Freeport Yellow Jackets

2004 Penguins Cup AA Finals PITTSBURGH – It wasn’t a secret to anyone that if Indiana goaltender Mike Mentch played well that Indiana would stand a fair chance of advancing far in the playoffs. What people maybe underestimated is the maturity and great leadership on this Indiana team with players like Zach Diamond, Michael Nesper and Mike Hart, who along with handful of other seniors in the lineup have been to the Penguins Cup before and still remember the pain of losing a heartbreaker in 2002 to Peters Twp 3-2. You Indiana is battling history and entered the Western final for the third time in its history, the other time being in 1996 as the little Indians were edged out by eventual State Champions Greensburg Central Catholic 4-3 after having a 3-0 lead. Would this be the year that Indiana could finally put it over the top and move on to face Archbishop Carroll, a team that the little Indians soundly defeated in a Kitttanning pre-season tournament. Everyone who counted Peters Twp out in the regular season is either very foolish or just doesn’t understand that these Indians are the champions until someone defeats them. Peters has been real impressive in opening victories over South Park and a humiliation of a very good Kittanning squad 8-1 last Tuesday. Peters was looking like a team finding its stride as veterans Chris Clackson, Si Bishop and Dan Crogan were leading the way and the younger Peters players such as Gerry Raymond, Dustin Roux and freshman goaltender Rob Madore were coming of age. Head coach Mark Cooper had to be tickled inside as he watched the maturation of a team which he feels is on a mission to three-peat. The first period was a feeling out process which played right into the hands of Indiana as Mentch and Madore stopped five and six shots, respectively and the period ended scoreless. Indiana continued with their plan in the second period with strong defensive play and keeping Peters pinned in their own end by dumping the puck in deep and setting a very effective forecheck, which stifled the potent Peters Twp attack. After a neutral zone turnover by Peters, Indiana capitalized as speedy Michael Nesper took a Jason Boske lead pass and beat Rob Madore on the backhand at 6:59 of the 2nd period. Peters Twp came right back as Kevin Kustron spotted and fed Gerry Raymond in tight and Raymond crashed the net and scored at 5:08 to tie the game at one apiece. Peters Twp went on the power play with 2:43 and had a chance to take the lead, but Indiana had other ideas as Corey Mills set up Nesper on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Madore again this time on the backhand to give Indiana a 2-1 lead with 1:49 to play. If there was a backbreaking goal of this game it would come with :09 left in the middle period as Joe Lenz hit Cory Mills with a long lead pass on another breakaway and Mills beat Madore on the backhand giving Indiana a 3-1 lead and seemingly control of the hockey game. There is always one important factor to remember in a championship run or game and that is that champions are sometimes the hardest teams to eliminate because they never quit and they just keep coming at their opponent. Peters Twp is no exception and after some great work by Gerry Raymond at 10:35, Dustin Roux delivered a big goal and pulled Peters Twp within one 3-2. Indiana would come right back as Cory Mills scored on a great individual effort and beat Madore on the wraparound to the post with 9:44 remaining to give Indiana a 4-2 lead and control of the hockey game. Indiana just kept playing smart and looked to be on their way to their first Penguins Cup championship, but these games have the weirdest ways of playing out sometimes and one mistake or undisciplined penalty or maybe history of the teams involved just come back and bite one team and fuel another’s comeback. An interference call om Indiana at 6:35 put Peters Twp on the power play and this set the ball in motion for Peters Twp after Mike Mentch robbed Chris Clackson at 6:59 with a great glove save. Clckson and Si Bishop found Dustin Roux all alone in front behind the Indian defense and the PT Indians pulled within one at 4-3 on a power play goal at 6:23. Another penalty at 5:35 on Indiana caused some growing concern and use of a timeout as Peters Twp players were just exhausted and may have caught a huge break courtesy of Indiana’s panick. Indiana did a marvelous job of killing off the Peters advantage and was still in the lead and looking to eliminate the two time defending State Champion. The quintet of Dustin Roux- Gerry Raymond-Chris Clackson- Dan Crogan and Si Bishop must have played six of the last eight minutes and coach Mark Cooper wisely used his timeout with 1:50 remaining. Indiana just kept stopping everything that Peters could throw at them and when the puck went out of the zone with thirty seconds left it looked like Indiana was on its way. Peters frantically got the puck in the zone and a heads up play by Chris Clackson who calmly gathered the puck and somehow pushed it to the net through a sea of Indiana defenders was a last ditch effort, which was pounced on by a relentless Kevin Kustron, who poked the loose puck past Mike Mentch with just 6.8 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime 4-4. 44 minutes and 3 seconds of great championship hockey came down to six and 8 tenths of the clock and the Indiana fans, bench and players could only watch helplessly as Chris Clackson lobbed wedged [as a Peters follower would describe] a lead pass high in the air to a wide open Si Bishop at 6:56 of overtime and a great breakaway opportunity for Peters Twp. So the kid who was essentially a part time player, with just four goals all season, but a major part of two championships as a defenseman, would decide the Indiana Indians fate as he move in on a breakaway and buried a wrist shot high over Mike Mentch breaking Indiana’s heart and sending Peters Twp on to their third consecutive State Final to meet Archbishop Carroll on April 10th at the RMU Neville Island Sports Center.

