Freeport Yellow Jackets

Traditions are something that Pa Hockey has a trademark of ever since we started bringing you the scores, highlights and news of Interscholastic Hockey across the Commonwealth in December of 2000. The legend of the Elite 8 rankings got even better when the boys from Breakaway Magazine jumped in to the mix last season to begin the Pa Hockey Eastern Elite 8 rankings. Back and Better than Ever are the 2005 - 2006 version of the Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings for the State of Pennsylvania. Every other week from now until the end of the season, we will rank the top 8 teams at Class AAA, AA and A all the way to the Penguins Cup and Flyers Cup playoffs and ultimately to the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships, which are slated for late March or early April or whenever the Joker and Egghead get around to figuring it out. Our top teams in the State of Pennsylvania Class AAA - Mt Lebanon Class AA - Pine Richland Class A - Serra Catholic Our top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania Class AAA - Cardinal O'Hara Class AA - West Chester East Class A - Garnet Valley Our top teams in Western Pennsylvania Class AAA - Mt Lebanon Class AA - Pine Richland Class A - Serra Catholic Check out the elite 8 Rankings for Week 14 for Eastern + Western + Pennsylvania on the # 1 Website in the State of Interscholastic Hockey = Pa Hockey !!

Mt Lebanon 4 Orchard Park 1. 2005 Mt Lebanon Invitational MT LEBANON – Orchard Park returns to Western Pennsylvania every couple of weeks it seems as the Quakers played in the Central Catholic Invitational at the end of November and will compete next weekend in the McDowell Invitational. This weekends festivities brought OP to the Mt Lebanon Invitational, which features the # 1 ranked host team Blue Devils, Ohio power St Ignatius, 2004 Pa State AAA and 5-time defending Flyers Cup Champions Malvern Prep, and perennial Cleveland power Gilmour Academy. The Quakers gained the final with a three team tiebreaker with Malvern and Gilmour. This game would serve as a rematch of the CC Invitational game won by Mt Lebanon 6-1. The Blue Devils have been rolling since the schedule commenced in late October and the realization that this team is the top team in Western Pennsylvania and arguably the state at Class AAA is here and they just keeping rolling through team after team. Coach Paul Taibi is very interested in seeing how his team performs without some of his top guns, Tyler Murovich and Steve Bartkowski, heading a group of 5 traveling with their amateur teams. Some of the usual suspects where in attendance showing how much depth this team has led by veterans Shane Ferguson, Josh Mandic, Kyle Dornish and goaltender Matt Vaughn and now supported by new impact players Sean McDermott and Jesse Root The Quakers looked like a motivated team in the opening period as they used physical play and hustle to outshoot the Blue Devils 10-5 and grabbed a 1-0 lead as Tyler Matthews scored just :29 into the game. Matt Vaughn settled in and stopped every shot Orchard Park could mount. Mt Lebanon finally mounted some pressure late in the period and it paid off as Jesse Root scored a goal beating Ian Szalinski low on the ice on a quick transition play assisted by Shane Ferguson and Josh Mandic with just :43 seconds left to tie the score at one apiece. The Blue Devils came right back and took the lead as Mandic rifled a shot past the OP goaltender upstairs with :28 remaining to gove Lebo a 2-1 lead. On to the 2nd period and Orchard Park started to take their liberties, resulting in penalties, which put a lethal combination of power play time and the Mt Lebanon power play to work, which didn’t result in a goal, but maybe more importantly swung the momentum and shot advantage to the Blue Devils. A great pass would result in the turning point in this hockey game as Jesse Root hit a streaking James Cichra behind the Quaker defense, who re-directed the puck past Szalinski at the 8:07 mark to give Mt Lebanon a 3-1 lead. Orchard Park seemed distracted in the 3rd period and more interested in inflicting pain on the Blue Devils in frustration rather than scoring goals, even though the outshot them 10-3. Mt Lebanon would score the only goal of the final period as Brandon Dornish was the recipient of a 3rd Jesse Root assist with 7:12 remaining to give Lebo a 4-1 lead and ultimately the championship of the 2005 Mt Lebanon Invitational. An impressive run considering many of its players where not in the lineup due to travel commitments and a message to Western and Eastern Pennsylvania that this team has the depth and weapons to win it all in March.

