Butler Toronadoes

CORAOPOLIS ~ Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by West Allegheny West Allegheny Indians (4-5) defeated the Moon Tigers (3-6-1) in OT on Friday night (12/19) at the Airport Ice Arena. West Allegheny outshoot Moon 36 to 25. Ian Skacan scored the game winner with 2:06 left in OT. Matt Abrams of West Allegheny started the scoring at 9:33 left in the first period. Dan Ros of Moon scored about 3 minutes later to tie the game at one. Moon jumped in the lead with a goal by Lee Feigert. Nine seconds later, West Allegheny's Marek Polidor tied the game at two. West Allegheny took the lead with 1:11 left in the first period with a shorthanded goal from Ryne Savisky. The first period ended with West Allegheny ahead 3-2. In the second period, Moon scored first of the period with a goal by Chris Simoni. West Allegheny's Marek Polidor scored a power play goal to give West Allegheny the go ahead goal. Ryne Savisky scored to give West Allegheny the lead, 5-3. In the third period, Moon's Jason Anderson scored to bring the Moon Tigers back within one. Moon's Lee Feigert tied the game at five with a power play goal with 10 minuets left in the game. West Allegheny's Ryne Savisky ended the game with 2 goals and 3 assists. Marek Polidor had 2 goals and 1 assist. Matt Abrams had 1 goal. Ian Skacan had 1 goal. Bobby Maliszewski had 2 assists. Moon's Lee Feigert had 2 goals and 2 assists. David Alberga had 1 goal and 2 assists. Dan Ros had 1 goal. Chris Simoni had 1 goal. Travis Greene had 1 assist. Jason Anderson had 1 assist.

NEVILLE ISLAND ~ North Hills coach Dave Ciotti has witnessed a lot in his first year as coach of North Hills and his team has had its shares of ups and downs. The steady force of Casey Dudt-Mulzet has kept the Indians in games, where their lack of offense has really hindered NH at times. North Hills looked to make up some ground on Shaler after dropping a heartbreaker to Erie Cathedral Prep on Tuesday night. Long time Shaler skipper Ron Steedle has seen just about everything in 20+ years of Interscholastic Hockey including his team posting 16 goals against Woodland Hills Monday, which was a welcome break for the Titans, who have played in five one-goal games in their first eight which will but some mileage on any coach including this one. So Steedle and his band of merry men, including Shaler teacher Dennis ‘the Drillmaster’ Iwanchuk, who hails from Alberta [that’s in Canada], Mike Butler [former Shaler star], Doug Hastings [who was an outstanding goaltender for the Titans in the 90’s] and yours truly, were in the hallway of Neville Island Sports Center singing ‘All I want for Christmas is a rebound goal, a rebound goal, a rebound goal and hopefully in the third period….if that’s not asking for much Santa ? The game began with North Hills dominating play and outshooting Shaler 9-2 in the opening period. Ben Burns was sharp stopping all nine shots in a quick and penalty free first. On to the second and the Titans picked up their game and pelted Casey Dudt-Mulzet with nine shots but to no avail, the best chance coming as Tommy Carter just missed from in front. The game would be a 0-0 stalemate entering the third period with only three penalties including a phantom even up call at the end of the second on Carter, who was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for getting hauled down….was that # 9 or # 59….well Carter is # 8 and the kid never opens his mouth or questions anything…so Shaler was robbed of a chance to start the third period with a power play. The final period saw Shaler really pick up the pace outshooting North Hills 11-4, but as it seems to happen the Indians capitalize on a Shaler mistake in its own end. A fail clearing attempt by the Titans found its way on to the stick of Chris Oppenlander, who fired a shot through traffic and over the shoulder of Ben Burns with 5:33 to play and give North Hills a 1-0, which had to give coach Ciotti a pretty good feeling. Shaler kept on coming and finally Matt Yost found the net as he took a great feed from Josh Bauer and buried a wrist shot high over the glove hand of Dudt-Mulzet to tie the game with just 2:01 remaining at one apiece. The Titans had several chances in regulation and into the overtime with a 5-1 shot advantage but Dudt-Mulzet stopped or forced bad shots on chances for Graham Papciak, Tommy Carter, Matt Yost and P.J. Domski to earned a hard fought well played 1-1 tie at Island Sports Center.

VALENCIA ~ Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by the Montour Hockey Club Montour(4-4) defeated Hampton(3-6) by the score of 3-2 in OT on Thursday Night (12/18). In an evenly and cleanly played game in which shots were nearly identical with Hampton outshooting Montour by the total of 23-22. Dan Shiwarski scored a power play goal just 42 seconds into overtime for the game winner. By adding a goal, Mario Panucci continued his point scoring streak which now stands at 5 games. Chad Talotta scored his first goal of the season as Zach Perry added 2 assists for the 2nd consecutive game and 4th time in his last 5 games for the Spartans, who have now won 4 in a row and are atop the PIHL AA North Divison. Hampton tied the score with 13 seconds left in the 3rd period on a shorthanded Ben Daniels goal in a pulled goalie situation. Patrick Duffy also scored a power play goal for the Talbots.

Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Meadville Tribune High School Hockey: Bulldogs hand USC first PIHL loss of season By Bob Heist ~ Meadville Tribune If the game of hockey is an art form, than Rick Thomas and Christian Nickerson can double as Piccaso and da Vinci. Upper St. Clair can't disagree after Monday night's game at DeArment Arena, because the goal that ended the Panthers' unbeaten streak in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League was certainly a work of art. Tied after one period, Thomas made a brilliant move between defenders toward the crease and stuck a pass right on the tape of Nickerson's stick. The senior captain then beat USC goalie Kevin Gorder with a backhanded shot. Game, set, match. Meadville 3, USC 2. "We've just been playing together since we learned how to skate and everything's starting to click," said Thomas. "We just know where everyone's going to be on the ice. It's a chemistry we've grown up with, I guess." And it's a chemistry that's becoming irreplaceable for the Bulldogs, who improved to 7-1-0 in the PIHL and ran their current unbeaten streak to 11 games. The loss was the first for the Panthers (9-1-1) in the league. "I looked at (assistant coach) Scott (Phillis) after that goal and we said that was as nice of a play as we've seen in a long while," Meadville coach Jamie Plunkett said. "But that line has been playing great and they did again tonight." And they had to. Trailing 2-1 after USC scored 23 seconds apart midway through the first period, the Bulldogs' top line - which accounted for all three goals - took over as Phil Siverd tied the game with 1:12 left to play, beating Gorder off a rebound. Assists went to Thomas and David Moyer. Then came the play, just 25 seconds into the second period. Breaking into the zone and knifing between a pair of defenders, Thomas made a nifty touch pass to Nickerson, who was sliding unattended through the crease. The backhander was never in question, beating Gorder to the stick side. "You search all season for lines that work and I think (Plunkett) is still looking for lines, but that one's clicking and we can always fall back on it," said Nickerson, who leads the Bulldogs (16-2-4) with 49 points and is tied with Thomas with four game-winners. While all the scoring came in a stretch of just over nine minutes, the final 29-plus minutes of the game boiled down to some incredible goaltending by Gorder and the Bulldogs killing off a late power play. With Moyer in the penalty box for interference, Meadville weathered a furious final 30 seconds of regulation as USC pulled its goalie for an extra attacker with the puck in the 'Dogs' zone. The Panthers -outshot 33-14 in the game - never created a good chance and couldn't convert. "We had a chance. Two minutes left, power play, pull the goalie ...," said USC coach Kip Guenther. "But that's a game where they should be sitting there feeling as if they should have won because they did outplay us. "They're a good team. They win the races; they win a lot of races and that's the key to controlling the play." But this game did have a strange beginning. Gorder (6-1-1) allowed the first goal - which was credited to Thomas at the 8:56 mark of the first period - when teammate Matt McGinnis won a faceoff deep in the Panthers' zone and the puck knuckled into the net. It got even more bizzare when USC scored twice in a 23-second span. Anthony Sirabella deflected a shot by Ian Joyce in mid-air inside the post past Meadville goalie Dan O'Shurak for the equalizer at the 4:53 mark while Michael Michalek was given the go-ahead score at 4:30 on a puck that was re-directed off the stick of Bulldog forward Shawn Harbaugh. "Those were two fluke goals," O'Shurak said. "They were tips from far out and one was off our own player ... they're hard to stop. Those are frustrating, but there isn't much you can do." O'Shurak, now 10-2-3, didn't allow another goal and finished with 12 saves. Gorder was under pressure the entire game and finished with 30 saves. "I give credit to Danny for keeping his head in the game because that's hard to do after two goals like that go in," Thomas said. "It was no one's fault, just bad luck." And bad luck hasn't made a visit to Meadville's bench lately. The win drew the club within two points of Butler (8-2) - a 4-2 loser to Mount Lebanon last night - in the PIHL's North Division. It also extended the team's current streak to 9-0-2. In fact, Meadville has not lost since Nov. 13 against Padua, Ohio (3-0). The Bulldogs have not dropped a PIHL game since the opener on Nov. 3 against Central Catholic (4-2). "That's a big win because they're a good club," Plunkett said. "It isn't going to be easy for anybody down the road, so to get a win like that over a quality team is very good for the kids. We have a long way to go, but we're playing pretty well right now. This was a big step for us."

MT LEBANON ~ Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Butler Hockey Butler began the game against Mt. Lebanon with 2 quick goals 1in pd. 1. The 1st goal came at 12:08 with Myke Guentner scoring with a wrap around goal, assisted by Greg Rogerson and Jared White. Less than 2 minutes later and Spencer Crouse had goal number 2 at 10:32, unassisted. At 6:48 Mt. Lebanon answered back when Eric Sloan had 1 of his three goals for the night. Butler held tight through most of the second period. It wasn't until 3:21 that Eric Sloan of Mt. Lebanon placed goal #2 in the net, tying the score 2-2. Jeff Simon got Mt. Lebanon's 3-2 lead goal at 2:45. Into the third period, Butler continued a strong game, holding the Mt. Lebanon team from scoring. Mt. Lebanon drew a penalty with 1:47 left in the game. Butler pulled move up goalie Seth Wolfe at :48 seconds in an attempt to tie the game with a 2 man advantage. But at :22 seconds Mt. Lebanon's Eric Sloan found the empty net for his third goal of the night. Butler's Greg Rogerson frantically chased the puck, but to no avail. Butler's move up goalie Seth Wolfe took 26 shots, stopping 22. Mt. Lebanon's goalie Matt Vaughan faced 22 shots, saving 20. Butler will meet up against Erie McDowell on Thursday, December 18, 2003 at the Belmont Ice Arena @ 7:35 p.m. The game will be broadcast live over WBUT 1050 AM.