Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2003 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Ice Line – West Chester, Pennsylvania March 30, 2003 The end of another season for Interscholastic Hockey in Pennsylvania ! As the Blue Jeep pulled out of the IceLine and headed for a post game celebration with my Philly brotherhood of Jeff Nolan, Matt Sacks, John Bria and other Philly fanatics, I couldn’t help take a breather and reflect on a great weekend of Pennsylvania Hockey which unfolded. A tip of the hat to John Graves and Greg Dugan and the staff at Ice Line for a wonderful banquet Saturday night and well run Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships at IceLine. Saturday night a chance to visit with six of the most different but excellent coaches we have in Pennsylvania….John Graves of Malvern Prep, ‘the Doctor’ Jamie Plunkett, Mark ‘Coop’ Cooper and Ed Ritti III, who have been to the State Finals before and have done it their way in spurring their teams to respective Penguins and Flyers Cup Championships in 2003. Then the sentiment set in as my good friends Art ‘King Arthur’ McQuillan of Westmont Hilltop and Brian Tibbels of Holy Ghost Prep finally reached the title game they have coveted for so long, could this be their year………each would face very difficult challenges. A chance to visit with Bob Kohlbacher, Rick Doyle, Greg Dugan, Don Helms, Ken Reddy, Eric Turner, Vinnie Sammartino and the Eastern heads of state and discuss the happenings of Eastern Pa Hockey, while sharing the goings on in Western Pa. Joining us from Western Pa to assist to cheer on their favorite teams and assist in the media coverage were Ed 'Jake' Jacobs' Bob ‘the Bus Driver’, ‘Super Fan’ Dan Lenzi, Doug ‘Super Techno’ Heck, Tribune Democrat’s Mike Mastovitch from Johnstown….WJPA’s Earl Bugaile, Pete Feltovitch, Rick ‘don’t call me Dave’ Tingle from Peters and from Meadville Hap and Haz, WMGW’s Gary Clark and Dick Tedesco, Meadville Tribune’s Mike Pidnanik, Bulldog Invitational staples Carol and Chip McEarlane, Ronnie ‘the MC’ Pusz and a whole host of fans and family ! A trip to the Pennsylvania High Hockey Championships for the 14th time for myself brought home some memories of 1977 [26 years ago], my first trip to Philly for the Finals, which culminated at the old Lafayette Rink in King of Prussia. The 2003 season ended with several different storylines as Radnor broke the Western Pennsylvania streak of three straight years of sweeps in the Pennsylvania Cup avenging their loss from a year ago to Serra and winning a tight 2-1 game over a very good Westmont Hilltop team. For assistant coach Ed Ritti Jr., a gentleman involved in Interscholastic Hockey in the early 1970’s in helping start the Malvern Prep program culminating in a great win coaching with his son Ed Ritti III and first State Championship for Radnor winning the 2003 Class A Pennsylvania Cup. Peters Twp capped off an impressive run to a 2nd State Championship with a 9-3 throttling of Holy Ghost Prep in a game that was pretty one-sided from the beginning and placed the Indians with the likes of the most dominant Class AA teams in history including 1999 Thomas Jefferson, 1997 Erie Cathedral Prep, 1994 Greensburg CC, 1984 Canevin or 1982 Erie Fairview teams, who were able to finish the season as State Champions in dominating fashion. Matt Schwartz, Mike Papciak, Matt Clackson, Kyle Kittleberger, Christian Minella, Brandon Rubeo, and the rest of the Indians put a stamp on maybe one of the best teams in State History. Then there is Meadville, who with the tradition fading a little, gave us one more reminder of why coach Jamie Plunkett is one the best coaches ever to step behind the bench in the State of Pennsylvania, by proving that they can come of a crowd of nearly a dozen teams, who realistically had a chance at the Pennsylvania Cup and rise to the top. The Bulldogs did it with timely goals, great fundamental defense and a refuse to lose attitude that has permeated in Meadville for a long time. The love affair of the Bulldog faithful, the boosters, the players and the coaches reunited and will undoubtedly go on all summer long prior to another banner being raised in the ‘House of Chills’. As for the future of Interscholastic Hockey, well we all know we should stay tuned to Pa Hockey as the hobby turned website has now over 130,000 visitors and nearly doubled this season………so a big thank you to all of you out there who log on and follow Pa Hockey. The Pa Hockey History will now be turned up a notch as we begin to recount the past 34 years of Eastern and Western Pa Hockey with pictures and stories of Pa Hockey. We can’t go without mentioning the end of two great runs by Bethel Park and Serra Catholic, who defeated in the Penguins Cup playoffs while looking for their fourth consecutive Pennsylvania State Championships at Class AAA and A respectively. Both of those schools will return next year looking to return to form. And also we should Bill Hammond’s Archbishop Carroll Patriots, who failed for the first time