Freeport Yellow Jackets

Hecks Video Productions and Pa Hockey bring you all of the action of the 2004 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships plus the Penguins Cup Finals and Class AA Semi-Finals from Mellon Arena. All 3 Pennsylvania State Finals on April 10th from Neville Island are available on tape with interviews, broadcasts and scenes from the ceremonies. If you would like to have a lifetime keepsake of the following games, please click on the title above, the 2004 Pennsylvania Cup or Penguins Cup for information on the following 2004 Playoff Games 2004 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class AAA - Mt Lebanon vs Malvern Prep Class AA - Peters Twp vs Archbishop Carroll Class A - Serra Catholic vs Radnor 2004 Penguins Cup Finals Class AAA - Mt Lebanon vs Meadville Class AA - Peters Twp vs Indiana Class A - Serra Catholic vs Somerset 2004 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class AA - Thomas Jefferson vs Indiana Class AA - Peters Twp vs Kittanning ALSO HECK VIDEO PRODUCTIONS HAS PRIOR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ITS ARCHIVES.....SO CHECK IT OUT !

2004 Pennsylvania Cup AA Champions 2004 Flyers Cup AA Champions Archbishop Carroll Patriots Mike Silver Robert Fratoni Chris Baer Greg Manz Dave Devine Tim Lisowski Josh Friedland Shane Aldinger John Cocco James Chamness Justin Stroh Steve Caggiano Frank Cocco Andrew Gregorie Matt Lisowski Frank Viola Chris Guglielmo John Piotrowicz Harry Ireland Eric Tangradi Justin Rumsey Bill Hammond ~ Head Coach Albert LaBrusciano ~ Assistant Coach

2004 Pennsylvania Cup A Champions 2004 Flyers Cup A Champions Radnor Raiders Ryan Donnelly Nick Ryder Rob Looloian Sean Kavanaugh Bart Bitterman Brad Dowlin Chris Dambly Chris Brennan Gil Davis Greg Gallagher Neil Callahan Tom Shaw Ed Devine Austin Cohen Colby Cohen Adam Chudnofshy Erik Johnson Ben Morse Head Coach - Ed Ritti III Assistant Coach - Ed Ritti Jr Assistant Coach - David Wood

3/24/04~Dawgs rallies from 3-0 deficit to beat CC 4-3 in OT PITTSBURGH – When I bring my five year old son to the rink on a given night over the five-month haul of the hockey season, the first question out of his mouth is ‘dad where is the Bubble Hockey game’ and the second inquiry is ‘whether or not Billy’s team is playing or are the Meadville Bulldogs playing’. There is no Bubble Hockey in the Mauro household because when we go to the rink, it is a special event and for the Western Pennsylvania hockey community, the Meadville – Central Catholic rivalry has surpassed them all in the mutual respect amongst the coaches and players and the pure dislike between the fans. So the Mellon Arena was the site for the annual meeting between the Bulldogs and Vikings, who have met in the playoffs 7 out of the past 8 seasons. For those who follow the Pa Hockey Game Summaries throughout the season, we all know that there are sometimes special nights where our favorite cartoon characters crawl out from under their rocks and show up and these nights are known as ‘Who’s Who Nights. In the house tonight, although not visable was long time Dawg announcers Gary Clark and Dick Tedesco, Center Ice’s Earl Bugaile, Shadyside’s coaching staff including Lenny Semplice, Bobby Kennedy & Dan Lagiavonne, Hap and Haz [Plunkett’s boy from the Mon], Timmy Bosack [now Central’s # 2 fan behind Zuri], Pete and Phil Shaffalo [former USC stars], Jim ‘Mort’ McVay [with cell phone in hand], Dick Rizzo, Jay Gamze, Dave ‘Bigger Scotty’ Scott, NA coach Tom Pandolfo, NH coach Dave Ciotti, Plum coaches Stu ‘mayor of the Pizza Pub’ Relnick and Jerry ‘Dr Evil’ Bass, ESPN’s Mark Madden, Jamie ‘Mr. ‘Mt Lebanon’ Cummings, Joe ‘Not Mike’ Dykta, Chuck Greenburg, Gina ‘I now know my Mt Lebo history’ Colligan, truly and of course the staple of ‘Who’s Who night’ Mt Lebanon assistant coach Bob Montana…..along with ‘the Nation of Meadvile’, the Central Catholic Nation of students, Alumni, and former players, the ever growing Mt Lebanon contingent and the intimate gathering of Upper St Clair’s 50 finest [which is the ceiling permitted to attend a Panther Hockey game]. If you are all wondering who Billy is …it is Central Catholic Head Coach Kevin Zielmanski’s sidekick, Billy Zuri, who is a staple with the program and if he does not show up with a blazer with a Viking on would be a cause for great concern and I would have not go to anymore Central games. Much like when Jamie Plunkett’s long-time assistant Dick Holabaugh enters the rink…these people are bring something special to the program due to their dedication and belief in each and every player who pulls the jersey over their heads and suits up for a Central Catholic – Meadville game. The rivalry has just intensified each year with exciting games and with Central’s opening victory of the season a 4-2 Viking victory in Meadville adding a little seasoning after last season’s Penguins Cup semi-final 5-1 Bulldog drubbing of Central. The most memorable in my mind, which have molded this rivalry are the 2-1 Meadville overtime victory in 1999 in the Penguins Cup Final and the 5-4 OT win for Central in Meadville in 2002 in the first game of the playoffs. Anyway it stacks up, you just knew this meeting would be eventful. Central came out in the first period on a mission as Matt Urso showed great speed in beating the Meadville defense and Danny O’Sharuk upstairs to the glove side after a nice feed from Eddie Martin at 12:27 to give CC a 1-0 lead. After the Meadville defense got caught pinching, Matt Friday made them pay as he fed Michael McGurk, who made no mistake beating O’Sharuk through the 5-hole at 6:28 to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. Central was outshooting Meadvile 8-2 to this point and the 3rd Meadville shot by Christian Nickerson would be a great opportunity but Russ Hefner made an excellent save preserving the 2-0 CC lead with just 55 ticks left in the 1st. Matt Urso threaded a super lead pass to Eddie Martin on the breakaway, but Danny O’Sharuk came up big at 13:41. The Meadville goaltender would not be so lucky at 11:22 as Coner Hickton found a loose puck and scored on the backhand giving Central Catholic a surprising 3-0 lead with 11:22 left in the middle period. Discipline is often an overuse expression in hockey, but Central Catholic was its own worst enemy because it had all the momentum and had the defending Pennsylvania State Champions in big trouble.. but someone once said and more than once that a 3-0 lead is the toughest to play with in hockey. The Vikings took an ill-advise retaliation penalty at 10:36 of the 2nd period and that gave the ‘sleeping Dawgs’ new life ! Phil Siverd threw the puck to the net on the power play and Christian Nickerson delivered finding the rebound and sweeping it past Russ Hefner for Meadville’s opening goal at 9:44. At 8:04, Pat Leone finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence to cut the lead to 3-2 with Meadville now all over CC even though Central outshot the Bulldogs 11-8 in the 2nd. Meadville was unable to score on the power play at 6:03, but they had all the momentum and Christian Nickerson’s attempted pass to the front of the net banked like a Mario Lemieux pinball shot off the Central defenseman’s skate and behind Russ Hefner and tied the game with 2:39 left making it 3-3. Meadville went on another power play with 48 seconds left and just missed taking their first lead. The third period featured great goaltending by Central’s Hefner and Meadville’s O’Sharuk as both teams registered six shots. Eddie Martin had a chance to help CC regain the lead on a partial breakaway but O’Sharuk was equal to the task at 13:41. The Vikings Matt Capalongo was robbed by O’Sharuk at 4:11 with a mindboggling save. Hefner stopped Phil Siverd on a breakaway with just 3:39 left on the next trip up the ice. The game would go into overtime and Meadville would take advantage of a bad clearing attempt by the Vikings as Luke Killmeyer got the puck at the left point and threw it to the far side of the net where who else but Christian Nickerson was on the back door and re-directed past Russ Hefner sending the Bulldog Nation into a frenzy and the Central faithful to the parking lots for the 2nd straight season. The Bulldogs will move on to meet # 1 Mt Lebanon in the 2004 Penguins Cup AAA final Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.

