Central Catholic Vikings

HARMARVILLE - CC INVITATIONAL SEMI-FINALS Upper St Clair had surprised alot of people with their performance in the 2002 Central Catholic Invitational by reaching the Semi-Finals. There is no question the Panthers will be a strong team in the upcoming years, but they will have to add a little discipline to their resume. Kip Guenther's young squad took a penalty at 6:22 of te first period and Dunbarton's Jay Brookings scored at 8:34 to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Then another penalty late in the first period resulted in a Dunbarton power play goal with just :19 left by Brent Dalliday to give Dunbarton a 2-0 lead after one. On to the second and the Panthers rebounded outshooting Dunbarton 13-3 and pelting Spartan goaltender Bryan Scott, who was equal to the task until 5:18, when Anthony Sirabella scored to cut the lead to 2-1 at the end of two periods. In the third period, USC carried the play but could not beat Scott, who preserved his team's lead. The Panthers became frustrated which resulted in a double minor which put the lethal Spartans on the power play and they made USC pay with goals from Matt Fettes at 2:38 and Mike Tantsis at 3:48 to break open a tight 2-1 game and give Dunbarton a safe 4-1 lead. Matt Wyles added an insurance tally as Dunbarton, from near Pickering Ontario advanced to the CC Invitational Finals.

TJ mounts big comeback in OT ! HARMARVILLE - 2002 CC INVITATIONAL - SEMI FINALS Central Catholic was looking to capture its first Invitational in 14 years and came very close last years final losing to Bethel Park in the finals 2-1. Thomas Jefferson, who captured the title in 1998, was looking to capture some past glory and return to the coveted finals again. After a scoreless first period, just 45 seconds into the second period, Michael McGurk gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Then after killing off a Thomas Jefferson penalty, Matt Urso chipped the puck past the Jaguar defense and beat Bryan Adamczyk on the forehand to extend the CC lead to 2-0. Central was coasting and an errant clearing attempt found its way on the stick of Daryl Nath who buried a wrist shot at 2:34 to get TJ on the board 2-1. The Jaguars tied the game with a little over ten minutes remaining in regulation as Andrew Olmstead scored to make it 2-2. The game went into overtime and Olmstead caught the CC defense pinching which created an odd man break and he threaded a perfect pass to a streaking Derek Kelly, who buried a shot at 8:33 of the OT and sent the Jaguars to the Finals.

Dunbarton captures Central crown ! HARMARVILLE - 2002 CENTRAL CATHOLIC INVITATIONAL FINALS Dunbarton took a little tour through Western Pennsylvania and head coach Bill Dalliday wanted to make sure he had all the bases covered. First it was Bethel Park, then Fox Chapel, then North Allegheny and finally Upper St Clair....but just to make sure the Spartan coach took a little drive to Murrysville to get some sticks fixed at Center Ice Arena for the Championship matchup with Thomas Jefferson. The Spartans broke out on top as Matt Wyles scored on a beautiful wrist shot inside the post to make it 1-0 at 4:58. Danny Hartman kept the Jaguars in the game with some excellent goaltending. Dunbarton added two more goals in the middle frame as Jay Brookings scored on a rebound at 11:09 and Matt Pemeroski added another at 10:38 to give the Dunbarton squad a 3-0 lead. Brookings, Brent Dalliday, Matt Fettes and Pemeroski added goals in the third period as Dunbarton captured the Central Catholic Invitational in convincing fashion with a 7-1 victory over the Jaguars. Luke Wawrzeniak broke the shutout with 5:44 remaining in the final period. Spartan defenseman Brian Campbell was named the recipient of the Bill Downey Memorial Award as Dunbarton became the first International Champion of the Central Catholic Invitational.

Surprise ....Upper St. Clair moves on ! HARMARVILLE - Upper St Clair Kip Guenther knows he is in the beginning of building a program at Upper St Clair that has a lot of promise. Well, for the here and now we all received a little glimpse of the future at the Central Catholic Invitational this weekend. For the teams in Division A ....Serra, Monsignor Bonner and Shaler would probably look at USC's 2-4-0 start to the season and count a win on the CC Invitational slate....bad assumption. Eric Echard put the Panthers on the board early in the first 1-0. After Shaler's Justin Thomas tied the score falling down on the wrist shot at 4:44 of the 1st, USC got goals from Ian Joyce and Matt Major to take a 3-1 lead. Jeff Greenberg added two shorthanded tallies and Matt Moran a single as USC posted an impressive 6-1 victory over Shaler. Notable performance was turned in by USC freshman defenseman Kris McDonough, who was a dominating force on the blueline. The Panthers swept the bracket and moved on to the Semi-Finals on Sunday.

Dunbarton sweeps tough B Division ! HARMARVILLE ~ North Allegheny had some newfound confidence with a big win earlier in the day against Bethel Park 2-0. Brian Hershberger's club was looking to match up with a Dunbarton club who had ripped Bethel and Fox Chapel in its opening round. Dunbarton and North Allegheny engaged in a hard hitting and chippy game through the scoreless first two periods with excellent goaltending from the Tiger's Matt Logoyda and Dunbarton's Ryan Bosack. Dunbarton came on in the third period, but Lagoda made magnificent saves with 5:45 and 4:45 remaining. Dunbarton's captain Brad Binns scored the game winner with 1:37 remaining for a 1-0 victory and helped his club move onto the Semi-Finals.