Upper St. Clair Panthers - 1980 - 1987 - 2011 AAA

Through Saturday 2/28/04 Action Class AAA # 1 Pennsylvania - Mt Lebanon Eastern Pa - Malvern Prep Western Pa - Mt Lebanon Class AA # 1 Pennsylvania - Thomas Jefferson Eastern Pa - Downingtown Western Pa - Thomas Jefferson Class A # 1 Pennsylvania - Radnor Eastern Pa - Radnor Western Pa - Bishop McCort ****Check out the Week 16 Rankings - UPDATED 2/28/04**** NOTE: Please keep in mind that the FINAL Rankings were released prior to the Flyers Cup seedings on 2/29/04

Bethel Park - Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Fox Chapel T'was the game before Christmas one year ago, and Fox Chapel was visiting the defending state champions Bethel Park, an old foe. With Olive Garden full in their bellies, Fox Chapel skated to a 3-0 loss to the empire of the Bethel Park Blackhawks for the second year in a row. Well...on Monday night this week the tables were turning already as Bethel Park's first week ranking was a suprising 8th, along with two other past dominant teams: Cathedral Prep, and ranked 7th was defending champs Meadville. People may have questioned the rankings, but, so be it coming into Bethel Park Bladerunners for a 7:00 face-off. Both teams had chances early, with FC's Tony Longhini missing an open net, and Todd Hendry stopping a Bethel Park breakaway with a glove save. Bethel Park's Jacobus Bleik scored with 4:34 remaining in the first period to make an early statement about their rank in question. The period would end with a Bethel 1-0 lead. Fox Chapel struck back quickly just 4 1/2 minutes into the second to tie it off the stick of Sophomore Joe Budz. FC then would add a powerplay goal from Matt Quigley and another goal from Tony Longhini to force Bethel Park coach Jim McVay to pull goaltender Delbert Joo for Mike Mastracci with 3:36 left in the second period, down 3-1. Fox Chapel seemed to have it sealed with a fourth goal in the third period by Joe Budz, his second of the evening, but Bethel Park is not known for giving up...Conner McLean scored on the power play for Bethel Park to pull within two goals. Then, suprisingly, the officials awarded Bethel Park with a two man advantage which they quickly capitalized on as Bethel's Captain Dan Zabkar scored from the point before the first penalty expired with just under 6 minutes remaining in the final period. The power play then expired and Fox Chapel Defenseman Jason Kreps sealed the game with 1:31 remaining, but a two minute penalty for excessive celebration gave Bethel Park some life. That's when senior goaltender Todd Hendry came up with 3 big saves in the final minute of the game. Final score: Fox Chapel-5, Bethel Park-3. Fox Chapel moves to 2-0 and puts Bethel Park in their first losing record since before anyone can remember, 1-2.

HARMARVILLE ~ Central Catholic opened up the regular season with a pair of victories against Meadville and Latrobe last week, which has the Vikings ranked # 1 in the Pa Hockey Week 1 poll. So if this CC team is thinking undefeated or State Championship after defeating the defenders, well who could blame them. Ever the concerned coach Kevin Zielmanski knows better and probably needed a ‘Hoosiers’ re-run that ‘we never talk about the next step until we handled the one in front of us!” for his team as Central faced off against former division rival Shaler. Now the professor Ron Steedle returned to Shaler after a two-year hiatus after 18 years at the helm, and the long-time coach understands that to put the Titans in the same breath as Central Catholic would take a special effort from his squad. Maybe a little motivation by the # 1 ranking or maybe the challenge of playing a top ranked team could spur Shaler to pull off the unexpected. Titan netminder sophomore Ben Burns pitched a shutout against Norwin in game one and would be called upon to do the same against CC. Shaler was the aggressor early in the first period and forced the Vikings out of their rhythm with hard work and some physical play. The result was that Shaler took the lead as Tom Carter beat Russ Hefner low on the ice at 7:03 after a nice feed from Josh Bauer. But Bauer got into a match of words with the Viking bench and was sent off for unsportsmanlike penalty putting the CC power play to work. After Shaler survived the # 1 unit of CC, it was the muckers and grinders for the Vikings who got the job done as Neal Kennihan pushed a loose puck past Burns after some hard work by line-mates Conner Hickton and Michael McGurk, who assisted on the play to tie the score at one apiece at 5:38, a PPG goal. A very even hockey game and a very interesting plot was developing as Shaler looked to keep the game close despite being outshot 8-4. With :11 left in the period, Matt Urso tied up the Shaler center on the draw and the crafty and slippery Eddie Martin chipped a seemingly harmless shot at Ben Burns through traffic, which just found its way over the shoulder for a 2-1 Central Catholic lead with just :08 left. On to the second and the Vikings had several power play opportunities but could not beat Ben Burns, who turned away 12 Viking shots. Russ Hefner had to be sharp while facing only 4 shots as the Titans almost tied the game late in the period as the teams headed to the locker room tied 1-1. In the third period, Shaler killed off a penalty and kept the game within reach. A partial break with a two on one was broken up by the Central D a near miss for Josh Bauer to tie the game in the middle of the period. Burns was holding the fort stopping all 11 Central shots and enabling his team to pull the goalie with a minute to play. All Shaler needed was a opening and had a couple of good chances but Hefner would deny the Titans and Central would hold on for a 2-1 victory before a packed house at Harmarville.

