Butler Toronadoes

NEVILLE ISLAND Island Sports Class AA Peters Twp stakes claim to 2nd straight Penguins Cup & awaits Flyers Cup foe ! The buzz in Kittanning has reached an all-time high of late and resulted in wonderful league rep staples Max Pozzuto and Tim Lane going ‘California blond’ like the rest of the Wildcats. The Kittanning hockey program has returned to the glory of the Armstrong Central days on the mid-1990’s where they battled Meadville in two consecutive Penguins Cups, winning one before bowing to Council Rock in the Class AAA Pennsylvania Cup in 1991 5-4. Although head coach Jeff Smouse probably doesn’t remember the Armstrong Arrows of the 70’s and 80’s, there are plenty of long-time supporters of the program to relay the stories of Eric ‘Zip’ Zimmerman, Pat McCue, Brett Frederick and some of the array of talent, which has come and gone through the Belmont……but the one missing piece to that puzzle is that elusive State Championship which has not been a part of the 460+ wins in 32 years for the Kittanning /Armstrong High School program. Its seems there is always a star studded team in their way of that glory as in the 1970’s it was Churchill and the 1980’s North Catholic or Upper St Clair or 1990’s Meadville that has been in the way of that crown. I am sure that Peter Twp Mark Cooper has no idea what this all means as the Peters Twp coach knows that his team has replaced the Thomas Jefferson dynasty as the team to beat in Class AA and the label of top team in Class AA with their overpowering run to the State Championship in 2002 culminating in a 10-3 pounding of Archbishop Carroll last year. The Indians have been even more impressive in this year’s playoff run outscoring their first two opponents 17-2 including an impressive machine like 8-0 beating of Greensburg CC in the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals. There is no question that if Peters can complete the run with a 2nd Class AA Pennsylvania Cup, they will go down as one of the most dominant Class AA teams in history including 1999 Thomas Jefferson, 1997 Erie Cathedral Prep, 1994 Greensburg CC, 1984 Canevin or 1982 Erie Fairview teams , who not only finished the deal as Pennsylvania Cup Class AA champions, but did it with such overwhelming dominance that they will be remembered for a long time after this season is over. If they don’t win the State Title, they will join 1996 Indiana or 1992 Johnstown or the Franklin teams of the mid-1990’s as teams who were great teams but couldn’t get the job done. So Kittanning would be the next team in line for Peters Twp to put behind them on their way to possible glory and oh by the way all of their studs where in the house before another packed house at Island Sports Center. Peters Twp wasted no time pressuring Kittanning’s defense and it didn’t take long for them to get on the board as Pa Hockey Top 25 Matt Schwartz overpowered Adam Toy with a wrist shot to the stick side to give Peters a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the first period. On the very next shift, it was Chris Clackson talking a pass from Mike Papciak and beating the Kittanning defense and Toy on the backhand for a 2-0 lead and the Indians where on a roll at 7:53. Maybe Kittanning was a little nervous, but the ‘Cats settled down and got some chances on Kyle Kittleberger. After Kittleberger robbed Eddie Germy from in front, Luke Heller scored on a rebound over the PT goaltender at 1:34 to cut the lead to 2-1. Kittanning was back in the game but not for long as the talented Chris Clackson made ‘more moves than Mae West’ on the Kittanning defense and Toy and buried his second goal for a huge goal and 3-1 lead for PT at 1:12. On to the second period and Kittanning looked to be lulling Peters into a defensive game early on but the Indians pounded Adam Toy and the Wildcat defense for an unreal 23 shots on goal. Mike Papciak got things started at 11:11 as he showed great patience and found Brandon Rubeo on the doorstep and threaded a beautiful pass to Rubeo, who made no mistake into a wide open net behind Toy and a 4-1 lead. Peters played opportunist as Greg Crogan picked the pocket of Kittanning’s forward kept the puck in the zone and moved it to Brandon Rubeo, who found his linemate Papciak, another Pa Hockey Top 25 selection, who buried a shot past Toy and the Indians were off a running with a 5-1 lead at 9:06. Chris Clackson completed the hat trick at 7:44 on another assist from Papciak and Peters Twp was well in control with a 6-1 lead with over half the game gone. Eddie Germy responded with a goal off some hard work by he and Joel Shriver and cut the Peters lead to 6-2 at 7:26. Peters continued to keep the pressure on Kittanning as they took a commanding 6-2 to the locker room. The play was really chippy in the third period as twelve penalties were dished out as Kittanning tried to fight back in to the game. Zach Cain beat Kittleberger in behind the Peters defense on another excellent play by Joe Shriver, who although he didn’t receive an assist did a great job getting the puck off the far boards and in front of the net at 6:47 to cut the lead to 6-3 in favor of Peters Twp. The Indians closed out the game limiting the Wildcats to five shots in the third period and Peters Township scored an impressive 6-3 Penguins Cup Class AA Championship win over Kittanning and secure a trip to West Chester next week against the winner of Holy Ghost Prep and West Chester Henderson. As legend would have it, the Bantam Hornets contest played after the Class AAA Penguins Cup ended in the middle of the game due to an ugly hit along the boards with a handful of parents in the stands and no scouts in sight…….maybe after all High School Hockey is alive and well and the players can play both !