3/24/04 ~ Mt Lebanon grabs lead & holds on to advance to PC PITTSBURGH – Upper St Clair coach Kip Guenther pulled a major media heist in the second round of the Penguins Cup playoffs against Fox Chapel, which was probably learned from his days as an assistant for Jim McVay at Bethel Park, who is the master at impersonating Joe Paterno. Guenther had everyone including Fox Chapel convinced that his team was prepared to play a run and gun game similar to the 6-5 overtime win over Plum in the 1st round of the playoffs. What Upper St. Clair did was to tighten their defensive system, shadow Matt Quigley in an attempt to shut down the Foxes top line, and have the hot line of Davy Crockett, Mike Penkrot and freshman Andrew Blazek continue to fill the net as they did for five of six goals against Plum and for six of the eight goals against Fox Chapel. This change in philosophy has produced wonderful results and would be severely tested against a Mt Lebanon team which pummeled the Panthers 8-2 less than a month ago. USC Would have to do this without Kris McDonough, one of the top defenseman in Western Pa, who has decided to pursue a promising baseball career, and whose services will be lost at Upper St Clair. Mt Lebanon has been the top rated team all year in Class AAA and when the Blue Devils defeated Central Catholic 7-2 and Meadville 2-1 in an exhibition in February, it established them as the favorites for the 2004 Class AAA Penguins Cup. Lebo coach Paul Taibi has been very diligent about keeping his team focused on the task at hand, but in their second round playoff game against Bethel Park, something changed. Mt Lebanon beat the Blackhawks after getting a break in a game in which they dominated, but remained in the balance until the 3rd period when a shot by Bethel’s Michael Diethorn, that is still being debated as to whether it went in OR hit the post. Needless to say the Blue Devils talent and very discipline overcame the Hawks 3-0, but the # 1 seed in the playoffs played more like scared rabbits than the dominant team they have been all season. Mt Lebanon came out in the first period and dominated USC outshooting the Panthers 10-4. One mistake by the Panther defense proved costly as Brian Colligan intercepted a errant clearing attempt and deposited behind Kevin Gorder for a 1-0 lead at 13:33. The game remained a one goal game until 12:33 of the second period when Tony Valerino made a great pass to set up Michael Jordan, who beat Gorder through the 5-hole to make it 2-0. Mt Lebanon became a little overzealous with their lead and USC’s John Markwell had a wide open net to shoot at 12:13, but Matt Vaughn made a spectacular diving save to keep USC off the board. USC went on the power play at 6:21 of the second and red hot Davy Crockett buried a wrist shot on a great back door pass from Mike Penkrot at 5:43 to cut the lead to 2-1. Penkrot had an excellent chance to tie the game, but Vaughn made a better save at 4:12. Mt Lebanon clamped down in the 3rd period and played smart hockey and great defensively, particularly defenseman Jeff Simons and the Blue Devils forwards, who provided great backchecking to limit USC to 5 shots in the 3rd and 15 on the night. Mt Lebanon would hold on for a 2-1 victory setting up a big showdown with Meadville on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.