Mt Lebanon Blue Devils - 1976 & 2006 AAA

3/24/04 ~ Mt Lebanon grabs lead & holds on to advance to PC PITTSBURGH – Upper St Clair coach Kip Guenther pulled a major media heist in the second round of the Penguins Cup playoffs against Fox Chapel, which was probably learned from his days as an assistant for Jim McVay at Bethel Park, who is the master at impersonating Joe Paterno. Guenther had everyone including Fox Chapel convinced that his team was prepared to play a run and gun game similar to the 6-5 overtime win over Plum in the 1st round of the playoffs. What Upper St. Clair did was to tighten their defensive system, shadow Matt Quigley in an attempt to shut down the Foxes top line, and have the hot line of Davy Crockett, Mike Penkrot and freshman Andrew Blazek continue to fill the net as they did for five of six goals against Plum and for six of the eight goals against Fox Chapel. This change in philosophy has produced wonderful results and would be severely tested against a Mt Lebanon team which pummeled the Panthers 8-2 less than a month ago. USC Would have to do this without Kris McDonough, one of the top defenseman in Western Pa, who has decided to pursue a promising baseball career, and whose services will be lost at Upper St Clair. Mt Lebanon has been the top rated team all year in Class AAA and when the Blue Devils defeated Central Catholic 7-2 and Meadville 2-1 in an exhibition in February, it established them as the favorites for the 2004 Class AAA Penguins Cup. Lebo coach Paul Taibi has been very diligent about keeping his team focused on the task at hand, but in their second round playoff game against Bethel Park, something changed. Mt Lebanon beat the Blackhawks after getting a break in a game in which they dominated, but remained in the balance until the 3rd period when a shot by Bethel’s Michael Diethorn, that is still being debated as to whether it went in OR hit the post. Needless to say the Blue Devils talent and very discipline overcame the Hawks 3-0, but the # 1 seed in the playoffs played more like scared rabbits than the dominant team they have been all season. Mt Lebanon came out in the first period and dominated USC outshooting the Panthers 10-4. One mistake by the Panther defense proved costly as Brian Colligan intercepted a errant clearing attempt and deposited behind Kevin Gorder for a 1-0 lead at 13:33. The game remained a one goal game until 12:33 of the second period when Tony Valerino made a great pass to set up Michael Jordan, who beat Gorder through the 5-hole to make it 2-0. Mt Lebanon became a little overzealous with their lead and USC’s John Markwell had a wide open net to shoot at 12:13, but Matt Vaughn made a spectacular diving save to keep USC off the board. USC went on the power play at 6:21 of the second and red hot Davy Crockett buried a wrist shot on a great back door pass from Mike Penkrot at 5:43 to cut the lead to 2-1. Penkrot had an excellent chance to tie the game, but Vaughn made a better save at 4:12. Mt Lebanon clamped down in the 3rd period and played smart hockey and great defensively, particularly defenseman Jeff Simons and the Blue Devils forwards, who provided great backchecking to limit USC to 5 shots in the 3rd and 15 on the night. Mt Lebanon would hold on for a 2-1 victory setting up a big showdown with Meadville on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.

