Freeport Yellow Jackets

North Allegheny 7 Monsignor Bonner 1 North Allegheny opened up defense of last years championship with an easy looking 7-1 throttling of the Friars of Monsignor Bonner. Wes Waldschmidt led the way with the hat trick and linemate Chris Gilson chipped in a goal and 4 assists for the Tigers. Coach Tom Pandolfo’s NA squad outshot Bonner 31-8 as Max Richard’s shutout was broken with just two minutes remaining by MB’s Dan Flynn. St Jean De Brebuef 8 Upper St Clair 1 Hamilton, Ontario is about an hour west of Toronto located off the QEW just a short drive north from Niagra Falls and home of St Jean de Breuef High School. In the hockey hotbed of Junior A and professional hockey, the Braves High School led by Ralph Farkas leads his squad into the Central Catholic Invitational for the first time. Upper St. Clair enters the opener of the CC Invitational off their first loss of the season on Monday to Bethel Park 4-2 sporting a 3-1-0 record. In a penalty filled affair, St Jean pasted the Panthers 8-1. Ryan Cline score a pair for the Braves and Kevin Matthews, Steve Zangrando, Cole McNeil, Joe Finelli, Peter Barvet and Michael Luongo scored singles. USC’s lone score came off the stick of David Crockett at 8:28 of the second period. Germantown Academy 4 Meadville 2 2005 CC Invitational FEATURE GAME Meadville entered the 2005 Central Catholic Invitational after a tough 5-2 loss to Pa Hockey Elite 8 # 1 Mt Lebanon on Monday evening in Meadville. Coach Jamie Plunkett’s teams sports a 3-2-0 in league play as the season finishes its second week. The Bulldogs are familiar with Germantown Academy as the opponent in their 1994 Pennsylvania High School Hockey AAA Championship victory 3-0. Gump Whiteside’s Patriots have not officially started their season for the 2006 AAA Flyers Cup chase, but Germantown Academy’s loss to Malvern Prep is motivation to return to Eastern Pa’s crown jewel for Interscholastic hockey. This team’s unquestionable leader is junior Brian O’Neill, who is considered one of the, if not the top player in all of Eastern Pa Hockey. It didn’t take long for the Dawgs to strike as at 14:15 Mike Noonan scored on the breakaway on a backhand beating Patriots goaltender Nick Stampone. Germantown struck back at exactly 10:00 as Brian O’Neill beat Brian Danczak to tie the score at one apiece. Back came Meadville at 7:25, as Tyler Learn scored on a rebound on the power play for a 2-1 Bulldog lead after one. On to the second and the O’Neill brothers hooked up at 11:19 as Brennan O’Neill scooped up a Brian O’Neill rebound and deposited it past Brian Danczak to knot the score at 2-2. Nick Stampone stopped Alex Drelick on a breakaway at 7:52 and covered up a rebound attempt by Nick Fedorka. The third period saw tight checking early on as both teams battled for the go ahead goal in an evenly played fast paced game. Danczak continued to shine with several nice saves, but at 9:26 of the third period, the Patriots as Andrew Sloane’s shot from the right face-off circle trickled past the Meadville goaltender give GA a 3-2 lead. Nick Stampone made a real nice save with 7:24 remaining as Pat Leone streaked around the Patriot defense to preserve the one goal advantage. Leone had two more chances on Stampone, but the Patriot netminder came up big with a little over three minutes to go as the Bulldogs poured on the pressure in the Germantown Academy end. An 120 foot icong by Brian O’Neill handcuffed Brian Danczak with 1:07 remaining to give GA a 4-2 lead and the victory in the opener of the tournament as Meadville outshot Germantown 26-25. Downingtown East 6 DeMatha 4 Downingtown East of the ICSHL AA squared off against the perennial state powers of Maryland DeMatha Catholic. The Stags and Cougars battled to a 3-3 tie through two periods as Shane Lynch of East scored with just 13 seconds remaining in the 2nd to tie it. Brendan Smith gave Downingtown the lead 1:04 into the third and Andy Thomas add insurance with 7:11 remaining to give the Cougars a 6-4 victory. Ben Souders led D-East with two goals and two assists and DeMatha got scoring from Scott Gray and Shane Findlay who scored twice for the Stags. Mt Lebanon 6 Orchard Park 1 Mt Lebanon advanced to the finals of last years Central Catholic Invitational culminating in tonights opponent semi-finalist Orchard Park, the 2005 New York Club finalist. Mt Lebanon controlled this one from the outset outshooting the Quakers 29-10 on the evening. Sopho Tyler ‘the Terminator’ Murovich notched the hat trick to lead the way for the Blue Devils. Mike Roman, Sean McDermott and Matt Bartkowski also scored for Lebo, while OP’s lone tally came off the stick of Tyler Matthews. Cheektowoga Central 5 Central Catholic 1 Cheektowoga Central opened up its inaugural Central Catholic Invitational against the tournament host Vikings. The Warriors broke open a 1-1 tie in the 