Butler Toronadoes

CRANBERRY - Freeport has been the big surprise at Class A in first place in the North Division with a 9-2-1-0 record. Coach Dave Hepler’s squad only has two blemishes, a 4-0 loss to Bishop McCort and a 5-1 loss to Richland Cambria. Mars and Freeport played to a 2-2 tie in the last game prior to the end of the first half of the season at the Belmont. Dustin Gaworski has had the hot hand for Freeport and leads the team in scoring through the first 12 games of the regular season. Mars has also been a pleasant surprise under Eric Glover with a 8-3-1 record. The Planets have played well as of late and their most impressive outing may have been a 5-3 loss to # 1 and undefeated Serra Catholic on December 17th. Mars has had a complete turnaround from a year ago and would like nothing more than to return to the Penguins Cup semi-finals, which it accomplished back in back in 2003, before falling to State Finalist Westmont-Hilltop at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Goaltender Bryan Ross was a freshman on that team and has now established himself as one of the top goaltenders in Class A. After a scoreless 1st period, at 13:50 of the second period Mike Riefner beat Freeport goaltender Tim Zahumensky on the stick side to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. Bryan Reel caught Zahumensky off the post at 13:15 of the second and scored on the wraparound to give Mars a 2-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets would answer at 6:42 as Zach Hepler beat Bryan Ross with a wrist shot to the stick side to make the score 2-1 On to the third period and Freeport had a power play and a chance to tie the game to start the 3rd period, which was killed by Mars. Dustin Gaworski did not come out for the 3rd, which would make the Yellow Jackets plight even more of an up hill climb. This would be the game that the Planets would not relinquish and with 3:45 left Michael Randolph beat the Freeport defense and threw the puck to the net where Bryan Reel found a wide open net for his 2nd goal and deposited for a 3-1 Planet lead. Zahumensky made several nice stops in third, but Mars held on to win the game 3-1 and moved closer to first place in a battle with Sewickly Academy and Quaker Valley

CASTLE SHANNON – Baldwin head coach Mike Cox has been a rare commodity in Interscholastic Hockey these days as he has lasted more than a couple since he took over the program in the 2001-2002 season. The Highlander coach comes from a long history of Baldwin hockey stemming from his father, who was one of the founders of the program to his late brother Jim Cox, who scored the overtime winning goal in the first ever Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship in 1975 in a 4-3 overtime win over Churchill in Erie, Pa. And also coached the Highlanders to the State Finals to his brother Pat, who has also successfully coached at the Interscholastic level. A testimony is the 33-27-5 mark that Baldwin has enjoyed in a treacherous division including perennial powers Mt Lebanon, Bethel Park, Upper St Clair and Central Catholic over 2 ½ season that Cox has been at the helm including two straight Penguins Cup playoffs appearances. So anyone how doesn’t think Baldwin’s program is headed in the right direction, just doesn’t know 2 year ago, which was the Golden Toronadoes first winning season since 1996-1997, which was the year of the ‘porcelain cow’, which lead Butler to near magical playoff run which ended in the Elite 8 at the hands of Central Catholic. Anyone who looks at the Golden Toronadoes 2-12-0 record needs to not take them lightly because this is a team I suspect will have a better 2nd half of the season and could eke into the playoffs with a few upsets, which almost happened last week as Butler fell 3-2 to Upper St Clair in overtime. The first period was a pretty close checking affair as Butler provided the only highlight as Greg Rogerson found Spencer Crouse with a pinpoint pass and Crouse beat Baldwin netminder Brian Majeda to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. The 2nd period was all Golden Toronadoes as Crouse returned the favor as he threaded a nice pass to Rogerson in front, who beat Majeda through the 5-hole to extend the lead to 2-0 at 12:22. Butler went on top 3-0, as Gereme Hensel scored from right on the doorstep at 11:13. Fletcher Crouse completed the hat trick for his line at 9:27, as he found a loose puck in front and chipped it past Majeda to make it 4-0. Baldwin finally got on the board at 3:18, as Mike Joyce scored on a blistering slapshot low on the ice to the stick side, which was the only shot of 24 Highlander shots which would beat Kris Rhodaberger on the evening to make it 4-1. Butler would ice this game in the 3rd period as Spencer Crouse and Greg Rogerson would score their 2nd goals of the evening and Mike Guethner scored as well for an impressive 7-1 Golden Toronado win before an intimate gathering at Ice Castle.