3/23/04~NEXT Peters Twp has coming out party over Kittanning PITTSBURGH – The Kittanning hockey program was established in 1972 out of the Belmont Ice Complex and is one of Western Pennsylvania’s most storied schools. Originally, the Armstrong Arrows and know known as the Kittanning Wildcats, there have been many fine teams resulting in 476 wins 213 losses and 35 ties heading into the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs including a stretch from 1996-97, where the ‘Boys from Belmont’ have been to the playoffs 7 out of the past eight seasons. Head coach Jeff Smouse and former head and now assistant Al Stipp, have had a big hand in developing these teams into contenders for the Penguins Cup, with the goal of bringing the State Championship to Kittanning. In the early 1990’s, Armstrong Central had two great opportunities bowing to Council Rock in Philadelphia 5-4 in the 1991 Pennsylvania Cup AAA Final after defeating Meadville and again in 1992 losing to Meadville in the Penguins Cup final 8-5. The nemesis these days for the Kittanning hockey program is Peters Twp. The Indians defeated Kittanning in last years Penguins Cup 6-3 on their way to a second consecutive Pennsylvania State Championship. In addition, it was Peters Twp, who in 1998 knocked off # 1 seed Kittanning 5-1 at Southpointe ending a 22-1-0 season for the Wildcats. Peters Township has built a power in hockey and after capturing the Pennsylvania State AA title in 2003 with a stomping of Flyers Cup Champion Holy Ghost Prep 9-3 at IceLine to follow up a 10-3 pounding of Archbishop Carroll in 2002, many observers of Interscholastic Hockey felt that the Indians run of State Championships would come to a hault in 2004. Head coach Mark Cooper has quietly reloaded the lineup with some up and coming players to mesh in with the veterans like Chris Clackson, Si Bishop, and Dan Crogan and are thinking but not talking about a three-peat. The one thing we all need to remember is that Peters Twp is the State Champion until they are defeated. The game was very even in the opening minutes as Kittanning was looking to pressure freshman goaltender Rob Madore, but the young Indian goaltender looked like a crafty veteran early on with several nice saves. Dan Crogan’s shot from the left point trickled past Adam Toy at 7:47 and Gerry Raymond was there to poke it home for a 1-0 PT lead. Momentum in a hockey game is critical at this juncture of the season and Kittanning went on the power play after a great shift by John Ford, Lee Heilman and Tyler Ochs forced Peters to take a penalty. What would happen next would ultimately break Kittanning’s back and send the Indians on their way. Chris Clackson made an terrific poke check on the penalty killing forced the Kittanning defenseman to cough up the puck and Si Bishop read the play beautifully and took the puck and beat Adam Toy on the backhand at 5:37, killing the Wildcat momentum and giving PT a 2-0 lead. Clackson showed why he is one of the most feared plays in Western Pa as he overpowered the Kittanning defense and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Toy at 3:30 for a 3-0 lead. With 1:10 remaining Dustin Roux threaded a great lead pass to Bryan Papciak, who scored on the breakaway and Peters was off and running 4-0 after the first period. The second period was a penalty filled slugfest as Kittanning became frustrated and Peters continued to play with the edge that has been an integral part of two State Championships. Gerry Raymond scored his second goal at 9:42 and Chris Clackson converted another shorthanded tally with :52 seconds remaining on a great pass from Dustin Roux. Raymond [7:23] and Clackson [6:39] both completed the hat tricks to turn this one into a rout 8-0. Kittanning’s Wade Bowser broke Rob Madore’s shutout bid with 3:50 left tipping a Michael Mecurio shot on the Wildcats 37th shot. Madore was outstanding and looks to be a key in another State Title run as Peters Twp will attempt to win their 3rd straight Penguins Cup on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.

3/23/04~Indiana shocks TJ with little O & Heavy D 3-2 in OT PITTSBURGH ~ Indiana coach Dom Glavech is the guy who shows up at a game on a cold Jaunary night at the Ice Connection or at Bethel Park or at Rostraver, when I am there for a 9:30 game to watch Class AA action to get a feel for what is going to take place in the playoffs. I think coach Glavech likes the company, but what he is really doing is his homework and scouting the competition. Indiana has a veteran club in 2004 and reached the Penguins Cup in 2002 only to be edged by Peters Twp 3-2 in a game where the Little Indians could have pulled off the upset and moved on to the State Finals but didn’t seize the opportunity. A lot of the players on that team are now seniors including Zach Diamond, Mike Nesper, Michael Hart making up the core of the 2004 squad. Thomas Jefferson has had an outstanding season going 19-0-1 and ripping Greensburg CC in the opening game of the 2004 playoffs. Head coach Don Powell is hoping to get the Jaguars back into the Penguins Cup for the first time since 2000, which was the third of three straight Pennsylvania Cup State Championships for TJ. The Jaguars has a strong well balanced attack and great goaltending of Danny Hartman, who is one of the top netminders in State of Pennsylvania in my opinion. TJ welcomed the return of top defenseman Grant Heinauer, who has been out for most of the season with a injury and would be a key of any championship runs for the Jags. Indiana was the aggressor in the 1st period outshooting TJ 13-9, but the Jaguars opened the scoring on the power play as Brandon School slapped a Luke Wawrzeniak rebound out of the air at 10:24 for a 1-0 lead. Indiana would answer as Zach Diamond belted home a Michael Nesper rebound at 7:44 and the game was tied at one apiece. Great players make things happen when they are called upon and at 2:34 of the first period Michael Nesper showed why he is one of