Seneca Valley Raiders

2006 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Saturday April 8, 2006 - RMU Island Sports Center Class A Quaker Valley Quakers 9 Penncrest Lions 2 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Class AA Pine Richland Rams 3 Haverford High Fords 0 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Class AAA Mt Lebanon Blue Devils 5 Cardinal O'Hara Lions 2 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** The Previews, Analysis and Predictions of the 2006 Pennsylvania State Finals are here and only available here on Pa Hockey !

2006 Penguins Cup A Final – Quaker Valley 6 Serra Catholic 0 PITTSBURGH – Serra Catholic (21-2-1) and Quaker Valley (23-1-0) square off in the 2006 Penguins Cup Class A at Mellon Arena with the right to meet Flyers Cup Class A champions, the winner of the Springfield and defending Pennsylvania Class A champions Penncrest. For the Eagles, the Penguins Cup is old hat as Serra has been to the Penguins Cup finals each of the past six seasons, winning four of those and also going on to capture three consecutive State Championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The great thing for Quaker Valley is that none of those are in recent memory and the Eagles have struggled to get the job done the past three seasons. The teams met twice during the regular season and split as Serra won the first contest at Rostraver 6-2, handing the Quakers their only loss of the season and QV came back in February and captured the # 1 seed with a 6-3 win at the Airport Ice Arena. After Nick Koroly’s 36 save shutout performance against Bishop McCort in the semi-finals, conventional wisdom would have led George Ellis and Serra to start him in the Penguins Cup and the Eagles started Jeffrey Smaracheck instead maybe to give the QV a different look. Quaker Valley could be playing for another reason as former Quaker Adam Kostial, brother of Aaron Kostial, passed away earlier this season, leaving heavy hearts for a close knit family of hockey people rallied to make this a special season for coach Kevin Quinn’s squad. At 7:24 of the opening period, the Quakers struck as Tim Hall showed cat like quickness and got to the puck before the Serra defense and Smaracheck to give QV a 1-0 lead. The Eagles dug a hole putting QV on the power play at 6:12, which was nullified a minute later as QV took a coach’s nightmare offensive zone interference call at 5:10. The line of George Jackson, Mikail Lemieux and Breton McNamara has carried the workload for QV all season and McNamara made a great play to sidestep the Serra and beat the Serra goaltender on the stick side at 2:27 to give the Quakers a 2-0 lead. With 55 seconds remaining in the opening period, Mikail Lemieux set up McNamara on a one timer to give QV a 3-0 lead. The second period started with QV on the power play and an inadvertent whistle almost cost QV their 4th goal, but at 13:48 Shawn Ritchey slid a perfect pass to Furman South who buried a snapshot down on the ice to give the Quakers a 4-0 lead. A great play by the QV leader Furman South at 5:42 to give and chip the puck over to wide open brother freshman Colin South, who scored on his own rebound to give QV a 5-0 lead. Koroly finally entered the game at this point, but maybe too little too late for Serra. The third period started and with a 5-0 lead, Quaker Valley was counting the minutes to advance to their first ever State Championship game on April 8th at RMU Island Sports Center and the Eagles looked like a defeated and frustrated team. And with 5:20 to go the road got a little more defined as Mikail Lemieux added some salt to the wound and he beat Koroly to make the count 6-0. The final shots in the game were 32-16 and impressive 6-0 win for Quaker Valley and a date in the State Championship against defending Penncrest, a 1-0 winner over Springfield in the Flyers Cup.

