Butler Toronadoes

2005 Penguins Cup AAA Semi-Finals HARMARVILLE - For North Allegheny this game this evening is icing on the cake. Oh sure they have aspirations of moving on to the Penguins Cup and possibly a State Championship game. The real wish of many NA followers is to be a part of the process, like Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon have been at the Class AAA level over the past 5-10 years and that opportunity can be attributed to one man who has made the difference in what I’ll call ‘the new NA approach’. Tom Pandolfo can say in 2004-2005 that his opponents ‘have to play NA hockey! North Allegheny has never gone past this game in the modern Penguins Cup format, which went into play in 1984 and results in the Eastern Flyers Cup champion vs the Western representative Penguins Cup champion. Like a messiah of Tiger Hockey, the first coach in 1973, Bill May has been a staple at the recent games and if he might have one thing to say to Tom Pandolfo, it would be take nothing for granted as coach May came the closest in 1977 to going all the way only to fall short. The Flyers Cup winner of Germantown Academy – Malvern Prep will not be uttered and the team must be focused as the pressure and games will get tougher each step of the way. The process is now at the half way point and redemption is on the plate in the form of Upper St Clair, the only team to beat NA all regular season and playoffs. Upper St Clair is the wild card of the playoffs and after stomping convincingly Franklin Regional 8-1 and a gut wrenching hard fought 3-2 overtime victory over a very good Plum team, the Panthers enter tonight’s Penguins Cup semi-final for the 2nd consecutive year knowing they can and have beaten North Allegheny, but also know that November 1st was a long time ago. The storied hockey history of Upper St Clair first won the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship in 1980 as a young coach by the name of Lenny Semplice lead the Panthers on a magical ride through the playoffs and defeated Erie McDowell 4-3 at the old Erie County Fieldhouse, which started a string of success which culminated in the 1987 undefeated championship team coached by Dave Hornack, which capped it off with a 4-3 win over Malvern Prep on a goal by Chris Whittmore and has been on the skids like Mr Haney’s truck breaks ever since. John Harford knows the formula and it will take all 18 of USC’s talented players to be in attendance and match NA shift for shift and maybe an extraordinary effort by Kevin Gorder to derailed any Tiger plans for Hershey’s kisses. As the teams were introduced, it was noticeable that Andrew Blazek, who scored the overtime time winner against Plum was not here and someone forgot to tell the USC fans that their team was in the Penguins Cup semi-finals as an intimate gathering was in attendance compared to half of Wexford in attendance for NA. At 12:52 of the opening period Paul Dittrich shot the puck which headed wide and bounced off Brendan Surma and behind Kevin Gorder for a 1-0 Tiger lead. USC had some pressure around the ten minute mark and Brian Gorder’s shot ended in the mid-section of Jeff Kristan. The Panthers went on the power play moments later and the Tigers killed it. An errant clearing attempt at 6:43, found its way on the stick of Matt Pekins and Kevin Gorder came up big for the Panthers. At 5:30, St Clair’s Mike Penkrot got loose but shot wide. The usually let them play crew of Dave Donatelli and Chet Steen called their 2nd penalty of the first on North Allegheny with at 4:39. At 3:04 the Panthers nearly scored but Jeff Kristan kept them out. An errant clearing attempt by Kevin Gorder and Mat Pekins picked it off but couldn’t beat Gorder, who recovered nicely to make the save right before the power play ended. The hitting picked up at this point of the first as now the whistle went in the pocket and the Tigers held a slim 1-0 lead after one. On to the second and the teams continued a going back and forth and at 9:36 the line of Waldschmidt, Waldschmidt and Pekins delivered as Wes Waldschmidt beat Kevin Gorder through the 5-hole to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Right after the goal, USC had their best pressure as NA could not get the puck out of the zone, but Kristan gloved a hot and held on to calm his team and get a line change. Penalty # 3 against North Allegheny behind the play was called at 7:22 of the middle period as the table was tilted on the power plays. An injury to St Clair captain Anthony Sirabella sopped play at 6:34. Another North Allegheny penalty behind the play # 4 on the Tigers to none against St Clair with 2:06 remaining in the 2nd. With 1:21 left Jono Lohman had a great chance but Jeff Kristan stopped him. And with 14 seconds left in the 2nd the first penalty for USC came for holding to even up the power play. The Tigers headed to the locker room with a 2-0 lead in search of their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup final. 15 minutes remaining in regulation. John Markwell had a near shorthanded breakaway in the opening minute, but a brilliant defensive play by Paul Dittrich nullified the chance diving to clear the puck out of danger to keep the 2-0 lead. Uncharacteristically, North Allegheny only had 10 shots in the game wound under 10 minutes to USC’s 16, but the scoreboard remained 2-0, a testimony to NA’s ferocious commitment to defense and backchecking …hence winning hockey. The Tigers had several chances for the third goal including at 8:23 as Kevin Gorder robbed Garrett Waldschmidt from point blank range. Coach John Harford called a timeout with 6:03 left in regulation and enough time for PG writer Marky Bilson to head to hospitality room and abscond with the remainder of the cookies, in which Earl Bugaile and Bob ‘Homer Bedlow’ Sebastian were looking forward to for the post game. And with 4:38 left, North Allegheny looked like a team heading to Mellon Arena, as Derek Rusbarsky, who has been out since the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase in December, shot the puck and Brandon Lied pounced on the rebound to make it 3-0. And step # 3 was now looking pretty good as the Tigers just need to play defense, their specialty giving up only two shot over the last ten minutes to clinch their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup final and that former JV championship banner is now in a safe place as this version of the North Allegheny Tigers is now going to uncharted waters next Wednesday at the Mellon Arena against Bethel Park for the 2005 Penguins Cup.