Butler Toronadoes

MONROEVILLE ~ Upper St Clair has had a breakthrough season in some respects and a disappointing season in other respects. Kip Guenther’s club has proved it can compete with the best Class AAA has to offer in tying Bethel Park and Meadville and defeating Mt Lebanon and Franklin Regional. The flip side is some of the dreadful defeats to mediocre clubs, which have plagued the Panthers in the standings and comes with the territory associated with a young talented club, which has not fielded a full lineup consistently throughout the season. Penn Hills coach Lou Biancanello would like to have such problems as the once proud program has fallen on hard times of players who go to the school and will not suit up for the Indians or maybe it’s a sign of economics of a sport which is pricing out a lot of people in Interscholastic Hockey. One thing that PH can be proud of is the effort of those players who have suited up and given their best in an otherwise very trying 5-14-1 start. Upper St Clair came out in the first period and dominated the territorial play and this resulted in a Dan Duda goal at 12:14 and a 1-0 lead. Penn Hills answered two minutes later as Jay Gilardo’s slapshot beat Kyle Wolfey through the five hole on the ice. Then with 7:57 remaining, Pa hockey top 5 Freshman selection Kris McDonough’s wrist shot from the right point found its way through traffic and past Kyle Bolte for a 2-1 Panther lead. Penn Hills scored a huge goal with just :02 left in the opening period as Ryan Jones scored to tie the game at two apiece. With USC on the power play early in the second, Jones was in behind the Panther defense and undressed Wolfley on the forehand at 11:59 for a shorthanded goal and a surprising 3-2 Penn Hills lead. After killing off a 5 on 3 shorthanded situation, Upper St Clair used that momentum to mount a charge as McDonough scored with 4:21 left in the 2nd and Ian Joyce put the Panthers ahead on a power play goal with 2:25 remaining. Back came the Indians and Jones completed the hat trick on a third assist from linemate Jay Gilardo and the game was tied again 4-4. On to the third and Jones was now possessed to make this his and the Indians game as the talented sophomore made USC look defenseless on the rebound at 13:13 and PH was back in front 5-4. The Panthers came back as Joyce picked up his second goal on a great shorthanded effort at 10:20 and the game was tied again 5-5. Just when USC looked as if it was gaining momentum and an advantage in the play, Jones struck for # 5 coming out of nowhere to poke a Gilardo feed past the outstretched Wolfley and give the Indians a 6-5 lead with 7:38 remaining. Jay Gilardo added an insurance goal with 2:49 left and Kyle Bolte shut out USC the rest of the way as the Panthers pelted the Penn Hills goaltender with rubber in the games final few minutes making the final count 7-5 in favor of Penn Hills.

