Butler Toronadoes

NEW KENSINGTON ~ The beautiful Valley Sports Complex offers fun for the entire family with weight facilities [which fellow Shaler coach Ron Steedle was checking out in the first period], a daycare center [which looks like Miss Jane’s Romper Room], a NEW fully stocked snack bar [with the biggest and best soft pretzels I’ve ever seen and French Fries, which my faithful assistant 4-year old Jamie just loved and plenty of Heinz Ketchup], is convenient to Penn Hills, Plum, Fox Chapel Murrysville and the rest of the Alle-Kiski Valley, an ice rink for THURSDAY night hockey to replace Harmarville [which since 1992 has hosted Interscholastic Hockey for Shaler, Fox Chapel, Central Catholic and Deer Lakes and since the PIHL Commissioner did not renegotiate the contract, which is part of his nearly $ 90,000 per year in compensation job, but he failed to do it and lost the ice to the Amateur Penguin organization, who slipped right into one of the best ice slots in Western Pennsylvania as part of the building of the awesome third pad at Harmarville] and TENNIS, of all things, not to mention Bubble Hockey in the game room, in which 4 year old Jamie and Mt Lebanon assistant coach Bobby Montana, had a knock’m down drag’m out best of 7 with Ron Steedle and Mt Lebanon Head Coach Paul Taibi and Steedle looking on while they waited for me to retrieve the 7:00 game scores and Mrs. Mauro to return from cleaning out the local Shop-N-Save. Tis the season to leave early and go to may favorite subject Hornets Practice. Mt Lebanon coach Paul Taibi is a smart man and he knew Matt Quigley had a practice at Neville Island. Hey Paul…..why are you always in the middle of this one [remember Luke ‘now you see him now you don’t DeLorenzo from Franklin Regional] ? So when an unidentified lady hit a powerful two handed Chrissy Evert backhand by her opponent and through the open door of the lobby and hit the fire alarm setting it off creating chaos prior to the start of the undefeated Fox Chapel – Mt Lebanon showdown, coach Taibi cried wolf and was concerned about Carbon Monoxide in the building…..knowing all along the Mr Hornet would have to leave soon. Now league rep Kevin Keller, formally of the Golden Mile has seen it all…..believe me, including a TENNIS BALL, of all things hitting the ice during a 2 on 1 between R.J Umberger and another Plum player during the Director’s Cup final in 1998, which thwarted a potential go ahead goal, so he wasn’t buying it and said ‘play ball’ or is it hockey ? I must be sniffing too many Zamboni fumes [so all for who voted in our lasted Pa Hockey survey……you are ALL paying attention !] . Billy Leckenby, Mt Lebo’s undisputed leader, who played for the Hornets, told them to pound salt and joined Morts SHAHA Team [and not Taibi’s split season Predator’s team as previously stated], so he focus full attention on the Blue Devils leading them to their first State Championship since 1976, back when his father and late uncle where playing for South Hills Catholic and leading them to the title in 1979. Now Keith Kearney’s Foxes are undefeated at 6-0-0, in first place in the East Division, and having a great season thus far. What an opportunity to show how far the Foxes have come, especially in light of this was virtually the same Mt Lebanon team, who extinguished the Fox Chapel season in the playoffs a year ago with a 6-0 pasting at Mt Lebanon. The thing that mucks this story and the classic showdown between Mt Lebanon and Fox Chapel down is a little 10+ page contract that has the words in it something the affect that Hornet players may not miss practice for ANY High School activity…..Extor____….whoops they get sensitive about that one ! After listening to the KDKA Sports Talk with Paul Alexander [who I grew up with and lived down the street from in Forest Hills] Wednesday night on my way to Indiana, he stated in now uncertain terms…..quote: “that conflicts in amateur sports are running rampant and ANY coach who deters a young adult from excelling by creating scheduling conflicts does NOT have the best interest of the athlete in mind”….well done Po ! So this Fox Chapel team, its coaching staff and parents have busted their rear ends to get their program to the next level and its being extinguished by a choice that a player [the best player on the Foxes] and his family have to make at 8:45 on a Thursday night and EVERY Thursday night. The distraction is and will be a Cancer for the Fox