Bethel Park Blackhawks - 1997-2000 -2001-2002-2005 AAA

Championship Final Conestoga 2 Downingtown West 1 [OT] The Ice Line complex is located near West Chester in suburban Philadelphia and is the home ice for Conestoga and Downingtown West ice hockey programs. The Pioneers play in the illustrious Central Division of the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League and own a couple of State Championships dating back to 1985 and 1986, including a perfect season in 86 coached by former Fox Chapel and Upper St Clair head Taylor Railton. Mike Graves now leads a Conestoga program looking to make their mark in the Flyers Cup AA division. Interestingly enough Conestoga and Downingtown West, both AA Flyers Cup participants do not participate in the same division in the ICSHL. After the Downingtown East Cougars won the 2004 Kittanning Invitational, they decided not to return to defend their title. So by osmosis or by invitation, the Downingtown West Whippets made the trek to Kittanning to play in this year’s event. Coach Brad Wentzel took over the West program after the split of the Downingtown School District, which apparently is ready to split again. The amazing part to me is that West and East have been able to field very good hockey teams in consecutive years and come West and play their way to the Kittanning Invitational final. The Whippets defeated perennial Class A power Serra Catholic 5-3 and win the tiebreaker to gain a spot in the final. Downingtown West and Conestoga traded power play goals in the first period as Conestoga’s Billy Dunn scored at 9:11 assisted by Kyle Izett and Brian Wanner. The Whippets tied the game at 2:14 as Bobby Blanken scored on an assist from Evan Miller. After a scoreless 2nd period, a 1-1 battle turned into end-to-end action with tight checking and limited chances for both teams. With 4:41 remaining Downingtown West netminder Greg Graham made a spectacular save on the Pioneer’s Billy Conlin to keep the game tied at 1-1. And then with around a minute and a half remaining, Pioneer’s goaltender Jason Burriss made two terrific stops on Downingtown’s Brendan Smith and Evan Miller to send it to overtime. At 4:34 of overtime Conesotga’s Kyle Izett poked home a rebound past Brendan Smith after a scramble in front for the Invitational winning goal to capture the 2005 Kittanning Invitational. Kyle Izett was named tournament MVP for his outstanding performance for Conestoga. Conestoga outshot Downingtown West 27-22. 2005 Kittanning Invitational McDowell 7 Conestoga 3 Conestoga wrapped up a berth in the final of the 2005 Kittanning Invitational after defeating Latrobe 5-2 and Kittanning knocked off McDowell 4-3 with a comeback win last evening. The Trojans may have been playing Conestoga for a spot had it been able to hold onto a third period lead against the hosting Wildcats. McDowell defeated Conestoga 7-3 on the strength of four second period and two third period goals. Brandon Oathout led the way with a pair of goals for the Trojans, while Ryan Presnar, Matt Stahon, Nick DiSanti, Andy Kohler and Trevor Shaw added singles. Michael Dunn, Bill Dunn and Brian Wanner scored for the Pioneers. McDowell’s John Cleary stopped 33 of 36 shots to pick up the win in goal. Downingtown West 5 Serra Catholic 3 Downingtown West and Serra Catholic matched up in a game which would decide who would face Conestoga in the 2005 Kittanning Invitational final. The Eagles defeated AAA schools Baldwin 7-4 and Butler 8-1 an only needed a tie or a win to secure a spot in the Championship. The Whippets would need to defeat Serra and then face a flurry of possible tiebreaker scenarios after a win over Butler 10-2 and a loss to Baldwin 5-3. Downingtown West pulled off the victory on the strength of a pair of goals Bobby Blanken and single scores from Steve Blanken, Joe Tillman and Zach Bohm. The eventual game winner came with 10:33 remaining from Bohn and Bobby Blanken added an insurance tally late in the third period. Serra took a 2-2 tie to the final period and the Eagles goals were scored by Aaron Nolte, Jared Matthews and Steven Gruhalla as Serra outshot West 33-26. Greg Graham continued his fine play between the pipes for the Whippets with 30 saves and his team advanced on the tiebreaker of penalty minutes.