2nd period as Matt Bessing scored his second goal just 22 seconds into the middle period to give Cheektowoga a lead it would never relinquish. Ron Szymkowiak, Steve Noworyta and Eric Osmanski scored for a 5-1 victory over Central Catholic. The Vikings loan goal was by Glenn Sherwin, who was the only CC player to score in 26 shots on Warrior netminder Adam Palumbo. Bethel Park 7 Thomas Jefferson 0 The Bethel Park and Thomas Jefferson programs have been staples of the Central Catholic Invitational over the past five plus years. Bethel Park is coming of a tremendous campaign and a AAA State Championship under Jim ‘Mort’ McVay. The Hawks opened up the 2005 CC Invitational with a 7-0 pasting of the Jaguars. Pete Cosentino played his first game between the pipes for BP and stopped all 15 shots he faced in a 7-0 victory over TJ. Tyler Zaremski scored twice and Nathaniel Brown, Kenny Lehman, Graham Cohen, Bob Heyl and Tim Davin chipped in goals for the win. Holy Ghost Prep 4 Calvert Hall Prep 2 Holy Ghost Prep has established itself as a AAA power out of the Lower Bucks County Scholastic Hockey League in Eastern Pennsylvania and in tonight’s opener in the 2005 CC Invitational would face Calvert Hall Prep, out of Maryland. The Firebirds picked up a 4-2 victory as John Suroka scored the hat trick for HGP and Mike Andrusko also scored. Kenny Kocsan and D.J. Comer scored for the Cardinals.

Day 2 Germantown Academy 6 Central Catholic 3 Germantown Academy defeated Central Catholic 6-4 breaking open a 3-3 tie after the Vikings Andy Hanno gave CC the lead at 9:14 of the third period. Greg Dobson completed the hat trick for the Patriots with 8:30 remaining in the final period to tie the game and Reed Marko and Andrew Sloane add insurance for GA. C.J Burke, Joe Kerr, and Glenn Sherwin scored for Central and Brennan O’Neill scored Germantown. Cheektowoga Central 3 Meadville 1 The Warriors picked up a victory big win over Meadville 3-1 setting up a winner take all game with Germantown Academy later Saturday. After a scoreless opening period, Cheektowaga’s Eric Osmanski and Steve Nowortka gave CC a 2-0 lead, but the Bulldogs Morgan Nickerson scored with :19 left in the 2nd period to pull within 2-1. Cheektowaga’s goaltender Mike Grover stopped 42 of 43 Meadville shots and Matt McGillcuddy ice the game with a goal with 5:16 remaining in the final period. St Jean de Brebeuf 5 Monsignor Bonner 1 The Braves of Hamilton, Ontario continued where they left off in their opener with four unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods as Rick Porto, Joe Finelli, Kyle Aquin and Jon Popek scored. The teams traded scores in the third as Dan Flynn scored for the Friars and Steve Zangrando scored for St Jean de Brebeuf. Upper St. Clair 3 North Allegheny 1 North Allegheny hasn’t lost too many games over the past season and a half in Tournaments or Regular Season, but the Panthers seem to have their number defeating NA 3-1 and harpooning the Tigers plans to repeat as CC Invitational champions. After USC’s Kevin Lucas and NA’s Josh Herbert traded goals for a 1-1 tie after two, Upper St Clair’s Mike Penkrot scored with 6:39 remaining in the 3rd on the power play and Davey Crockett added insurance with :57 seconds to secure the win. Bethel Park 5 Calvert Hall Prep 0 Bethel Park shut out Calvert Hall Prep as Tim O’Brien and Kenny Lehmann scored two goals and added an assist each and Pete Cosentino and Ben Garcia split the goaltending duties and the shutout. Holy Ghost Prep 6 Thomas Jefferson 3 The Firebirds scored 4 goals the last 4:47 of the third period to retake the lead after the Jaguars were up 3-2 as John Suroka score twice for HGP. North Allegheny 5 St Jean de Brebeuf 2 The Tigers atoned for their morning loss to Upper St Clair with a 5-2 win over the Braves as Max Richards made 17 saves and Chris Simanic and Wes Waldschmidt chipped in 3 points each. Upper St Clair 6 Monsignor Bonner 1 The Panthers of USC picked up their 2nd win of the tournament with an easy win over the Friars of Eastern Pa. Meadville 4 Central Catholic 1 The Bulldogs finally hit paydirt in the Invitational with a 4-1 victory over their rivals the host Vikings. Morgan Nickerson scored two goals and added an assist including a goal on the penalty shot. Mt Lebanon 4 Downingtown East 1 The Blue Devils earned a spot in the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over the Cougars as Tyler ‘the Terminator’ Murovich score a pair of goals and added an assist and goaltender Matt Vaughn made 28 saves. Germantown Academy 2 Cheektowoga Central 2 (OT) The Patriots and Warriors battle to a 2-2 tie in overtime, but Cheektowaga earned the spot in the Semi-Finals through the tiebreakers. GA’s Brian O’Neill scored a goal and added an assist and the Cheektowaga Rob Szymkowiak duplicated O’Neill’s effort and Adam Palumbo made 24 saves to send the Warriors