Chapel Hockey Club and if you don’t believe me ask Jim Damp and Franklin Regional, who maybe could have won it all, but it finally caught up with them in the Penguin Cup final and maybe a red-hot Meadville team had a little to do with it. So we at Pa Hockey [A/K/A One Man’s Opinion] are all about solutions and I know Mr Kearney will love this one and so will Paul Taibi, who are BOTH a strong supporters of Interscholastic Hockey and ADVANCING players to the next level. Enter George Kelly, who is the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Amateur Penguin Organization……who runs a great Junior B program, headed by Dan Serakowski and Brian ‘Brains’ Errigo, who not only support High School Hockey, but have gone out of their way to encourage kids to play in their high school games like Ryan Tessmer of Pine Richland and even Ian Beitler and Sergio Somma, who for some unknown reason still don’t play for Plum ?. Let’s start a Midget AAA Travel team as a feeder program for the Junior B program or maybe Junior A NAHL or USHL [which is the big Hornet promise] that plays Saturdays and Sundays with ALL Home games in the beautiful Harmarville facility and maybe a limited Travel schedule with NO CONFLICTS and a limited practice schedule and Ron Steedle and myself will coach it and maybe Keith Kearney would like to join in. Quigley will play for it [five minutes from his house] and never miss a Fox Chapel game for his Junior and Senior years [since he is 15 years old and only a sophomore]. Then High School Hockey can return to Harmarville AND Valley Sports Center on Thursdays and I will continue to do the PIHL Comissioner’s job for him while he sits at the computer and puts scores in [sometimes the wrong scores because he’s too lazy to confirm them but at least we’re getting our monies worth keeping him up past 11 PM] and very rarely attends any games and faces the people, who pay his outrageous salary. Solutions! Solutions! Solutions! That is what Pa Hockey is all about and you only need one click to Game Summaries and there is NO need to navigate the PIHL Web maze so they can sell advertising and never report the income website. Whew ….now I got that off my chest …wasn’t there a hockey game be played tonight between # 5 ranked and undefeated Fox Chapel [6-0-0] and # 4 Mt Lebanon [6-1-1] or is it Tennis Anyone ? Zamboni fumes that’s what it is right Paul ? Need to get to the doctors ….hope Ms Mauro returns from her shopping spree soon or is this another childish rank and rave ….Mr Hockey North where are you?. The first period was well played before the intimate gathering at the VSC as the Foxes and the Blue Devils skated and backchecked and limited one another to little if any chances. The best chance of the opening period was on a Mt Lebanon power play at 5:54 as Todd Hendry made a nice save on Michael Jordan to keep the game scoreless through one as Fox Chapel held a 3-2 shot advantage. On to the second period and Mt Lebanon picked up the pace and took advantage of a Foxes turnover at 11:30, but Hendry stopped Tony Valerino. The Blue Devils almost scored again but Hendry stoned Eric Sloan from in tight at 11:07. As they always do Mt Lebanon kept on coming and on the next shift Valerino provided the work and Sloan snuck behind the Foxes defense and slid the puck just inside the near post for a 1-0 Blue Devil lead at 7:55. With his team needing to get back in the hockey game, Matt Quigley left the ice and did …..great for the team spirit…eh ! Mt Lebanon jumped all over that one as Billy Leckenby rifled a shot from the top of the circles over the glove side of Todd Hendry at 7:24 and all the sudden its 2-0. After Tony Valerino hit the post at 2:06, Fox Chapel picked up the pace and had several good chances, which was matched by Mt Lebanon’s ability to play to the final whistle and it remained 2-0 at the ice cut. The sign of a great team is their ability to go for the jugular and pounce on a wounded animal and tame it. Mt Lebanon knows all about that one and Craig Anderson provided the dagger as he scored just :59 seconds into the final period for a 3-0 lead. Matt Vaughn robbed Fox Chapel’s Joe Budz in the middle of the period but had a pretty routine night stopping all 13 Foxes shots. The Blue Devils would have the final say on this one as Michael Jordan finished a great passing play with Dan Wilen at 1:55 and Mt Lebanon walked away with an impressive 4-0 victory in a statement game in Class AAA.

