hit the side of the net. The Blue Devils did capitalize at 1:11 as Mt Lebanon got an odd man break and took advantage of lackluster backchecking by the Foxes and Shane Ferguson made a great pass to Tyler Murovich who was parked in the crease to make it 4-2. Tony Valerino wasted no time getting into the act just 7 seconds later and beat Thiessen to extend the lead to 5-2 at 1:01. The Foxes and the Blue Devils both had 11 shots, but Lebo went to the intermission with a three-goal lead. The 3rd Period started and Matt Quigley entered the building and you just wonder if the Mt Lebanon players saw him when they scored in the end of the 2nd. At 13:44 of the 3rd the Blue Devils made it not matter [that Quigley showed] as Shane Ferguson found a wide open Tyler Murovich, who beat Thiessen on the backhand to make it 6-2. At 12:38, James Cichra got behind the FC defense and beat Thiessen on the forehand for a 7-2 runaway. The Blue Devils smothered the Foxes the rest of the way for an impressive victory at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center.