2006 Penguins Cup A Final – Pine Richland 8 Kittanning 3 PITTSBURGH – Pine Richland (20-1-2) and Kittanning (15-5-4) are old rivals from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League with programs that have both been in existence since 1972. The one thing that both programs can say proudly is that they both have a tradition of winning, but they both have that void in their trophy case in the form of an elusive State Championship. The Kittanning / Armstrong program has been to this stage before at the Penguins Cup defeating Meadville as Armstrong Central in 1991 and then falling to Council Rock in the State Finals. Pine Richland, on the other hand, has been a very successful program in gaining the Penguins Cup finals three times, but losing to Peters Twp a year ago 6-2, to Beaver in 2001 4-1 and in 1997 to Bishop McCort 2-1. For head coaches Jon Yackmack of Kittanning and Jimmy Black of Pine Richland, an opportunity to face two-time 2006 Flyers Cup champions Haverford High, a 4-0 winner over Central Bucks South would be yet another chance for vindication. At hand first is the 2006 Penguins Cup, that Pine Richland figured to have a hand in and Kittanning, who has been a Cinderella story, never even dreamed of this season. The Rams pounded the Wildcats 7-0 in a regular season match-up in December, which was a long time ago and really should have no effect on today’s finale. Kittanning showed emotion from the opening faceoff and really needed to keep their emotions in check as the Wildcats went sent to the box in the opening ten seconds. The result was that PR made them pay with the opening goal as Jordan Yoklic walked off the near boards and beat Joey Mecurio at 14:11 with a wrist shot to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. An apparent tying goal by Kittanning was waived off at 7:18 during a power play as referee Tony Trovato, found some Wildcats in the crease and called for the faceoff outside of the zone. The Rams would get another power play at 6:27 as Kittanning was a little over aggressive along the boards. It cost them again at 5:46, as Josh Fodor unleashed a slapshot that appeared to be deflected by George Saad, who was credited with the goal for a power play goal and a 2-0 PR advantage. Stoney Hildreth made his first big save on the Wildcats Colin McKelvey at 2:32 as the Rams held a 9-5 shot advantage and a 2-0 opening period lead. At 13:56 of the second period, Steven Adams sent a harmless looking srist shot toward the slot and Jordan Yoklic re-directed it past Joey Mecurio to give the Rams a huge goal and a 3-0 lead. Kittanning would get their chance on the power play at 12:38 looking for some way to climb back into the game. The Rams would cash in again at 5:54 on the power play as freshman Dylan Trombetta converted a pass from Joe Christman on the power play and the Rams were well on their way with a 4-0 lead. Kittanning caught Pine Richland napping at 3:37 of the second as Justin Kovatch snuck behind the Rams defense and scored on the breakaway through the 5-hole on the ice after a long lead pass off the boards from Colin McKelvey to make it 4-1. With 2:58 left in the period, Zach Avi intercepted an errant clearing pass and beat Stoney Hildreth high over the glove side to make it a 4-2 game. Pine Richland answered just 14 seconds later as Josh Fodor beat the Kittanning defense on the off wing and made a nifty move and beat Mecurio to extend the lead to 5-2 and gain the Rams a huge swing in momentum after two quick Wildcat goals. Early in the third period at 13:18, Dylan Trombetta took the puck at the side of the net and lofted a wrist shot high over the glove side of Joey Mecurio to regain a four goal advantage for Pine Richland 6-2. With 11:13 remaining in the third, Soney Hildreth made a big save on Justin Kovatch and then the Rams came right back up the ice and Dylan Trombetta capped off the hat trick 10:42 converting a George Saad pass from on the doorstep to give PR a 7-2 lead. Joe Ford gave Kittanning a consolation goal with 4:12 to go to make the game a 7-3 game, but Pine Richland continued the onslaught as George Saad put the icing on the cake with 2:21 with a strong move to the net and a backhand past Mecurio to make it a decisive 8-3 game and an end to the playoff ride for Kittanning. The Rams outshot Kittanning 38-15 and captured their long awaited first ever Penguins Cup and a date with Haverford High in the 2006 Pennsylvania Class AA State finals on April 8th at RMU Island Sports Center.