from Western New York to the semi-finals in their maiden voyage in the CC Invitational. Orchard Park 3 DeMatha 2 The Quakers defeated DeMatha in a tight contest as Mike Murray made 24 saves for Orchard Park. Bethel Park 4 Holy Ghost Prep 3 The Hawks defeated Holy Ghost as Bryan Brown broke a 3-3 tie with 3:24 left in the third period sending Bethel Park into the semi-finals of the Invitational. Kristian Villante scored the hat trick for the Firebirds. Thomas Jefferson 2 Calvert Hall Prep 2 (OT) The Jaguars and Cardinals battled to tie as both teams looked for a victory in the 2005 Central Catholic Invitational. Calvert’s Jon Tietjen tied the game with 9:18 left in the third beating Jeff Wojnovich, the TJ goaltender who made 26 saves in between the pipes. Mt Lebanon 2 DeMatha 1 (OT) The Blue Devils faced a stiff test against the perennial Maryland state powers DeMatha with a low scoring defensive struggle by Mt Lebanon standards missing several key players. Rick Beuke gave Lebo the lead at 10:16 of the first and it looked as if Rob Behling would make that stand stopping all 12 shots the Stags could muster up, but the last shot would come of the stick of Marc Aguir who scored with just :03 left to tie it. Rick Beuke would have the final say in this one scoring just :43 into overtime to give the Blue Devils the victory and an opportunity to get into the semi-finals with a win over Downingtown East. Orchard Park 4 Downingtown East 1 The Quakers owned this game from the outset outshooting the Cougars 26-12 and establishing a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd as Mike Schoell scored twice and Tyler Matthews scored the opening goal 6 ½ minutes into the contest. Downingtown’s Ben Souders continued his hot hand scoring at 4:54 of the 2nd period, but Justin Gunntaylor put the game out of reach at 13:47 of the third for a 4-1 victory for Orchard Park.

Game Summary provided by the Plum Hockey Club - DELMONT The Plum Mustangs came into this game brimming with confidence after a 7-1 thrashing of Butler Monday evening. The Gateway Gators, victimized by a tough early schedule, were looking for their first win of this young season. It was Plum who rode the wave of Monday's victory into the first period, jumping all over Gateway and dominating the early play. Just 1:08 into the opening frame, Plum Junior Ben Colosmo hit the post to the right of the Gator goalie Anthony Kuhn, and fellow Junior Chad Covol knocked in the rebound to give Plum the early lead. Junior Andy Weston also assisted on the goal. With 8:07 to go in the first, Plum Sophomore Anthony DaDamo took a pass at the left point from Sophomore Anthony Sciulli and wristed a puck that eluded Kuhn and found the net to give Plum a 2-0 advantage to take into the second period. Plum outshot Gateway 10-5 in the first period. At 7:56 of the second period, Sciulli found a loose puck in front of the Gator cage and fired it home for his first goal of the season. Senior Matt Giunta and Colosmo earned assists on the goal. With only 1:43 remaining in the second, Gateway's Joe Hudec took advantage of a Plum turnover and blistered a shot at the Mustangs' Sophomore goalie, John Bronder, who appeared to make the save and cover the puck in the crease; but Hudec was credited with the goal to pull the Gators to within two. It appeared that the second period would end that way, but the Mustangs came right back with 20 seconds on the clock with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play that Junior Shawn O'Connor was the beneficiary of, tapping the puck past the sprawling Kuhn to restore Plum's three-goal cushion. Seniors Jonathan Smith and Giunta picked up the helpers on O'Connor's second goal of the season. In the third period, it was the Gators who came out firing on all cylinders. Plum took two minor penalties within 27 seconds of each other and was forced to kill off a 5-on-3 power play for 1:33. Only two minutes after killing those penalties, the Mustangs did it again, this time taking two minors within 18 seconds of each other. The Gators used their time out, and it paid off when Matt Pisani tipped in a shot on the ensuing 5-on-3 at 7:33 to make the score 4-2. Gateway continued to force the play, outshooting Plum 9-0 in the first 11 minutes of the third period. The Gators' hard work was rewarded with 4:28 to go in the game when Pisani took a slick pass out from behind the Mustang net and one-timed the puck past Bronder to make it a one goal game. The Gators were then whistled down on an interference penalty with 2:43 left on the clock and were forced to kill this off before pulling Kuhn for the extra attacker with 30 seconds left. With time running out, DaDamo stole the puck at his own blue line and fired a 130 foot shot into the center of the open net to seal the 5-3 victory for the Mustangs. Gateway outshot Plum 28-27 on the evening.

