Cardinal O' Hara Lions - 2010 AAA

2005 Meadville Bulldog Invitational Championship LaSalle coach Wally Muhlenbronner spends a lot of time traveling all over the Northeastern United States to take his team to places such as Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and gold ole’ Pennsylvania to give his program an opportunity to not only play great competition, but to learn from their stops along the way. The annual homage to the’ House of Chills’ in Meadville in January is one of those excursions, which will make you appreciate heat and for those who pay close attention some nice lessons about hockey program successes via from the 9-time State Champion Meadville Bulldogs. Coach Wally led the Explorers to the 1998 Pennsylvania Class AAA title, but his team has been knocking at the door to get back to the finals every year since then, but has run into the Malvern Prep roadblock. Mt Lebanon has been paying attention for the past few years and most recently in 2004 the Blue Devils came within just 5 minutes of sending Malvern Prep home trophyless for the 4th straight year. The defending Penguins Cup champions have had an interesting year to say the least and head coach Paul Taibi has rooted the distractions out of the Mt Lebanon locker room for the entire first half of the season and was looking at the 2005 Bulldog Invitational to get a look at some players who maybe could step into the roles needed to return to the State Finals in March. The Blue Devils played the entire tournament without Shane Ferguson, Tyler Murovich and goaltender Evan Baehr, who were fulfilling commitments with their club teams. Sometimes, in these situations you find that your team is solely dependant on feature players, but in this situation coach Taibi found a few ‘diamonds in the rough’ in goaltender Matt ‘the Marksman’ Stein and James Cichra, who both have played significant roles in getting Lebo to the finals along with ole’ reliables Tony ‘or it Tom’ Valerino, Chad Uddstrom and Craig Anderson. Matt Stein made a great leg pad save at 13:51. Mt Lebanon went on the power play at 10:24 and made it count as James Cichra banged home a third chance as Ken Wochele stoned Valerino and Uddstrom. Stein continued his strong goaltending as he stopped Steve Klenk with a glove save at 7:48 and John Williams on a shorthanded breakaway at 6:57. Wochele kept his team within one as he stopped Chad Uddstrom from point blank range at 6:32. The teams battled into the 2nd period in a fast paced and physical very even one-goal contest with the shots 15-14 in favor of the Blue Devils. Mt Lebanon would capitalize late in the period on the power play as James Cichra cut across the slot and tipped a Craig Anderson point shot past Wochele to give Lebo a 2-0 lead with 1:37 remaining in the period. LaSalle got new life in the 3rd period as they scored on the power play at 14:18 as L.G Gatison found a loose puck on the doorstep on a shot from Mike Martinelli from the point and the Explorers cut the lead to 2-1. Coach Wally’s boys from Philly were not done and John Williams tied the game on a great effort as he beat the Mt Lebanon defense and lofted a chip shot high over the short side of Matt Stein at 12:54 to make it two apiece. The Explorers out shot Mt Lebanon 15-5 in the 3rd period and almost went in front at 10:23, but the play was blown dead as the official lost sight of the puck. The game moved into overtime and on a bang bang play Steve Klenk found a wide open L.G Gatison, who made no mistake and beat Matt Stein through the 5 hole giving LaSalle a 3-2 overtime victory and boat load of confidence heading into the playoff stretch run in a 7-8 team race in March for the 2005 Flyers Cup AAA Championship.

