Butler Toronadoes

MONROEVILLE - December 14 2000 was a trip to the Golden Mile Ice Center, which many of the Bethel Park Blackhawks will never forget and most of this years squad never saw.....a rare 3-2 loss on a final minute [:43] Matt Kopaczynski slapshot over Andrew Torchia's shoulder to give the Gators the victory. Many of the current Gator seniors remember it well because it has been a drought ever since. The Blachawks have gone onto three state Pennsylvania State Championships and Gateway stuck in struggling to get out of the second round of the playoffs. So here we are in Janaury 2003 and Gateway has its veteran team of seniors, who now have a thorn in their side....Bethel Park, who sent the Gators packing in last year playoffs........would this be motivation for the Gators or more frustration. A majority of the three State Championship teams players jerseys are now filled with a new group of Hawks and would they be intimidated by Gateway's high powered offense ? The first period was good physical hockey from the outset with both teams throwing their weight around. The young Bethel team was the aggressor, but show tremendous poise and patience working the out of their own zone and puck into the Gateway zone, while the veteran Gators were furiousley trying to rush the BP net to get shots at Matt Feige. The Hawks broke through at 3:10 as Grady Clingan gathered a loose puck from behind the net and stuffed a wraparound past David Himes to make it 1-0. Feige made two key stops on Matt Kopaczynski and Chris Gyke to preserve the 1-0 advantage for BP. Although the second period was scoreless, Feige and Himes made several good stops duruing power play opportunities by both clubs. BP Coach Jim McVay attempted to spring his forwards behind the Gator defense late in the second and early in the third. That strategy paid off as Clingan found some open ice at 11:40 of the third and wristed a shot past Himes on the stick side for a huge goal and a 2-0 Bethel Park lead. Gateway turned up the heat on offense and the Hawks met the challenge as Feige stopped Flora at 9:53 and Kopaczynski at 8:31. Dan Zabkar got into the act blocking several Gateway passes and shots in the 3rd to keep the Gators off the board. Clingan added an empty netter to complete the hat trick and give Bethel Park a 3-0 victory. As a symbol of his teams practice, McVay scooped the puck off the Golden Mile ice an pocketed it for another team victory for the Hawks.