Freeport Yellow Jackets

Special to Pa Hockey from the Meadville Tribune by Pete Chiodo Halloween might be over for the rest of Meadville, however the DeArment Ice Arena was still a house of horrors for the Bulldog hockey team, which was drubbed by Bethel Park, 7-0, in each teams’ Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League opener Monday. “We were just beaten by a better team,” said Meadville head coach Jamie Plunkett. “Hopefully, we remember how it feels and use this as a reference point to say that, if you don’t work hard and you don’t compete hard, this could be a common thing. You sometimes learn something from losses like this.” The loss was Meadville’s worst since a 9-2 loss to Boston’s Bellmont Hill during the 1992-93 season. The Bulldogs also had a pair of 8-1 losses that season. The Bulldogs worst shutout since the 92-93 season was a 6-0 loss to Harbor Creek in November of 1999. “I think we’ve had a couple close to that, right around there,” said Plunkett, “But those ones, they’re not a lot of fun.” The Blackhawks took the lead early when Tim O’Brien made a nice move to work the puck past Bulldogs freshman goalie Bryan Danczak a minute into the opening period. That kicked off a string of five first-period goals for Bethel Park. “We came out very, very hard,” said Bethel Park coach Jim McVay. “Our guys were ready to play. I’m very happy with how they came out. This is a tough place to play, but when we jump on them like that it helped us out. “I don’t think I’ve even seen or heard of a Meadville team losing 7-0,” he said. “I know Jamie was playing without some players tonight. And I know that they only have two seniors. They’re going to get a lot of experience, and I wouldn’t want to play them in the playoffs.” Bulldogs junior goalie Derrek Hunter — along with sophomore defenseman Jake Mushrush — missed the game and will be out for another week due to violating a team rule. “I think if I would have had Derrek there I probably would have (put him in),” Plunkett said. “Sometimes, when you make a goaltending change that sparks something.” Still, Danczak did what he could, posting 21 saves on 28 shots. “The only kid that showed up, in my mind, was Bryan Danczak,” Plunkett said. “If it weren’t for him, it could have been 10, 15 to nothing. I feel bad for the kid because collectively, not just defensively, I thought the forwards and the defense really struggled inside our own blue line.” Meanwhile, the Bulldogs recorded 12 shots on goal (3-2-7), including five in the first two periods combined. “We’ve got several kids that just don’t want to shoot the puck,” said Plunkett. “They’re waiting for the perfect shot. In this game, you can’t wait for them. You get five shots in two periods, and you’re playing poor defensively, that’s a recipe for a long night.” For Bethel Park, Bryan Brown scored a pair of goals. Matt Slogan had a goal and two assists. Connor McLean, Logan Bannon and Mike Diethorn each had a goal and an assist in the win. “We had six different players score,” McVay said. “I think our goalie (Bryce Merriam) played great. If I’ve ever seen a team effort before, it was tonight. “There were a few things we could have done better. But it’s tough to complain when you beat a great team like Meadville. They have all the history. Just look at all the state championships. They’re as big a game as there is on your schedule.” The loss was the first of the season for the Bulldogs, who fell to 3-1-2 on the year, and 0-1-0 in the PIHL. “I thought that 3-0-2 record was misleading,” Plunkett said. “I felt that we’d be seeing a lot better competition. For a lot of these kids, this was their first time playing in that kind of game. It’s tough. Hopefully, we’ll learn from it.”

HARMARVILLE – Franklin Regional lost a ton of seniors from last year’s squad, many of whom competed in the 2002 Penguins Cup AAA final loss to Meadville and head coach Jim Damp departed to take the Fox Chapel post, many in Pa Hockeyland felt the Panthers would be in for a down season. Maybe to some people, but not this person! Head Coach Jim Daugherty is a hockey person and he is a builder and after watching FR in the pre-season, one could notice the balance, the unselfish play and the work ethic would make this a team which if it finds timely scoring and goaltending would challenge division champ Penn Trafford for the top spot in the East. Shaler head coach Ron Steedle is the dean of coaches in Western Pennsylvania and has coaches over 20 seasons of High School Hockey and is trying to rebuild the Shaler program, which has competed for 34 consecutive seasons, who along with Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair, are the only programs who can make that claim. The Titans have been successful on 17 consecutive opening nights dating back to 1987 and their streak would receive a severe test in Franklin. Shaler lost 12 players to graduation and those who chose to take up other activities resulting in 7 freshman in the opening day lineup and the remaining players are holdovers from last years playoff team. In a scoreless first period, Franklin Regional held the territorial advantage as Shaler killed of four penalties yielding just seven shots to the Panthers. A 5th penalty at the end of the first period would put FR on another power play to start the second. Brian Dunford would open up the scoring on the power play just 33 seconds into the middle period for a 1-0 lead at 14:27. The Panthers would extend the lead at 8:51 as Tom Abraham scored from close range and beat Ben Burns. Franklin would go on another power play a little over two minutes later, but a great effort by Shaler’s P.J Domski to beat the Franklin defense to the puck resulted in a goal and a slim 2-1 lead for FR with 4:34 left in the 2nd. Shaler began to carry the play late in the middle frame and the Titans went on the power play at 2:14 and had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but it was the Panthers who struck as Joe Ferriero made a super play to gain the zone and thread a perfect pass to Joel Sirianni behind the Shaler defender, who beat Ben Burns to give FR a huge insurance goal with 1:32 remaining in the 2nd period and a 3-1 lead. The same two players combined early in the 3rd period to extend the lead as Sirianni pinballed an odd angle shot through the pads of Ben Burns for a 4-1 lead at 13:53 of the 3rd. Shaler could not take advantage of several power plays over the final minutes of play as Adam Treml stopped several good opportunities for the Titans to secure a 4-1 opening night victory for the Panthers.

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.

Freeport Hockey Club **** HISTORY **** Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League - Regular Season Records (1973-1999) - WPIHL Playoff Record (1973-1999) Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League - Regular Season Records (2000-Present) Penguin Cup Playoff Record - All-Time ONLY AVAILABLE ON PA HOCKEY !