Butler Toronadoes

2005 Penguins Cup A ~ Mellon Arena Serra Catholic Eagles vs Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers The 2005 Penguins Cup is an annual picnic between Serra Catholic and Bishop McCort as the Eagles and Crimson Crushers take to the big stage at the Mellon Arena. So while the television cameras were rolling and the music playing and jumbotron makes noise, the reality takes us back to mid-February to the Johnstown War Memorial, when the Crimson Crushers defeated Serra 6-3 to spoil an undefeated season and if anything set up an interesting debate of whether McCort can break through the hex that has been the Eagles since 1999. What has to still be in back of the Crimson Crusher’s mind is the 2000 Penguins Cup in favor of Serra 4-1 in Erie or the 2001 Penguins Cup final in favor of Serra 6-3 in Johnstown or the 2002 Penguins Cup in favor of Serra 3-0 at the Melleon Arena or possibly the latest ending of the Crushers season in the 2003 & 2004 Penguins Cup Semi-finals, 4-1 and 5-2, respectively. History has been cruel to a program, which has notched five Pennsylvania Cups Class A championships in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. The last championship was won in Eastern Pennsylvania at the Grundy Ice Complex, when nearly 1200 Crusher faithful traveled from Johnstown in the early morning hours to Bristol with painted faces and milk shakers filled with pennies to cheer their team on to an 8-3 thrashing of Archbishop Ryan. It has been now 6 long years of disappointment for coach John Bradley and the main obstacle has been Serra. If Bishop McCort expects Serra to not be hungry, they have another thing coming as the Eagles have rebounded nicely since dropping two games at the end of the season to McCort and Quaker Valley. Tom Mooney has been around long enough Interscholastic Hockey to know how to motivate his team with two words….Bishop McCort. But lets go back to 1994, when Tom Mooney and his brother John took on the task of rebuilding the program and it all began at the now defunct Golden Mile Ice Rink in Monroeville and having the practice subsequent to it, I can personally tell you that John and Tom were looking for some warm bodies and they took their time and built a powerhouse. A powerhouse that won three straight Pennsylvania State Championships in 2000 over Pennsbury 4-1 at the Civic Arena, 2001 in a memorable comeback victory over Springfield 5-4 at Haverford Skatium and a gut-wrenching comeback 5-4 win over powerful Radnor at the Rostraver Ice Garden. The past two years though have ended in disappointment for the Eagles losing to Westmont Hilltop 4-3 in the Penguins Cup final at Neville Island Sports Center and then a 5-2 loss to two-time Pennsylvania State champion at the same venue. So the Eagles will be hungry which makes two teams in search of State Title. So after all of the ceremonial gingerbread of the puck drops and intros, the battle for Class A supremacy began. Off a faceoff win at 12:32, Marc Domonkos gathered the puck and beat the Serra defense and goaltender Jeffrey Smaracheck with a snapshot on the stick side for a 1-0 Crusher lead. Back came Serra and after several nice stops by Ron Stenger, at 8:59 Aaron Nolte pounced on a rebound and buried it to tie the game at one apiece. Serra found the magic again at 7:43, as Joey Manning picked up a loose puck in the slot and backhanded it past Stenger to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. The Eagles went on the power play at 5:08, with a chance to go up by two, but McCort killed it. Then a break and boy did McCort need one of those against their nemesis Serra with 1:19, as Marc Domonkos threw the puck to the net and it appeared to glance off the skate of Aaron Thomas and bounced past Jeffrey Smaracheck to knot the game at 2-2. On to the 2nd period, and the Crushers went on the man advantage and at 10:50, McCort took the lead on a slapshot low on the ice through the 5-hole of Jeffrey Smaracheck by Cory Mock giving Bishop McCort a 3-2 lead. Serra took a bad penalty in the offensive zone with :10 left in the middle period, given McCort an opportunity on the power play to take a two goal lead and the Eagles were able to kill and they went on the power play at 5:42. which was also unsuccessful and the teams headed to the ice cut with the Crimson Crushers holding a slim 3-2 lead. The hex of Serra Catholic & the mastery over Bishop McCort was at hand. What would be the outcome of the 2005 Penguins Cup? And who would move on to the State Finals this Saturday in Hershey? At 13:15, Serra would go on the power play and a chance to tie, but the Crimson Crushers hung in there and killed it off. Now there have been big plays over the past five years in the McCort-Serra picnic, but at 10:53 McCort gained a man advantage and could take a real big step in the process, but it was Serra who almost tied it at 9:45 as Joey Manning and Aaron Nolte had a two on one to no avail. At 8:01, the great chance came and went as Marc Domonkos was in on the breakaway and Smaracheck stopped him. On the very next faceoff, Chad James took the puck at 7:55 and walked in and beat the Serra goalie for a 4-2 lead and one valuable step closer. With 7:00 to go Serra faced an uphill climb down two and maybe looking a little winded. But a non-call on Serra and very costly retaliation penalty was taken by Bishop McCort with 5:49 left, putting Serra on the power play and a chance to creep back in. Would Serra have the magic to come back? The penalty was killed and then another McCort mistake, with too many men on the ice and Eagle opportunity. Raymond Gillies rung one off the crossbar with 3:16 left. Time was on McCort’s side and Serra’s magic was running out as was their patience and with 2:09 left and an ill advised 5:00 major could be the nail in the Eagle coffin. Coach John Bradley huddled his guys by the bench to tell them to keep their cool in the final two minutes to play another day and possibly should we say it…..Hershey and the 2005 Pennsylvania State High School Hockey Championships. An empty net and six years of frustration lifted when with 1:18 left Aaron Thomas told the boys from Johnstown to load the bus for Hershey and a place where Bishop McCort has never lost in five trips. 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and the 2005 Penguins Cup Champions are the Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers and the McCort fans showered the ice with Hershey’s kisses because how sweet it is for the Crushers a 5-2 victor over Serra and the hex is now broken! A great display of sportsmanship as the Serra players came individually and congratulated the Crusher team and I am sure wished them luck in the Finals on Saturday.