2006 Penguins Cup AAA Final – Mt Lebanon 3 North Allegheny 1 PITTSBURGH – History is sometimes a cruel reminder of what has transpired over the past 30 + years of the Penguins Cup and for North Allegheny (21-3-0) and Mt Lebanon (24-0-0), it must feel a little awkward to not facing either Bethel Park or Meadville, who are now both out of the playoffs and for the first time since 1988 are not participants in the Penguins Cup final, when Baldwin defeated Shadyside Academy, which is many moons ago and prior to all of the players participating in today’s game being born. In fact, since the Blue Devils and Tigers were directly responsible for ousting each of those long time powerhouses during the Penguins Cup semi-finals last week, both North Allegheny and Mt Lebanon can now chase the void in each of their programs, a AAA State Championship against the 2006 Flyers Cup champions Cardinal O’Hara, a 6-3 winner over Germantown Academy in the 2006 Flyers Cup championship. To be a part of the process is what Paul Taibi’s Blue Devils and Mike Schenk’s Tigers have long awaited an opportunity for and for North Allegheny, a return to the stage where a year ago the Penguins Cup was well within graspe, but slipped out courtesy of a 1-0 Bethel Park victory in one of the better Penguins Cup AAA game in recent memory. For Mt Lebanon, it has been since 1976 when the Blue Devils defeated the aforementioned 2006 Flyers Cup champions Cardinal O’Hara and Haverford High [coincidentally the 2006 AA State Finalist and the 2006 Flyers Cup champs] on their way to their only State Championship exactly 30 years ago defeating Churchill 4-2 at this same Civic Arena. The coach of that 1976 team Mickey McDermott’s has followed the plight of this team and its 24 straight victories to this point and would probably advise current coach Paul Taibi that it will take two more victories that will probably be two of the toughest for the Blue Devils for Mt Lebanon to capture that elusive title. Many of the members of this team, who lost to Malvern Prep in 2004, probably remember the heartache of that game, which is shared by many of the North Allegheny Tigers from a year ago. North Allegheny would get an opportunity on the power play at the ten minute mark And they struck first as Joe Camut backhanded an Ian McGlumphy rebound past Matt Vaughn at 8:21 to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Lebo 66 then showed up in time for the Blue Devils as James Cichra took the puck from his own end and beat the NA defense with speed and slipped a wrist shot just inside the far post to tie the game at one apiece with 5:07 left in the opening period. On to the second period and North Allegheny and Mt Lebanon engaged in a defensive battle as the Blue Devils turned up the heat and Max Richards continued to find the puck. With 5:10 to go in the 2nd, Matt Lancaster got behind the Lebo defense, but Matt Vaughn came up big holding his ground. The Tigers went on the power play with 4:44 remaining and a golden opportunity to swing momentum and take the lead, but this game would remain tied and head to the ice cut. The third period started with a flurry of activity in the NA end and the Tigers continued t0 survive as the shots read 18-6 in favor of the Blue Devils. At 12:42 Shane Ferguson was hauled down and the ever dangerous Blue Devils would go on the power play and with 11:32 remaining the puck lay on the goal line and Paul Dittrich was able to save the day and no goal for the Blue Devils. Josh Mandic walked down the slot with 10:45 remaining and Max Richards made the save and NA killed it off. And then a ghost from Lebo’s past swooped down out of the heavens with 7:32 remaining and got enough stick on the puck to poke it past Max Richards as Sean McDermott scored a huge goal to put Mt Lebanon on top 2-1. With 6:50 to play, the Tigers got a fortunate call putting them on the power play to hopefully build on the meager 6 shots registered through 2 ½ periods. Matt Vaughn stopped Alan Halapin at 6:20 and made it look easy and then Wes Waldschmidt and Matt Lancaster on the rebound moments later. With 5:00 to go in regulation, the Blue Devils went on the power play with a chance to put this one out of reach and some great passing we have become accustomed to with the Blue Devils as Brandon Dornish took a beautiful feed from Shane Ferguson with 4:21 remaining to put Lebo 100 up 3-1 with not much time left for the Tigers. Alan Halapin, who has tasted Penguins Cup disappointment in three consecutive seasons [two with NA and one with Indiana] as he headed to the penalty box as Mt Lebanon was now in control of the 2006 Penguins Cup and on their way to face Cardinal O’Hara in the State Finals at RMU Island Sports Center on April 8th.