2005 Central Catholic Invitational November 18-20, 2005 Valley Sports Complex CHAMPIONSHIP MT LEBANON 5 CHEEKTOWAGA 1 SEMI-FINALS MT LEBANON 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 CHEEKTOWAGA 2 BETHEL PARK 1 (OT) FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 8 UPPER ST. CLAIR 1 NORTH ALLEGHENY 7 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 6 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 4 GERMANTOWN ACDEMY 4 MEADVILLE 2 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 5 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 1 MT. LEBANON 6 ORCHARD PARK 1 BETHEL PARK 7 THOMAS JEFFERSON 0 HOLY GHOST PREP 4 CALVERT HALL PREP 2 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 3 MEADVILLE 1 UPPER ST. CLAIR 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 6 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 4 ORCHARD PARK 4 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 MT. LEBANON 2 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 1 (OT) BETHEL PARK 5 CALVERT HALL PREP 0 HOLY GHOST PREP 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 5 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 2 UPPER ST. CLAIR 6 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 MEADVILLE 4 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 1 MT. LEBANON 4 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 2 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 2 (OT) ORCHARD PARK 3 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 2 BETHEL PARK 4 HOLY GHOST PREP 3 CALVERT HALL PREP 2 THOMAS JEFFERSON 2 (OT) SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20 Consolation Round CENTRAL CATHOLIC 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON 0 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 11 MONSIGNOR BONNER 3 MEADVILLE 5 CALVERT HALL PREP 0 UPPER ST. CLAIR 5 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 4 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 4 HOLY GHOST PREP 0 ORCHARD PARK 9 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 0 ***CHECK OUT A COMPLETE DAY 2 WRAP-UP IN GAME SUMMARIES*** See the entire Tournament Wrap-Up from the Valley Sports Complex on Pennsylvania's # 1 Website ***PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE 2005 Results and History of the Tournament***

2005 Central Catholic Invitational November 18-20, 2005 Valley Sports Complex CHAMPIONSHIP MT LEBANON 5 CHEEKTOWAGA 1 SEMI-FINALS MT LEBANON 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 CHEEKTOWAGA 2 BETHEL PARK 1 (OT) FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 8 UPPER ST. CLAIR 1 NORTH ALLEGHENY 7 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 6 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 4 GERMANTOWN ACDEMY 4 MEADVILLE 2 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 5 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 1 MT. LEBANON 6 ORCHARD PARK 1 BETHEL PARK 7 THOMAS JEFFERSON 0 HOLY GHOST PREP 4 CALVERT HALL PREP 2 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 3 MEADVILLE 1 UPPER ST. CLAIR 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 6 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 4 ORCHARD PARK 4 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 MT. LEBANON 2 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 1 (OT) BETHEL PARK 5 CALVERT HALL PREP 0 HOLY GHOST PREP 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON 3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 5 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 2 UPPER ST. CLAIR 6 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 MEADVILLE 4 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 1 MT. LEBANON 4 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 CHEEKTOWOGA CENTRAL 2 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 2 (OT) ORCHARD PARK 3 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 2 BETHEL PARK 4 HOLY GHOST PREP 3 CALVERT HALL PREP 2 THOMAS JEFFERSON 2 (OT) SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20 Consolation Round CENTRAL CATHOLIC 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON 0 DEMATHA CATHOLIC 11 MONSIGNOR BONNER 3 MEADVILLE 5 CALVERT HALL PREP 0 UPPER ST. CLAIR 5 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 4 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 4 HOLY GHOST PREP 0 ORCHARD PARK 9 ST. JEAN DE BREBEUF 0 ***CHECK OUT A COMPLETE DAY 2 WRAP-UP IN GAME SUMMARIES*** See the entire Tournament Wrap-Up from the Valley Sports Complex on Pennsylvania's # 1 Website ***PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE 2005 Results and History of the Tournament***

