Montour Spartans

Semi - Finals Fox Chapel 5 North Hills 3 Fox Chapel has had some very good teams over the past few years and has been snakebitten in the St Margaret’s Fall Face Off over the past few years. Jim Damp’s squad was looking to get by the semi final round, which they have failed to do the past three years. North Hills is still riding the wave from late last season as the Indians won a slew of games down the stretch into the playoffs. Without leading scorer Fred Latini, it would be a tough task for the Indians to reach the finals over the Foxes. Fox Chapel raced to a 3-0 lead through two periods on goals by Kyle Misour, Andrew McCoy and Steven Bartynski, while Eric Thiessen continued pitching shutouts between the pipes stopping all 18 Indians shots. NH came back in the third and made a game of it as David Hansell, Nick Rostek and Mark Ringeling scored goals to sandwich a Joe Budz goal and make it a 4-3 game into the games final four minutes. Eric Thiessen would be the star of this game with several key saves in the final period and stopping 24 shots on the evening. Steven Bartynski netted and empty netter for a 5-3 final for the Foxes. Fox Chapel returns to the St Margaret’s Fall Face Off final for the first time since 1997 when the Foxes won two consecutive titles over Franklin Regional. North Allegheny 7 Plum 1 A rematch of the 2004 and 2004 St Margaret’s Fall Face Off finals both won by the North Allegheny Tigers over the Plum Mustangs, tonight’s semi-final of the 2005 tournament matched two teams who were hit hard by graduation, but both are in the proving stage to their seasons from a year ago in one form or another. Plum is looking to repeat as two time division champions and the Tigers are looking to take the next step in the process of ultimately their ultimate goal of a State Championship. John Bronder with a few nice stops early on around the 10-minute mark and Plum was the recipient of the games first power play at 9:21 and didn’t score. The second power play would result in the games opening goal at 4:49 as Chad Covol took a beautiful feed from Ben Colosmo and made no mistake beating Max Richards for a 1-0 Plum lead. NA outshot the Mustangs 9-6 in the opening period. The Tigers came out smoking in the middle period as Chris Simanic scored on a second chance beating a sprawling Bronder to tie the score at 14:43. NA took its first lead just 22 ticks later as Josh Herbert walked out of the corner and beat the Plum goaltender through the 5-hole to make it 2-1. Max Richards made his first big save of the game at 11:54 of the 2nd as he stopped Jon Smith on a clean break after a nifty spin-a-rama to elude two Tiger defensemen and keep North Allegheny on top 2-1. Then at 6:29, the Tigers Chris Gilson undressed the Plum defense and beat Bronder on the backhand to push the lead to 3-1. North Allegheny made the power play count with some very nice puck movement as Chris Simanic finished off a nice cross crease feed from Alan Halapin with a little under 4 minutes to go to make it 4-1. The Tigers iced the game in the third period with three goals as Josh Herbert, Joe Camut and Dan Gaertner scored for North Allegheny for a 7-1 final and a fifth consecutive trip to the Fall Face Off Finals looking for its 4th championship. NA defeated Plum in 2004 and 2003 and Hampton in 2001, with its only loss to Franklin Regional in 2002. In fact, after further review, the Tigers have been to the finals 7 out of the last nine years. Consolation Round – October 11, 2005 Pine Richland 7 Franklin Regional 3 Franklin Regional tied the game at 3-3 as John Cecere scored 29 seconds into the 3rd period. Pine Richland showed why many consider them the most explosive team in all of Class AA as the Rams rattled off four consecutive goals in less than ten minutes to defeat the Panthers. George Saad notched a hat trick and Josh Fodor added a pair of goals, while Steven Adams and Dylan Trombetta scored singles for the Rams. Turner Andritz, Shane Crossey and Cecere scored for the Panthers. Hampton 5 Shaler 3 Hampton avenged a defeat in the Fall Face Off from a year ago with a 5-3 victory over Shaler. Rick Coyle, Patrick Duffy, Chase Evans, Eric Kelly and Jordan Dellatorre scored for the Talbots, who broke a 3-3 tie with 10:50 remaining in the 3rd period. Brian Ulanowicz scored twice for the Titans, while Grant Duss added a single.

