Butler Toronadoes

INDIANA - Indiana has experienced an up and down season with close losses to top dogs in Class AA Peters Township, Greensburg CC and Kittanning. Coach Dom Glavech knows his team can play with the best teams and has the age old problem of getting his guys to play more consistently as the Indians have been impressive at times with big wins over Pine Richland and Canevin, in fact this evening’s opponent Thomas Jefferson may have been their most impressive of the season back on December 28th in the Scholastic Showcase, when Indiana defeated the Jaguars 4-3. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, is coming off an emotional victory over rival South Park, which was costly to the Jaguars as injured forwards Andrew Olmstead and Brandon School along with Eric Holzer did not make the trip to Indiana. Coach Don Powell team is in a battle for the # 1 seed in Class AA with Peters, Kittanning and Greensburg CC and a victory over Indiana would go a long way to securing that berth. So the two teams with the sharpest looking uniforms in all of Interscholastic Hockey faced off at the Indiana Ice Center before a throng of Indiana faithful. Early on, it was all Indiana as Thomas Jefferson netminder Danny Hartman, a Pa Hockey Top 25 selection, helped the Jaguars weather the storm in the first period with keys stops on Aaron Smith at 12:44, Zach Diamond at 12:03, Bryan Schlemmer at 1:57 and Mike Nesper’s set up of Smith at 9:39…..all were great scoring opportunities and Hartman kept the Indians off the board. Indiana goalie Mike Mentch got into the act at 9:01 as he stopped Luke Wawrzeniak on the breakaway. Then Indiana got a break as Jayson Vaughn’s shot from the side of the net bounced off a TJ defenseman and behind Hartman to give Indiana a 1-0 lead at 6:49. Thomas Jefferson had their chances to tie the game, but Mentch stopped Bill Barrett on the breakaway with 2:44 remaining and then robbed Denny Bucci and Mike Luznar with two sprawling saves with :58 left in the opening period to preserve a 1-0 Indiana lead. On to the second and TJ finally solved Mentch at 11:02 as Luke Wawrzeniak spotted Anthony Pandolfo on the backdoor and Pandolfo buried it to tie the game at 1-1. The game went back and forth with Indiana having several power play opportunities, which were thwarted by excellent penalty killing by the Jaguars, the best chance was Dane Bertanazzi who had Hartman down in front but could not find the handle on the puck and the game went to the third period tied at one apiece. At some point in hockey games, team have key points where they are made or broken and when the Indians went on the power plat with 11:47 left it was a golden opportunity to take the lead and possibly secure a big win. Indiana capitalized as Zach Diamond took a pass cross crease from Bertanazzi and # 19’s shot just trickled past Hartman, who almost was able to stop the shot but Indiana had a huge goal and a 2-1 lead with 11:04 remaining. Now TJ coach Powell has been looking for his troups to exude a little character in tight situations all season. Down 2-1 on the road with some injuries to his top scorers in a hostile environment, the Jaguars were looking for signs of a championship team and maybe we would see a little preview as the dreaded curfew clock [it’s a bad rule folks!] ticked away on TJ. CJ Parkinson made a terrific play at the point as he kept the puck in the zone and threw it to the net and there was Derek Kelly for the rebound and Kelly slammed it home past Mentch with 9:27 remaining to tie the game for TJ at 2-2. TJ’s bid to take the lead by Bill Barrett was stooped on a great backchecking effort by Indiana’s Jayson Boske with 7:49 left……then the Jags went on the power play and could not score ……tick, tick, tick went the dreaded curfew clock and the final period clock were almost even as 1:30 went off the curfew clock during at timeout and there would be no time for overtime. So coach Powell’s Jaguars decided we are gonna settle this one ourselves under a minute to play, an Indiana defensive breakdown and there was CJ Parkinson who calmly picked up the loose puck and buried it over a sprawling Mentch with just four seconds left to give Thomas Jefferson an unbelievable 3-2 victory at Indiana. As poetic justice would relieve this writer and everyone else....there was just 4.4 on the STUPID INSIGNIFICANT CURFEW CLOCK cause this one was decided by the players....great game guys !!!!