All-Star Games ~ Sunday January 30th Ice Castle Castle Shannon, Pa. NorthEast Conference vs SouthWest Conference Class A ~ Northeast 3 Southwest 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Westmont-Hilltop's Anthony DeMarco scores a pair including the game winner with 1:19 remaining in the 3rd period. Hilltopper teammate and goaltender Patrick Krumenacker stops all 9 shots in the final period. Deer Lake's Moritz Weissenhorn scores the other goal for the Northeast, while Quaker Valley's Furman South and Sewickley Academy's Trevor Heck score for the Southwest. Class AA ~ Southwest 5 Northeast 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Elizabeth Forward's Billy Repass, Montour's Brian Dugan and TJ's Brock Heinauer score a goal and add an assist each and Montour's Chad Talotta and South Park's Ryan Delvecchio score single to lead the way for the Southwest. Hampton's Patrick Duffy and Pine Richland's Jordan Yoklic score for the Northeast. Moon's Andrew Slifkin is brilliant between the pipes stopping 16 of 17 shots in the final period. Class AAA ~ Southwest 7 Northeast 0 HIGHLIGHTS: The Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon contingent did a majority of the scoring as BP's Conner McLean score a goal and added two assists, Mt Lebanon's Shane Ferguson popped in a pair, Bethel's Tim O'Brien score a goal and an assist, the Hawks Jacobus Bliek had a goal and 2 assists, Bethel's Michael Diethorn chipped in two assists, and Mt Lebanon freshman Tyler Murovich scored a shorthanded goal [on a Denis Savard spin-a-rama move] to lead the Southwest. North Allegheny's Paul Dittrich scored and the goaltending tandem of Cathedral Prep's Ryan Zapolski, NA's Jeff Kristan and Central Catholic's Bryan Adamczak stopped all 20 Northeast shots for the shutout. Class Open ~ Northeast 4 Southwest 2 Chartiers Valley boys light it up as Drew Paocelli scores the hat trick while teammates Eddie Olczyk adds a goal and 2 assists and Tommy Miller chips in 3 assists for the Northeast. Ringgold's Dan Tonini and Wheeling Park's Derek Felici score a goal and an assist apiece for the Southwest. Maybe next year these players will play using real all-star jerseys and not cheap imitations or maybe through my wishful thinking there will be no Open Division? Couple of Comments: Great venue and Great Hospitality by the Ice Castle folks made these games fun for all ! Click on the logo or the TITLE to access printable rosters for Class A, AA, AAA and Open

All-Star Games Ice Castle Castle Shannon Northeast Conference vs Southwest Conference Class A Game ~ 12:30pm Class AA Game ~ 2:30pm Class AAA Game ~ 4:30pm Ooen Division ~ 6:30pm