2005 Greensburg CC Final Greensburg CC 5 Norwin 2 On the trek to Greensburg Kirk Nevin arena, I couldn’t help to reflect about the many drives to practice each Thursday to Kirk Nevin for my high school team. What I really looked forward to knowing that every practice and every game, each of my teammates would be there with one single goal in mind, a league championship and a state championship, which our team accomplished in 1979 and came within one game of in 1980. In those days, there were travel teams and amateur programs and those teams played on the weekend and the high schools played during the week. The concept was that players would be afforded the ability to play for both teams and have the advantage of getting as much ice time as possible to improve their skills. A novel idea! In those days, there was as much debate as there is now about High School vs Amateur or Travel and that theory was put to test my senior year as my high school team participated in the annual Laurel Tournament, which is still held at Kirk Nevin and we beat the Westmoreland Midget AAA Team handily 5-1 in the Finals and were never invited back. So all of these people from THIS era [many of who coincidentally are now parents of current players] who want to tell me about their AAA midget programs and Junior B teams and how great that hockey is….my answer is to schedule the games. North Allegheny, Bethel Park and Meadville have a long history of not being afraid to play the AAA or AA midget or Junior B teams [which they did last season], but all I heard about was how the Junior B’s and the Midget AAA’s would beat them by eight or nine goals. When these players put up 100 goals in a 20 something season like Mike Sargo did for Gateway or John Mooney did for Serra Catholic, I will be a believer and both of those guys played travel hockey too and on the flip side, Ryan Malone and RJ Umberger, who played Division 1 and are now professional hockey players both played High School Hockey! Greensburg CC has a long history of winning teams including three Pennsylvania State Championships in the early to mid-1990’s with the last coming in 1996 with a victory over Upper Darby at the Johnstown War Memorial under coach Butch Marrietta. Current head coach Bill Bucholtz knows the Centurians were close to a run a year ago with hard fought 2-1 loss to eventual Pa AA champs Peters Twp in the Elite 8. With a strong nucleus returning led by sophomore goaltender Ryan Homanics and sophomore scoring machine Alfonso Arevalo, GCC could be one of the teams looking to take the next step in the process back to prominence in Class AA. All of the Centurians were present and accounted for cause they have a goal in mind from a year ago. The Norwin hockey program has been stuck in the mode of Class AAA whipping boys for the likes of the Bethel Park’s, Mt Lebanon’s, Meadville’s, etc. Coach Dave Warren likes the early season success of the Knights as they entered this evening’s Greensburg CC Invitational final on a roll of four straight victories including a heartstopping overtime win over Plum. The guarded optimism is that Norwin must have ALL of their guns in the lineup. Their best player and in my opinion one of the better returning forwards in Class AAA, Jimmy Recupero was noticeably absent and had a date with the Penguin [not the Penguins] for a mandatory October reindeer practice and is not allowed to come play with his team and his friends in front of neighbors and peers in a game of significance that the Norwin program has seen in a long time. So what would and should have been a match-up of this tournament’s two top talents was only left for imagination. With a packed house of GCC fans and Norwin students and faithful, the game began and GCC looked confident from the outset. At 13:47, the Centarians Evan George walked off the near board and slipped a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Mike Pochan for an early 1-0 GCC advantage. Then at 11:26 of the opening on the power play, the Centurians struck again as Frank Jupena whipped through the slot and lofted a backhander past the stick side of Pochan to make it 2-0. At 10:43, Dave Ulishney pounced on a loose puck in tight and deposited it past the Norwin goaltender to make it a quick 3-0 lead. The Knights would have an opportunity to get back in the game with a power play after the 3rd GCC goal in the first, which it failed, but made the best of a second chance at 7:48 as Mike Ulicny fought off the Centurian defenders and scored on a second rebound to put Norwin within striking distance at 3-1. Greensburg kept up the pressure on the Norwin defense and Dave Mattock cashed in at 4:02 for a 4-1 GCC stronghold on the game. On to the second we went and GCC continued the onslaught on Norwin goaltender Mike Pochan as Dan Seijk scored at 9:11 to make it a 5-1 advantage. With 1:39 remaining in the second, the Norwin faithful had something to cheer about as Jesse Kunkle burying a shot past Homanic on the power play to cut the lead to 5-2. So Norwin had to face the third period with an uphill climb of being down three without their difference maker and as well Phil Gigliotti, who went down with an injury in the 2nd. Mike Pochan returned to the form of the Plum game making a stop on the sniper Arevalo at 13:09. The Knights would have another chance on the power play at 12:27, but would not capitalize. Another power play at 8:30 for Norwin and nothing to show for it. Then frustration with 5 ½ left as the Knights took a penalty and GCC retaliated. The final count would turn out 5-2 in favor of the Centurians of Greensburg CC and their third title in four years as the teams headed toward the regular season in two weeks.