2006 Open Division Championship State College 5 Carrick 3 PITTSBURGH – The after thought …………..the Open Division………………and the end of the road. A game that was promised and then told it wasn’t going to happen to the Carrick and State College folks by the Villans. Through lots of phone calls by the members of both organizations, the Open Championship is now a reality. So how did these teams get here? State College left the CPIHL three years ago with promises of the Penguins Cup and after a year in Class A and a memorable year in Class AAA of a zillion miles in travel and two wins, the Little Lions opted for the Open Division. So 50 odd people from State College traveled here for an 8:00 game and another promise that they will get back to University Park before 1:00 AM. The Little Lions program is in a very tough situation on the far Eastern Part of Western Pa or conversely on the far Western Part of Eastern Pa. It is also the biggest school enrollment wise in Western Pa and obviously cannot compete at Class AAA. Putting State College in Class A with no opportunity for a Penguins Cup, the reason they joined the PIHL, is not a solution either. So by deduction, I concluded that State College should play Class AA. Before we finish our thought let’s bring the Carrick COUGARS into the discussion, who had a stint with NO Penguins Cup eligibility in Class A for several years and then took a beating in Class AA needed a place to play so they opted for the Open Division a year ago and had a nice season of rebuilding their program under Chris Chusiano and another one this season. So it came down to State College, Carrick and Kiski for the spot in the Class AAA playdown to play Baldwin and after all three teams went through an entire season with only one loss apiece, Kiski was awarded the Class AAA spot. And Carrick and State College worked their way through the Open Playoffs to meet at Mellon Arena. People………….the Open Division needs to go away and ALL teams need to have an opportunity to play for a Penguins Cup/State Championship and not for an Open Championship. In no other Scholastic sport that I know of does the final game of a season end without a State Championship, except Western Pennsylvania Hockey, the land of billing teams just to have a pseudo league to pay for their mis-administration and purging Varsity hockey. Its great that Carrick and State College get to play at Mellon Arena and thankfully some ‘Concerned Citizens’ of both clubs pleaded with the Penguins to allow them to play for something they earned during this season, but my question is what is the purpose of it? So Mr Freeze and the Joker and their mis-guided administration can give another ‘gut-wrenching’ Save the Penguins speech? Because after tonight, the season is over for the winner and the loser. Even Class A with only 12 schools in Western Pa is sending a representative to play on April 8th at RMU Island Sports Center. Don’t tell that to the throng of faithful Carrick fans who shelled out $ 7 to join the intimate gathering of State College faithful to watch this game. At 10:32 of the opening period, the Carrick faithful rose to their feet as one as Mitchell Faust scored on a Aaron Hahne rebound to give the COUGARS, not Rams a 1-0 lead. State College scored on the power play with 3:07 remaining as Taylor Haney roofed a wrist shot from in tight past the Carrick goaltender to tie the game at 1-1. Just 18 seconds later Brian James scored to give the Little Lions. Matt Abbott of Carrick scored on a great individual effort just 7 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2. At 10:40 of the 2nd period, Daniel Petrick stole the puck from the Carrick defenseman and fired a slapshot through the 5-hole to give the Little Lions a 3-2 lead. The Cougars got the spark they needed with 3:08 left in the second period as Aaron Hahne broke around the State College defense and scored on the the stick side to tie the score at 3-3. With 10:55 remaining in regulation, Kirk Collins buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of the Carrick goaltender to give the Little Lions a 4-3 lead. With 5:46 to play, the COUGARS went on the power play with a chance to tie the game but failed. Down under a minute to go and Carrick earned a power play with a chance to tie with 35 ticks left and pulled the goalie and with 10 seconds left Nick Petrick scored into an empty net to give State College a 5-3 victory and the Open Division Championship.