2005 St Margarets Fall Face-Off First Round – October 10, 2005 Plum 5 Franklin Regional 3 When we last left the Plum Hockey program, the disappointment of a hard fought playoff loss brought tears and pride from a group of players who overachieved and came within one goal of advancing to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals. It was here at the St Margarets Fall Face-Off, we first noticed the Mustangs as a team to be reckoned with in the hunt for playoff glory. That task will be a higher hill to climb as former Plum star Shaun Keller takes the reigns from Stu ‘Pizza Pub’ Rulnick, as the Mustangs must figure a way to replace Philip Mains, Ryan Griffin amongst the graduating seniors who have departed. The leadership of the team will begin and end with Jonathon Smith, Matt Giunta, David Humphries and Ben Colosmo, who will be counted on to carry this year’s offensive load. Franklin Regional and Head coach Jim Daugherty, know all about graduation as the program once rich in numbers and talent has dwindled to only a Varsity and Junior Varsity. It has only been 3 years in 2003 since the Panthers trip to the Penguins Cup final and they have felt the pinch as several potential key players have decided not to play for FR and only play amateur hockey and whether they are superstars or not, they are ingredients, which could make them a 2nd or 3rd round potential playoff team in 2006, but will ultimately result in early round playoff disappointment. FR looks to Joel Sirianni, Joe Nicoletti and swift skating sophomore Turner Andritz to lead the charge up front. Plum goaltender John Bronder made the games first big save stopped Brian Buckley on a partial breakaway with 9 ½ left on the opening period. The Panthers had the advantage with the games early chances and struck on the power play as Joe Nicoletti pounced on a rebound off a Greg Peters shot from the left point at 6:52 and beat Bronder for a 1-0 FR lead. At 10:38 of the 2nd period the Plum cowbells starting ringing a familiar tune as Jonathon Smith saucered a beautiful pass and Matt Giunta did the rest tying the game at one apiece beating freshman goaltender James Orr from right on the door step. Franklin came right back at 7:41 as Jared Yesko cashed in from point blank to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. It didn’t take long for the Mustangs to knot the score at 2-2 at 5:43 on shorthanded breakaway as Matt Giunta notched his 2nd goal. FR came right back on the power play as John Cecere scored at 3:48 giving FR a 3-2 lead. Plum didn’t take long to tie it as Ben Colosmo buried a shot after hard work by linemate freshman Andy Weston at 14:43 to tie the game at 3-3. A little over two minutes later, the Mustangs struck again as Colosmo scored his 2nd to give Plum a 4-3 lead. Franklin appear to tie it at 11:23, but the goal was waived off as a player was in the crease. Franklin went on the power play and John Bronder came up with a big save on Joel Sirianni, who danced around the Plum defense at 10:13 as the Mustangs clung to a 4-3 advantage. Freshman David Smith would seal the victory for the Mustangs with an empty netter 40 seconds remaining for a 5-3 Plum victory and a 3rd consecutive date in the semi-finals of the St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off. Bronder finished a very strong performance between the pipes stopping 25 of 28 shots including several chances in the final period. North Hills 4 Hampton 2 North Hills had a very good end to the 2005 season with a strong finish to the campaign and a near upset in the first round of the playoffs against Penn Trafford. Matt Hansen takes over a squad which could be a surprise team in Class AAA and returns some quality starters including Nick Rostek, Fred Latini and Dave Hansell. Hampton had a miserable season in 2004-2005 and coach John Jennings hopes that a new season brings better results and the Talbots can bring their