Butler Toronadoes

Upper St Clair 9 Butler 2 CASTLE SHANNON – Several years ago, actually in 1996, a process began to re-count the history of hockey in Western Pennsylvania and after compiling several years of archives and the standings of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, South Hills Interscholastic Hockey League, the Lake Shore Hockey League [still incomplete], South Penn Hockey League [mid-1970’s to late 1980’s] and the Ohio Valley High School Hockey League including League Playoffs and Penguins Cup playoffs [f/k/a Western Regional Playoffs], the realization of the first hockey program in the State of Pennsylvania to reach 500 wins came down to Upper St Clair and Armstrong/Kittanning. The list of coaches who led the Panthers at the Class AAA level throughout their history, which began in 1971-72 at the Alpine Ice Chalet includes a who’s who of Pennsylvania hockey as R.T Ford, Buzz Dugiovanni, Taylor Railton [who led Conestoga to Pennsylvania State Titles in 1985 and 1986], Lenny Semplice [who lead the Panthers to their 1st Pennsylvania State Title in 1980], Dave Hornack [who led USC to an undefeated State Championship in 1987], Joe Gaul, Bobby Kennedy, Chuck Kelly, former Pittsburgh Penguins Star Warren Young, Kip Guenther and currently John Harford to accumulate through last week a staggering 499 wins in 786 Regular Season and Playoff games, which is around a .667 winning percentage in the programs history. The interesting contrast to tonight’s contest, which is Upper St Clair Senior Night, is that the Butler program the Panthers will face has been up and down and is more on the downside of a 1-16-0 season and out of playoff contention for the 2005-2006 season. Their lone win was over Gateway and the Golden Toronadoes also dropped a game to Shaler, in the opening game, that has since dropped 17 straight. If you ask any one the difference between the two programs can solely be placed on numbers within the St Clair program and there lack of for Butler. As the game unfolded and started, it didn’t take long for the Panther to strike as Dave Crockett scored on a bank shot just 9 seconds in the opening period. USC took a 2-0 lead as Crockett picked up goal # 2 with 6:09 remaining. The senior forward completed the natural hat trick with 2:20 left in the 1st to make the count 3-0. Butler got on the board with just 53 seconds elapsed in the 2nd period as Steven Stepanian scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1. The Panthers came right back 2 minutes later as Dom Pegnatero scored on a rebound to increase the lead to 4-1. David Crockett picked up his 4th goal of the contest with 9:06 left in the middle period, which sent the water bottle flying to increase the count to 5-1. Just 13 seconds later at 8:53, Kevin Lucas scored on a rebound and the Panthers now led 6-1. Fletcher Crouse scored with 3:17 to go for Butler to make it 6-2, but Davey Crockett lit the lamp on the power play with just 11 seconds remaining in the period to give St Clair a 7-2 lead. Crockett scored his 6th goal of the evening with 2 ½ minutes gone to extend the lead to 8-2 and Rich Kline closed out the scoring as the Panthers registered a 9-2 win over the Golden Toronadoes and picked up their 500th win of all time.