in four years to make it to the Pa Class AA finals. Maybe without getting into a preview we should look to the future and the likes of Mt Lebanon or LaSalle or Central Catholic or Cardinal O’Hara possibly move into Championship picture in Class AAA or West Chester Henderson, Thomas Jefferson, Abington, or Kittanning at Class AA and finally can Bishop McCort get back in the Class A picture with possibly Bishop McDevitt from the CPIHL or Mr Nolan’s Neshaminy Redskins. I guess we’ll have to wait until November to see another season of Pa Hockey begin! Have a great summer and we’ll be back and better than ever later this year with a clean car courtesy of Mr Nolan ! And as Al Morganti eluded to at the State Championship banquet in his great speech….. remember these things about hockey and life: Ø You can’t play without laces in your skates they are the cheapest piece of equipment yet the most critical Ø You need to respect the selfless people at the rinks by being courteous to the rink personnel who groom your playground Ø Remember that the game is all about fun and you should always play it that way for as long as you can because someday you will appreciate these times Ø When you leave the rink learn the lesson of Pelle Lindburgh [the brilliant goaltender who lead the Philadelphia Flyers to their last Stanley Cup before dying tragically] that one stupid mistake can take your life Ø And finally find out what drives you as a player, a coach and a fan …..for me it was the Blue Jeep and the thought of Nolan dressed in a Peters Jersey washing it when he comes to visit this summer…………and maybe just the ‘love of the game’, which really him home as my 4-year old son Jamie waited for me Monday at the door to see his special puck and special books that dad brought home ! Maybe coach Plunkett was right “you don’t appreciate something until its gone”…………..so I say "cherish it while you can"!

2003 Pennsylvania Class AAA Champions Meadville Bulldogs Brian Bahurinsky-24 Christian Nickerson-10 Jeffrey Holabaugh-8 Philip Sivero-11 David Moyer-7 Richard Thomas-21 Daniel Craven-27 Justin Wehrle-17 Nathan Liscinski-15 Christopher Claspy-2 Brian Learn-25 Daniel Durkee-9 Shawn Harbaugh-4 James Noon-16 Justin Wilkinson - 20 Christopher Leone-22 Casey Rogers - 6 Tyler Learn-26 Daniel O'Shurak-35 Head Coach - Jamie Plunkett Assistant Coach - Richard Holababaugh - Ben Corey

2003 Pennsylvania Class AA Champions Peters Township Indians 90 Si Bishop 80 Corey Bovalina 51 Chris Clackson 55 Matt Clackson 9 Dan Crogan 66 Nick Domachowski 67 Rob Feltovich 40 Shane Frey 39 Keith Huffman 37 Kyle Kittelberger 71 Kevin Kustron 57 Matt Lazzaro 20 Harry McGovern, III 11 Christiaan Minella 31 Mike Papciak 69 Gerry Raymond 77 Garett Rooney 38 Brandon Rubeo 12 Mike Sherer 16 Brandon Tingle 91 Matt Schwartz Head Coach - Mark Cooper Assistant Coach - Scott Simmons Team Manager - Chris Domachowski

2003 Pennsylvania Class A Champions Radnor Raiders 4 NICK RYDER 5 ROB LOOLOIAN 6 SEAN KAVANAUGH 7 BART BITTERMAN 9 BRAD DOWLIN 11 CHRIS BRENNAN 15 GREG GALLAGHER 19 BEN MORSE 20 CHRIS DAMBLY 21 GILBERT DAVIS 22 LEE SINKOW 23 ED DEVINE 24 AUSTIN COHEN 25 JONI EK 27 DOUG VON ALLMEN 29 DAN CHEATLE 32 ERIK JOHNSON 37 JASON BOCK 41 TAYLOR VIT HEAD COACH - ED RITTI III ASSISTANT COACH - ED RITTI JR - DAVID WOOD

Meadville refuses to go away quietly and storms back for 8th State Title! ICELINE ~ Malvern Prep had to feel a sigh of relief to know that they would not have to deal with Bethel Park during the week the Flyers Cup began in mid-March. The Friars have been the best team in Eastern Pa and demolished the Flyers Cup field in the preliminary’s and then defeated an excellent LaSalle team 2-1 for their 3rd straight Flyers Cup to give themselves a third straight opportunity for a Pennsylvania Class AAA State Championship. A major obstacle for Malvern Prep has been Bethel Park, who defeated the Friars in their past three trips to the finals 3-2 in 2002 at Rostraver, 2-1 in 2001 at Haverford and 4-3 in 1997 at Ice Line in three of the best State Final games in recent memory. When the Blackhawks were ousted in the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals at the hands of Franklin Regional 6-3, the Malvern Prep faithful breath a quiet sigh of relief. Class Head Coach John Graves club would be ready to capture Malvern’s first Pennsylvania Class AAA State Championship since a 1990 win over Upper St Clair 6-3 in Pittsburgh. To help them on was an overflow crowd of an estimated 1600 shoulder to shoulder, with a loud cow bell clanging and chanting Friar student section looking to give the home team a lift. For Meadville, it has been a long drought for Pennsylvania’s 7-time State Champions [6 at Class AAA]. Coach Jamie Plunkett and his Bulldogs were licking their chops to redeem the 1999 triple overtime loss to Conwell Egan at Grundy and capture their first State Title since 1996 in Johnstown, a 3-2 victory over LaSalle. The reason for such optimism this season is simple, for much of the Dawg’s season, which culminated in an 18-3-3 