program back to playoff prominence. North Hills opened up the 2005 Fall FaceOff with a 4-2 win over the Talbots bursting to a 4-0 lead after two periods. Fred Latini, Dan Stein, and Nick Rostek with a pair led the way as the Indians advanced to the Semi-Finals. Former Central Catholic defenseman Rick Coyle and John Balish. Fox Chapel 6 Shaler 0 Fox Chapel returns a strong corps of players from a playoff team for Jim Damp in 2005-2006 including Kyle Misour, Joe Budz and Justin Kreps along with goaltender Eric Thiessen. The Foxes should be in a battle with several teams jockeying for playoff position in the season’s 2nd half. Shaler, on the other hand is coming off a year of growing pains and will battle just to be able to compete at the AAA level. First year coach Steve Esau will rely on the goaltending of senior Nick Bennardo and young core of players and junior Grant Duss, who returns to Shaler after a year off. Fox Chapel defeated rival Shaler in 04-05 three times and picked up right where they left off spanking the Titans 6-0. Kyle Misour racked up four goals and Alec Chang and Steven Bartinski added single. Eric Thiessen stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Foxes moved on to the Semi-Finals to face North Hills. North Allegheny 2 Pine Richland 1 Pine Richland finish a great season in 04-05 falling in the Penguins Cup AA final to eventual State Champions Peters Twp. Coach Jim Black has modest expectations this season as the Rams return the majority of their nucleus from a year ago including leaders Josh Fodor, Steven Adams, Phil Trombetta and Brendan Conlon, but one loss that will hurt their effort will be Tom DiDinato, who opted not to play High School Hockey . PR will be one of the favorites by many not only to return to the Penguins, but to go where no Ram squad has been, to dare I say the State Finals. North Allegheny coach Tom Pandolfo accomplished just about everything last season as NA won everything in site including a date with Bethel Park in the Panguins Cup AAA finals for the first time ever. One goal is all the Tigers surrendered in the entire playoffs to Bethel in the final and an unreal goaltending performance by the Hawks Bryce Merriam and unseized opportunities led to a Pennsylvania playoff first and the Hawks moved on and won the Class AAA State Championship and NA was left to wonder what happened. The Tigers return with a little less firepower, but now understand the process of what it takes to get there and with Wes Waldschmidt, Paul Dittrich, Alan Halapin and a young but talented supporting cast, coach Pandolfo will try to orchestrate another run and begin to defend their St Margaret’s title from the past two years. The first period was scoreless and it was NA picking up where it left off and outshooting Pine Richland 10-2 in a scoreless first period. PR keeper Stoney Hildreth stopped them all for the Rams. The game remained scoreless through the 2nd period as NA held a 14-5 shot advantage into a power play. PR struck in the period’s final 13 seconds as Evan Goetz found a loose rebound after Jordan Yoklic was stopped by Tiger goaltender Max Richards from point blank range. North Allegheny tied the game early in the 3rd period on the power play at 13:45 as Matt Lancaster chipped a Paul Dittrich pass up under the crossbar to tie the score at 1-1. The game picked up pace in the third period as PR closed the gap in shots and in territorial play. With 4:49 remaining in regulation, Chris Gilson got behind the PR defense but lost his balance and a chance to take the lead. The Tigers cane right back and wouldn’t let the Rams out of the zone as Ian McGlumphy score with just 4:20 left to give NA a 2-1 lead. Richard made a point blank save on Josh Fodor with 1:13 remaining and followed that up with several more as Pine Richland pressed to tie the score. The Rams closed the gap in shots to 19-18 but NA would hold on to capture a 2-1 victory.

