Butler Toronadoes

MONROEVILLE - North Hills has had a true roller coaster season in 2002-2003 as the Indians have had their highs in handing Bethel Park their only loss 1-0 and the lows in losing to a couple of sub .500 teams. Chuck Parkinson, has taken over the helm from departed John Daley and has the team at 9-7-0, which is respectable in the AAA South. Gateway would be looking to put a stranglehold on the AAA East Division lead and a little distance between themselves and Franklin Regional. Coach Dan Serakowski's squad has been tripped up by Cathedral Prep, Bethel Park, Central Catholic and Plum while winning 11 games thus far. In a scoreless game, North Hills Mark Rombach slammed home a rebound with 3:38 remaining in the opening period to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. NH was throwing out body checks like it was the first of the month including a bone jarring check by Tyler Cummaings on Matt Kopaczynski after the opening goal. North Hills contined putting good pressure on the Gators which resulted in an Indian power play a 11:25 of the 2nd. Off the ensuing faceoff, Mark Keyser gathered a loose puck in the slot and beat David Himes through a screen on the stick side and all the sudden North Hills led 2-0. Keyser scored again at 4:25 of th middle period on a nice give and go out of the near corner. With their backs to the wall, Gateway responded on the power play at 3:28 as Lucas Pepper scored on the rebound t give Gateway a big goal and cut the lead to 3-1. Pepper was not done yet as he would not be denied dring a big scramble in front of Casey Dudt-Mulzet as he scored with no time left on the clock and Gateway went to the locker room iwth a slim 3-2 disadvantage after two. On the power play, North Hills secrued a two goal lead as Keyser scored on th rebound at 12:15 to give the Indians a 4-2 lead. Matt Kopaczynski came right back as he caught the Indian defense flat footed and beat Dudt Mulzet high to the glove side and the Gators were back within one at 4-3 at the 8:49 mark . The North Hills took two undisciplined penalties to put Gateway on a 5 on 3 with 5:07 remaining. With the game on the line, Gateway was a little impatient with the two man advantage, but the trio of penalty killers for North Hills was fabulous limiting Gateway to mostly outside opportunities. Tyler Cummings made a huge play as he intercepted a back door passing play and cooley cleared it from danger tomaintain the 4-3 lead for NH. Te Indians would hold on for a huge win and more confidence as they knock off their second division leader this season.

HARMARVILLE - A rematch of an overtime thriller in last years Penguins Cup semi finals took place last night before a good crowd at Harmarville. Central Catholic was looking for payback from the overtime defeat suffered at the hands of Bethel Park, which spurred the Hawks on to their third straight Pennsylvania AAA crown. Coach Kevin Zielmanski's squad has been strong through the middle of the season with a 9-0-1 mark in its last ten games and was looking foward to facing its nemesis Bethel Park. Bethel Park has matured after losing a bus full of seniors from last years squad and some leftover Hawks and some new ones have molded into a pretty mature and poised club through the midway point of the season. Head coach Jim McVay has to be pleased that some of his younger players have filled the jerseys very well in leading the Hawks to a 12-1-2 start. The first period was tight checking and featured some excellent defensive work and backchecking by both clubs and remained scoreless. With Bethel on its second power play of the evening Jacobus Bleik lofted a shot from the left side which Viking netminder Bryan Adamczak kicked aside, unfortunately for Central, Michael Diethorn was positioned perfectly high in the slot and he buried a wrister to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. The second period was much like the first as the teams worked to gain opportunities while limiting mistakes. Bethel Park started to stretch the ice and Brandon Hanley looked to be onside behind the Viking defense, but the breakaway was blown dead on the offsides with a little over four minutes left in the middle frame. That would turn out to be huge as Eddie Martin found Matt Capalongo behind the Hawk defense and he beat Matt Feige with the backhand to tie the game at 1-1 with just 36 seconds left. On to the third and CC had a golden opportunity on the power play at 13:20 as Joe Coulter was alone in front but just missed an open shot on Feige. Central had power play opportunities, but a combination of poised Bethel Park penalty killing and impatience by the Vikings kept the score tied at 1-1. Then McVay got the line mismatch he wanted and with 4:51 Brandon Hanley found Grady Clingan [who had five penalties in the Hawks prior game against North Allegheny which should have been a Game Misconduct but was eliminated when the penalty was changed by the referees after the game] alone in front and he chipped the puck past Adamczak to give Bethel Park a 2-1 lead. Central Catholic came right back as Michael McGurk got loose behind the Bethel Park defense and beat Feige on the backhand at 3:19 to tie the game with just 3:19 left. But the Hawks showed their resilience as Brandon Hanley, on a great individual effort, warded off all-star defenseman Chris Niznik and as he was falling down got enough stick on his shot to score in the lower corner and give BP the lead with exactly 3:00 to go. Central was not done yet as they received a power play with 1:23 left and Coach Z pulled the goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage.....Bethel killed in with a little help from the Vikings, who lacked patience and forced shots. Matt Feige was outstanding again stopping 20 of 22 Central shots in a 3-2 victory for Bethel Park.

