Butler Toronadoes

3/24/04~Dawgs rallies from 3-0 deficit to beat CC 4-3 in OT PITTSBURGH – When I bring my five year old son to the rink on a given night over the five-month haul of the hockey season, the first question out of his mouth is ‘dad where is the Bubble Hockey game’ and the second inquiry is ‘whether or not Billy’s team is playing or are the Meadville Bulldogs playing’. There is no Bubble Hockey in the Mauro household because when we go to the rink, it is a special event and for the Western Pennsylvania hockey community, the Meadville – Central Catholic rivalry has surpassed them all in the mutual respect amongst the coaches and players and the pure dislike between the fans. So the Mellon Arena was the site for the annual meeting between the Bulldogs and Vikings, who have met in the playoffs 7 out of the past 8 seasons. For those who follow the Pa Hockey Game Summaries throughout the season, we all know that there are sometimes special nights where our favorite cartoon characters crawl out from under their rocks and show up and these nights are known as ‘Who’s Who Nights. In the house tonight, although not visable was long time Dawg announcers Gary Clark and Dick Tedesco, Center Ice’s Earl Bugaile, Shadyside’s coaching staff including Lenny Semplice, Bobby Kennedy & Dan Lagiavonne, Hap and Haz [Plunkett’s boy from the Mon], Timmy Bosack [now Central’s # 2 fan behind Zuri], Pete and Phil Shaffalo [former USC stars], Jim ‘Mort’ McVay [with cell phone in hand], Dick Rizzo, Jay Gamze, Dave ‘Bigger Scotty’ Scott, NA coach Tom Pandolfo, NH coach Dave Ciotti, Plum coaches Stu ‘mayor of the Pizza Pub’ Relnick and Jerry ‘Dr Evil’ Bass, ESPN’s Mark Madden, Jamie ‘Mr. ‘Mt Lebanon’ Cummings, Joe ‘Not Mike’ Dykta, Chuck Greenburg, Gina ‘I now know my Mt Lebo history’ Colligan, truly and of course the staple of ‘Who’s Who night’ Mt Lebanon assistant coach Bob Montana…..along with ‘the Nation of Meadvile’, the Central Catholic Nation of students, Alumni, and former players, the ever growing Mt Lebanon contingent and the intimate gathering of Upper St Clair’s 50 finest [which is the ceiling permitted to attend a Panther Hockey game]. If you are all wondering who Billy is …it is Central Catholic Head Coach Kevin Zielmanski’s sidekick, Billy Zuri, who is a staple with the program and if he does not show up with a blazer with a Viking on would be a cause for great concern and I would have not go to anymore Central games. Much like when Jamie Plunkett’s long-time assistant Dick Holabaugh enters the rink…these people are bring something special to the program due to their dedication and belief in each and every player who pulls the jersey over their heads and suits up for a Central Catholic – Meadville game. The rivalry has just intensified each year with exciting games and with Central’s opening victory of the season a 4-2 Viking victory in Meadville adding a little seasoning after last season’s Penguins Cup semi-final 5-1 Bulldog drubbing of Central. The most memorable in my mind, which have molded this rivalry are the 2-1 Meadville overtime victory in 1999 in the Penguins Cup Final and the 5-4 OT win for Central in Meadville in 2002 in the first game of the playoffs. Anyway it stacks up, you just knew this meeting would be eventful. Central came out in the first period on a mission as Matt Urso showed great speed in beating the Meadville defense and Danny O’Sharuk upstairs to the glove side after a nice feed from Eddie Martin at 12:27 to give CC a 1-0 lead. After the Meadville defense got caught pinching, Matt Friday made them pay as he fed Michael McGurk, who made no mistake beating O’Sharuk through the 5-hole at 6:28 to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. Central was outshooting Meadvile 8-2 to this point and the 3rd Meadville shot by Christian Nickerson would be a great opportunity but Russ Hefner made an excellent save preserving the 2-0 CC lead with just 55 ticks left in the 1st. Matt Urso threaded a super lead pass to Eddie Martin on the breakaway, but Danny O’Sharuk came up big at 13:41. The Meadville goaltender would not be so lucky at 11:22 as Coner Hickton found a loose puck and scored on the backhand giving Central Catholic a surprising 3-0 lead with 11:22 left in the middle period. Discipline is often an overuse expression in hockey, but Central Catholic was its own worst enemy because it had all the momentum and had the defending Pennsylvania State Champions in big trouble.. but someone once said and more than once that a 3-0 lead is the toughest to play with in hockey. The Vikings took an ill-advise retaliation penalty at 10:36 of the 2nd period and that gave the ‘sleeping Dawgs’ new life ! Phil Siverd threw the puck to the net on the power play and Christian Nickerson delivered finding the rebound and sweeping it past Russ Hefner for Meadville’s opening goal at 9:44. At 8:04, Pat Leone finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence to cut the lead to 3-2 with Meadville now all over CC even though Central outshot the Bulldogs 11-8 in the 2nd. Meadville was unable to score on the power play at 6:03, but they had all the momentum and Christian Nickerson’s attempted pass to the front of the net banked like a Mario Lemieux pinball shot off the Central defenseman’s skate and behind Russ Hefner and tied the game with 2:39 left making it 3-3. Meadville went on another power play with 48 seconds left and just missed taking their first lead. The third period featured great goaltending by Central’s Hefner and Meadville’s O’Sharuk as both teams registered six shots. Eddie Martin had a chance to help CC regain the lead on a partial breakaway but O’Sharuk was equal to the task at 13:41. The Vikings Matt Capalongo was robbed by O’Sharuk at 4:11 with a mindboggling save. Hefner stopped Phil Siverd on a breakaway with just 3:39 left on the next trip up the ice. The game would go into overtime and Meadville would take advantage of a bad clearing attempt by the Vikings as Luke Killmeyer got the puck at the left point and threw it to the far side of the net where who else but Christian Nickerson was on the back door and re-directed past Russ Hefner sending the Bulldog Nation into a frenzy and the Central faithful to the parking lots for the 2nd straight season. The Bulldogs will move on to meet # 1 Mt Lebanon in the 2004 Penguins Cup AAA final Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.