Butler Toronadoes

Fall Face Off – Day 2 Semi Finals Plum 4 Fox Chapel 2 Plum was a late entrant into the Fall Face Off and Stu Relnick’s was hoping to make the most of it, but it would be without the services of Travis Senchur, who was serving Krispy Kremes. Fox Chapel’s Keith Kearney will have to deal with the on again off again attendance of super sophomore Matt Quigley, who had an all important [my favorite subject of course] Hornet’s practice in October. J.P. Balson, the Plum goaltender could care less because he was more interested in keeping the Foxes off the board as he did stopping 13 shots in the 1st period and 32 of 34 on the evening. The big line for the Mustangs did the rest as Ryan Griffin scored twice while John Smith and John Kalichuk added goals for a 4-2 Plum victory. Kyle Misour scored twice for Fox Chapel. North Allegheny 6 Franklin Regional 1 North Allegheny has a long history of starting off great in the pre-season and coach Tom Pandolfo’s club is looking to start a new tradition which is to be there in the end. The Franklin Regional scoring machine was the opponent and coach Jim Damp’s team would be without the services of their leader Jimmie Daugherty. Derek Rubarsky tipped in a Ryan Sheran shot from the left point with 6:56 remaining in the opening period to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. NA then turned on the jets outshooting FR 34-12 on the evening for a 6-1 pasting of the Panthers. Joe Smarto chipped in a pair of goals and Matt Zrebiec, Matt Pekins and Brandon Lied tallied scores eliminating an opportunity for Franklin to repeat as Fall Face-Off champions. Consolation Round Pine Richland 2 Shaler 0 Ryan Tessmer and Josh Fodor scored as the Rams defeated the Titans 2-0. PR outshot Shaler 40-11 and negated an excellent goaltending performance by the Titans Ben Burns. North Hills 4 Hampton 2 Joe Alioto scored midway through the 2nd period to break a 2-2 tie against Hampton and Casey Dudt-Mulzet made it stand up for a 4-2 Indian victory. Dan Kester scored twice for North Hills.

Fox Chapel 5 Pine Richland 1 Keith Kearney’s Foxes took to the ice at Harmarville with a half dozen or so games under their belt and have garnered much success this season at the Greensburg CC Invitational at 4-0, as they look to build upon last seasons great finish. Pine Richland, on the other hand, should be a strong contender in Class AA under Jimmy Black. Fox Chapel broke open a tight 1-1 game with two goals in the 2nd and another pair in the third for a 5-1 victory. Behind a strong goaltending performance by Todd Hendry, with 33 saves and a pair of goals by Matt Quigley and singles by Scott Tucker, Justin Kreps and Kyle Misour, Phil Trombetta scored the only goal for Pine Richland. Plum 5 Shaler 1 Stu Relnick is looking for a breakthrough season for Plum in 2003-04 and will need to have balanced scoring to break into the top 5 in Class AAA. Shaler looks to try to rebound from the loss of high scoring Justin Thomas, who transferred to Shadyside and establish itself as a playoff contender under Ron Steedle, who returns to the Titans after a two-year lay off. This game was all Mustangs from the get go as John Kalichuk scored four goals and Travis Senchur added a goal and two assists for a 5-1 Plum victory. Nick Bennardo held Shaler in the game with 33 saves and Justin Carnprobst scored on the power play early in the 3rd period.

Franklin Regional 7 Hampton 4 Franklin Regional had a new coach according to the program for the Fall Face-Off or maybe coach Jim Damp was trying an alias to downplay the Panthers storied trip to the Penguins Cup last season. Hampton is looking for a warm-up in for tough competition it will face in a Class AA Division, which includes Indiana, Kittanning and Pine Richland under new coach George Reed. The Panthers continued where they left off last season, as they took step # 1 to defend their 2002 Fall Face Off title with a 7-4 win over Hampton. David Hopper completed the hat trick with the game winner with 12:09 left in the third period and Dakota Drew chipped in a pair for the Panthers. North Allegheny 5 North Hills 0 New North Allegheny Head Coach Tom Pandolfo invoked some discipline by sitting a few regulars in the first two periods against North Hills. The Indians are looking to rebound this season under Dave Ciotti from a disappointing 2002-2003 campaign. Casey Dudt-Mulzet stoned the Tigers for two periods stopping all 32 shots for a 0-0 tie. The Tigers broke North Hills in the 3rd as Joe Smarto scored two goals, with singles from Ryan Sheran, Matt Pekins and Joe Camut for a 5-0 NA victory and an easy shutout for Jeff Kristan, who faced only 8 Indian shots.

A couple of years ago in December 1997, a lanky skinny young man wandered into the Golden Mile Ice Center for the 1997 Scholastic Showcase with dreams of becoming the first player ever to be raised and trained in Pittsburgh to reach the National Hockey League. The game was Plum vs Upper St Clair and Plum won the game 6-2 and everyone who attended that game that day swore that R.J Umberger would be in the NHL....and he will be there shortly as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. What we didn't know at the time was that another young man who played in that same game ....... Upper St Clair's Ryan Malone had similar visions. This Friday Night October 10th, Ryan Malone will suit up for the Pittsburgh Penguins and make history for Pa Hockey in Western Pennsylvania.