AIRPORT – Blackhawk missed the playoffs last season on the season’s final day, losing to Center in a mild upset. Coach Dave Stepanian’s club has already clinched a playoff spot for this year’s tournament and is possibly looking to slip into a home playoff berth for the first round. Ahead of the Cougars prior to this evenings contest are Deer Lakes [whom Blackhawk defeated 11-8 last week] and Freeport, so a victory over the Yellow Jackets would be huge. Freeport has battled all season and after a slow start, coach Jim Hill’s club went on a mini streak and then dropped a couple of one goal nailbitters to Mars and Bishop McCort. The Yellow Jackets are also looking to nail down a home berth in a potential first round match-up in the upcoming Class A playoffs. The opening period was pretty wide open as the teams played a little loose on defense. Freeport’s Dustin Gaworski missed on the breakaway at 13:44 and Blackhawk netminder John Fitzgerald made a stick save on Yellow Jacket sniper Michael Bender at 6:55. Blackhawk appeared to take the lead as Jake Polas hit Mike Wylie in stride and Wylie scored on the rebound, but the officials determined that the puck was directed in with a high stick. Freeport’s Dustin Gaworski bumped a Cougar defenseman off the puck and walked to the net and buried a wrist shot upstairs at 3:08 for a 1-0 lead. Freeport then took a couple of penalties and was down by two with 1:32 remaining. Blackhawk show extreme patience and it paid off as Jake Polas found Sam Kristian, who beat Derek Gaworski through the 5-hole to tie the game at one apiece with just :47 left in the opening frame. In the second, the Cougars went back on the power play at 13:04 and Mike Wylie hit the crossbar and dropped in the crease and no goal, but Blackhawk kept working and Jake Polas scored on the rebound at 11:23 for a 2-1 lead for the home team. Freeport came right back as Marty Bollinger’s slapshot from the right point glanced off Fitzgerald’s glove to tie the game at 10:43. The Cougars regained the lead as Mike Wylie walked through the Yellow Jacket defense and dropped a beautiful feed to Matt Stepanian, who made no mistake on the ice down low and Blackhawk now had a 3-2 lead at 9:33. The game tightened up defensively as both teams engaged in a chess match, Bender’s attempt to tie the game hit the post with 4:59 remaining in the 2nd. On to the third period and Derek Gaworski and John Fitzgerald put on a goaltending clinic. Gaworski stopped the Cougars Peterson on the breakaway with 6:06 left. Fitzgerald stoned Freeport’s big guns Mike Bender and Dustin Gaworski with 5:01 remaining. Blackhawk’s Mike Wylie just missed with 4:39 remaining as Gaworski dove to push the puck wide. Blackhawk went on the power play on a very undisciplined penalty by Freeport with just 2:32 left, but the Yellow Jackets were the aggressor as Gaworski and Bender had some chances shorthanded, but Blackhawk held on as Freeport could not get the equalizer with a 3-2 win. The victory pole vaulted the Cougars into 8th place in the Class A standings and in position to capture a home playoff game.

AIRPORT - West Allegheny kept pace with Canon McMillan for an outside chance at the Class AA West Division title with an 8-0 victory over Greensburg Salem. Ed Jankoski scored twice and JustinHays, Tom Quinn, Josh Fuoco, Derek Keller, Josh Giegel and Tony Lutz added singles. The drive for 65 continues as Greensburg Salem becomes the 61st team covered by Pa Hockey with a little over two weeks remaining in an attempt to see all 65 Varsity teams.

MONROEVILLE – Franklin Regional is arguably Class AAA’s hottest team with six consecutive wins including recent victories over Mt Lebanon and Plum. Coach Jim Damp’s team is now in position to capture their first division crown since 1996, when those Panthers were coming off four consecutive Penguin Cup final appearances. This year’s team has people in the hockey circles talking about a possible contender as one of the teams who could surprise in the upcoming playoffs. Gateway knows all about that ‘potential playoff run team’ talk as the Gators have been a potential team for the past several years, who have showed that they can beat the best teams in the league……and frankly they are tired of hearing about it. So Dan Serakowski’s squad came into their most important game of the year knowing two important factors. First, Gateway would be playing without speedy Zach Flora, who is a key component to their playoff hopes and second that when the Gators score first they are 12-1-0 and when they don’t they are 1-6. So it was plain and simple for the Gators, get that first goal and their odds were real good in this one. The first period was evenly played with both teams getting a few decent scoring opportunities in the first nine minutes and the game remained scoreless until Matt Kopaczynski found himself with the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and he blasted a snapshot over the glove hand of Brandon Stallard and the Gators owned that coveted first goal at 6:30. Gateway appeared to have a 2-0 lead, but Lucas Pepper’s goal was directed in with a high stick and waived off at 2:51. Franklin came right back as Mike Roth found the net as his shot trickled past David Himes to tie the game at 1-1 with 2:36 left. Then the Panthers went on the power play and Roth buried a rebound off of a Jimmy Daugherty shot with just 31 ticks left in the opening period. In the second period, the Gators tied the game as Kopaczynski made a great move at the blue line and beat Stallard low to the stick side at 7:46. The game remained tied as neither team was able to capitalize on power play chances. The third period started and the Gators took the lead at 13:52 as Kopaczynski walked around the Panther defense and put a shot through the five hole for a 3-2 Gateway advantage. Then a break for the Gators occurred as Justin ‘L.A.’ Scott picked up a FR turnover and buried a wrist shot on the short side at 12:28 to give the home team a 4-2 lead. Gateway, learning from their last letdown against McDowell, started to play smart and simple hockey with some excellent work down low and pinning the Panthers in their own end for much of the third period. Franklin got a last ditch chance with a power play with 1:18 remaining and a 6 on 4 [goaltender pulled] but could not score on Himes. ‘L.A.’ Scott put the exclamation point on a huge Gateway victory with a [between 140 and 145 feet by the Gateway faithful in the lobby] long shot into an empty net with :03 left and a 5-2 Gator win.