Bethel Park - Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Fox Chapel T'was the game before Christmas one year ago, and Fox Chapel was visiting the defending state champions Bethel Park, an old foe. With Olive Garden full in their bellies, Fox Chapel skated to a 3-0 loss to the empire of the Bethel Park Blackhawks for the second year in a row. Well...on Monday night this week the tables were turning already as Bethel Park's first week ranking was a suprising 8th, along with two other past dominant teams: Cathedral Prep, and ranked 7th was defending champs Meadville. People may have questioned the rankings, but, so be it coming into Bethel Park Bladerunners for a 7:00 face-off. Both teams had chances early, with FC's Tony Longhini missing an open net, and Todd Hendry stopping a Bethel Park breakaway with a glove save. Bethel Park's Jacobus Bleik scored with 4:34 remaining in the first period to make an early statement about their rank in question. The period would end with a Bethel 1-0 lead. Fox Chapel struck back quickly just 4 1/2 minutes into the second to tie it off the stick of Sophomore Joe Budz. FC then would add a powerplay goal from Matt Quigley and another goal from Tony Longhini to force Bethel Park coach Jim McVay to pull goaltender Delbert Joo for Mike Mastracci with 3:36 left in the second period, down 3-1. Fox Chapel seemed to have it sealed with a fourth goal in the third period by Joe Budz, his second of the evening, but Bethel Park is not known for giving up...Conner McLean scored on the power play for Bethel Park to pull within two goals. Then, suprisingly, the officials awarded Bethel Park with a two man advantage which they quickly capitalized on as Bethel's Captain Dan Zabkar scored from the point before the first penalty expired with just under 6 minutes remaining in the final period. The power play then expired and Fox Chapel Defenseman Jason Kreps sealed the game with 1:31 remaining, but a two minute penalty for excessive celebration gave Bethel Park some life. That's when senior goaltender Todd Hendry came up with 3 big saves in the final minute of the game. Final score: Fox Chapel-5, Bethel Park-3. Fox Chapel moves to 2-0 and puts Bethel Park in their first losing record since before anyone can remember, 1-2.

HARMARVILLE ~ Central Catholic opened up the regular season with a pair of victories against Meadville and Latrobe last week, which has the Vikings ranked # 1 in the Pa Hockey Week 1 poll. So if this CC team is thinking undefeated or State Championship after defeating the defenders, well who could blame them. Ever the concerned coach Kevin Zielmanski knows better and probably needed a ‘Hoosiers’ re-run that ‘we never talk about the next step until we handled the one in front of us!” for his team as Central faced off against former division rival Shaler. Now the professor Ron Steedle returned to Shaler after a two-year hiatus after 18 years at the helm, and the long-time coach understands that to put the Titans in the same breath as Central Catholic would take a special effort from his squad. Maybe a little motivation by the # 1 ranking or maybe the challenge of playing a top ranked team could spur Shaler to pull off the unexpected. Titan netminder sophomore Ben Burns pitched a shutout against Norwin in game one and would be called upon to do the same against CC. Shaler was the aggressor early in the first period and forced the Vikings out of their rhythm with hard work and some physical play. The result was that Shaler took the lead as Tom Carter beat Russ Hefner low on the ice at 7:03 after a nice feed from Josh Bauer. But Bauer got into a match of words with the Viking bench and was sent off for unsportsmanlike penalty putting the CC power play to work. After Shaler survived the # 1 unit of CC, it was the muckers and grinders for the Vikings who got the job done as Neal Kennihan pushed a loose puck past Burns after some hard work by line-mates Conner Hickton and Michael McGurk, who assisted on the play to tie the score at one apiece at 5:38, a PPG goal. A very even hockey game and a very interesting plot was developing as Shaler looked to keep the game close despite being outshot 8-4. With :11 left in the period, Matt Urso tied up the Shaler center on the draw and the crafty and slippery Eddie Martin chipped a seemingly harmless shot at Ben Burns through traffic, which just found its way over the shoulder for a 2-1 Central Catholic lead with just :08 left. On to the second and the Vikings had several power play opportunities but could not beat Ben Burns, who turned away 12 Viking shots. Russ Hefner had to be sharp while facing only 4 shots as the Titans almost tied the game late in the period as the teams headed to the locker room tied 1-1. In the third period, Shaler killed off a penalty and kept the game within reach. A partial break with a two on one was broken up by the Central D a near miss for Josh Bauer to tie the game in the middle of the period. Burns was holding the fort stopping all 11 Central shots and enabling his team to pull the goalie with a minute to play. All Shaler needed was a opening and had a couple of good chances but Hefner would deny the Titans and Central would hold on for a 2-1 victory before a packed house at Harmarville.