Central Catholic Vikings

CASTLE SHANNON - South Park coach Bob Juha was looking to set the record straight for a late season loss in 2003 to Thomas Jefferson, which was a turning point in the Eagles season. SP opened up with an impressive win over two time State Champion Peters Twp and a pasting of Carrick for a 2-0-0 start. The Eagles would need an extraordinary effort as it faced the # 1 ranked team in Class AA Thomas Jefferson, The Jaguars took to the ice with a perfect record coming off a hard fought win over Indiana on Monday night. Tenured Head Coach Don Powell knows he has some horses and is looking forward to March this year, but also has enough saavy and experience to keep his group focused on the task at hand which would be long time rival South Park before a festive packed house at the Ice Castle. TJ’s Billy Barrett got things started for the Jags as he found a loose puck down low and walked to the net and beat SP’s netminder Ian Artim on the backhand at 11:03 for a 1-0 lead. South Park went on the power play at 10:20, but Barrett had the best scoring chance but was stopped by Artim on the breakaway at 9:10. Thomas Jefferson really picked up the pace in the middle of the opening period but Artim made several nice saves to keep it a one goal game. Eric Holzer picked up a rebound of a shot by Zach Hanbury and deposited into an empty net with just :12 remaining for a huge goal and a 2-0 Jaguar lead after some excellent puck movement by the black and gold. On to the 2nd and after TJ’s Danny Hartman made a nice stop on Tim Ryan a minute and a half earlier, the Eagles turned up the heat on TJ and made it count as Jared Miley found a loose puck and beat Hartman at 11:15 to cut the lead to 2-1. South Park thought they had tied the game at 10:59, but the whistle blew the play dead and the score remained 2-1 in favor of Thomas Jefferson. Billy Barrett extended the TJ lead at 6:37 converted a Brandon School pass from in front to make it 3-1. The Jaguars weren’t done as Zach Hanbury avoided a SP defender and fed Rob Heinhauer, who beat Artim on the far side for a 4-1 Jaguar lead at 5:44. Then TJ turned to their money man between the pipes as Danny Hartman made a great stop on Dennis Fleming and robbed Donny Remlinger on the rebound with a sprawling save with 2:02 left in the 2nd. SP came right back with another chance but Hartman stopped a backhand attempt by Tim Ryan and then calmly gloved the rebound shot by the towering Eagle Matt Slogan with just :36 remaining in the middle period. South Park needed to score on the power play at 11:19 to hold hope of any comeback but TJ killed the advantage to keep the score 4-1. The Jaguars effectively worked the puck down low in the Eagle zone and killed the clock and Hartman shut the door for a 4-1 Thomas Jefferson victory and a stronghold on the # 1 ranking in Class AA

Special Report to Pa Hockey - Thank You to McDowell Hockey ERIE - The temperature in Erie, Pa may have dropped dramatically outside the Erie Civic Center Thursday night, but inside the Civic Center things were quite warm. That's because when rivals McDowell and Cathedral Prep compete at anything, things tend to get heated up. McDowell used a 27-save performance from goaltender John Cleary and efficient penalty killing to skate away with a 2 – 0 victory over rival Cathedral Prep in last nights 'Battle of Lake Erie - Round I'. The Trojans killed off 6 Prep power plays including two 5 on 3 man advantages and a 5-minute major penalty to start the third period. With the game scoreless in the opening stanza, Dan Barthelson jammed in a rebound off a shot from Gary Peterson with 2:35 left in the period to put the Trojans on top 1 – 0. The score would remain that way until 5:31 remained in the second period when Eric Trapp tipped in a shot from Chris Prior to give McDowell a 2 – 0 advantage. But Prep did not back off. They continued to apply pressure in the period and with :12 seconds left in the 2nd, McDowell’s Gary Peterson was assessed a 5 minute major for slew footing. McDowell's penalty killing unit did an outstanding job in limiting Prep's scoring opportunities during the man advantage, and there was still 1:30 left in the major penalty when the Trojans received another penalty for elbowing. But the Trojan penalty unit was up to the task as they killed off both penalties, allowing only 3 shots on net in the process and taking the ferocious northern arctic wind out of Prep's sails. Both teams took turns creating scoring chances the rest of the way, but both netminders kept their teams in the game. Cleary came up big when he was called upon, and Prep's Ryan Zapolski saved 22 of 24 shots as his teammates killed of all 4 McDowell power plays. Scoring by Period: McDowell / 1 – 1 – 0 = 2 Cath. Prep / 0 – 0 – 0 = 0 Goal Scorers: McDowell / Dan Barthelson, Eric Trapp Cath. Prep / None McDowell Shutout Goalie: John Cleary - 27 shots / 27 saves Prep Goalie: Ryan Zapolski – 24 shots / 22 saves Shots on Goal by Period: McDowell / 8 - 9 - 7 = 24 Cath. Prep / 5 - 11 - 11 = 27

