Seneca Valley Raiders

Central Catholic 1 Mt Lebanon 0 HARMARVILLE - Since Tom Pandolfo took over the Central Catholic program he has adopted a little different philosophy than the Vikings are used to and pretty similar to what we saw at North Allegheny, which brought the Tigers to two consecutive Penguins Cup. By his own admission, coach Pandolfo demands more from his players than one could expect normally, which rubs people the wrong way sometimes, but is necessary if you have goals and aspirations, which many of the Central Catholic folks are interested in. And in that world, some players looking for more personal glory with travel programs may take the highway, which is fine and some have. To live in the world of the Bethel Park’s, Meadville’s and the Paul Taibi era at Mt Lebanon means your program has pride and character to commit to the goal of winning a state championship, which includes going over and above to make it happen. So the recent trip to Chicago to play in the Loyola Thanksgiving Tournament may have been a revelation for the Vikings. While several players chose no to go the ones who did battled to a respectable 2-1 mark against Providence [7-3 loss], Naperville Central [5-3 win] and Loyola Maroon [Non-Prep Varsity]. And coach Pandolfo has come out of this experience knowing what players will give him quality minutes come January, February and playoffs, which looks pretty good so far with a 5-1 mark. Mt Lebanon’s State Championship season had similar undertones a year ago as Lebo 66, which was the nickname of the Blue Devils, when their top line players were off traveling around the globe in Scoutsville, and when it came to rug cutting time, Lebo was able to count on players like Jon Wilen or Scott Millhouse or as it turned out in the Penguins Cup Sean McDermott. Yes, we could assume that a very important cog in the championship aspirations, are those 2nd or 3rd liners who gain valuable leadership experience during the season. The Blue Devils are a work in progress that has vaulted them to a 5-1 start thus far in 06-07. This season has been a little different animal for head coach Paul Taibi and the absence of offense has turned the attention to defense and goaltending. Last weekend’s trip to Cleveland was a prime example of 2-0 win over Gilmour Academy or the 2-1 win over St Ignatius, which is how Mt Lebanon is going to be able to get it done in March. If anyone doesn’t think that can happen just ask Tom Pandolfo, whose North Allegheny team yielded one goal in the 2005 Pennsylvania State Playoffs to Bethel Park and was sent packing after the Penguins Cup. So while character or character’s if you will are on Mt Lebanon’s side, with the absence of the Ralph and Alf road show, the emperor King Tut, leader of the Blue Devils and twisted professor of Egyptology [and DJ on the side] has turned to his Dr Denton [Doctor of Psychiatry and serves as King Tut’s psychoanalyst, though he does tend to fall asleep during sessions, possibly Sunday night Lebo practice sessions]. Dr Denton’s role in this plot is spearheaded by the play of his offspring Robbie Behling, who has been stellar between the pipes for Mt Lebanon this season and had a coming out party against Pandolfo’s former team, the North Allegheny Tigers last Friday night stopping 27 shots in the 2-0 Lebo victory. After a flurry of penalties in the opening period, the game settled into a little bit of flow after two Viking power plays resulted in a 7-1 CC shot advantage thru the first half of the first period. Mt Lebanon finally was able to counter with a few scoring chances but Central goaltender Phil Salerno made several nice saves as the shot gap evened out through the 1st to 9-7 in favor of Central Catholic. The Vikings carried the play in the second period adding six more shots to their total, while the Blue Devils only could counter with two bringing the shot totals to 15-9 in favor of CC. Mt Lebanon worked hard and created some scoring chances, but failed to get off shots and get the shots they had on goal. Dr Denton and King Tut are with this program and we seem to have coach Pandolfo’s and coach Taibi’s attention as well. After Batman’s psuedo nap aided by the expert analysis of the Milk Man Dave Dorsey, we readied ourselves for an action packed third period. Robbie Behling afforded his team an opportunity to steal another game and this story looked to be writing a familiar script for Mt Lebanon at 0-0 as the Blue Devils went on the power play with 14:31 to go in regulation. King Tut’s fiendish play with the aide of Dr Denton drew excitement from the far sideline as the Lebo faithful, many of whom are well aware of Lebo 66 lore had to like how this one was playing out. Mt Lebanon’s struggles at even strength this season have welcomed power plays, but coach Pandolfo’s Vikings had other ideas as Chris Urso’s shorthanded attempt at 13:48 was stopped by Behling and then C.J. Burke was stopped twice by Behling at 13:20. Then it looked like a little Lebo 66 action as the Blue Devils had a 3 on 2 with 11:49 to go but failed to get a quality shot off. Moments later at 11:27, Burke was stopped by Behling again and we were still scoreless. Ah the suspense, almost too much for Batman to handle as the Bat Phone rang and it was Alfred from the Batcave and Aunt Harriett who came on the line……..at 8:18, the Blue Devils would have yet another power play and Robbie Behling would again have to come up big stopping stopping Chris Urso twice shorthanded from point blank range avoiding disaster after doing a double camel on the goal line and falling to the ice. Coach Pandolfo had to be scratching his head and I know coach Taibi was because I same him, but Lebo was still alive and still had a chance to steal this game despite being outshot 27-11 on the evening. Then the character and pride I spoke about from the onset came to life with 2:49 to go as C.J. Burke, on a tremendous individual effort walked out from behind the net and lofted a wrist shot high past the stick side of Behling and into the net on Central’s 26th shot and Burke leap high in the air after it hit the twine giving Central Catholic a thrilling 1-0 victory at the Harmarville Blade Runners before quite a few spectators. These two teams may meet again down the road and it could make for a thriller in the playoffs!