ERIE This report was provided by McDowell Hockey McDowell Trojans - 5 Penn-Trafford Warriors - 2 ERIE - Throughout a hockey season, every team plays a couple of games that can be considered a test of their character. The McDowell Trojan varsity team played just such a game Wednesday night at the JMC Ice Arena versus the Penn-Trafford Warriors. And to the credit of the Trojan skaters, they came away with a renewed sense of optimism after disposing of the Warriors by the final score of 5-2 on the strength of two goals and an assist by junior Andy Kohler. McDowell came into the game with every reason to be flat. Their 1-2 start to the season included shut-out losses to league powers Meadville (4-0) and Bethel Park (7-0) which sandwiched their only win of the young season, a narrow 2-1 victory over a mediocre Seneca Valley team. Penn-Trafford made the trip north with a quick 4-0 start to the season having outscored their opponents 18-6. Included in their victory total was a 2-1 win last week at Meadville that propelled them to a #3 ranking in the PIHL this week. Their early success is no surprise to the rest of the league as it comes on the heels of a 17-7-1 record last year which was good for a #7 seed in the playoffs. After beating North Hills in an opening round game, they narrowly lost in the quarterfinals to eventual AAA state champion Bethel Park by the score of 2-1. So the Trojans would figure to have their work cut out for them if they were going to get the train back on the track. But if nothing else, McDowell was playing this important contest on home ice. And Coach Mancini’s game plan for success was simple: come out of the locker room flying and take advantage of the road weary Warriors by aggressively dictating play and putting their opponent on their heels. And McDowell would respond with success. McDowell went on the attack from the opening face-off and put immediate pressure in the offensive zone. The tenacity, determination and aggressiveness that the Trojans lacked in their three previous games was suddenly unleashed with a sudden fury. Penn-Trafford goalie Joel Sterniak would thwart the early onslaught by covering up Trojan winger Ryan Presnar’s hard shot from the point just 57 seconds into the game. But Jimmy Martin would win the ensuing face-off, and it would take just five seconds for Presnar to tip the puck to Andy Kohler who quickly swept the puck past an unsuspecting Sterniak and the Trojans had a quick 1-0 lead just 1:02 into the game. McDowell would stay on the attack and dominate possession early by generating pressure from all three offensive lines. And the dominance once again paid off as Ed Maras set up the next goal with possession of the puck behind the net from where he swung a pass to Brandon Oathout next to the net where he caught Sterniak off-guard by wrapping a shot inside the post from behind the net to give McDowell a 2-0 lead with 8:45 left in the opening period. With the offense clicking and the defense giving the Warrior forwards little room to operate, Penn-Trafford would not have a good scoring opportunity until B.J. Zagorac fired a shot high of the net at the end of a nifty give and go with 4:29 left in the period. The Warriors first shot on goal came with 3:35 left in the period, but Trojan netminder John Cleary was alert and in position to make a nice save. Despite having two power play opportunities and a 15-4 edge in shots on goal in the period, McDowell would not score again but would head into the second period with a 2-0 lead. But the second period would start off much like the first for McDowell. Martin and Kohler would team up in the red zone to feed Nick DiSanti who was positioned in front of the net from where he one-timed a quick shot past Sterniak giving the Trojans a 3-0 lead with just 1:42 elapsed in the second. Penn-Trafford would be given a chance to climb back into the contest on the power play when Andrew Sitek was whistled for boarding at the 12:01 mark. But the opportunity ended in disaster as Oathout corralled a loose puck at mid-ice and broke in on the Warrior goal. Sterniak was able to make the initial save, but a hustling Kohler was quick to gather up the rebound and put it past the prone goaltender to up the lead to 4-0 with 10:18 left in the second. Frustration was building on the visiting bench and took it’s toll as a Penn-Trafford skater was