Penn Trafford 5 Fox Chapel 4 (OT) HARMARVILLE – Penn Trafford has won two consecutive Division championships under Todd Purvis and appears to be a program both in numbers and talent to step to the forefront in Class AAA. The Warriors are off to a 4-2 start with a big win over Meadville under its belt and losses coming tat the hands of McDowell and the freshest one, an 11-1 pounding at the hands of # 1 Mt Lebanon last week. Penn Trafford is looking to get back on track minus starting goaltender Joel Sterniak, serving a suspension. PT is led by a strong nucleus of returning players including Chris Cerutti, Dan Sidle and Nick Whaley. Fox Chapel is off to a 4-1-1 start under Jim Damp and its only blemish was a 2-0 setback to North Allegheny. The Foxes look to challenge NA for the North Division crown and have been led by the scoring of Kyle Misour and Joe Budz along with the goaltending of Eric Thiessen, who has established himself early on as one of the top goaltenders in Class AAA. Tonight’s matchup although early in December represents two teams, who will battle for playoff positioning and home ice advantage come the end of February. Penn Trafford struck first at 13:34 as Nick Whaley beat Eric Thiessen from in tight for a 1-0 lead. The Foxes went on the power play with 4:00 remaining and an opportunity to tie the score. It didn’t take long as Joey Budz walked out of the corner and snapped a shot beating Bill Taylor on the glove side at 3:27 to knot the score at 1-1. Penn Trafford continued to press the attack outshooting the Foxes in the first period 14-7. At 13:07 of the 2nd period, Taylor made two consecutive stops on Justin Kreps, who stole the puck from the PT defense. The Foxes went on the power play with 12:22 remaining in the 2nd , but for Penn Trafford, Dan Sidle would get the gate for and additional ten minutes for a misconduct, putting Warriors at a disadvantage. Taylor made several nice stops, but the Foxes would cash in at 11:05 at Steve Bartynski re-directed a Dan Umanski’s shot from the right point to give FC a 2-1 lead, even though Uminski was credited with the goal. Fox Chapel began to pour the shots on the Warriors with an 11-2 barrage only five minutes in and Dan Uminski scored the goal this time on the power play with a wrist shot that sailed over the shoulder of Taylor through a screen at 9:23 and all the sudden FC now had a 3-1. Penn Trafford would get their first opportunity on the power play in the 2nd at 7:55 of the period and another at 5:37, which without Sidle would make it that more difficult to get back in the game. What made it more difficult was the hustle and hard work, which was continued by Fox Chapel. One thing that the Foxes didn’t count on came at 2:20 as Chris Cerutti scooped up a long lead pass off the boards by Eric Likar and was in all alone and beat Thiessen on the backhand to pull the Warriors back to a 3-2 disadvantage. Moments later at 1:58, PT went back on the power play with a chance to tie the game, but the Warriors evened up with a very undisciplined penalty late in the period, which possibly would break their momentum going to the third period. Kyle Misour made them pay just 17 ticks into the 3rd period, ripping a slapshot past Taylor to extend the lead to 4-2. Back came the Warriors at 11:39 as Dan Sidle picked up a turnover in the FC zone and backhanded over the shoulder of Thiessen to make it 4-3. Penn Trafford tied the score at 11:39 as David Brammell re-directed a shot through traffic, which eluded Eric Thiessen and tied the game 4-4. Thiessen made a nice stop on an odd man break at 6:21 off the stick of Chris Cerutti. At 5:02 of the third, Chris Cerutti was dancing and Justin Kreps wanted to lead the dance and was sent to the box for holding. Bill Taylor made a nice stop on Kyle Misour’s shorthanded attempt at 4:34. With 49 seconds remaining, Fox Chapel took an ill-advised penalty putting the Warriors on the power play, which was nullified at 4:46 of overtime. Billy Taylor made a great stop on Joey Budz at 4:06 of OT. With Clock King [League Rep Steve Sturm] threatening to end the game at 9:50 on his Swiss Time Piece, Chris Cerutti made ‘the less Concerned Citizens of Penn Trafford’ happy campers as his high wrist shot handcuffed Eric Thiessen at 1:37 of overtime and gave the Warriors an exciting 5-4 victory over the Foxes.