Freeport Yellow Jackets

Greensburg ~ SEMI-FINALS ~ Plum 4 Fox Chapel 1 Fox Chapel's Keith Kearney and Plum's Stu Relnick have similar concerns heading into the upcoming 2002-2003 season. Both will look above them in the standings and see a bright future for their young hockey clubs respectively. The Mustangs expect to battle Gateway and Franklin and retain their division crown from a year ago while the Foxes vow to challenge Central Catholic for the North title. Both schools have playoff aspirations for the upcoming season. After a scoreless first period, Plum broke out on top as Aaron Arnold scooped up a rebound and beat Todd Hendry at 10:48 to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. At the 5:34 mark, the Foxes Chris Wehrle beat B.J. Schreib on the wrist shot upstairs to knot the game at 1-1. Plum came right back at 3:40 as freshman Johnathon Smith banged home a Travis Senchur rebound past Hendry to give Plum a 2-1 lead heading to the break. Senchur and John Kalichuk added insurance goals in the final period and the Mustangs marched on to their 2nd consecutive GCC Invitational final as they outshot FC 23-13 including 7-1 in the last period. SEMI-FINALS ~ Greensburg CC 3 South Park 2 So its only October and a game between South Park and Greensburg CC in a battle of two potential contenders in Class AA for the 2002-2003 season. A good time to give the younger players an opportunity to see what they can do. The Centarians coach Joe Dytka started Kent Weaver, while # 1 goalie Jake Genes was paricipting in an overtime playoff soccer match for GCC. And while all that was going on.....Bob Juha's South Park Eagles were in Kittanning defeating Latrobe 6-4 in the opener of this weekends tourney. Pre-Season is all about fun. Well GCC found out in the first period that South Park never took their skates off as the Eagles swarmed the Centarians with 18 shots while only surrendering one. Weaver looked like a young Tom Barrasso as he thwarted several opportunities early on. The Eagles Bobby Cagna fired home a rebound at 10:44 to open the scoring. Then, South Parks towering Matt Slogan would not be denied with just :04 left as he picked up a rebound from the point and deposited it to give his squad a 2-0 lead. The second period was a little different story as Greensburg CC carried the play to South Park outshooting them 10-3. The Centarians could not buy a goal as Ian Artim kept them off the board. On to the third as the Eagles were looking for the knock out punch as they outshot GCC 11-3 through the middle of the final period, but Weaver kept the Centarians alive making several key saves. Finally, with 4:09 remaining Matt Ward took a beautiful cross ice pass from Colin Ludwig and GCC was on the board at 2-1. They weren't done yet as Josh Chiado blistered a shot through a screen on the far upper corner past Artim and all the sudden the game was tied at 2-2 with 3:24 left. Greensburg CC completed the improbable comeback just 24 seconds later as John Kennedy crashed the net and poked a rebound past Artim to give his team a 3-2 victory and a spot in the finals against Plum. South Park outshot GCC 36-18.

Follow all the action this weekend from Kittanning ........ Kittanning 3 South Park 0

Former Meadville Bulldog goaltender Vladimir Kulikov has landed in the Toronto Maple Leafs farm system. He has an outstanding chance of moving on in professional hockey after playing for Kitchener of the OHL.

Last Season Pa Hockey covered 136 games across Western Pennsylvania as we saw almost every Varsity team ! The 2002-2003 Season brings a goal of seeing every Varsity team in action all the way to Flyers Cup and Penguins Cup [March 22~Mellon Arena] and Pennsylvania Cup [Now on March 30 ~ Ice Line - West Chester] in Philadelphia !

The Junior C National Championships will be played at the Indiana Ice Center in April 2003. The host team Indiana Junior C Thunder are looking for players to finalize their rosters for the 2002-2003 season and participate in the National Championships. Please contact Sam Kelly at 724-465-2665 & [sam@indianaicecenter.com] or visit the Indiana Ice Center online to learn more about the Junior Thunder.