2004 Penguins Cup AAA Finals PITTSBURGH – The greatest part of the hockey season is the playoffs, because people come out of the woodworks from the media, from the communities and who knows where to participate in the event of the Penguins Cup playoffs. The joyride of the regular season is a cold December night in Meadville with the ‘Nation of Meadville’ in the house of chills or maybe a trip over to the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center to take in a rivalry game of Bethel – Lebo or USC – Lebo. So for much of the season, while the pretenders and so-called contenders muttered about Western Pennsylvania playing for the right for extinction of playing Mt Lebanon and Meadville, the Blue Devils and Bulldogs soared through the regular season losing a combined three games. Mt Lebanon lost to Meadville in November and Meadville lost to Central Catholic on opening night, a game that they would avenged 4-3 in overtime in the Penguins Cup semi-finals. Only a Meadville loss to Bethel Park in late February would give these two teams a combined three losses during the regular season. That’s of course if we don’t count the 2-1 Mt Lebanon victory over Meadville one the last Saturday in February in a so-called exhibition before a packed house at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center. After contributing to the Post Gazette’s rankings for the past eight seasons, it is common knowledge who ranks the teams in the Monday edition of the PG and since they appear each Saturday morning, it always prompts debate amongst the coaches, players, fans and media as to how I could come up with ranking one team over another. During the season in February is when Mt Lebanon moved ahead of the defending State Champion Meadville in the PG rankings, which prompted some pretty interesting e-mails let me tell you and for my eyes only. But a chance meeting after the All-Star game was the final clue for me as to why Mt Lebanon held an edge over Meadville. Sitting at a table tipping a few cold ones with a couple of coaches prompted the question of Mark Madden, of ESPN Radio [a professional journalist if you will] and long-time HS hockey enthusiast. Who is the best team in AAA was the simple question ? And the answer from a prominent set of coaches was Mt Lebanon. ‘Mt Lebanon will NEVER win anything’ said Madden and coach Paul Taibi heard it …………and the look Taibi gave as he glared down the table through the collection of coaches said it all…the hunger of Mt Lebanon, a school who had not tasted the Penguins Cup since 1985 and the State Championship since 1976. Mark Madden meet Paul Taibi, head coach of the NEW Mt Lebanon Blue Devils. Meadville is the champions of Pennsylvania at Class AAA and has the State Championships under its belt and the experience of a 5-4 thriller over Malvern Prep at Ice Line last season. A 4-3 overtime victory over a very good Central Catholic team after being down 3-0 has the Dawgs pointing toward another one. And is if a plane had dropped myself next to Jim McVay , the Bethel Park head coach who beat Meadville and nearly twice beat Mt Lebanon, in a broadcast situation we were calmly watching and describing a great titantic battle between Meadville and Mt Lebanon, who through 2 1/2 periods played a tremendous hockey game before a crowd of well over 2000 people at the Mellon Arena. The shots were 25-25 and Danny O’Sharuk for Meadville and Matt Vaughn of Mt Lebanon were perfect between the pipes. The first goal would be the difference and it would be a great individual effort at 7:03 as Eric Sloan took the puck from his own end and struck like lightning on a 1 on 2 with great speed and unleashed a shot which trickled under O’Sharuk, who looked to have the angle for a huge 1-0 Mt Lebanon lead. Meadville would have its best chance of the evening as Phil Siverd show great patience holding the puck and moving around two fallen Blue Devils defenders and moving it to a wide open Anthony Scarpino at 3:40, who was just robbed by Matt Vaughn, who has quietly given up just one goals in over 180 minutes & 4 games of playoff action. The Bulldogs would get another chance on the power play at 3:25, but the Mt Lebanon defense was just brilliant in limiting Meadville’s chances. Enter Sloan again, who stripped the puck and raced 120 feet and beat O’Sharuk on the backhand for a secure 2-0 Blue Devils lead and just 1:27 remaining in regulation. It would all come to light for Mt Lebanon as Chad Uddstrom sealed the deal with an ENG with 30 seconds left and Mt Lebanon captured its first Penguins Cup since 1985 and earned a trip to face the Flyers Cup champions on April 10th to win their first State Championship since 1976, 28 years ago and we can all say ‘Why not Mt Lebanon ?’.

