Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has named the Stellar 6 hockey players for the 2003-2004 season. Congratulations from Pa Hockey to the following players on their selection: Eric Sloan - Mt Lebanon - 2003-04 PG Player of the Year Chris Clackson - Peters Township Timmy Johnson - Serra Catholic Ryan Noone - Serra Catholic Matt Quigley - Fox Chapel Dan Zabkar - Bethel Park The regional Stellar 6 will be named this week and we will release those selections as soon as they become available !

Bill Thomas of Fox Chapel, Jace Buzek of Hempfield and Christian Hanson of Peter Twp are currently playing for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL into the Clark Cup League Championship against Waterloo, which begins tonight. Thomas is the leading scorer for the Storm in the playoffs and was the 3rd leading scorer in the USHL Junior A league for the 2003-2004 season.

The Keystone Games begin in Wilkes Barre-Scranton at the Ice Box in Pittston. Follow all of the action to the presentation of the Medals right here on Pa Hockey 2004 Game Results - Ice Box Pittston, Pa. August 6-8, 2004 Midget Division Central 6 East 3 West 6 South 1 West 4 Central 2 East 5 South 1 South 3 Central 2 East 4 West 3 Final Results Gold ~ East Congratulations to Head Coach Ernie Romeo and the Blue Mountain Pocono Region for capturing the Gold Medal Silver ~ West Bronze ~ East Bantam Division East 7 Central 2 South 9 West 3 West 8 Central 3 South 4 East 3 South 3 Central 1 East 6 West 5 OT Final Results Gold ~ South Congratulations to Head Coach Mark Gonsalves and the Philadelphia / Delaware Valley Region for capturing the Gold Medal Silver ~ East Bronze ~ West Junior Division East 5 Central 1 West 4 South 3 [OT] West 7 Central 0 South 5 East 1 South 5 Central 2 West 4 East 2 Final Results Gold ~ West Congratulations to Head Coach Tim Bosack and the Allegheny Region for capturing the Gold Medal Silver ~ South Bronze ~ East Girls East 4 Central 3 South 3 West 2 West 8 Central 3 South 4 East 2 South 8 Central 4 West 7 East 2 Final Results Gold ~ South Congratulations to Head Coach Greg Dugan and the Philadelphia / Delaware Valley Region for capturing the Gold Medal Silver ~ West Bronze ~ East

2004 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships PITTSBURGH – Archbishop Carroll 4 Peters Twp 2 ‘Peters Township is the champion until someone eliminates them from the playoffs’ has been mentioned quite a few times in the 2003-2004 season. After head coach Mark Cooper’s team defeated both South Park and Kittanning with impressive 4-1 and 8-1 margins and watched top seed Thomas Jefferson lose to Indiana in overtime, they looked to be a sure thing to win it all. Many Peters Twp fans started making arrangements for a three peat for a third consecutive Pennsylvania State Championship, but Indiana had other ideas in the 2004 Penguins Cup and held a 4-2 lead late into the 3rd period, but PT came back and tied the game with 6 seconds remaining in regulation on a goal by Kevin Kustron and then won it in overtime to move on to the Pennsylvania Cup Class AA championship. In the state finals over past two years defeating Archbishop Carroll at Rostraver in 2002 10-3 and then almost duplicating that feat in 2003, beating Holy Ghost Prep 9-3 at IceLine to capture their second State crown in as many years. In fact, Western Pennsylvania has not lost a Class AA State Championship since 1995, when Conwell Egan defeated North Catholic 4-1. So Peters Township was looking to join Erie Fairview [1977,1981&1982], Canevin [1983,1984 & 1989] and Thomas Jefferson [1998, 1999 & 2000] as 3-time Class AA State Champions. In mid-October, as I began to search for information on the internet for the upcoming season, I came upon the Peters Township schedule and interestingly there was a game scheduled with Archbishop Carroll on a Thursday night prior to the Kittanning Invitational, which the Patriots annually attend to face some of the better Class AA teams in the State of Pennsylvania. The game never happened and Head coach Bill Hammonds team looked anything like a State Final contender in that Invitational. The reason was that a handful of the Patriots were not in attendance and when Kittanning defeated them 7-1, I am sure a lot of people wrote off Archbishop Carroll, which is a mistake if you understand that Hammonds annually builds his teams for playoff runs and not for pre-season exhibitions in October. Carroll has won the Class AA Flyers Cup for four out of the past five years defeating Eastern Regional in 2000 by the score of 5-4, Archbishop Ryan 3-1 in 2001, Central Bucks West 8-1 in 2001 and Archbishop Wood 6-3 for its 4th in late March. The Patriots picked the