Butler Toronadoes

CORAOPOLIS - Special report to Pa Hockey provided by Indiana and Moon Hockey Clubs The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey team awoke in the third period to defeat Moon at the Airport Ice Arena Tuesday night. Indiana, short-handed by the loss of senior Joey Lenz and junior Adam Rusiewicz managed to outshoot their opponent 27-17 for the win. Cory Mills led the scoring 1:20 into the third period, assisted by Ryan Rivosecchi and Zach Damico. Damico came back with the winning goal with 4:37 on the clock on an assist from Joe Appolonia and Mills. Goaltender Mike Kennedy recorded the win with 16 of 17 saves. Indiana now 2-0 travels to Ice Connection in Butler Sunday night to face Pine-Richland at 7pm. Ian Brown scored the lone Moon to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

CORAOPOLIS - CORAOPOLIS – A that Pa Hockey provides every year is to compile a yearbook for the Western Pennsylvania schools and the media, which includes history, contact information, Pa Hockey Website information and other somewhat useless statistics including changes in the coaching position. Now I am not going to say that coaches should stay somewhere forever, but sometimes a change of venue is good for a coach or coaching staff. When West Allegheny hired Norm Cook and his assistant Kevin Moore, who coached at Ambridge, I could tell you that this was a very good move on the part of the Indians. With the returning and upcoming talent, West Allegheny’s program can think about returning to the playoffs, which the Indians have accomplished 8 out of the last 10 years and possibly challenge for a Penguins Cup, which occurred four consecutive years from 1996 through 1999. West Allegheny is off to a quick 2-0 start and looks to be heading back over the .500 mark, which it has done for 9 out of the last 11 years. Elizabeth Forward also has a new coaching staff led by John Mooney, who knows all about State Championships and Penguins Cup leading the Eagles to three straight Pennsylvania Cup A titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Along with assistants Larry ‘Briggs & Stratton’ Briggs and Pat McShane, Mooney is looking to take EF’s program to a new level with the same discipline and team effort his teams are accustomed to. The Warriors celebrated their move from Class A to Class AA with an opening night victory over a less than stellar Johnstown team and coach ‘Moon’ knew his team would be in for a stern test against WA, especially without Jeremy DelMaster, Brian Doak and Casey Burns, who had to fulfill EF soccer and other commitments. West Allegheny came out flying in the first period and took control of this contest rights away as Marek Polidor celebrated his return to the lineup with a goal at 12:51. Kevin Walsh extended the lead with 9:18 remaining in the first and Ian Skacan [6:47] and Ryan Kumpfmiller [:46] converted as the Indians launched an 18 shot assault on Warrior netminder Mike Cole for a 4-0 1st period lead. The Indians picked up where they left off in the 2nd period as Rob Hoetzlein scores on a rebound to make it 5-0 at 12:40. Elizabeth Forward finally broke through when Billy Repass scored at 10:20 from just in front of WA netminder Dan Kuzio. West Allegheny just put the game in overdrive courtesy of Ryne Savisky, who scored at 10:07 and again at 9:38 to turn this one into a waltz 7-1. Savisky then set up Steve Sarachene at 6:40 and Marek Polidor at 2:45, with very nice passes on odd man breaks and the Indians led 9-1 after two. West Allegheny had the game in hand and Elizabeth Forward played to win the third period since the outcome was decided and Chase Lizik scored at 6:34 to make the final 9-2 in favor of the Indians, who pushed their record to 3-0-0 in this early season. WA outshot the Warriors 37-13 before a very nice crowd at the Airport Arena of festive West Allegheny students and patrons.

HARMARVILLE – Deer Lakes status for the 2004-2005 season was up in the air as of the middle of October 2004 and rumors were surfacing that there would not be a hockey season for the Lancers. The club was able to get enough kids and a head coach in Terry Marynchak and by the looks of it has about 15 players on the bench according to the roster. After 6 winning seasons and 6 Penguins Cup playoff appearances in eight seasons under Al Palowski, the Lancers program will be challenged to keep the tradition going, especially with low numbers and lack of developmental programs. Mars enters the 2004 – 2005 season with a chip on its shoulders after missing the playoffs for the first time in five years under Eric Glover. Anyone who knew the situation could tell you that last season was a rebuilding year for the Planets and that this years team would be better as Mars is dominated with a strong Junior class. Anytime rivals Mars and Deer Lakes faceoff you will be in for a spirited game and both teams entered this contest with opening night victories. Mars dominated the opening period as they out shot Deer Lakes 7-2. The Planets would capitalize on their shot advantage as Evan Reel cashed in twice at 12:00 and 5:56 to give his team a 2-0 lead. Tyler Brooks would extend the lead early in the second period as Mars took a comfortable 3-0 lead. Back came the Lancers as Moritz Weissenhorn banged home a rebound to get Deer Lakes on the board at 9:33 on the 2nd. Just a minute and a half later, it was Weissenhorn again taking a nice cross ice feed from Rich Bigley on the 2 on 1 and depositing high over the glove side of Bryan Ross at 8:04 to make it a hockey game at 3-2. Mars was determined to win this game and got a huge goal late in the period as Steven Matusak poked home a loose puck from in close as Adam Finney made the play t o get the puck to the front of the net and the Planets regained a 4-2 lead with just 1:02 remaining in the period. On to the third period and Mars iced this game with three goals including Finney at 12:50, Carroll Smith at 9:03 and a beautiful redirection by Jim Kelly of a John Becker shot at 4:44 to close out the scoring and lead the Planets to a 7-2 victory at Blade Runners in Harmarville.