those players as he used his speed to the outside after taking an excellent Joe Lenz outlet pass and beat Danny Hartman with an overpowering backhand in full stride high over the glove side to give the Little Indians a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Thomas Jefferson showed why they went undefeated this season by pouring the pressure on Indiana. Indians goalie Mike Mentch, who has been up and down all season, was just spectacular stopping several Jaguar opportunities and keeping Indiana in the lead. Brandon School would not be denied as the speedy TJ forward walked to the middle of the ice and buried an over powering wrist shot over the glove side of Mentch to tie the game 2-2 at 6:25. The teams battled into the third period as Danny Hartman and Mike Mentch turned this playoff game into a playoff dual. Both teams had several opportunities but the best came with 1:55, when Brandon School looked to complete the hat trick but Mentch stoned him and the game went to overtime. End to end they went in the overtime and this one was looking more like TJ’s game with Kittanning in the 2003 semi-finals with near misses and great goaltending. Luke Wawrzeniak and Brandon School had a golden opportunity with a little over six minutes left in the opening overtime period as Wawrzeniak threaded a perfect feed to School, who shot it just outside the post. Michael Hart would make the key play in this hockey game as the big Indiana defenseman lugged the puck through center ice and into the Jaguar zone. The puck was poked into the corner and Danny Hartman tried to get there first, but Hart used his long reach to center the puck to a wide open Zach Damico, who put a little ‘Heavy D’ behind a wrist shot an buried it into the empty net and sending the Indiana faithful into a frenzy giving Indiana a heartstopping 3-2 victory over # 1 seed Thomas Jefferson and a date with Peters Twp in the 2004 Penguins Cup.

3/23/04~NEXT Peters Twp has coming out party over Kittanning PITTSBURGH – The Kittanning hockey program was established in 1972 out of the Belmont Ice Complex and is one of Western Pennsylvania’s most storied schools. Originally, the Armstrong Arrows and know known as the Kittanning Wildcats, there have been many fine teams resulting in 476 wins 213 losses and 35 ties heading into the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs including a stretch from 1996-97, where the ‘Boys from Belmont’ have been to the playoffs 7 out of the past eight seasons. Head coach Jeff Smouse and former head and now assistant Al Stipp, have had a big hand in developing these teams into contenders for the Penguins Cup, with the goal of bringing the State Championship to Kittanning. In the early 1990’s, Armstrong Central had two great opportunities bowing to Council Rock in Philadelphia 5-4 in the 1991 Pennsylvania Cup AAA Final after defeating Meadville and again in 1992 losing to Meadville in the Penguins Cup final 8-5. The nemesis these days for the Kittanning hockey program is Peters Twp. The Indians defeated Kittanning in last years Penguins Cup 6-3 on their way to a second consecutive Pennsylvania State Championship. In addition, it was Peters Twp, who in 1998 knocked off # 1 seed Kittanning 5-1 at Southpointe ending a 22-1-0 season for the Wildcats. Peters Township has built a power in hockey and after capturing the Pennsylvania State AA title in 2003 with a stomping of Flyers Cup Champion Holy Ghost Prep 9-3 at IceLine to follow up a 10-3 pounding of Archbishop Carroll in 2002, many observers of Interscholastic Hockey felt that the Indians run of State Championships would come to a hault in 2004. Head coach Mark Cooper has quietly reloaded the lineup with some up and coming players to mesh in with the veterans like Chris Clackson, Si Bishop, and Dan Crogan and are thinking but not talking about a three-peat. The one thing we all need to remember is that Peters Twp is the State Champion until they are defeated. The game was very even in the opening minutes as Kittanning was looking to pressure freshman goaltender Rob Madore, but the young Indian goaltender looked like a crafty veteran early on with several nice saves. Dan Crogan’s shot from the left point trickled past Adam Toy at 7:47 and Gerry Raymond was there to poke it home for a 1-0 PT lead. Momentum in a hockey game is critical at this juncture of the season and Kittanning went on the power play after a great shift by John Ford, Lee Heilman and Tyler Ochs forced Peters to take a penalty. What would happen next would ultimately break Kittanning’s back and send the Indians on their way. Chris Clackson made an terrific poke check on the penalty killing forced the Kittanning defenseman to cough up the puck and Si Bishop read the play beautifully and took the puck and beat Adam Toy on the backhand at 5:37, killing the Wildcat momentum and giving PT a 2-0 lead. Clackson showed why he is one of the most feared plays in Western Pa as he overpowered the Kittanning defense and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Toy at 3:30 for a 3-0 lead. With 1:10 remaining Dustin Roux threaded a great lead pass to Bryan Papciak, who scored on the breakaway and Peters was off and running 4-0 after the first period. The second period was a penalty filled slugfest as Kittanning became frustrated and Peters continued to play with the edge that has been an integral part of two State Championships. Gerry Raymond scored his second goal at 9:42 and Chris Clackson converted another shorthanded tally with :52 seconds remaining on a great pass from Dustin Roux. Raymond [7:23] and Clackson [6:39] both completed the hat tricks to turn this one into a rout 8-0. Kittanning’s Wade Bowser broke Rob Madore’s shutout bid with 3:50 left tipping a Michael Mecurio shot on the Wildcats 37th shot. Madore was outstanding and looks to be a key in another State Title run as Peters Twp will attempt to win their 3rd straight Penguins Cup on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.