record, Meadville has been able to get key goals at key times late in the game to tie or win games maybe they should not have, which is a formula for great success in the playoffs. With their first ever title in the Bulldog Invitational in January 2002, the hopes where really high in Meadville, that this could be the year. The Bulldogs made it to the Penguins Cup with relative ease defeating their opponents the first three game including North Hills, Plum and arch-rival Central Catholic by a total of 16-3 and jumped all over Franklin Regional in the Penguins Cup for an impressive 8-3 win capturing their 9th Western crown. As usual a large contingent of Meadville faithful were standing the entire game with chants of ‘Let’s go Dawgs’. Meadville’s strategy against many of their opponent’s was to jump on them early in the first period. Malvern Prep turned the tables as the Friars used the huge crowd to their advantage and Mike Curran opened the scoring at 11:58 of the first period. Just 52 seconds later, Prep opened up a 2-0 lead as Chris Campanale took a Curran feed and beat Danny O’Sharuk at 11:06. Meadville cut the lead in half as D.J. Durkee scored upstairs past Mark Cetola at 7:12 of 1st period. In the second period, the Bulldogs looked to tie the game, but Campanale had other ideas as he blistered a slapshot past O’Sharuk at 12:33 sending the Friar faithful into a tizzy in the end zone. If there was a turning point of the hockey game it may have been at 9:33of the middle period as stud defenseman and Pa Hockey top 25 selection for Malvern Prep Andreas Wochtl was whistled for a two minute crosscheck, but was also given a 10 minute misconduct, which is a questionable call in a State Championship final, but nonetheless gave Meadville new life, which is a dangerous proposition. Christian Nickerson took an outstanding pass from Phill Siverd on the back door for a power play goal and more importantly cut the Malvern lead to 3-2 with 8:20 remaining in the 2nd. Justin Martin recaptured the two goal lead as he took a long lead pass from Tim Horn and beat the Bulldog defense and O’Sharuk on the breakaway at 8:20 and a 4-2 lead for the Friars. Meadville was now in trouble as the Malvern was pressing for the 3-goal lead, but O’Sharuk stood tall and the Dawgs got a huge break as the Malvern defense committed a huge sin by throwing the puck up the middle of the ice, which was intercepted by Justin Wehrle who in one motion bombed a wrist shot past Cetola on the stick side and cut the lead to 4-3 with 2:09 left in the second period. Meadville has been in this situation before and coach Plunkett inspired his team by telling them to ‘If Malvern is going to win it, lets make them earn their State Championship and not hand it to them’. The Bulldogs played inspired defensive and fundamental hockey in the third period, but the Friars matched them shift for shift. Malvern snipers Mike Curran and Chris Campanale both had good chaces in the third but could beat O’Sharuk, who faced only 8 shots but several good scoring chances for the Friars. Meadville gained the Prep zone with under five minutes left and a collision ensued between Phil Siverd and the Malvern defenseman and entangled goaltender Cetola, who was out of the crease. Meadville took advantage as Wehrle found Chris Claspy at the left point, who slammed a snapshot into the half empty net with just 4:41 left and the game was tied at 4-4. Meadville seized the moment just a little over a minute later as Brian Bahurinsky threw the puck to the net and Malvern just could stand and watch as the speedy Christian Nickerson beat the Malvern defense and Cetola to the loose puck and poked it home giving the Bulldogs its first lead 5-4 with exactly 3:00 remaining in regulation. Now the Friars backs where to the wall and they pulled Cetola for the extra attacker and had several chances, the best with under a minute to play as Curran beat the Bulldog defense, but the puck trickled off his stick in an attempted backhand. Meadville would hold on for a 5-4 victory and the Dawgs would capture Pennsylvania Cup # 8 in dramatic fashion. Coach Plunkett said it best when he said “you don’t appreciate something until its gone for seven years” and that that “this State Championship may be appreciated the most !”. The soft spoken Bulldog forward Brian Bahurinsky shared “that of all of the goals you can score in your career combined couldn’t compare with the big ‘W’ that the Bulldogs had achieved in 2003” and that really encompasses what the Meadville Hockey program is all about………winning their last game in the season and doing it as a team ! For coach Graves and Malvern, another disappointing finish to another great season falling one goal short for a third straight season, but the coach vowed to be back and capture that elusive State crown, sometimes the process takes a while and for coach Plunkett it was seven years since 1996 and the last one and for coach Graves, he will get that championship and when he does there will not be a more gracious winner than him.