MT LEBANON – McDowell has had a long tradition of Interscholastic hockey dating back to 1974 and was the host of the 1st Pennsylvania High School Hockey championships in April of 1975. Three consecutive trips to the Class AAA State finals in 1977, 1979 and 1980 resulted in losses and the Trojans have not really threatened since then. So a 2-0 start under new head coach Paul Mancini maybe brought a little optimism to Erie, but without leading scorers Mark Skirczyski [injured] and Brian Hammel [Italy], McDowell would face the defending Penguins Cup AAA champions Mt Lebanon Blue Devils, who are also off to a 2-0 start. Mt Lebanon lost a very good senior class last season and fell about five minutes short of a Pennsylvania State championship against Malvern Prep. Head coach Paul Taibi received a fresh new crop of Blue Devils to compliment a very nice returning group and early on look to be the favorites to repeat as Penguins Cup champions. The Blue Devils had breaded their success under Taibi with strictly home grown talent, who have excelled at the amateur level and now look to hone their success on the Interscholastic level with Lebo. Included in the crop this season is the ongoing saga of Josh Mandic, who ironically is from Erie and has played at the amateur level with many of the McDowell players. While Mt Lebanon does not recruit and never has, a stork dropped this player in their lap at their high school via amateur hockey and he attended school in Mt Lebanon last season and he is interested in playing for the Blue Devils. Out of 48 players ruled on for eligibility, transfers and foreign exchange status, Mandic was the only one ruled ineligible [which was made by a person with affiliation to one of Mt Lebanon’s # 1 division opponent and ‘integrity’ and maybe a ‘conflict of interest’ should have had this person dismiss themselves from the proceedings]. From my understanding of the ruling [and I helped draft the rule], the player must have court appointed guardianship, if they do not live with their natural family. Now there is a process of appeal and that is to appeal it to the President’s Commission and after that the American Arbitration Association and if Mt Lebanon wants to exhaust this, they should and there is language in the PLAYING RULES that the league is to advise and must be responsible for helping Mt Lebanon be aware of their options, but ultimately the Mt Lebanon Hockey Club must take the initiative to do so. So like Geraldo Rivera into the ‘eye of the hurricane’ I went to cover the story and THE game between Mt Lebanon and McDowell. The Mt Lebanon line of Tony Valerino, Shane Ferguson and super freshman Tyler Murovich caught McDowell sleeping on the first shift and never let them get the puck out of their zone as Valerino unleashed a wicked snap shot pasted John Cleary via a very nice feed from Shane Ferguson to the slot at 14:22. The dreaded bus legs could have been a nice excuse, but the Blue Devils were not buying it as Brandon Dornish scored on a slap shot through traffic at 11:57, which found its way through Cleary and resulted in a 2-0 Lebo lead. The Blue Devils just kept coming and kept the Trojans on their heels for much of the opening period. Mt Lebanon struck again early in the 2nd period as Tony Valerino scored on a rebound to give his team a 3-0 lead at 14:17. The Blue Devils continued to have the advantage in the score and the shots as they outshot McDowell 18-10 thru two periods and 30-14 on the evening. Valerino would put the icing on the cake in this one as the senior captain handcuffed John Cleary with an off speed wrist shot on the short side with 5:57 remaining to make the final 4-0 Mt Lebanon. Matt Vaughn posted another shutout for the Blue Devils, who have yet to yield a goal in three games this season.

SOUTHPOINTE - Behind a stellar, 45-save performance by senior goaltender Drew Stanton, the Canon-McMillan Big Macs won their home opener over the Kittanning Wildcats, 4-1. The win marked the first time in team history that the Big Macs have opened a season with three straight victories. Canon Mac got on the board early when defenseman Josh Tohey found the upper corner on a wrist shot from the point just 35 seconds in to the game. But it would be the Wildcats who would generate most of the offense in the first period. Fortunately for the Big Macs, Stanton was prepared for the early onslaught, turning away all 20 shots he faced in the opening frame. Canon-McMillan would slowly begin to control the tempo during the second period, and Stanton kept the momentum going for his team by turning away some second and third opportunities from his goal mouth. The CM fortitude paid off when Nate Bohn buried a cross ice pass from Tohey on a power play 8:23 in to the period. Both teams would tighten up defensively through the remainder of the period, leaving Kittanning with a 2-0 deficit after 2 periods of play. CM lead would increase to 3-0 2:40 in to the final period when Jesse Patnesky took a pass from Eric Lang and fired a low wrist shot past Pete Tolman. Kyle Harnen was credited with the second assist, giving both Harnen and Patnesky 3-game scoring streaks on the play. After over 42 minutes of shutout hockey, Kittanning finally was able to get one past Stanton when Nick Troup snapped off a shot from the slot with 2:08 left to play to pull his team within 2. Justin Kovatch and Joe Ford assisted on the goal. The goal put a breath of life in the Wildcats, who once again hounded the opposing net in an effort to close within one. Stanton was once again prepared for the challenge, using a series of glove saves to prevent any rebound chances. Patnesky put the game out of reach when he found the back of the unguarded Kittanning net from the far blue line to make the score 4-1. The goal continued another streak for Patnesky -- 3 consecutive 2-goal games. It also secured a 3-game win streak for Stanton, who has been tougher to beat in each successive game. An impressive 31-save performance by Tolman was not enough to keep his team from falling to 0-2 on the season. The Wildcats will seek their first victory of the year when they host Blackhawk on Thursday night. Canon-McMillan has a full week to rest before playing new division foe Elizabeth Forward at Southpointe next Monday. **Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey