Butler Toronadoes

3/23/04~NEXT Peters Twp has coming out party over Kittanning PITTSBURGH – The Kittanning hockey program was established in 1972 out of the Belmont Ice Complex and is one of Western Pennsylvania’s most storied schools. Originally, the Armstrong Arrows and know known as the Kittanning Wildcats, there have been many fine teams resulting in 476 wins 213 losses and 35 ties heading into the 2004 Penguins Cup playoffs including a stretch from 1996-97, where the ‘Boys from Belmont’ have been to the playoffs 7 out of the past eight seasons. Head coach Jeff Smouse and former head and now assistant Al Stipp, have had a big hand in developing these teams into contenders for the Penguins Cup, with the goal of bringing the State Championship to Kittanning. In the early 1990’s, Armstrong Central had two great opportunities bowing to Council Rock in Philadelphia 5-4 in the 1991 Pennsylvania Cup AAA Final after defeating Meadville and again in 1992 losing to Meadville in the Penguins Cup final 8-5. The nemesis these days for the Kittanning hockey program is Peters Twp. The Indians defeated Kittanning in last years Penguins Cup 6-3 on their way to a second consecutive Pennsylvania State Championship. In addition, it was Peters Twp, who in 1998 knocked off # 1 seed Kittanning 5-1 at Southpointe ending a 22-1-0 season for the Wildcats. Peters Township has built a power in hockey and after capturing the Pennsylvania State AA title in 2003 with a stomping of Flyers Cup Champion Holy Ghost Prep 9-3 at IceLine to follow up a 10-3 pounding of Archbishop Carroll in 2002, many observers of Interscholastic Hockey felt that the Indians run of State Championships would come to a hault in 2004. Head coach Mark Cooper has quietly reloaded the lineup with some up and coming players to mesh in with the veterans like Chris Clackson, Si Bishop, and Dan Crogan and are thinking but not talking about a three-peat. The one thing we all need to remember is that Peters Twp is the State Champion until they are defeated. The game was very even in the opening minutes as Kittanning was looking to pressure freshman goaltender Rob Madore, but the young Indian goaltender looked like a crafty veteran early on with several nice saves. Dan Crogan’s shot from the left point trickled past Adam Toy at 7:47 and Gerry Raymond was there to poke it home for a 1-0 PT lead. Momentum in a hockey game is critical at this juncture of the season and Kittanning went on the power play after a great shift by John Ford, Lee Heilman and Tyler Ochs forced Peters to take a penalty. What would happen next would ultimately break Kittanning’s back and send the Indians on their way. Chris Clackson made an terrific poke check on the penalty killing forced the Kittanning defenseman to cough up the puck and Si Bishop read the play beautifully and took the puck and beat Adam Toy on the backhand at 5:37, killing the Wildcat momentum and giving PT a 2-0 lead. Clackson showed why he is one of the most feared plays in Western Pa as he overpowered the Kittanning defense and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Toy at 3:30 for a 3-0 lead. With 1:10 remaining Dustin Roux threaded a great lead pass to Bryan Papciak, who scored on the breakaway and Peters was off and running 4-0 after the first period. The second period was a penalty filled slugfest as Kittanning became frustrated and Peters continued to play with the edge that has been an integral part of two State Championships. Gerry Raymond scored his second goal at 9:42 and Chris Clackson converted another shorthanded tally with :52 seconds remaining on a great pass from Dustin Roux. Raymond [7:23] and Clackson [6:39] both completed the hat tricks to turn this one into a rout 8-0. Kittanning’s Wade Bowser broke Rob Madore’s shutout bid with 3:50 left tipping a Michael Mecurio shot on the Wildcats 37th shot. Madore was outstanding and looks to be a key in another State Title run as Peters Twp will attempt to win their 3rd straight Penguins Cup on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena.

3/23/04~Indiana shocks TJ with little O & Heavy D 3-2 in OT PITTSBURGH ~ Indiana coach Dom Glavech is the guy who shows up at a game on a cold Jaunary night at the Ice Connection or at Bethel Park or at Rostraver, when I am there for a 9:30 game to watch Class AA action to get a feel for what is going to take place in the playoffs. I think coach Glavech likes the company, but what he is really doing is his homework and scouting the competition. Indiana has a veteran club in 2004 and reached the Penguins Cup in 2002 only to be edged by Peters Twp 3-2 in a game where the Little Indians could have pulled off the upset and moved on to the State Finals but didn’t seize the opportunity. A lot of the players on that team are now seniors including Zach Diamond, Mike Nesper, Michael Hart making up the core of the 2004 squad. Thomas Jefferson has had an outstanding season going 19-0-1 and ripping Greensburg CC in the opening game of the 2004 playoffs. Head coach Don Powell is hoping to get the Jaguars back into the Penguins Cup for the first time since 2000, which was the third of three straight Pennsylvania Cup State Championships for TJ. The Jaguars has a strong well balanced attack and great goaltending of Danny Hartman, who is one of the top netminders in State of Pennsylvania in my opinion. TJ welcomed the return of top defenseman Grant Heinauer, who has been out for most of the season with a injury and would be a key of any championship runs for the Jags. Indiana was the aggressor in the 1st period outshooting TJ 13-9, but the Jaguars opened the scoring on the power play as Brandon School slapped a Luke Wawrzeniak rebound out of the air at 10:24 for a 1-0 lead. Indiana would answer as Zach Diamond belted home a Michael Nesper rebound at 7:44 and the game was tied at one apiece. Great players make things happen when they are called upon and at 2:34 of the first period Michael Nesper showed why he is one of those players as he used his speed to the outside after taking an excellent Joe Lenz outlet pass and beat Danny Hartman with an overpowering backhand in full stride high over the glove side to give the Little Indians a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Thomas Jefferson showed why they went undefeated this season by pouring the pressure on Indiana. Indians goalie Mike Mentch, who has been up and down all season, was just spectacular stopping several Jaguar opportunities and keeping Indiana in the lead. Brandon School would not be denied as the speedy TJ forward walked to the middle of the ice and buried an over powering wrist shot over the glove side of Mentch to tie the game 2-2 at 6:25. The teams battled into the third period as Danny Hartman and Mike Mentch turned this playoff game into a playoff dual. Both teams had several opportunities but the best came with 1:55, when Brandon School looked to complete the hat trick but Mentch stoned him and the game went to overtime. End to end they went in the overtime and this one was looking more like TJ’s game with Kittanning in the 2003 semi-finals with near misses and great goaltending. Luke Wawrzeniak and Brandon School had a golden opportunity with a little over six minutes left in the opening overtime period as Wawrzeniak threaded a perfect feed to School, who shot it just outside the post. Michael Hart would make the key play in this hockey game as the big Indiana defenseman lugged the puck through center ice and into the Jaguar zone. The puck was poked into the corner and Danny Hartman tried to get there first, but Hart used his long reach to center the puck to a wide open Zach Damico, who put a little ‘Heavy D’ behind a wrist shot an buried it into the empty net and sending the Indiana faithful into a frenzy giving Indiana a heartstopping 3-2 victory over # 1 seed Thomas Jefferson and a date with Peters Twp in the 2004 Penguins Cup.

Flyers Cup 2nd Round Class A Second Round Results Springfield High 6 Central Dauphin 2 Highlights: Mike Kelly & Kevin Brawley with a goal & an assist each as Springfield races to 4-1 lead in 1st Period Radnor 6 Lower Merion 1 Highlights: Ed Devine with the hat trick for Radnor, while Colby Cohen picks up a goal & 2 assists for the Raiders Lower Dauphin 8 Marple Newtown 6 Highlights: Bryan Chiavetta scores 2 goals & 2 assists to lead the comeback for Lower Dauphin as the Falcons erase a 4-2 Marple Newtown lead & come back to win Hatboro/Horsham 6 Methacton 3 Highlights: Alex Cohen with 3 goals & an assist, Miles Winter with 2 goals & 2 assists as Hatters score 5 goals in 6:32 to erase 2-1 Methacton lead in the 3rd period. Horsham outshoots Methacton 31-23. Class AA Second Round Results Thursday March 18 Abington Ghosts 4 West Chester Henderson Warriors 0 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** Archbishop Carroll Patriots 8 McDevitt Crusaders 4 Highlights: Shane Aldinger with 3 goals & 2 assists and Greg Manz picks up 1 goal & 2 assists as Patriots have a 4-goal and advance to the Flyers Cup Semi-Finals 2nd period Friday March 19 Archbishop Wood Vikings 4 Neshaminy Redskins 2 Central Bucks West Bucks 6 Haverford High Fords 2 Class AAA Second Round Thursday March 18 Malvern Prep Friars 3 Eastern Regional Vikings[NJ] 1 Highlights: Chris Campanale scores a goal & assists on two more as the defending Flyers Cup champs open playoffs with a victory. The win could prove costly as four Malvern players receive Game Misconducts including Warren Byrne, Will Averona and Tim Gehring will sit for a game against Cardinal O'Hara or Holy Ghost Prep. Friday March 19 LaSalle Explorers 7 Downingtown Whippets 4 West Chester East Vikings 5 Germantown Academy Patriots 3 Highlights: Vikings Greg Scherbacki & Jeff Martin tally 2 points as WC East pounds GA with 54 shots to 20 for Germantown Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds 3 Cardinal O'Hara Lions 1

3/22/04 ~ Somerset does it & moves on to Penguins Cup final PITTSBURGH – The Somerset hockey program has taken their lumps over the years with a 73-142-13 record, but hidden in that record is the past four years with a record 59-21-4, including an outstanding 20-2-0 regular season under Cliff Zeigler. Despite all of this, the Eagles had never won a State Playoff game until last week’s 4-0 victory over Sewickley Academy. So anyone who predicted that this team would go a long way in the playoffs, would know a lot more than I would because the playoff experience of three straight losses in three years does not indicate this was a team ready to make a big run. Furthermore, in their two biggest games late in the season, the Eagles fell hard to Bishop McCort 7-3 and blew a 3-0 lead on the season’s final night to Quaker Valley, tonight’s opponent only to lose 5-3 in giving up five goals in the third period. So if Somerset was going to dance at the big dance, it would have to get their big guns Bret Zeigler, Cullen Eddy and Matt Rouch to figure in the scoring and then play solid defense and get some clutch goaltending from Wes Cramer. Quaker Valley opened up the playoffs with an impressive 6-0 victory over Forest Hills, in a game in which Jed Michael stopped 33 shots and big guns Furman South, Sam Hairston and Ben Herring figured in on five of the six Quakers goals. Coach Kevin Quinn’s program compiled a 19-3-0 campaign with five straight winning seasons and five straight Penguins Cup playoff appearances. If there is an achilles heel with QV, it is their inability to move on past the 2nd round of the playoffs, but if there was a year when it could happen this could be a golden opportunity for the Quakers and especially with Ben Herring, who is considered one of the top players in Class A, back in the lineup for full-time duty. Quaker Valley owns a couple of big wins over Somerset, Serra Catholic and Blackhawk during the regular season, which makes them a very appetizing pick to possibly go a long way with clutch scoring, key goaltending and a very disciplined team. Somerset came out in the first period like a team on a mission as freshman Cullen Eddy overpowered Jed Michael with a slapshot for a 1-0 Eagle lead at 12:15. Quaker Valley had some partial breaks, but could not find the handle as Ben Herring just missed tying the game at 12:18. At 8:21 of the first period, Matt Rouch walked the puck off of the far boards and beat Michael down low on the forehand and Somerset held a 2-0 lead. Jed Michael made a huge save on Bret Zeigler from the high slot at 4:35 as the Eagles held a 9-1 shot advantage at this point and a 10-4 edge for the first period. On to the 2nd period and Jed Michael held the Quakers in the hockey game making several key saves early on. The Somerset defense spearheaded by Chad Pritts, Bill Hoffman and Jonathan Davies continued to frustrate the big guns for Quaker Valley by simply clearing the zone and playing solid fundamental defense. Somerset went on the power play at 7:23 and Michael snared a bullet delivered by Bret Zeigler with a great glove save. Somerset took an ill-advised penalty at 5:43, which brought Quaker Valley to life. Herring made a great move beating the Somerset defense and almost backhanded past Cramer but somehow the Eagle goaltender got a piece of it and the Somerset defense cleared the puck from danger with 4:51 left in the 2nd. It was all Quaker Valley late in the period as Sam Hairston walked around a pair of Eagle defenseman, but could not beat Wes Cramer, who made a great leg save at 2:40. With 11 seconds remaining, Ben Herring had another great chance, but it was Cramer again who robbed Quaker Valley. The Quakers showed their frustration pouring 11 shots on the Somerset goal, with nothing to show for it as the game stood 2-0 at the end of two periods. Somerset started the 3rd period on the power play thanks to a very undisciplined penalty by the Qaukers with 1.3 seconds left in the second. Cullen Eddy made them pay as he buried a one-timer past the stick side of Michael off a nice feed from Chad Pritts, who won the battle along the boards for the puck with teammate Bret Zeigler at 13:25 to make it 3-0 Somerset. Wes Cramer and the Eagle defense kept up the frustration on Quaker Valley as the netminder stoned Ben Herring and Sam Hairston at 8:46 on simultaneous chances. With 7:28 remaining in regulation, Brett McBee-Wise shot the puck from the left point which had eyes on it and found its way through traffic and behind Cramer for a huge goal and cut the lead to 3-1. Back came the Eagles and the player who many consider the beast all-around player in Class A Bret Zeigler delivered a crushing blow to Quaker Valley as he scooped up a rebound of a Matt Rouch shot and deposited behind Jed Michael for a 4-1 Somerset lead with 6:33 remaining. Quaker Valley did not quit and Jeppe Boldsen scored on a slapshot after a perfect pass from Ben Herring with 4:19 remaining and enough time to rally. Quaker Valley poured on the pressure and owned the Somerset end, but at 3:34 it would be Wes Cramer who would steal the show as he made a terrific diving save on Ben Herring, who was stationed alone on the back door to keep the lead at Somerset 4 Quaker Valley 2. The Quakers pulled the goalie for the games final minute and it would be Jordon Woy who would send Quaker Valley packing as the quick little Somerset forward calmly gathered the puck at Center Ice and made no mistake putting the puck through the QV defenseman and into an empty net with 1:07 remaining to send the Somerset hockey team to its first ever Penguins Cup Final to face Serra Catholic on Sunday March 28th at the Mellon Arena at high noon.

3/22/04 ~ Serra Eagles do it again… over who else but McCort PITTSBURGH – The year 1999 was only 5 years ago, must seem like eternity for Bishop McCort head coach John Bradley. You see, that was the year that the Crimson Crushers defeated Archbishop Ryan 9-3 at the Grundy Arena in Bristol, Pa. As over 1000 fans traveled over 5 hours by bus to witness the first # 8 seed in playoff history win the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Class A Championship. McCort has 13 straight playoff appearances including 5 State Championships, a 306 – 124 – 15 record over 19 seasons and probably the most staggering statistic is that the Crimson Crushers have been to the Penguins Cup semi-final round 12 out of 13 years and the Penguins Cup finals nine of those years. For most Interscholastic Hockey programs, these figure are in another planet, but for the Red, Gold and White from Johnstown, their measurement is justified in one way and that is the last game of the season is the one they want the most and for Bishop McCort, the last four years have been in the form of a loss to the Serra Catholic Eagles. It all started back in the 1995-96 season, as John and Tom Mooney took the reigns at Serra and played in the WPIHL East Division and took a beating at the hands of the Johnstown teams for a 6-13-0 record. The move to the SHIHL in 1996-97 brought new life to the Serra program as the team moved from the Golden Mile to the Rostraver Ice Garden and a great improvement to 10-10-2. It was the 1998-99 year that the Eagles first started to make their move in Class A with a close battle with defending State Class A champions Seton LaSalle for the SHIHL title and their first playoff appearance in six years. The next season would start one of the most prolific runs in State playoff history as the Eagles would go all the way beating defending State Champions Bishop McCort in the 2000 Penguins Cup finals at the Erie Civic Center and then Flyers Cup champion Pennsbury 3-1 at the Civic Arena for their first Pennsylvania Class A championship. In 2001, Serra defeated Bishop McCort at the War Memorial in a wild affair before over 1500 fans 6-3 and went on to win the State Championship over Springfield, with a 5-4 comeback victory and a coming out of sorts for a freshman goaltender named Timmy Johnson. In 2002, Johnson shut out the Crimson Crushers again at the Mellon Arena 3-0 and then the Eagles defeated a very good Radnor team in my opinion the best Class A finals ever 5-4 at the Rostraver Ice Garden on a late goal by Devon Kane and another outstanding performance by Timmy Johnson, who held Radnor off the board with several spectacular saves. In 2003, Serra made it four years in a row over McCort in the Penguins Cup semi-finals, but fell to Westmont-Hilltop 4-3 in the Class Penguins Cup at Neville Island. So like we haven’t had enough, here we are back again for round 5 of the Serra – Bishop McCort playoff saga. The Crimson Crushers came out stormin in the first period with a 6-0 shot advantage. Serra went on the power play, but McCort’s Joe Delic stripped the Eagle defenseman of the puck and proceeded to move in and beat Timmy Johnson between the legs for a 1-0 Crusher lead at 7:20. The Eagles got their first shot on goal at 6:42 and then Justin Lubasch took advantage of a non-call in the McCort zone, as a Crusher was hauled down, and beat Ron Stenger with a blistering wrist shot high to the glove side to tie the game at one apiece. Serra apparently scored at 5:50 but the goal was waved off due to the net being dislodged as Tony Duco’s goal would not count. On the next shift, Serra would take the lead as Ray Gillis scored on the backhand after some great work down low by Joey Manning and Lubasch at 5:11. The Crimson Crushers would come back at the one- minute mark on the power play as Joe Delic got his own rebound and beat a sprawling Johnson to tie the game at 2-2. On to the second period and McCort had a golden opportunity to take the lead but Ryan Noone made an all-world defensive play knocking the puck off of Chris Grady’s stick at 11:26, who had a wide open net after a great pass from Delic. The teams were jockeying for territorial position and the Crimson Crushers looked to be finding their game. One thing we need to remember is that the Eagles always find a way when it come to Bishop McCort and Timmy Johnson would stop all eight Crusher shots in the second and Justin Lubasch would provide the killer goal. McCort got a little sloppy in their defensive coverage and Lubasch made them pay as he found a loose puck on the doorstep and roofed it up over a fallen Ron Stenger at 6:47 and Serra had the lead 3-2. On the next shift and 13 seconds later it would be a great play by last weeks hero Philip Ivkovich to keep the puck in the zone on a bad Crusher clearing attempt, a great presence by Tony Duco to throw the puck toward the net and a streaking Steve Gruhalla to deposit a shot into the empty net for a 4-2 Serra lead and sending Bishop McCort to the locker room and possibly to the bus back to Johnstown. The third period was an exercise of Serra just holding off McCort, getting the puck deep and frustrating the Crimson Crushers. Although McCort had 10 shots all of the frustration would end at 3:27 when a Crusher shot trickled past Timmy Johnson and laid on the goal line for what seemed like five years probably to the McCort players, fans and head coach John Bradley. ‘No Goal’ said goal judge Paul Plinta, ‘No Goal’ said Referee Dave Donatelli, ‘No Goal’ said PA announcer Bob Sebastian as the McCort players could just sit and watch and Serra and Timmy Johnson just said ‘No Goal’ in a big way and when Joey Manning buried a wrist shot 14 seconds later to make it 5-2 at 3:13, it was a time to celebrate as Serra was off to its 5th consecutive Penguins Cup sending the Crimson Crushers packing for the 5th year in a row. When seldom used players Alex Bulischeck and Matt Radovic hit the ice for Serra in the games final minute, Timmy Johnson took a little victory lap around the Mellon Arena ice and bang his stick on the ice to let McCort know that Serra Catholic will go on to meet Somerset in the 2004 Penguins Cup final on March 28 at noon at the Mellon Arena.