-MT LEBANON The greatest part about doing ‘Game Summaries’ is attending the games and visiting with some of the great personalities of the Pa Hockey community. Its always great to see ‘Canevin’ and they are Canevin…so whatever the school says or WPIAL says doesn’t matter because you can but a Bishop or Monsignor in front of it or Catholic behind it ….but in my mind and many others it is just plain Canevin. It was great to see long time and former great player from Canevin Greg Timmons in attendance and it started the memories swirling of the teams he played on in 1983 and 1984, which captured State Titles and coached to State Title 1989 and Penguins Cup 1994. The Crusaders have a great tradition and a hockey family if you will, with a burning desire for excellence. They talk about the trip to Erie the most in March of 2000, when Canevin played one of its best games in the Penguins Cup finals against Thomas Jefferson and fell short 2-1 in one of the better Penguins Cup finals in recent memory, where the Jaguars made one more play by two Division 1 players John Zeiler [now at St Lawrence] beat Crusader goaltender Marshall Scott to a loose puck behind the net and swept it in front to Brian Hartman [now at Niagra University and former captain of the Pittsburgh Forge] who found a wide open net for the game winner. Canevin president Kenny Vance, one of my favorite HOCKEY people of all-time, is the fire for Crusader Hockey and is building the ranks along with some other folks to bring Canevin Hockey back to prominence and the greatest part about Mr. Vance is he doesn’t sugar coat anything and always lets you know where he stands! If you read ‘Game Summaries’, you will understand my admiration for that philosophy. Indiana is building quite a tradition themselves and the Indians and head coach Dom Glavech can relate to falling short as three trips to the Penguins Cup have netted the Indians one goal losses at the hands of Greensburg CC [1996] and Peters Twp [2002 & 2004]. Team Indiana has had a decent season this year, but has fallen to some teams they should have beaten like Somerset 5-4 and ChartiersValley 3-2 [in the PA Hockey Scholastic Showcase] and is a prime candidate for a Penguins Cup upset, if they don’t pay attention and work hard every game. In a very evenly played first period with 10 shots apiece, Indiana scored the periods only goal as Nick Onuschek beat Joey Ziemanski at 11:36 for a 1-0 Indian lead. Onuschek was opportunist in the 2nd period as well as he picked up a rebound from in front and slid the puck past Ziemanski at 8:59 for a 2-0 Indiana lead. Canevin answered as Dennis Zeh unleashed a wicked slap shot from the left point, which beat Mike Kennedy and the lead was cut to 2-1. Ziemanski made a nice stop on Cory Mills with 2:08 left in the middle frame and it looked like the Crusaders could seize this game with a tying goal. Sloppy play in the Canevin zone resulted in Indiana capitalizing as Cory Mills found Zach D’Amico, who beat Ziemanski cleanly on the stick side with just 29 seconds left before the ice cut and a huge insurance goal for the Indians. On to the third period and Mike Kennedy made several nice stops to keep the two goal advantage including two on Jason Ruggerio at 11:48 and again at 6:47. Canevin finally broke through on Kennedy with just 1:26 remaining as Frank Cimino scored on a rebound to cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Crusaders. Coach Brian Henderson of Canevin pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker but Indiana killed the clock for a 3-2 win at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center.

-MT LEBANON The greatest part about doing ‘Game Summaries’ is attending the games and visiting with some of the great personalities of the Pa Hockey community. Its always great to see ‘Canevin’ and they are Canevin…so whatever the school says or WPIAL says doesn’t matter because you can but a Bishop or Monsignor in front of it or Catholic behind it ….but in my mind and many others it is just plain Canevin. It was great to see long time and former great player from Canevin Greg Timmons in attendance and it started the memories swirling of the teams he played on in 1983 and 1984, which captured State Titles and coached to State Title 1989 and Penguins Cup 1994. The Crusaders have a great tradition and a hockey family if you will, with a burning desire for excellence. They talk about the trip to Erie the most in March of 2000, when Canevin played one of its best games in the Penguins Cup finals against Thomas Jefferson and fell short 2-1 in one of the better Penguins Cup finals in recent memory, where the Jaguars made one more play by two Division 1 players John Zeiler [now at St Lawrence] beat Crusader goaltender Marshall Scott to a loose puck behind the net and swept it in front to Brian Hartman [now at Niagra University and former captain of the Pittsburgh Forge] who found a wide open net for the game winner. Canevin president Kenny Vance, one of my favorite HOCKEY people of all-time, is the fire for Crusader Hockey and is building the ranks along with some other folks to bring Canevin Hockey back to prominence and the greatest part about Mr. Vance is he doesn’t sugar coat anything and always lets you know where he stands! If you read ‘Game Summaries’, you will understand my admiration for that philosophy. Indiana is building quite a tradition themselves and the Indians and head coach Dom Glavech can relate to falling short as three trips to the Penguins Cup have netted the Indians one goal losses at the hands of Greensburg CC [1996] and Peters Twp [2002 & 2004]. Team Indiana has had a decent season this year, but has fallen to some teams they should have beaten like Somerset 5-4 and ChartiersValley 3-2 [in the PA Hockey Scholastic Showcase] and is a prime candidate for a Penguins Cup upset, if they don’t pay attention and work hard every game. In a very evenly played first period with 10 shots apiece, Indiana scored the periods only goal as Nick Onuschek beat Joey Ziemanski at 11:36 for a 1-0 Indian lead. Onuschek was opportunist in the 2nd period as well as he picked up a rebound from in front and slid the puck past Ziemanski at 8:59 for a 2-0 Indiana lead. Canevin answered as Dennis Zeh unleashed a wicked slap shot from the left point, which beat Mike Kennedy and the lead was cut to 2-1. Ziemanski made a nice stop on Cory Mills with 2:08 left in the middle frame and it looked like the Crusaders could seize this game with a tying goal. Sloppy play in the Canevin zone resulted in Indiana capitalizing as Cory Mills found Zach D’Amico, who beat Ziemanski cleanly on the stick side with just 29 seconds left before the ice cut and a huge insurance goal for the Indians. On to the third period and Mike Kennedy made several nice stops to keep the two goal advantage including two on Jason Ruggerio at 11:48 and again at 6:47. Canevin finally broke through on Kennedy with just 1:26 remaining as Frank Cimino scored on a rebound to cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Crusaders. Coach Brian Henderson of Canevin pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker but Indiana killed the clock for a 3-2 win at the Mt Lebanon Recreation Center.