Members of the 2004 Penguins Cup AAA Champions - Mt Lebanon Blue Devils 9 - Craig Anderson 12 - Matt Bartowski 20 - Rick Beuke 2 - Kevin Carlin 26 - James Cichra 27 - Bryan Colligan 6 - Josh Evron 30 - John Frohliger 21 - Brian Hammel 25 - Brian Hediger 23 - Mike Jordan 19 - Bill Leckenby 38 - Jack Millhouse 17 - Joe Petruska 33 - Zach Rosen 4 - Jeff Simons 5 - Eric Sloan 29 - Drew Taucher 16 - Chad Uddstrom 8 - Tony Valerino 44 - Matt Vaughan 15 - Dan Wilen Head Coach ~ Paul Taibi Assistant Coach ~ Bob Montana Assistant Coach ~ Jim Krieger Assistant Coach ~ Chuck Kelly

Members of the 2004 Penguins Cup AA Champions - Peters Twp Indians 90 - Si Bishop 6 - Mike Bucci 51 - Chris Clackson 8 - Aaron Croft 9 - Daniel Crogan 11 - Jake Dellavale 66 - Nick Domachowski 40 - Shane Frey 14 - Jeffery Hannan 71 - Kevin Kustron 27 - Matthew Lazzaro 95 - Jake Machel 17 - Robert Madore 43 - Jordan Marks 5 - Christopher Morford 45 - Chuck Nettles 70 - Bryan Papciak 30 - Nick Perry 69 - Gerald Raymond 77 - Garrett Rooney 26 - Dustin Roux 16 - Brandon Tingle Head Coach ~ Mark Cooper Assistant Coach ~ Scott Simmons Assistant Coach ~ Dennis Defelice

Members of the 2004 Penguins Cup A Champions - Serra Catholic Eagles 73 - Alex Bulischeck 6 - Tony Duco 90 - Raymond Gillis 44 - Steve Gruhalla 93 - Philip Ivkovich 88 - Timmy Johnson 85 - Joshua Jones 34 - Steve Kolbe 22 - Justine Lubash 96 - Joey Manning 40 - Ryan Noone 38 - Roman Oliver 00 - Matt Radovic 85 - Tyler Schmidt Head Coach ~ Tom Mooney Assistant Coach ~ Ed Figas Assistant Coach ~ Tom McElhinny