2005 Greensburg CC Final Greensburg CC 5 Norwin 2 On the trek to Greensburg Kirk Nevin arena, I couldn’t help to reflect about the many drives to practice each Thursday to Kirk Nevin for my high school team. What I really looked forward to knowing that every practice and every game, each of my teammates would be there with one single goal in mind, a league championship and a state championship, which our team accomplished in 1979 and came within one game of in 1980. In those days, there were travel teams and amateur programs and those teams played on the weekend and the high schools played during the week. The concept was that players would be afforded the ability to play for both teams and have the advantage of getting as much ice time as possible to improve their skills. A novel idea! In those days, there was as much debate as there is now about High School vs Amateur or Travel and that theory was put to test my senior year as my high school team participated in the annual Laurel Tournament, which is still held at Kirk Nevin and we beat the Westmoreland Midget AAA Team handily 5-1 in the Finals and were never invited back. So all of these people from THIS era [many of who coincidentally are now parents of current players] who want to tell me about their AAA midget programs and Junior B teams and how great that hockey is….my answer is to schedule the games. North Allegheny, Bethel Park and Meadville have a long history of not being afraid to play the AAA or AA midget or Junior B teams [which they did last season], but all I heard about was how the Junior B’s and the Midget AAA’s would beat them by eight or nine goals. When these players put up 100 goals in a 20 something season like Mike Sargo did for Gateway or John Mooney did for Serra Catholic, I will be a believer and both of those guys played travel hockey too and on the flip side, Ryan Malone and RJ Umberger, who played Division 1 and are now professional hockey players both played High School Hockey! Greensburg CC has a long history of winning teams including three Pennsylvania State Championships in the early to mid-1990’s with the last coming in 1996 with a victory over Upper Darby at the Johnstown War Memorial under coach Butch Marrietta. Current head coach Bill Bucholtz knows the Centurians were close to a run a year ago with hard fought 2-1 loss to eventual Pa AA champs Peters Twp in the Elite 8. With a strong nucleus returning led by sophomore goaltender Ryan Homanics and sophomore scoring machine Alfonso Arevalo, GCC could be one of the teams looking to take the next step in the process back to prominence in Class AA. All of the Centurians were present and accounted for cause they have a goal in mind from a year ago. The Norwin hockey program has been stuck in the mode of Class AAA whipping boys for the likes of the Bethel Park’s, Mt Lebanon’s, Meadville’s, etc. Coach Dave Warren likes the early season success of the Knights as they entered this evening’s Greensburg CC Invitational final on a roll of four straight victories including a heartstopping overtime win over Plum. The guarded optimism is that Norwin must have ALL of their guns in the lineup. Their best player and in my opinion one of the better returning forwards in Class AAA, Jimmy Recupero was noticeably absent and had a date with the Penguin [not the Penguins] for a mandatory October reindeer practice and is not allowed to come play with his team and his friends in front of neighbors and peers in a game of significance that the Norwin program has seen in a long time. So what would and should have been a match-up of this tournament’s two top talents was only left for imagination. With a packed house of GCC fans and Norwin students and faithful, the game began and GCC looked confident from the outset. At 13:47, the Centarians Evan George walked off the near board and slipped a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Mike Pochan for an early 1-0 GCC advantage. Then at 11:26 of the opening on the power play, the Centurians struck again as Frank Jupena whipped through the slot and lofted a backhander past the stick side of Pochan to make it 2-0. At 10:43, Dave Ulishney pounced on a loose puck in tight and deposited it past the Norwin goaltender to make it a quick 3-0 lead. The Knights would have an opportunity to get back in the game with a power play after the 3rd GCC goal in the first, which it failed, but made the best of a second chance at 7:48 as Mike Ulicny fought off the Centurian defenders and scored on a second rebound to put Norwin within striking distance at 3-1. Greensburg kept up the pressure on the Norwin defense and Dave Mattock cashed in at 4:02 for a 4-1 GCC stronghold on the game. On to the second we went and GCC continued the onslaught on Norwin goaltender Mike Pochan as Dan Seijk scored at 9:11 to make it a 5-1 advantage. With 1:39 remaining in the second, the Norwin faithful had something to cheer about as Jesse Kunkle burying a shot past Homanic on the power play to cut the lead to 5-2. So Norwin had to face the third period with an uphill climb of being down three without their difference maker and as well Phil Gigliotti, who went down with an injury in the 2nd. Mike Pochan returned to the form of the Plum game making a stop on the sniper Arevalo at 13:09. The Knights would have another chance on the power play at 12:27, but would not capitalize. Another power play at 8:30 for Norwin and nothing to show for it. Then frustration with 5 ½ left as the Knights took a penalty and GCC retaliated. The final count would turn out 5-2 in favor of the Centurians of Greensburg CC and their third title in four years as the teams headed toward the regular season in two weeks.