ERIE ~ Cathedral Prep started off the 2002-2003 season like a ball of fire through mid-January with only one loss at the hands of Meadville in an early season affair at the ‘House of Chills’ 6-4. Coach Nels White’s squad looked to be in great form after defeating Eastern Pa power LaSalle in the Bulldog Invitational, but then dropped a lopsided game to Cleveland St Ignatius, which threw the Ramblers into a tailspin dropping games to archrival McDowell and Central Catholic. ECP has rebounded though and is back on track after a 10-3 pasting of Upper St. Clair earlier this week. Meadville is back atop the Class AAA Penguins Cup hunt and has played consistently well for a majority of the season. If Jamie Plunkett’s Bulldogs have an Achilles heal, it is that they sometimes have trouble finishing scoring opportunities, which has resulted in some ties and a loss to Gateway a week ago 3-2 and they need timely scoring entering the playoffs if they would like to end up in the winner’s circle in the Penguins Cup. After an adventurous drive to the Tullio Erie Civic Center, a crowd of an estimated 700 people braved the snowstorm to watch top of the top Western Pa schools get it on with the Class AAA West Lake Division title and some bragging rights at stake. This game took on significance for McDowell, who is in chase of Prep and many of the McDowell Trojans players were on hand to root for Meadville. The Ramblers opened the scoring at 10:52 as Pat Figurski found a rare loose puck in the Meadville slot and beat Danny O’Sharuk between the five hole for a 1-0 lead. O’Sharuk made several key saves as Prep continued to pressure the Bulldog backline on Jeff Dionosio at 9:30 and Jon Merriott at 5:42. Andrew Topa intercepted a Meadville clearing attempt and found a streaking Kyle Rogers, who went top shelf at 4:26 to give Prep a 2-0 lead. Meadville was now scrambling and the Ramblers had them in trouble as O’Sharuk stopped Doyle on the breakaway with 2:23 remaining and Pa Hockey top 25 selection David Moyer made a diving breakup of an attempted pass to a wide open Prep forward in the slot with 1:03 left. The Bulldogs began their efforts to build momentum early in the 2nd period and Phil Siverd made it count as he took a Brian Bahurinsky pass and buried it past Rob Allison to cut the lead to 2-1 at 11:25. Allison preserved the Rambler lead with point blank saves on Rick Thomas at 8:37 and Bahurinsky at 5:56. Then a puck and Kyle Rogers got behind the Bulldog defense with a little over a minute remaining….O’Sharuk came out to try to beat Rogers to the puck and Kyle also dove to poke in past O’Sharuk, which he did and while on his knees and an open net in front of him could not guide the puck in and give Prep a 3-1 lead. On to the third period and Prep was trying to get that two goal advantage but Danny O’Sharuk came up big as he stopped Jon Merriott on the breakaway at 10.25 and coupled that with several key stops on a Rambler power play at the ten minute mark. Then the Bulldogs went on the power play at 7:42 and Phil Siverd took a pass from Dan Craven out of the corner and blasted a slapshot through traffic on the short side past Allison to tie the game with 6:19 left. Meadville looked to take the lead and Allison came up big with stops on Harbaugh at 5:55 and Jeffrey Holabaugh at 4:15. The game then turned into a tight checking contest through the overtime in a hard fought 2-2 tie.