MT LEBANON - Canevin woke up Monday morning to find itself in a position it hadn't been in over two years and the Crusaders were ranked # 4 in the latest Post Gazette ranking. Brian Henderson's squad was riding high after defeating Peters Twp last week 6-4 in a monumental upset victory. West Allegheny on the other hand was looking to keep Canon McMillan within striking distance in the West Division as they have faced a majority stronger Class AA opponents in the seasons first half. Sean Hart's troops are looking for consistency in scoring heading down the stretch into the playoffs. A wide open opening minutes saw both team have good scoring opportunities as Regis McGrath was stopped by WA's Phil Sweet at 14:03 and Ian Skacan was stoned by Patrick Smith at 12:53. West Allegheny's Josh Geigel opened the scoring as he wristed one stick side past Smith at 9:24 to make it 1-0. The Indians struck again a minute later as captain defensman Tom Quinn unleashed a wrist shot through a screen, which found paydirt and gave WA a 2-0 lead at 8:42. West Allegheny was not done as Josh Fuoco deflected a Skacan pass upstairs on the shortside and the Indians were off and running at 3-0 after one period. Early in the Second, WA continued to pressure and Ian Skacan found a loose puck and buried it past Smith and the Indians now led 4-0. Canevin's Scott Christopher got the Crusaders on the board at 12:11 with a heavy slapshot which beat Sweet on the glove side. It took West Allegheny only 10 seconds to counter as Geigel tipped a shot from the point past the Canevin goalie and the Indians were smelling upset after two periods with a commanding 5-1 lead. Canevin attempted to rally in the third but goals by WA's Skacan and Fuoco put the game out of reach 7-3 at the 5:25 mark. Late goals by the Crusaders Justin Holzer and Regis McGrath in the final minute made the score alot closer than the outcome as West Allegheny picked up a huge 7-5 upset victory over Canevin.

HARMARVILLE - In the quest to see all 65 varsities this season......the Blue Jeep arrived at Harmarville for the 9:20 game. Center and Valley squared off in a battle of two teams, who are fighting to get out of the basement of their respective divisions. After Justin Summerville gave Center a 1-0 lead in the opening period, Valley's Trevor Lutz scored at 7:43 of the 2nd to tie the game. At the 5:04 mark of he middle period, Zach Gray slipped a shot through the 5-hole of Logan Harding and the Trojans now led 2-1. The Vikings came right back as Dave Roberts banked a shot off Center goaltender Dan Sustar to tie the game at 2-2 at 2:14. Roberts gave Levi Mohney's Valley squad its first lead at 6:55 on a rebound at 3-2. Justin Sumerville tied the game with 5:40 left at 3-3. Goaltenders Sustar and Harding made key saves down the stretch as the game headed for overtime. Summerville completed the Hat Trick and gave Center the victory with just 48 seconds remaining in overtime. Special honors went to Sustar, who stopped 27 of 30 Valley shots on the evening subbing for all star teammate Justin Garay.

MONROEVILLE - December 14 2000 was a trip to the Golden Mile Ice Center, which many of the Bethel Park Blackhawks will never forget and most of this years squad never saw.....a rare 3-2 loss on a final minute [:43] Matt Kopaczynski slapshot over Andrew Torchia's shoulder to give the Gators the victory. Many of the current Gator seniors remember it well because it has been a drought ever since. The Blachawks have gone onto three state Pennsylvania State Championships and Gateway stuck in struggling to get out of the second round of the playoffs. So here we are in Janaury 2003 and Gateway has its veteran team of seniors, who now have a thorn in their side....Bethel Park, who sent the Gators packing in last year playoffs........would this be motivation for the Gators or more frustration. A majority of the three State Championship teams players jerseys are now filled with a new group of Hawks and would they be intimidated by Gateway's high powered offense ? The first period was good physical hockey from the outset with both teams throwing their weight around. The young Bethel team was the aggressor, but show tremendous poise and patience working the out of their own zone and puck into the Gateway zone, while the veteran Gators were furiousley trying to rush the BP net to get shots at Matt Feige. The Hawks broke through at 3:10 as Grady Clingan gathered a loose puck from behind the net and stuffed a wraparound past David Himes to make it 1-0. Feige made two key stops on Matt Kopaczynski and Chris Gyke to preserve the 1-0 advantage for BP. Although the second period was scoreless, Feige and Himes made several good stops duruing power play opportunities by both clubs. BP Coach Jim McVay attempted to spring his forwards behind the Gator defense late in the second and early in the third. That strategy paid off as Clingan found some open ice at 11:40 of the third and wristed a shot past Himes on the stick side for a huge goal and a 2-0 Bethel Park lead. Gateway turned up the heat on offense and the Hawks met the challenge as Feige stopped Flora at 9:53 and Kopaczynski at 8:31. Dan Zabkar got into the act blocking several Gateway passes and shots in the 3rd to keep the Gators off the board. Clingan added an empty netter to complete the hat trick and give Bethel Park a 3-0 victory. As a symbol of his teams practice, McVay scooped the puck off the Golden Mile ice an pocketed it for another team victory for the Hawks.