3/23/04~Indiana shocks TJ with little O & Heavy D 3-2 in OT PITTSBURGH ~ Indiana coach Dom Glavech is the guy who shows up at a game on a cold Jaunary night at the Ice Connection or at Bethel Park or at Rostraver, when I am there for a 9:30 game to watch Class AA action to get a feel for what is going to take place in the playoffs. I think coach Glavech likes the company, but what he is really doing is his homework and scouting the competition. Indiana has a veteran club in 2004 and reached the Penguins Cup in 2002 only to be edged by Peters Twp 3-2 in a game where the Little Indians could have pulled off the upset and moved on to the State Finals but didn’t seize the opportunity. A lot of the players on that team are now seniors including Zach Diamond, Mike Nesper, Michael Hart making up the core of the 2004 squad. Thomas Jefferson has had an outstanding season going 19-0-1 and ripping Greensburg CC in the opening game of the 2004 playoffs. Head coach Don Powell is hoping to get the Jaguars back into the Penguins Cup for the first time since 2000, which was the third of three straight Pennsylvania Cup State Championships for TJ. The Jaguars has a strong well balanced attack and great goaltending of Danny Hartman, who is one of the top netminders in State of Pennsylvania in my opinion. TJ welcomed the return of top defenseman Grant Heinauer, who has been out for most of the season with a injury and would be a key of any championship runs for the Jags. Indiana was the aggressor in the 1st period outshooting TJ 13-9, but the Jaguars opened the scoring on the power play as Brandon School slapped a Luke Wawrzeniak rebound out of the air at 10:24 for a 1-0 lead. Indiana would answer as Zach Diamond belted home a Michael Nesper rebound at 7:44 and the game was tied at one apiece. Great players make things happen when they are called upon and at 2:34 of the first period Michael Nesper showed why he is one of those players as he used his speed to the outside after taking an excellent Joe Lenz outlet pass and beat Danny Hartman with an overpowering backhand in full stride high over the glove side to give the Little Indians a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Thomas Jefferson showed why they went undefeated this season by pouring the pressure on Indiana. Indians goalie Mike Mentch, who has been up and down all season, was just spectacular stopping several Jaguar opportunities and keeping Indiana in the lead. Brandon School would not be denied as the speedy TJ forward walked to the middle of the ice and buried an over powering wrist shot over the glove side of Mentch to tie the game 2-2 at 6:25. The teams battled into the third period as Danny Hartman and Mike Mentch turned this playoff game into a playoff dual. Both teams had several opportunities but the best came with 1:55, when Brandon School looked to complete the hat trick but Mentch stoned him and the game went to overtime. End to end they went in the overtime and this one was looking more like TJ’s game with Kittanning in the 2003 semi-finals with near misses and great goaltending. Luke Wawrzeniak and Brandon School had a golden opportunity with a little over six minutes left in the opening overtime period as Wawrzeniak threaded a perfect feed to School, who shot it just outside the post. Michael Hart would make the key play in this hockey game as the big Indiana defenseman lugged the puck through center ice and into the Jaguar zone. The puck was poked into the corner and Danny Hartman tried to get there first, but Hart used his long reach to center the puck to a wide open Zach Damico, who put a little ‘Heavy D’ behind a wrist shot an buried it into the empty net and sending the Indiana faithful into a frenzy giving Indiana a heartstopping 3-2 victory over # 1 seed Thomas Jefferson and a date with Peters Twp in the 2004 Penguins Cup.