Freeport Yellow Jackets

Franklin Regional 7 Elizabeth Forward 1 DELMONT – Franklin Regional hockey is a program that has struggled in recent years to keep the numbers that flourished in the program from the early 90’s up through the present. What boggles the mind for many is that Center Ice Arena sits in the back yard of the school district that can be called affluent with the move east by many people who have migrated from other east suburb districts. Head Coach Jim Daugherty, who entered the program during the mid 90’s has seen the program go from 4 teams including two freshman teams to the state it is now with barely enough players to field two teams at Junior Varsity and Varsity. The fact is the cost structure of the PIHL is so out of line that many people have moved away from High School Hockey to play just amateur or just high school, which has left the Panthers in a dilemma. In fact, it is over $ 1000.00 to play a Varsity game at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center, which is unreal. This season the Panthers started off 1-4 with losses to Latrobe twice, Greensburg Salem and Thomas Jefferson, but have rebound to win two and have an opportunity to get the bus moving in the opposite direction and into the thick of the Class AA seeding frenzy, which is sure to be very interesting come February. Elizabeth Forward, their opponent for this evenings tilt came into existence in 1988 and had a string of losing seasons its first six seasons, then took a hiatus for a year and then had two more losing campaigns in 1997 and 1998 before disappearing into the developmental Junior Varsity and Freshman teams for three years until 2002 when the Warriors made in all the way to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals before losing to Bishop McCort. The Warriors had two more winning seasons in 03 and 04 and then have been heading in the other direction again the past two seasons. The challenge for the coaching tandum of Larry ‘Briggs and Stratton’ Briggs and Tom Mooney [who lead Serra Catholic to their last Penguins Cups] is to keep enough healthy bodies to compete in a very rigorous Class AA schedule and a 1-4-1 start. According to club officials, the Warriors will lose 7 seniors that will be replaced by eight 8th graders currently playing on the EF Freshman team. Elizabeth Forward and Franklin Regional are two programs that appear to have similar qualities and both will need to attract players through development over the next three to five years to avoid the ‘Teams that aren’t here any more’ portion of the Pa Hockey Website. The Panthers looked to take advantage of their momentum from their modest two game winning streak and the very noticeable short bench of the Warriors. EF goaltender Michael Cole made several nice saves in the opening minutes to keep FR off the board and the game scoreless. FR opened the scoring when Ryan Kramer buried a snapshot past Cole after a pretty passing play and setup with Carl Richter and Eugene Mack with 5:44 to go in the opening period. Elizabeth Forward tied it on the power play less than a minute later as Cruise Lizik’s wrist shot from the right point glanced off something and bounded past James ‘Bobby’ Orr at 4:45. The Panthers scored a huge momentum goal late in the first as Jared Yesko pounced on a loose puck on the doorstep of a John Cecere rebound to give FR a 2-1 advantage. The Panthers held a 15-6 shot advantage after one. On to the second period and the Panthers seized control of this hockey game as Stephen Shirk found the 5-hole through Cole after a nice cross ice pass from Eugene Mack to make it 3-1 with 11:18 to go in the 2nd. The Panthers kept bringing the offensive pressure as Ryan Kramer picked up his second goal at 9:26 on the power play. FR took a 5-1 lead with 1:37 as Jared Yesko scored his second goal of the game. The Panthers iced the game in the third period as Stephen Shirk scored his 2nd goal on a shorthanded breakaway and Brian Buckley closed out the scoring converting a Shane Crossey feed with 1:31 to go to give Franklin a convincing 7-1 victory, outshooting the Warriors 43-18 on the night