Through Saturday 2/28/04 Action Class AAA # 1 Pennsylvania - Mt Lebanon Eastern Pa - Malvern Prep Western Pa - Mt Lebanon Class AA # 1 Pennsylvania - Thomas Jefferson Eastern Pa - Downingtown Western Pa - Thomas Jefferson Class A # 1 Pennsylvania - Radnor Eastern Pa - Radnor Western Pa - Bishop McCort ****Check out the Week 16 Rankings - UPDATED 2/28/04**** NOTE: Please keep in mind that the FINAL Rankings were released prior to the Flyers Cup seedings on 2/29/04

Bethel Park - Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Fox Chapel T'was the game before Christmas one year ago, and Fox Chapel was visiting the defending state champions Bethel Park, an old foe. With Olive Garden full in their bellies, Fox Chapel skated to a 3-0 loss to the empire of the Bethel Park Blackhawks for the second year in a row. Well...on Monday night this week the tables were turning already as Bethel Park's first week ranking was a suprising 8th, along with two other past dominant teams: Cathedral Prep, and ranked 7th was defending champs Meadville. People may have questioned the rankings, but, so be it coming into Bethel Park Bladerunners for a 7:00 face-off. Both teams had chances early, with FC's Tony Longhini missing an open net, and Todd Hendry stopping a Bethel Park breakaway with a glove save. Bethel Park's Jacobus Bleik scored with 4:34 remaining in the first period to make an early statement about their rank in question. The period would end with a Bethel 1-0 lead. Fox Chapel struck back quickly just 4 1/2 minutes into the second to tie it off the stick of Sophomore Joe Budz. FC then would add a powerplay goal from Matt Quigley and another goal from Tony Longhini to force Bethel Park coach Jim McVay to pull goaltender Delbert Joo for Mike Mastracci with 3:36 left in the second period, down 3-1. Fox Chapel seemed to have it sealed with a fourth goal in the third period by Joe Budz, his second of the evening, but Bethel Park is not known for giving up...Conner McLean scored on the power play for Bethel Park to pull within two goals. Then, suprisingly, the officials awarded Bethel Park with a two man advantage which they quickly capitalized on as Bethel's Captain Dan Zabkar scored from the point before the first penalty expired with just under 6 minutes remaining in the final period. The power play then expired and Fox Chapel Defenseman Jason Kreps sealed the game with 1:31 remaining, but a two minute penalty for excessive celebration gave Bethel Park some life. That's when senior goaltender Todd Hendry came up with 3 big saves in the final minute of the game. Final score: Fox Chapel-5, Bethel Park-3. Fox Chapel moves to 2-0 and puts Bethel Park in their first losing record since before anyone can remember, 1-2.

HARMARVILLE ~ Central Catholic opened up the regular season with a pair of victories against Meadville and Latrobe last week, which has the Vikings ranked # 1 in the Pa Hockey Week 1 poll. So if this CC team is thinking undefeated or State Championship after defeating the defenders, well who could blame them. Ever the concerned coach Kevin Zielmanski knows better and probably needed a ‘Hoosiers’ re-run that ‘we never talk about the next step until we handled the one in front of us!” for his team as Central faced off against former division rival Shaler. Now the professor Ron Steedle returned to Shaler after a two-year hiatus after 18 years at the helm, and the long-time coach understands that to put the Titans in the same breath as Central Catholic would take a special effort from his squad. Maybe a little motivation by the # 1 ranking or maybe the challenge of playing a top ranked team could spur Shaler to pull off the unexpected. Titan netminder sophomore Ben Burns pitched a shutout against Norwin in game one and would be called upon to do the same against CC. Shaler was the aggressor early in the first period and forced the Vikings out of their rhythm with hard work and some physical play. The result was that Shaler took the lead as Tom Carter beat Russ Hefner low on the ice at 7:03 after a nice feed from Josh Bauer. But Bauer got into a match of words with the Viking bench and was sent off for unsportsmanlike penalty putting the CC power play to work. After Shaler survived the # 1 unit of CC, it was the muckers and grinders for the Vikings who got the job done as Neal Kennihan pushed a loose puck past Burns after some hard work by line-mates Conner Hickton and Michael McGurk, who assisted on the play to tie the score at one apiece at 5:38, a PPG goal. A very even hockey game and a very interesting plot was developing as Shaler looked to keep the game close despite being outshot 8-4. With :11 left in the period, Matt Urso tied up the Shaler center on the draw and the crafty and slippery Eddie Martin chipped a seemingly harmless shot at Ben Burns through traffic, which just found its way over the shoulder for a 2-1 Central Catholic lead with just :08 left. On to the second and the Vikings had several power play opportunities but could not beat Ben Burns, who turned away 12 Viking shots. Russ Hefner had to be sharp while facing only 4 shots as the Titans almost tied the game late in the period as the teams headed to the locker room tied 1-1. In the third period, Shaler killed off a penalty and kept the game within reach. A partial break with a two on one was broken up by the Central D a near miss for Josh Bauer to tie the game in the middle of the period. Burns was holding the fort stopping all 11 Central shots and enabling his team to pull the goalie with a minute to play. All Shaler needed was a opening and had a couple of good chances but Hefner would deny the Titans and Central would hold on for a 2-1 victory before a packed house at Harmarville.