Butler Toronadoes

MONROEVILLE - Gateway coach Dan Serakowski knows nothing about last season where the Gators tied or lost 13 games where they had the lead or were tied going to the third period and frankly I don't think that matters with this years team because Gateway has had only one bump in the road in a 6-1 start. North Allegheny on the other hand started this season like gangbusters defeating Meadville in the opener and coach Brian Hershberger had to be wondering where it all went after NA were handed a 6-1 pummeling at the hands of long time division nemesis McDowell last week. An undisciplined Gateway penalty in the first period resulted in the opening cscore at 1:51 on the power play as Jake Ridey popped home a rebound to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage. Early in the second period, the Gators had a 5 on 3 opportunity with alot of perimeter passing with very limited scoring chances and no goals. Maybe the best philosiphy sometimes is to just shoot the puck and that's what happen as Zach Flora shot a wrister at Bobby Daley on the shortside which handcuffed the NA Netminder and tied the score at 1-1 at 10:42. NA's Joe Rosenberg came right back at 9:42 as he tipped in a Jason Ryan shot from the point past David Himes to make it 2-1. Gateway went to work on the power play and it was the Gators little big man Lucas Pepper stationed in front, who took a nice pass from Chris Gyke and beat Daley upstairs to tie the game at 7:49. North Allegheny's Marc Clermont missed a golden opportunity late in the second at 2:15 with a wide open net and a down and out Himes but could not control the bouncing puck and the score remained tied. On to the third and the Gators struck early as Gyke threw the puck out in front where Pepper fought off an NA defender and threw the puck to the net at 14:08 which glanced off another Tiger and into the net for a 3-2 Gateway lead. The Gators picked up the pace and Matt Kopaczynski, who if he hit the net half the time would score 50 + goals, struck paydirt and made his eight shot of the evening beat Daley to give his team a two goal edge 4-2. While he was hot, Kopaczynski did it again at 6:06 getting his own rebound and scoring to extend the Gator lead to 5-2. NA's Neal Lancaster scored with 18 seconds remaining to make it 5-3 and as it proved to be too little ...too late and Gateway went on to a 5-3 victory setting up a big matchup with Cathedral Prep on Thursday.

CONNELLSVILLE [Special to Pa Hockey] - On December 23, 2000 Pa Hockey was only three days old and Connellsville defeated Woodland Hills 8-3 at the Ice Mine. The Falcons had gone almost 30 games winless until tonight with an 8-2 victory over Woodland Hills.

BETHEL PARK - Plum coach Stu Relnick was looking forward to this game with Bethel Park as a measuring stick for his young club, which had reeled off seven consecutive victories after an opening night loss to Franklin Regional. The Mustangs were ranked # 3 in this weeks Post Gazette poll and it seemed worthy of the ranking, but a notch in their belt would be a win over the three time defending state champion. Bethel Park is ranked fourth in the poll after a couple of stumblings against North Hills and Baldwin left the Hawks at 4-1-1, Head coach Jim McVay was looking for his club and maybe some of his leaders to step to the forefront from a stiff challenge from the Mustangs. A very well played first period saw both teams play excellent defensive hockey through the opening ten minutes. Then Plum took an undisciplined penalty at 3:10 of the first and Bethel made them pay as Brandon Hanley scored on the wrist shot through the 5 hole of B.J. Schreib to make it 1-0. Plum came back in the second period as Phil Mains tipped a Danny Coyle shot from the right point past Brian Bakowski to knot the game at 1-1 at 13:47. Plum seemed to be taking the play to the Hawks, but Grady Clingan shot a puck from a wierd angle which hit off Schreibs back and gave Bethel the lead at 10:46 at 2-1. Another undisciplined penalty by Plum led to Hanley walking off the near boards and firing a wrist shot upstairs on the glove side past Schreib at 7:11 on the power play and extended the Bethel lead to 3-1. Just a minute later, Clingan came over the blue line and unleashed a big slapshot past Schrieb to give Bethel a 4-1 lead. J.P. Balson relieved Schreib and played well keeping the Hawks off the board. The Mustangs had a great chance late in the second to get back in the game with a 5 on 3, but Bethel performed some excellent penalty killing and took the starch out of the Mustangs and the score stood at 4-1. In the third period, Bethel Park was up to its old tricks as the Hawks stymied Plum with the territorial advantage and in shots at 10-4. The Mustangs pulled the goalie and Hanley scored on a 180 foot slapshot into an empty net to complete the hat trick and pace BP to a 5-1 victory.

CRANBERRY - Sewickley Academy Erik Hoolihan knows the rigors of starting a Varsity Program in Interscholastic Hockey and now that the Panthers are returning to Class A competition in the 2002-2003 season for the first time in three years, he has to have little advice for Linsly skipper Darryl Crews about patience. The Cadets have started off their inuagural season at 0-5 and have not been real close to victory in any of their starts thus far, so when Matt Jividen gave Linsly a 1-0 lead in the first period, coach Hoolihan probably sensed a false sense of security on the opposing bench. The Panthers Trevor Heck tied the game with a power play goal with 5:26 left in the opening period at 1-1. The second period saw Sewickley Academy have the better of the play and made it count as captain Jake Creese scored at the 8:35 mark to give his team the lead 2-1. Linsly attempted to pressure SA early in the third and the Panthers made them pay as Creese used good speed to get a breakaway goal at 13:40 beating Linsly keeper Keith Bramer on the backhand. Just nine seconds later, freshman callup Bradley Watts scored at 13:31 to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead. Lightning struck again as Watts bettered himself only seven seconds later beating Bramer on the glove side and chasing the Linsly goaltender from the nets at 13:24 and giving Sewickley a 5-1 lead. Alce Shannon closed out the scoring at 1:20 as Sewickley ended a 5-game losing skid with a 6-1 victory. Karthik Reddy stopped 16 of 17 Cadets shots between the pipes.

CRANBERRY - If there are two clubs in Class AAA who have been on a roller coaster ride this early season, it has been North Hills and Shaler. Rich Michalowski's young Titans are gearing for a late season run for Shaler with a good mix of young talent with some veteran players. As for John Daley's North Hills squad you just have wonder which team is gonna show up. The Indians ended Bethel Park's 47 game regular season streak two weeks ago with a 1-0 victory, but have a loss to improved but young Penn Trafford club on the resume. The pre-game chant by NH took place in the runway prior to the Shaler match up and carried right into the opening of the game as Matt Rombach scpored at 14:10 to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. The with 9:48 remaining, Tyler Cummings followed up his own rebound and beat Eddie Stotts to extend the NH lead to 2-0. Shaler woke up in the second period as Justin Thomas took a beautiful pass from Chris Sczypinski and beat Casey Dudt-Mulzet to cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:27 on the power play. North Hills came right back at 10:24 as Mark Keyser extended the Indian lead to 3-1. Thomas made a great move on Dudt Mulzet at 7:20 to make it 3-2 and pull Shaler within one goal. On to the third period and Mark Adams beat Stotts on the backhand at 12:00 to give North Hills a two goal advantage. It didn't last long as Justin Thomas took the ensuing faceoff and beat Dudt-Mulzet upstairs on the short side to complete the hat trick to make it 4-3. The Indians Rombach put the game on ice at 2:58 with a wrist shot between the 5-hole and North Hills added an empty netter at the buzzer to coast to a 6-3 victory.