wrong years to win the Flyers Cup because they faced a great Thomas Jefferson team in the 2000 finals at the Mellon Arena and lost 6-1, then met a high powered Beaver team in 2001 at Haverford and lost 8-4 and then received an aforementioned 10-3 pounding from a loaded Peters Twp team at Rostraver in 2002. By far the 2004 opponent in Peters Township would be the best chance for the Patriots to capture their first State Championship since 1981. Peters Township coach Mark Cooper took a gamble to start the game in starting Shane Frey in net as opposed to red-hot freshman Rob Madore. Peters Township came out in the first minute and was all over Archbishop Carroll and took the lead 1-0 when Gerry Raymond buried a wrist shot on the stick side past Mike Silver at 13:20. Bill Hammonds had to be scratching his head, but the whole hockey game would turn on the next faceoff as Shane Aldinger found a streaking John Piotrowicz, who just unleashed a long slapshot from just over the blueline through a screen, which handcuffed Shane Frey and trickled past him in to the net at 13:15 and Carroll was now tied at one apiece. This seemed to pick up the Carroll bench and instead of playing like scared rabbits, this team began to play with the confidence that carried them to the 2004 Flyers Cup. The next few minutes of the game would prove that as Peters Twp went on the power play at 13:00. Patriot goaltender Mike Silver began a magical goaltending performance at this point… as he made several key saves and built momentum for his team in front of him. After Silver robbed Gerry Raymond at 4:33, Carroll took the lead as Eric Tangradi banged home a Eric Chamness rebound [and yes folks, Chamness is related to Scott ‘the shot’ Chamness who lead AC to the 1981 crown] at 4:16 and the score read Archbishop Carroll 2 Peters Township 1. In came Rob Madore off the Peters Twp bench, but I am afraid that the damage had been done at this point and Carroll was not going to let this opportunity slip by. Mike Silver made the save of the hockey game at 3:14 of the first period with a sliding glove save on a sure goal by Si Bishop. Peters Township regained their composure and tied the game early in the second period as Mike Bucci threw the puck to the net and Dustin Roux pounced on the rebound and tied the game at 2-2 with 13:21 left in the period. Peters Township took two bad penalties in a span of 17 seconds, which would swing the momentum of this game back to Carroll. Harry Ireland showed great patience and left his teammates get set up on the two man advantage and found a wide open John Piotrowicz in the slot, who fired a bullet high over the glove side of Rob Madore to give Archbishop Carroll a 3-2 lead at the 12:11 mark. Piotrowicz made an excellent play to keep the puck in just a minute and a half later And Justin Rumsey found Shane Aldinger who beat Madore on the stick side for a 4-2 lead at 10:35 and the Patriot faithful were starting to believe this was their year. Carroll outshot Peters in the 2nd period 15-11 and kept the pressure on the Indians as Matt Lisowski had a great chance for the 5th goal with 2 opportunities at 6:22, which were turned away by Madore, who was keeping Peters chances alive at this point. The Indians had a great chance with 1:02 remaining on a Kevin Kustron breakaway, but Mike Silver rose to the challenge and Archbishop Carroll took a 4-2 lead to the locker room. The Patriot defense and forwards were the difference in the third period as Carroll outshot Peters in the third period 13-4 and limited the Indians to very little zone time. Justin Rumsey, Harry Ireland, Frank Viola, Josh Friedland and the rest of the Carroll defense and particularly the forward line of Matt Lisowski, Eric Tangradi and James Chamness silenced the Peters Township guns with simple solid defense, excellent coverage in the neutral zone and NO penalties to give Peters Township any momentum. Redemption for coach Bill Hammonds, who was a focused different man, who saw an opportunity for his club to capture a State Championship, which had eluded Archbishop Carroll in four trips and whatever he told his team Friday night at their meeting at the hotel, it worked because the easiest way to win a State Championship is to be one of the participants and the way to win it is a team effort and over the past ten plus years, this was one of the best ones I have seen in that period. As I said in my preview, Mike Silver would have to play the game of his life, which he did, but the credit goes to the 19 other guys and coaching of Hammonds, who made believers out of everyone in attendance that Archbishop Carroll deserves to be Pennsylvania High School Hockey Class AA Champions in 2004.