sent to the sin bin with a double-minor at the 6:53 mark. And McDowell would take advantage when defenseman Marc Mancini wristed the puck to the front of the net where DiSanti knocked it down and Matt Stahon slid it under Sterniaks pads, and the Trojans were in command with a 5-0 lead and 5:47 left in the second. The period would end without incident and the Trojans dominance in play and on the scoreboard was in direct relation to the whopping 35-8 advantage in shots on goal after two periods. But the third period would find the Trojans looking content with the 5-0 advantage and skating without the intensity and spark that got them the lead. Although McDowell played the third period more physical to Coach Mancini’s liking, they also hurt themselves by compiling three penalties. Cleary would come up big during the first penalty kill with a sprawling glove save on Warrior David Brammell’s point blank shot at the 10:15 mark. But Dan Hrovath would break up the shut-out for Penn-Trafford just 24 seconds later on a goal from in front of the crease. Eric Likar would also get in the act on the power play as his slapshot goal on a rush up ice would find the top shelf with 3:40 left in the game. But it was too little too late for Penn-Trafford as McDowell would coast to the important victory. Although the Warriors outshot the Trojans 13-9 in the final period, McDowell outshot Penn-Trafford for the game by a 44-21 margin. Andy Kohler finished the game with 2-goals and 1-assist while Nick DiSanti and Brandon Oathout tallied 1-goal and 1-assist each. Jimmy Martin added 2-assists. With an offense that looked much more improved and in sync for two periods with crisp passes and aggressive forechecking, they now have a foundation to build on. The next goal for Coach Mancini will be to capture that intensity and hustle for three complete periods of play. With the victory, McDowell evened it’s PIHL mark at 2-2 (6-5-1 overall) while Penn-Trafford falls to 4-1. The Trojans are now off until next Wednesday when they travel to Kittanning to face the Butler Golden Tornadoes in a West Division game at the Belmont Ice Complex. Face-off is set for 7:35pm. Goal Scorers: Penn-Trafford / Dan Hrovath, Eric Likar McDowell / Andy Kohler (2), Brandon Oathout, Nick DiSanti, Matt Stahon Shots On Goal: Penn-Trafford / 4 - 4 - 13 = 21 McDowell / 15 - 20 - 9 = 44

Seniors Matt Giunta and Jonathan Smith accounted for all seven Mustang goals; and the line of Giunta (3G, 2A), Smith (4G, 2A) and Junior Shawn O'Connor (0G, 5A) tallied 16 of Plum's 18 points as the Mustangs defeated the Tornados 7-1. Smith got Plum started at 11:22 of the first when O'Connor sent him in on a breakaway. Smith went back-hand to the five hole to put Plum up 1-0. Giunta also assisted on the goal. Just 27 seconds into period two, Smith got his second on an unassisted effort when his first shot was blocked, but he followed the puck to the net and backhanded it in for a 2-0 lead. At 10:54 with Plum on the power play, Giunta did a spin-o-rama style backhander into an open cage on a rebound of a Smith shot to put Butler down by three. O'Connor got the second assist on the goal. In period three, the Mustangs only registered seven shots, but made the most of them with four more goals. Giunta won the opening face off to Smith who came down his off wing, went to the forehand and beat the Butler netminder to the far post for his hat trick just seven seconds into the period. Four minutes later, Giunta got his second goal when O'Connor's shot rebounded off the back boards and was smoothly deposited into the cage by Giunta to make the score 5-0. Smith also picked up an assist on the goal. With 6:08 to play, Plum took a bench minor for too many men. Sophomore goalie John Bronder's shut-out bid was thwarted with only 5 minutes remaining, as Butler cashed-in on the power play on a screened slap shot from the point. At 2:27, Giunta completed his hat trick, once again backhanding an O'Connor rebound into the net. Sophomore Anthony DaDamo also earned an assist on the goal. Smith closed out the scoring with his fourth of the night, this one coming on the power play with a point-blank slap shot on a perfect feed from O'Connor. DaDamo picked up his second assist of the evening on the goal. Shots on goal were 24 for each team, and Bronder stopped 23 of 24 shots for his first victory of the season.