KITTANNING ~ Special Report to Pa Hockey courtesy of the Butler Hockey Club WOW, you all missed the game of the season!! It was a BIG win for the Butler Tornado tonight as they beat undefeated North Allegheny (6-0 before tonight) in a GREAT game! North Allegheny came out first, scoring with 3:18 left in Period 1. Joe Williams scored with an assist from Garrett Waldschmidt. Butler answered back in the Second Period with 9:29 left on the clock. Scoring for Butler with a power play goal was Jared White with an assist from Tyler Druschel. 26 seconds later, Butler had their guard down and NA broke through with goal #2. Garrett Waldschmidt had the goal, assisted by Matt Pekins. Into the 3rd Period, Butler came to life with 2 big game scoring goals. Goal #2 came at 9:37 from Myke Guentner, with assists from Greg Rogerson and B.J. Tipton, tying the game 2-2. With 3:16 left in the game Butler made its final attack as Spencer Crouse put in the winning goal, assisted by Jon Pakutz and Jared White. Butler spent the last 2 minutes short-handed with 1 man in the penalty box. With 1:00 remaining in the game NA pulled goalie Bobby Daly, resulting in a 6 to 4 man advantage. Butler's Goalie Bucky Holt played tight till the end and Butler prevailed ! NA's goalie Bobby Daly took 27 shots on goals while Butler's goalie Bucky Holt was faced with 17 shots to his net, saving 15. This now puts Butler into the same standing as North Allegheny with 6 season wins and 1 loss. The next game for Butler is Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 at the Delmont Ice Center vs Woodland Hills @ 7:20 p.m.

INDIANA ~ Pine Richland pulled of an upset late in the 2002-2003 season over Thomas Jefferson in a game involving many of the players who traveled to and suited up against Indiana last evening. Coach Jimmy Black wasn’t even around to see it, but ever the student of Pa Hockey, probably knew about the young talent for the Rams. PR has showed that talent early on in the 2003-2004 season and under the direction of Black are going to be a very interesting team heading down the stretch and into the playoffs. What strikes this writer is the many players who seem to be on the verge of really breaking through, but as Black and his young Pine Richland squad found out in a 7-1 pasting in the Central Catholic Invitational, is that it can fall that much harder if you don’t come to play every night or in Meadville’s case every shift. Pine Richland is striving for the consistency that drive coaches nuts and is the mark of a contender. Indiana knows all about that animal, as a group of Seniors two years removed from a Penguin Cup appearance has been at it for three years and has done a pretty good job of being consistent. Coach Dom Glavech has it down to a science and must go through a pre-game ritual every time he chooses goaltenders and this night he would turn to the veteran Mike Mentch, who at times over the past three seasons has turned in some brilliant performances and others not so brilliant. The other intangible is that the Indians will need to get goal scoring in a timely fashion in big games, which they failed to do in close loses to # 2 Kittanning last week and # 1 Thomas Jefferson the week before. Maybe a little desperation and the fact that an Indiana loss would put the Indians two games behind Pine Richland, Kittanning and Thomas Jefferson, in the race for the top spot in Class AA. In the playoff scheme, this was a must win situation for Indiana in early December. A feeling out process took place in the first period at the HOKS [House of King Samuel] as the Kittanning braintrust and players looked on in eager anticipation to see who their divisional nemesis for 2003-2004 would be. Although the shots were 6-6, Indiana had the bnest chance of the opening period as Michael Nesper flew past the PR defense and in alone on Dan Gazzo, who came up with a brilliant pad save getting his toe on the deke by the speedy Indiana forward. The period ended in a scoreless 0-0 deadlock. The play opened up in the 2nd period, as Pine Richland’s John Phillips had a great opportunity at 13:09, which was turned aside by Mentch. If their was a defining point of this game it came at 11:45 as Michael Jack put a punishing hit on Ram star Ryan Tessmer and rather than trying to put him in the refreshment stand, Jack [using skills from Football at HIS like a great linebacker] separated Tessmer from the puck, which found its way to the stick of Corey Mills, who walked to the net and put a backhand on Gazzo who stopped him but could not control the rebound, which Jack found and deposited into the net for a 1-0 Indiana lead at 11:45. This play seemed to charge the Indians and turn the tables on Pine Richland, who had several chances after getting by the Indiana defense, but did not capitalize. The Rams were a little sloppy in clearing rebounds at 6:27 and Zach Diamond made them pay as the big forward cleaned up a Mike Nesper rebound and poked home a second chance rebound to make it 2-0. Less than a minute later, Mike Hart threw a seemingly harmless shot from the right point, which Gazzo did not control and Jason Boske found and buried to make it 3-0 Indians. Black had seen enough and pulled Gazzo, to try to provide a spark for Pine Richland, in favor of Tom Zajak. That maneuvered seem to work as PR came on late in the second, but Michael Mentch was equal to the task stopping Jordan Younklin at 3:35 with a great glove save, followed it with a nice stop on Adam Fodor at the 2 minute mark and robbed Tom DiDinato with another glove save with just :37 left to take a 3-0 advantage to the locker room. On to third period and the Rams continued to pressure Indiana and finally Jordan Younklin put his team on the board beating Mentch to the stick side at 8:54giving Pine Richland new life. Not so fast Rams, said Zach Diamond as just 11 seconds later the power forward for Indiana walked off the near boards and right to the net and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Zajak and took the starch right out of Pine Richland 4-1. While PR was still reeling, the next shift Nesper and Diamond combined again as Diamond fed a great pass to Nesper, who walked down the slot and beat Zajak at 3:55 for a 5-1 Indiana lead. Pine Richland went on the power play and pulled the goalie in an attempt to score, but Zach Diamond found a loose puck and shot it 170 feet into the open pantry for his first career hat trick and a convincing 6-1 Indiana advantage at 3:55. Mike Mentch sealed the stopping 9 of 10 in the third, including a blistering slapshot by Ryan Tessmer for a 6-1 victory at the Indiana Ice Center.

~ Central Catholic Invitational [November 2003] Nov 20 - 23, 2003 at Harmarville - BladeRunners Note: Game Summaries & Pictures are now available SUNDAY 11/23 CHAMPIONSHIP Meadville 7 Pine Richland 1 ****GAME SUMMARY NOW AVAILABLE**** SEMI-FINALS Pine Richland 3 North Allegheny 2 [OT] Meadville 4 Thomas Jefferson 3 [2 OT] ****GAME SUMMARIES NOW AVAILABLE**** Consolation Round Monsignor Bonner 4 Archbishop Ryan 4 Lancaster B 4 South Park 4 Central Catholic 3 Upper St Clair 2 [OT-Shootout] Holy Ghost Prep 5 Fox Chapel 4 Mt Lebanon 4 Orchard Park 2 Lancaster 1 Bethel Park 0 Preliminary Round MOUNT LEBANON 4 UPPER ST. CLAIR 1 Highlight: Mike Jordan with 2 goals for Blue Devils BETHEL PARK 4 LANCASTER B 1 Highlight: Mike Diethorn & Conner McLean with a pair of goals THOMAS JEFFERSON 4 FOX CHAPEL 1 Highlight: Brandon School 2 Goals & Danny Hartman 17 Saves NORTH ALLEGHENY 4 ORCHARD PARK 3 Highlight: NA scores 3 in the 3rd to win it PINE-RICHLAND 5 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 4 Highlight: Ryan Tessmer 4 points as PR holds off rally by Raiders CENTRAL CATHOLIC 8 MONSIGNOR BONNER 2 Highlight: Matt Urso & Joe Coulter 3 pts & Michael McGurk 2 Goals LANCASTER A 3 MEADVILLE 3 Highlight: Tom Zielinski 34 saves for Lancaster HOLY GHOST PREP 1 SOUTH PARK 0 FOX CHAPEL 9 LANCASTER B 4 Highlight: Matt Quigley 3 G + 2 A & Joe Budz 2 goals THOMAS JEFFERSON 2 BETHEL PARK 1 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** MOUNT LEBANON 4 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 3 Highlight: Mike Jordan 2 Goals PINE-RICHLAND 6 UPPER ST. CLAIR 0 Highlight: Ryan Tessmer 2 goals + Nick Gazzo 20 saves for SO ORCHARD PARK 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 4 NORTH ALLEGHENY 4 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 2 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** LANCASTER 8 HOLY GHOST PREP 1 Highlight: Jeff Rutkowski with the hat trick for Lancaster MEADVILLE 4 SOUTH PARK 1 Highlight: Phil Siverd 2 goals for Bulldogs THOMAS JEFFERSON 