Butler Toronadoes

By Jeff Mauro ~ Pa Hockey www.eteamz.com/pahockey Class A As the season reached its midway point, it has become very apparent the weakness of teams at the Class A level as only seven of the fifteen teams are over .500. This means that of the twelve, who qualify for the playoffs at Class A, likely five teams will have won 50 % of their games and some of them really don’t belong in the playoffs, which is why only eight should qualify. Serra Catholic is just shredding the competition and head coach Tom Mooney’s squad is a perfect 11-0-0. The Eagles defeated every opponent in December by a wide margin with the exception of Mars, who gave Serra their first decent challenge since November in a 5-3 game. Joey Manning [17 goals], Aaron Nolte [17 goals] and Justin Lubasch [15 goals] leads an offense, which is averaging eight goals per game, while only yielding a little over two. The Eagles have maintained their # 1 Ranking in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 State Rankings and look to be the favorite to advance to the State Finals in Class A entering January. Quaker Valley [8-1-1] has moved in behind Serra to take the # 2 spot in Class A and earned it with an exciting 4-3 victory over # 3 Sewickley Academy. Coach Kevin Quinn stresses a complete game, with a balanced offensive unit, which is led by freshman Mikail Lemieux, Brent McNamara and Furman South, who has 10 goals in just 4 games. The Quakers will have to have all of their guns available for their 2nd meeting with Serra in February. Sewickley Academy [8-3-0] and Bishop McCort [8-3-0] round out the top four teams at Class A and will have to step up their games once the playoff run begins to position themselves for home ice advantage prior to the playoffs. Coach Erik Hoolihan’s Panthers defeated John Bradley’s Crimson Crusher’s on December 1st 6-5 at the War Memorial. Class AA The Class AA playoff circus is just beginning with some new blood and some old favorites leading the way. As many as 9 teams in the 14 team playoff field will have a legitimate shot at going on a run in the playoffs to capture the 2005 Penguins Cup. And if the PA Hockey Scholastic Showcase is any indication, we will have a very exciting Class AA playoffs as South Park took down # 2 ranked Montour 4-3 and Greensburg CC defeated top ranked Canon McMillan 6-1 and Chartiers Valley, who will qualify out of the ‘Open Division’ defeated # 5 ranked Indiana 3-2 in the tournament. So anything is possible and there will be a mad scramble for playoff position as we head into the 2nd half of the season. Canon McMillan rose to the top of the pack in December defeating # 3 West Allegheny 5-4, # 4 Peters Township 7-4 and held off South Park 4-3 and Thomas Jefferson 5-3 to finish the first half at 11-0-0. Dave Fryer’s Big Macs are doing a lot of damage behind the great goaltending of Drew Stanton and timely scoring up front from his brother Doug Stanton who has 20 goals in just 7 games. Justin Cormack and Jesse Patnesky, have also chipped in a 16 goals between them, including Patnesky’s overtime game winner against West Allegheny. The hottest team in Class AA is Montour [9-2-0] as Dan Siegel’s club has ripped nine consecutive victories after dropping their opening two games. The Spartans have done it on offense led by Mario Panucci [16 goals] and Zach Perry [14 goals], but have displayed great balance as nine players on the team have at least five goals this season. Montour’s biggest win of the season was a 4-3 win over West Allegheny, but their biggest tests of the campaign will come early in January as they face off against # 1 Canon McMillan and defending Penguins Cup champion Peters Twp in their first two contests. West Allegheny [9-2-0] will face a similar plight to Montour in January as they face off against # 1 Canon McMillan and defending Penguins Cup champion Peters Twp in their first two contests as well. Coach Norm Cook’s club has been the turnaround of the year scoring 83 goals in 11 games led by Ryne Savisky [15 goals], Marek Polidor [14 goals], freshman Ryan Kumpfmiller [11 goals] and Ian Skacan [10 goals]. The Indians are a true contender and have played the best teams in Class AA to the limit. The wild card in all of Class AA has to be defending Penguins Cup champion Peters Twp [8-2-0], who have fought off injury and inconsistent attendance of their top players to stay in the hunt. When all of Mark Cooper’s players are present, there is no question that the Indians are at the top or near the top of Class AA. Dustin Roux [16 goals] and Bryan Papciak [9 goals] have led the way for Peters and they will face Montour and West Allegheny out of the gate in the 2nd half. The question is will their players show up? This will catch up with them if they don’t and if you don’t believe me just look back at the loss to Archbishop Carroll in 2004 State Final. Class AAA Class AAA in Western Pennsylvania is a four horse race until proven otherwise. Bethel Park [12-0-0], North Allegheny [11-1-0], Mt Lebanon [10-2-0] and Upper St Clair [7-3-0] are the contenders for the 2005 Penguins Cup AAA title, but some other teams may have emerge in December as possible threats to this quartet. Plum [9-1-1] and Penn Trafford [8-3-0] can compete with the top teams and will have to beat one of them to upgrade their status. Bethel Park has been just outstanding in the 2004-2005 season and has re-built their team nicely with a little different style of high intensity to compliment their always smothering defense under Jim McVay. The Hawks flex their muscles with two big wins in December over Upper St Clair 6-2 and defending Penguins Cup champs Mt Lebanon 6-1. BP has put up 85 goals in 12 games led up front by sniper Tim O’Brien [15 goals] and Conner McLean [15 goals], who are complimented by set up men Michael Diethorn [19 assists] and Ken Lehman [17 assists] to provide the Hawks with a quick strike offense that can score in bunches. North Allegheny [11-1-0] is on a mission in 2004-2005 under head coach Tom Pandolfo and that mission will only be acceptable to get to the promised land, which is the Pennsylvania Class AAA championship. The Tigers have followed Bethel Park’s path in reeling off 11 straight wins and many impressive one including a 7-1 pasting of Mt Lebanon and more recently a 5-1 victory over Bethel Park in the 2004 Pa Hockey Director’s Cup final in late December. Matt Pekins with 29 points [including 14 goals], defenseman Paul Dittrich [18 assists] and Wes Waldschmidt [11 goals] have led the way offensively for NA. Mt Lebanon and Upper St Clair have taken a back seat to the top two teams in December, but both teams must be taken seriously come March as threats for the 2005 Penguins Cup. Coach Paul Taibi’s Blue Devils are starting to regain their form led by Tony Valerino [20 goals], super freshman Tyler Murovich [20 goals] and Chad Uddstrom [14 goals] and coach John Harford’s Panthers have Class AAA’s most balanced attack led by David Crockett [7 goals], John Markwell [8 goals] and Brian Gorder [7 goals] and will be a strong team in the 2nd half of the season. Plum [9-1-1] has been to many the surprise team of Class AAA and coach Stu Rulnick’s team in very poised and disciplined with wins over Penn Trafford 3-1 and Franklin Regional 4-3 under their belt. The Mustangs are a very hard working team, which stresses defense and is led by Jonathon Smith [22 points], Phil Mains [18 points], Matt Giunta [16 points] and Ryan Griffin [16 points]. Penn Trafford by contrast to Plum is a very offensive team with a very good goaltender in Joel Sterniak under head coach Todd Purvis. The Warriors are led on offense by Nick Whaley [33 points], Kyle Sidle [30 points] and Chris Cerutti [20 points] for an offense which averages over 6 goals a game.