Central Region

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Articles about Interscholastic Hockey dating back to 1998 !

Malvern Prep impressive in win over LaSalle MEADVILLE - LaSalle arrived in Meadville for its first game of the Bulldog Invitational at daybreak Saturday morning to play a three game series, which ended around 2:30 AM Sunday morning with an overtime victory over defending Bulldog Invitational champs St Ignatius in overtime 2-1. The result was a 10:45 AM date with Malvern Prep, who went undefeated in pool play at 3-0 ending with a 3-2 victory over host Meadville. The Friars were looking to avenge a 4-1 early season loss to the Explorers and stakc their claim to the # 1 team in Eastern Pa. Malvern broke on top in a quick first period as Warren Byrne's blast beat Matt Palmer to give the Friars a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Malvern turned up the heat in the 'House of Chills' with a 16 shot onsluaght on LaSalle. Mike McMullan, Ed Shinn, Andreas Wochtl, Tim Horn and Mike Curran scored as coach John Graves Friars put it on LaSalle with a five goal second. At the other end, Max Sorenson kept the Explorers off the board, except for a Matt Loftus tally at 7:25. Derrick Bowen added a third period goal as Malvern Prep won impressively 7-1 and outshooting their opponent 32-23 for the contest.

2004 Meadville Bulldog Invitational Prep turns back host Bulldogs and marches to Bulldog final ! MEADVILLE The PIHL North division was a two team race between North Allegheny and Meadville the past two years. Quietly, Cathedral Prep has climbed back into the divsion race and hopes to challenge for the 2002 division title. The Ramblers lost earlier this season to Meadville 3-2 in Erie. The first period was well played and both teams had scoring chances as John Freeman and Dan O'Sharuk kept the scoreless tie through 15 minutes. In the second, Freeman made a great stop on Christian Nickerson, who got behind the Rambler defense. Feeding off his goaltender's play, ECP's Jeff Dionisio elashed a wicked wrist shot past O'Sharuk to put the Ramblers on top 1-0. Then, with the Bulldogs on the power play, Sam Namey stripped the Dawgs defense and scored on a SH breakaway and all the sudden it was 2-0 at 3:41. Meadville came right back as Dave Moyer scored from his knees on the rebound to cut the lead to 2-1. Matt Rusilko banged home a Jeff Holabaugh rebound at 1:40 to tie the score at 2-2 at the end of two periods. On to the third and Dionisio scored a pretty goal as he gained the zone circled back and walk down the slot and used a screen to beat O'Sharuk on the stick side with 9:30 remaining. Then Dan Sweeney added an insurance goal at 8:46 and the Ramblers shut down Meadville the rest of the way for a 4-2 victory.

Malvern Prep serves notice to Western Pa ! MEADVILLE - The Malvern Prep Friars came to Meadville playing at the top of their game. A very skilled team with excellent goaltending, the Friars went through Meadville like it was a western town and they were coming through to send the message knowing that they would return. Malvern defeated Greensburg CC, Upper St Clair, and Meadville and then schooled LaSalle earlier in the day. Nels White's Cathedral Prep club is playin strong hockey over the past month and looked to be a formidable opponent for Malvern. The teams traded goals in the first and as they did earlier in the day, the Friars scored three in the second and added anther in the third for a 5-1 victory over the Ramblers. Chris Campanale tallied two goals and Warren Byrne, Tim Wochok, and Andreas Wochtl added singles for Malvern Prep, while Pete Zawistowski scored the lone ECP goal. Malvern outshot Cathedral Prep 27-10. Friar forward Mike McMullen was chosen the tournament most valuable player. As the Malvern bus left Western Pennsylvania, I am sure somewhere they left a note that they will be returning for a date in the Pennsylvania Cup AAA Finals in March.

DELMONT - Blue Devil coach Paul Taibi is a quiet guy who is always thinking. Taibi is thinking maybe he would like another shot at the Blackhawks in the playoffs. After Mt Lebanon nearly came within one Bethel Park mistake of beating the two-time defending state champion on Monday, the Blue Devils were on the road to face a Franklin club, who is very dangerous fighting for their playoff lives. Mt Lebanon owns losses to BP, NA and Meadville this season and has done a great job against teams fighting to gain position behind them. The first period was all Blue Devils as the came out smokin with a 3-0 lead behind goals from Conrad Waite, Dan O'Connell amd Bill Leckenby and outshot the Panthers 17-6. The second period was more of the same as Mike Colligan blasted home a shot past Brandon Stallard just 12 seconds in to make it 4-0. Leckenby scored just 15 seconds later to make it 5-0 and chase Stallard in favor of Chris Zeleznak, who stopped 20 of 21 Blue Devil shots the rest of the way. Chris White got Franklin on the board to break Colin Sebastian's shutout bid, who had another strong performance in stopping 26 of 27 shots. In the third period Waite scored his second of the evening to put the final touches on an impressive 6-1 Blue Devil victory, which included a shot advantage of 41-27.