8 LANCASTER B 1 BETHEL PARK 5 FOX CHAPEL 0 Highlight: Michael Mastracci with 20 saves for the Hawks UPPER ST. CLAIR 7 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 1 Highlight: Anthony Sirabella & Jono Lohman a pair of goals for USC PINE-RICHLAND 2 MOUNT LEBANON 1 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** ORCHARD PARK 3 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 2 Highlight: Kevin Sheehan nets 2 goals for Orchard Park NORTH ALLEGHENY 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 MEADVILLE 8 HOLY GHOST PREP 1 Highlight: Christian Nickerson, Phil Siverd & Rick Thomas lead way for Dawgs to Semis LANCASTER 6 SOUTH PARK 1 *See the History of this Tournament by Clicking on Pa Hockey Logo*

12/2/03 ~ QV flexes muscles by wearing down Deer Lakes CORAOPOLIS Quaker Valley coach Kevin Quinn has resigned himself that he will not have the services of Ben Herring for a better part of the season and I hope he knows that the Penguin Cup Playoff Rules require a player to play 10 games to be eligible for the Playoffs. Unfortunately, Herring has become yet another fallen victim to being developed by Quaker Valley and the Beaver County Midget program, and then being snatched by the Pittsburgh Hornets, who make high school aged kids sign [10 + pages] contracts stating their commitment to the organization, which includes something along the lines of NEVER missing a practice for ANY High School activity. So Ben’s being deprived of being an opportunity to enjoy his senior season at Quaker Valley, a team he grew up with for the pipedream of being the next Ryan Malone…..and I have news for you Ben, Ryan played for Upper St Clair and R.J. Umberger, the next NHLer from Western Pennsylvania played for Plum when there was a sensible agreement that you played High School during the week and Amatuer or Travel during the weekend. Anyway, the Quakers have moved on without Herring, who has played only a handful of games, and according to people close to the team, play better without him. Quaker Valley is one of the top teams in Class A because of the great coaching and stability of Quinn and assistant Jim Miller, who have been with the program from the beginning. The Quakers have two bonafide superstars in Sam Hairston and Furman South, who have really carried the scoring for QV to a 4-1-0 start, lone blemish a tough 4-3 loss to Somerset. I am sure Deer Lakes coach Al Palowski has a ton of empathy for Quinn, as the Lancer coach has seen a handful of Deer Lakes players plucked away for Junior B or Shadyside Academy and is doing an unreal job just keeping his alma mater afloat. Deer Lakes has talent but their bench looks more like men’s league than Varsity with only a dozen or so players dressed for each game. The Lancers do have some nice looking players in Brendan Orris, Jason Graney and foreign exchange student Stefan Karsay, who have been called on to replace Matt Disanti and Sean McIntyre. The Lancers opened the scoring as Brendan Orris scored at 7:16 for a 1-0 lead. QV’s Sam Hairston tied the game a short time later at 4:42 at 1-1. This was a pretty even game in the opening period as the Quakers out shot DL 11-9. On to the 2nd and Jason Graney gave Deer Lakes the lead with 9:44 remaining 2-1, which the held onto until with 5:48 remaining Kelly Elson beat Jiri Frkal to tie the score. Deer Lakes was under siege at this point as the Quakers blasted 16 shots at Frkal for the middle period, while Jed Michael saw only 5 shots, the result was that the roof came crashing down on the Lancers, as Hairston scored his 2nd goal at 4:57 and completed the hat trick with 1:51 remaining to break open a tight game to a 4-2 QV advantage. Jason Burrus added a tally with just 11 seconds left which may have put the dagger in the Lancers at 5-2. Hariston picked up his fourth goal just 15 seconds into the final period beating Frkal on the backhand to make it 6-2. Furman South got into the act burying a wrist shot upstairs over the glove hand at 12:42. Jason Burrus banged home a Hairston shot at 9:34 as the Quakers seemed to be getting stronger and the rout was on 8-2. QV’s foreign exchange defenseman from Denmark Jeppi Boldsen put the exclamation point on a 9-2 Quaker Valley victory, with a big blast from the right point as the Quakers out shot Deer Lakes 35-23 on the evening.