2004 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships PITTSBURGH – Malvern Prep 4 Mt Lebanon 3 Mt Lebanon came into the 2004 Pennsylvania Cup Class AAA game on a roll in defeating defending Pennsylvania Class AAA champions Meadville 3-0 at the Mellon Arena on March 28th. The Blue Devils have had their greatest season since they opened the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center way back in 1977 and were looking to capture their first State Championship since 1976 and just for a little good luck the head coach of that team Mickey McDermott and his star goaltender Rich Cunningham, paid a little visit to the Robert Morris Neville Island Sports Center and sat way up in the top row of the end zone to root on the Blue Devils along with the entire borough of Mt Lebanon including Alumni, students in a jam packed arena. Mt Lebanon’s team has been built by head coach Paul Taibi with one goal in mind and believe me, Taibi is a coach who understands the process of what it takes to win a State Championship after serving many years with Bethel Park. Every amount of energy in scouting and working with an excellent group of kids and parents has been expended to this point and Mt Lebanon now faced a monumental challenge against a hungry team, who has lost three consecutive State Championships by just one goal and was looking to make it four, Malvern Prep has been to the State Finals each of the past four years and has been the dominant teams in the Eastern half of the State for a half dozen or so. The Friars have only one State Championship to show for their efforts in 1990, which may frustrate some teams but not Malvern Prep. Head coach John Graves had a little prediction he wanted to share with me and a great gathering of conversation with myself, the Radnor coaching staff and parents, a super group of Archbishop Carroll folks, Philly Inquirer writer Joe Santoloquito and of course Father Ed Casey [who is a staple of the Friar program], who on Friday night and I made a promise to myself that I would tell no one about that prediction. Since 1990, the Eastern Pennsylvania teams have not swept the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships and that was the year Malvern Prep won it and When coach Graves visited me prior to this years Championship game not more than a half hour before the game, I told him that it was his turn to hold up what he said Friday night which was ‘we are going to win ALL three tomorrow’. So after Radnor and Archbishop Carroll won the Class A and Class AA Pennsylvania Cups, Malvern Prep seemed destined and especially after they were almost extinguished by Holy Ghost Prep in the Flyers Cup semis and down 4-1 in the middle of the second. Chris Campanale became the official spokesperson for the Friars with a hat trick followed and a big 6-4 comeback victory with five teammates including star forward Warren Byrne, goaltender Mark Cetola and Campanale’s four year teammate defenseman Will Averona in the stands. Complete faith is what I call it of a coach in his players to reach a goal set and Graves calmly decided to name Mark Cetola starting goaltender in favor of Flyers Cup MVP freshman Bryan Mountain. The first period was a clean hard hitting period as Malvern Prep showed why they are the most talented offensive team in the State outshooting Mt Lebanon 12-6, but Matt Vaughn continued his outstanding goaltending that has only yielded one goal in his first four playoff games. An interesting contrast in defensive hockey by Mt Lebanon and pressing offense by Malvern Prep of attacking and countering took place as the score remained 0-0 at the end of one period. On to the second and the Malvern pressure yielded a rare turnover by the Mt Lebanon defense and Justin Martin buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of Matt Vaughn at 13:41 for a 1-0 Friar advantage. Mt Lebanon went on the power play at 13:08 and Dan Wilen made a great play to strip the puck of a Malvern forward and then finished off some nice work by Eric Sloan and Tony Valerino, to pounce on a rebound and tie the game at one apiece at 11:25. The teams exchanged power plays in the middle of the period as Mt Lebanon carried the play with an 11-8 shot advantage for the 2nd period and the Blue Devils would take the lead on a turnover by the Malvern Prep defense as Bryan Colligan deposited a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Mark Cetola at 1:17 after a nice effort by James Cichra and Mt Lebanon was fifteen minutes away from erasing 28 years since its last state title. Malvern’s goaltender Mark Cetola kept his team within one goal early in the third period robbing Cichra from in close at 14:33. Warren Byrne, who had been very quiet in the 2004 playoffs, delivered a huge goal less than a minute later as his shot took a weird deflection which fooled Matt Vaughn and sailed high over the glove hand of the Mt Lebanon goaltender to tie the game with 13:48 left in regulation at 2-2. Mt Lebanon looked to regain the lead as Malvern took two undisciplined penalties in a row at 13:20 and 10:41, but Malvern had the best scoring chance as Byrne was in on the breakaway, but Matt Vaughn stopped him at 10:30. The Blue Devils would counter as Eric Sloan took a pass just inside the blue line and split the Malvern Prep defense and like lightning chipped the puck on the backhand high over the glove side of Mark Cetola for a 3-2 lead with 8:51 left in regulation. Malvern Prep did not panick and Byrne took the puck from his own end and skated it into the Mt Lebanon zone and cut across the ice and fired a low wrist shot to the far stick side beating Matt Vaughn to tie the score with 5:34 to play in the third period. Less than a minute later, Mt Lebo’s Billy Leckenby had a great opportunity to give the Blue Devils the lead again but Mark Cetola came up with a big pad save at 4:29 to keep the score 3-3. Less than a minute later Nick Averona beat the Mt Lebanon defense to the puck and pushed it to the corner where Keith Ennis found it who fed Tim Horn who buried a wrist shot to give Malvern Prep a 4-3 lead with 3:59 remaining in regulation. Mt Lebanon pressed for the equalizer but could not beat Cetola, who stopped 26 of 29 shots and Malvern Prep claimed its first Pennsylvania Cup Class AAA State Championship in 14 years with a thrilling 4-3 victory over an excellent Mt Lebanon team. For Malvern Prep a little redemption for three empty prior trips to the State Finals for John Graves and the last player off the ice for Malvern Prep was Will Averona, who now can put behind him the infamous ‘stick measurement’ at Rostraver in 2002 and finally after four years can lay claim along with his teammates to the best team in the State of Pennsylvania as 2004 Pennsylvania High School Hockey champions and the prediction of his coach who predicted a sweep and his team delivered the final piece to the puzzle.