Note: My apologies for folks waiting for this game summary as I curfewed myself after Johnstown Wednesday, State College Thursday and Neville Island last night ! NEVILLE ISLAND – As I strolled out of my house on Christmas Eve after putting the finishing touches on the 2004 Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase, I finally had a chance to relax and pick up the morning paper. After reading a well done and very much appreciated article about the tournament by Marky Bilson in the PG East the day before, I wandered to the Sports Section of the Post Gazette and found an article by Colin Dunlap titled ‘Local hockey programs could use a big check’ [which I have attached for your enjoyment. The interviews include quotes from the President and overpaid Commissioner, who took this opportunity to express how desperate the PIHL is for money and sanctioning by the PIAA, which PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman dismissed in two very thoughtful and obvious sentences. The PIHL has 55 varsity teams, which has been reduced from the 79 when it started with for the inaugural 1999-2000 and the number of total teams has gone from 206 down to 174 at the start of this season. The reason is as the illustrious President says ‘is money’ and the second reason the PIAA wants nothing to do with it is that there are 200 plus schools playing Varsity hockey in the State of Pennsylvania, including the 141 in Eastern Pennsylvania and the 26 Independent and Laurel Highlands schools who refuse to pay all of the fees associated with the PIHL. I did not see ANY quotes where either the President or Commissioner offer to reduce costs by taking a pay cut for the over 125,000 of administrative costs hidden in the PIHL Budget or maybe resignations for the complete mismanagement of the organization by a very stale and self serving Executive Board and its Commissioner’s office in 5 of their 6 year [not including the year I was President, which was when it was managed]. The third and more important factor for all of us, who attend the games on the ice is the product and folks, Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey, as I suggested in my Quaker Valley – Bishop McCort game summary is in the lobby. The illegitimacy only took one night to rear its ugly head as our Shaler team took a six hour round trip & spent nearly $ 1000 for bus to State College only to have the game curfewed with 2 ½ minutes left in overtime because the League Rep, who is paid by the PIHL and showed up late for the game, let nearly 15-20 minutes run off the curfew clock and two teams, who are fighting to stay out of the basement, was not afforded an opportunity to win, lose or draw, which is a joke and a bad product if your selling it anyone. Which brings us to Friday night’s game of the season between two of Class AA’s top teams, Montour ranked # 2 in Post Gazette for Western Pa and # 4 in State and winners of nine straight games against Canon McMillan ranked # 1 in Post Gazette in Western Pa and # 1 in State by Pa Hockey. For two schools where a big game at Canon McMillan constitute a wrestling match or for Montour possibly Basketball, but for both teams in hockey is a rarity, in fact between both schools have a total of three playoff wins in their 11 and 19 year histories respectively and neither have ever ventured past the 2nd round of the Penguins Cup playoffs. So who could blame Doug Stanton for going away with the Junior B Penguins, the game that meant everything for these teams, really is still looking for legitimacy. No Scouts, No Press [except for PA Hockey], No PIHL President, No PIHL Comissioner, No PIAA and the only thing is someone forgot to tell the fans because Neville Island was packed in the stands and two deep along the railing at the top of the stands including coaches and players from Pine Richland, West Allegheny, Kittanning and Peters Township. And the PA Announcer, who gracefully said ‘ It doesn’t get any better than this !” And he was right on the money until about 8:30 PM. Montour struck first in this big game in the 1st Period as Chad Talotta gathered a deflected shot of Ross Polk of a shot from the left point from Aaron Siegel and deposited behind Drew Stanton for a 1-0 lead at 10:56. Canon Mac tied the game on the power play at 7:59 as Eric Lang scored from all alone in front. Justin Cormack gave the Big Macs the lead with 1:51 left in the first on a wrist shot past the stick side of Nick Gallioretto. In the 2nd period, Gallioretto made a key stick save on Jesse Patnesky to keep the deficit at one goal at 10:54. Canon Mac played opportunist at 6:17 as Justin Cormack intercepted an errant pass in the neutral zone and with good speed made a move to his left and wristed it past Gallioretto through the 5-hole to give the Big Macs a big 3-1 lead. The remainder of the period was an exchange of penalties as the game got a little chippy. At 13:14 of the third, Montour went on the power play with an opportunity to get back in the game, but could not scored. Montour received another power play and a ton of momentum at 8:42 as Justin Cormack also received a 10-minute misconduct and exited the game. The Spartans converted this time as Danny Shiwarski took the puck from his own end and found Joe Clarke at the top of the circle, who Stanton high over the stick side to cut the lead to 3-2 with 7:40 remaining. Montour came right back at 6:28 as Joe Clarke banged home a rebound on the doorstep after some nice work by linemates Zach Perry and Shiwarski to tie the game at 3-3. Then at 4:36, the Big Macs went on the power play with a golden opportunity to regain the lead and Nick Gallioretto stoned Nick Cusolito with a diving stop with 3:11 left in regulation. Joe Clarke made a great effort to get the puck out of the zone and was hauled down at 2:52 giving Montour the turkey on the table and an opportunity on the power play. After Drew Stanton robbed Joe Clarke’s bid for the hat trick, the Spartans would not be denied as Zach Perry scored from an impossible angle with 53 seconds left to give Montour a 4-3 lead with 53 seconds left. The Big Macs came back and pulled the goalie and Jesse Patnesky provided the magic scoring with just 5.7 seconds left in regulation after Danny Shiwarski hit the post on the empty net. On to overtime we went…..and the game was curfewed with 3:56 left in overtime. Maybe the PIAA would like a tape of this because this game was great, but we will never know what would have happened because of a stupid rule made up by an illegitimate organization of people who should resign because they are doing their best to ruin the sport we all love !