Each year Pa Hockey polls the coaches prior to the season to pick the pre-season Elite 8. The votes are ALL IN and the coaches have made their selections and here are the Pre-Season Rankings as chosen by the braintrust of Western Pa Hockey + the Elite 8 in Class AAA, AA and A are previewed by selecting the Tabs on the spreadsheet attached with insight on ALL of the Elite 8 teams......we hope you enjoy it and wish luck to all of the teams this season.....Only on Pa Hockey ! PENGUINS CUP ELITE "8" COACHES POLL 2005-2006 "AAA" DIVISION 1 - MT LEBANON 2 - BETHEL PARK 3 - MEADVILLE 4 - NORTH ALLEGHENY 5 - UPPER ST. CLAIR 6 - MCDOWELL 7 - FOX CHAPEL 8 - PENN-TRAFFORD Also Receiving Votes: CENTRAL CATHOLIC - BALDWIN - CATHEDRAL PREP PENGUINS CUP ELITE "8" COACHES POLL 2005-2006 "AA" DIVISION 1 - PINE-RICHLAND 2 - PETERS TOWNSHIP 3 - WEST ALLEGHENY 4 - GREENSBURG C C 5 - CANON MCMILLAN 6 - INDIANA 7 - KITTANNING 8 - THOMAS JEFFERSON Also Receiving Votes: MONTOUR - CHARTIERS VALLEY - MOON PENGUIN CUP ELITE "8" COACHES POLL 2005-2006 "A" DIVISION 1 - BISHOP MCCORT 2 - QUAKER VALLEY 3 - SERRA CATHOLIC 4 - SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 5 - MARS 6 - RICHLAND-CAMBRIA 7 - WESTMONT-HILLTOP 8 - QUIGLEY Also Receiving Votes: FOREST HILLS - FREEPORT

Ocotber 27-30, 2005 Belmont Ice Complex Kittanning Steve Bryan Memorial - Tournament Results Championship - Conestoga 2 Downingtown West 1 [OT] Preliminary Round Baldwin 5 Butler 2 Kittanning 7 Latrobe 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Colin McKelvey scores the hat trick to lead the Wildcats to a win in the opener Serra 7 Baldwin 4 Downingtown West 10 Butler 2 Conestoga 4 Kittanning 1 Latrobe 1 McDowell 1 Baldwin 5 Downingtown West 3 Serra 8 Butler 1 Conestoga 5 Latrobe 2 Kittanning 4 McDowell 3 Downingtown West 5 Serra 3 McDowell 7 Conestoga 3 ****PLEASE CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE WRAP-UP IN GAME SUMMARIES of the 2005 Kittanning Invitational by clicking on the Conestoga Pioneers or the Kittanning Wildcats Logo****

October 3-9, 2005 Airport Ice Arena Preliminary Results Monday October 3 Moon 6 Serra 2 Fox Chapel 3 Quaker Valley 3 Montour 7 Ambridge 2 Tuesday October 4 Serra 3 Fox Chapel 1 Quaker Valley 4 Montour 1 Thursday October 6 Serra 10 Ambridge 1 Fox Chapel 2 Montour 1 Quaker Valley 6 Moon 3 HIGHLIGHTS: QV advances to Championship Friday October 7 Moon 7 Ambridge 0 Sunday October 9 - Championship - Quaker Valley 3 Moon 2 OT HIGHLIGHTS: George Jacksin game winning goal scored with 12 seconds remaining in the five minute overtime period on an assist from Breton McNamara. The game was tied at 0-0 after two periods. The Quakers got on the board first in the 3rd at 8:49 Mikael Lemieux scored on assists from Shawn Ritchey & Greg Dyer. Moon tied the score at 7:05 as Alex Hilliker tallied with assists from Jon Davis & Mike Clark. QV forged ahead again with 3:22 remaining as Mikael Lemieux scored on assists from Breton McNamara & Greg Dyer. The Tigers tied the game with just 1:11 as Mike Clark scpred on an assist from Cedric Brazeau. The game was tied a the end of regulation. This setup the OT heroics as QV's George Jackson's goals helped his team capture the 2005 Moon Invitational Championship. Both goaltender QV's Zac Zinger and Moon's Chris DiLorenzo has outstsnding performances. THANK YOU TO THE MOON HOCKEY CLUB FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THIS REPORT !