CRANBERRY - North Allegheny [12-1-0] ranked # 1 in the Post Gazette and Penn Trafford [10-3-0] ranked # 5 in the PG in a rematch of a game in which North Allegheny defeated Penn Trafford in the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Medal Round Semi-Finals on 12/28/04 by the score of 3-1 and went on to defeat Bethel Park in the Director’s Cup Final 5-1. Coach Tom Pandolfo’s squad started off the 2nd half of the season with an impressive 4-0 win over first place Plum in the East and would be looking to knock off three division leaders in a row including PT and Bethel Park in successive games. Penn Trafford out to send a message to Western Pennsylvania that they intend to put their hat in the ring when the Penguins Cup playoffs begin in March. Penn Trafford would line up without leading scorer Chris Cerutti who had reindeer practice this evening, but would have crafty Nick Whaley, who did not face the Tigers in the Showcase. At 4:41 of the 1st Period Paul Dittrich scored from the right point on a shot through traffic, which PT netminder Joel Sterniak may have not been able to pick up through the screen for a 1-0 North Allegheny lead. NA outshot PT 26-3 in the opening period. At 7:26 of the 2nd Period, Garrett Waldschmidt picked up a loose puck on a Matt Pekins rebound to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. The Tigers continued their dominance by outshooting the Warriors 16-3 and Joel Sterniak made several very good saves to keep his team in the game. In the third, NA struck quickly as Chris Simanic beat Sterniak on the ice to extend the lead to 3-0 at 13:34. Penn Trafford went on the power play at 11:55 with a chance to break the shutout and get back in the game, but where whistled for a penalty at 11:02 to nullify the opportunity. The Warriors did capitalize at 8:37 as Dan Sidle scored on the power play beating Jeff Kristan on the short side to tighten the game at 3-1. North Allegheny just put the puck possession game and defensive game into high gear the final 8 + minutes and stuffed the Warriors in their back pocket and another win for the Tigers.

CRANBERRY - Freeport has been the big surprise at Class A in first place in the North Division with a 9-2-1-0 record. Coach Dave Hepler’s squad only has two blemishes, a 4-0 loss to Bishop McCort and a 5-1 loss to Richland Cambria. Mars and Freeport played to a 2-2 tie in the last game prior to the end of the first half of the season at the Belmont. Dustin Gaworski has had the hot hand for Freeport and leads the team in scoring through the first 12 games of the regular season. Mars has also been a pleasant surprise under Eric Glover with a 8-3-1 record. The Planets have played well as of late and their most impressive outing may have been a 5-3 loss to # 1 and undefeated Serra Catholic on December 17th. Mars has had a complete turnaround from a year ago and would like nothing more than to return to the Penguins Cup semi-finals, which it accomplished back in back in 2003, before falling to State Finalist Westmont-Hilltop at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Goaltender Bryan Ross was a freshman on that team and has now established himself as one of the top goaltenders in Class A. After a scoreless 1st period, at 13:50 of the second period Mike Riefner beat Freeport goaltender Tim Zahumensky on the stick side to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. Bryan Reel caught Zahumensky off the post at 13:15 of the second and scored on the wraparound to give Mars a 2-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets would answer at 6:42 as Zach Hepler beat Bryan Ross with a wrist shot to the stick side to make the score 2-1 On to the third period and Freeport had a power play and a chance to tie the game to start the 3rd period, which was killed by Mars. Dustin Gaworski did not come out for the 3rd, which would make the Yellow Jackets plight even more of an up hill climb. This would be the game that the Planets would not relinquish and with 3:45 left Michael Randolph beat the Freeport defense and threw the puck to the net where Bryan Reel found a wide open net for his 2nd goal and deposited for a 3-1 Planet lead. Zahumensky made several nice stops in third, but Mars held on to win the game 3-1 and moved closer to first place in a battle with Sewickly Academy and Quaker Valley