Butler Toronadoes

Kittanning 8 Peters Twp 4 KITTANNING - On my way up route 66, which was the old route we used to take in the 1970’s, the mind began to wander back to my first game at the Belmont in 1972 to see the Armstrong Arrows take on my favorite team, the Churchill Chargers in a West Penn High School Hockey League tilt attracting a packed house, a band, two of Western Pa Hockey’s top teams and even television. This was High School Hockey in Kittanning and things haven’t changed much over the 35 years in between. Sure the teams, the players, the coaches and the fans have come through the gates, but the Armstrong and Kittanning program has been winning hockey games consistently over that time period. Pat McCue, the first great player for Armstrong, returned to participate in the Alumni game this year, as do many others like Scott Patterson, Andy Walbert, current Head Coach Jon Yackmack, his assistants Lee Grafton, and Jamie King, who are just some of the players who have donned uniforms starting in the excellent in-house programs tutored by folks like John Wilson and Dave Crain and finishing their careers with Armstrong or Kittanning. Some outstanding coaching including Jon Spangler, the late Bob Patterson, Joe Ritchey and more recently Al Stipp and Jeff Smouse have engineered the program along with others to 499 wins in Regular Season, League playoff and Pennsylvania State Playoffs to this point over 35 seasons and tonight is the first opportunity to reach 500. The flipside of the equation for this evenings contest is Peters Twp, who have won 3 out of the past 4 Pennsylvania Class AA titles. Head Coach Rick Tingle’s squad enters with a 13-4-0 record tied for 3rd seed with Canevin and facing a tough stretch with Kittanning, West Allegheny, Canevin and Indiana for the final four contests. The Indians are again one of the favorites to be in contention and after a year ago when they proved everyone wrong by going on a magical playoff run there is no question anyone will count them out until they are eliminated from the playoffs. The unfortunate part for Peters is that their team only plays together when ALL of their players are in attendance. Due to the extortionist policies of the ‘Penguins’ Hornets, Peters has been without a half dozen players for many games this season and for Peters sake hopefully all will get ten games in necessary for the Pennsylvania High School playoffs. And hopefully, the league in which they play in will have their act together to avoid the fiasco, which took place a year ago surrounding the Peters Twp – Canon McMillan Penguins Cup semi-final at Harmarville, which was a great hockey game, with a sour taste for many including the winners and the losers. So before and packed house at the Belmont, Kittanning and Peters 66, not to be confused with Lebo 66 [their neighbor down Route 19], locked horns in what has been a great rivalry over the years and with a little piece of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania High School Hockey history at stake as the Wildcats look to become the 2nd program in two weeks time to achieve their 500th all-time victory. With 12:00 remaining in the opening period Wildcat goaltender Joey Mecurio stopped Chris Papciak from in close for the games first big save. With 9:50 left in the opening period, Steven Phelps scored on a rebound beating Mike Mastaracci, from the right side of the crease to give Kittanning a 1-0 lead. Justin Kovatch lit the lamp on a breakaway with 7:00 left on the clock to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. Forty seconds later it was Kovatch, who collected a rebound with 6:20 to go and chipped it past Mastracci to make it 3-0. Then at 5:57, after Mastracci was chased in favor of Fitzgerald, Nick Troup made shot # 1 against the new Peters goaltender count beating him low to the stick side to make it an amazing 4-0 advantage for the home team in a little over 6 minutes. With 2:17 remaining, Evan Blodgett threaded a perfect pass on the back door to Colin McKelvey, who made no mistake and increased the score to 5-0. On to the second period and Kittanning continued the onslaught at 14:17 as Justin Kovatch tipped in a Kyle Adams shot from the point to make it 6-0. At 12:35 Brandon Tingle got the Indians on the board on the power play and then lit the lamp again at 12:04 to give Peters its second goal and make it 6-2. With 9:26 remaining in the second, Brandon Tingle completed the hat trick with a rocket snapshot high over the glove hand side of Joey Mecurio to make this a hockey game at 6-3. Mike Mastracci returned to the game after the 6th Kittanning goal and made a huge save on Lee Heilmann on a breakaway at 6:32 and keep his team within range at 6-3. Peters went on the power play with a little over 4 ½ minutes to go and a chance to cut the lead again and with 3:17 left in the second Dustin Roux unleashed a wrist shot beating Mecurio on the stick side for a power play goal and now a 6-4 hockey game with 4 unanswered goals. With 1:54 remaining, Brandon Tingle followed the bouncing puck over the Kittanning defenseman’s stick and was in on a breakaway, but this time Joey Mecurio stopped him with a big league save. After the ice cut, Kittanning went on the power play at 13:34, but Peters was able to kill it off. The Wildcats would settle into a tight checking third period and with 1:38 left in the period, when Lee Heilmann scored from on the doorstep, a hush fell over the Belmont crowd of relief and then a collective roar of the ‘Concerned Citizens of Kittanning’ as the score read Kittanning 7 Peters Twp 4 and Joey Ford added an empty netter in the waning moments, the celebration began as 35 years and 500 wins was a reality for a great hockey program, a great hockey town, who was able to come cheer a great accomplishment for everyone who has stepped on the ice as a player, coach, referee [you too Larry !] and the fans, young and older, like myself who enjoy making the trip to the Belmont !