Explorers win second straight title
By Dominick DiRienzo
Meadville Tribune
The LaSalle College High School Explorers won their second straight Bulldog Hockey Invitational title and their third in four years Sunday with a 4-1 win over Cleveland St. Edward.
It is also the fourth straight year the Explorers played in the championship game. LaSalle lost to Mt. Lebanon, 1-0, in 2006. In 2005, LaSalle, a private day school from Wyndmoor, Pa. just west of Philadelphia, beat Mt. Lebanon, 3-2 in overtime, for the tournament title. The Explorers have appeared in five tournament finals in nine trips to Meadville.
The championship game matched the highest-scoring team in tournament against the lowest-scoring team to reach a final. The two teams met in pool play, which LaSalle won, 1-0.
St. Edward reached the tournament finals by scoring just five goals, but the Eagles only allowed four. St. Ed’s six goals is the lowest total by a tournament finalist. The previous record was eight set by Meadville’s 2000 runner-up team.
“As solid as we played ... most of our mistakes seemed to be made at the offensive end,” St. Edward head coach Rob Whidden said.
Meanwhile, LaSalle shattered the tournament scoring record with 31 goals. The previous mark was 26 set by 2004 tournament champion Malvern Prep.
“There might be one team in all of Ohio like LaSalle,” Whidden said. “We were excited to have scored a goal on them.”
LaSalle’s Adam Schmidt scored with 13:56 left in the second period and teammate Matt O’Brien scored with 2:38 left in the period for a 2-0 Explorers’ lead.
LaSalle coach Wally Muehlbronner said the turning point in the game was Schmidt’s goal.
“We are the type of team that if we’re not scoring we start to get frustrated ... start to squeeze the stick a little bit harder,” Muehlbronner said. “Our first goal wasn’t pretty, but it found it’s way into the net. That took the pressure off.”
Especially since three-year starter Dan Pyne was between the pipes for the Explorers.
Pyne, who was named to his third straight all-tournament team, allowed his first goal of the tournament with 26 seconds left in the second period. St. Ed’s Chris Colvin beat Pyne ending his scoreless streak at nine periods. He went a tournament record 209 minutes and 34 seconds without yielding a goal.
Mark Schnupp scored with 4:06 left in the game and Ryan Tyson added an empty-netter with 1:01 left to cap the scoring.
“I think our team speed was the biggest thing,” Muehlbronner said. “I think that distinguished us from a couple teams in pool play.”
Notes: Sylvania Northview’s Carter Bourland was also a repeat all-tournament selection. ... For the fifth time in the last six years, the tournament finalists came from the same pool. In each of those cases, the undefeated team is 5-0 in the tournament championship.
Thank you to the Meadville Tribune and Dominic DiRenzo for this report !
Bulldog Invitational Schedule 2008
2008 Meadville Bulldog Invitational
Semi-Finals – Sunday January 20, 2008
| Sylvania Northview |
1 |
St Edwards |
2 |
OT |
Sylvania Northview entered the semi-finals of the Meadville Bulldog Invitational undefeated on the season with only one tie courtesy of Mt Lebanon in this tournament. Head Coach Jim Cooper entered this tournament more than likely with the thought that his squad could be challenged and possibly might taste defeat and in the scheme of things it will only make them better in their quest for Columbus which is only a month away.
8-time Ohio State Champions St Edwards and Head Coach Rob Whidden know all about preparing for State Championships and at this point of the tournament, the Eagles are happy to be in the semis, especially since they have only scored three goals in three games. St Edwards played an outstanding game against # 1 ranked Eastern Pa LaSalle falling 1-0 and another one goal victory over defending Pennsylvania State Champs North Allegheny 2-1.
After a scoreless opening period St Edwards scored with 5:43 remaining in the period on goal by Zander Dover. Sylvania Northview pulled the goaltender in the final moments and tied the game with :52 as Eamonn Reynolds scored to know the semi-final and send it to overtime. St Edwards John Plagens scored on a breakaway with 8:32 remianing in overtime to give St Edwards a 2-1 victory over Sylvania Northview and a spot in the Meadville Bulldog Invitational final and an opportunity to win the Bulldog for the first time since 1998 and their 3rd overall Bulldog title.
The defending Meadville Bulldog Invitational Champions the LaSalle Explorers are currently ranked # 1 in Eastern Pennsylvania and # 2 after week 9 in Pennsylvania. LaSalle won the Mt St Charles Invitational in Rhode Island. All of these tournaments are nice but the ultimate goal is to atone for last years surprise loss to Holy Ghost Prep in the Flyers Cup and advance to the Pennsylvania State Final and win their first title since 1996, when the Explorers defeated Central Catholic 3-2 at Rostraver Ice Garden.
St Ignatius has a tremendous record in the Bulldog Invitational with 3 titles and 5 Finals Appearances. It has been 4 years since the Wildcats have advanced to the finals of the tournament. Ignatius is in a log jam in the Cleveland Region of the Ohio State playoffs with St Edwards, University School, and Padua.
LaSalle took control of this hockey game opening up a 5-0 lead in the opening period. At 6:36 of first period on the power play Conner Varley’s shot from the right point through traffic made it 1-0. At 5:23 5 on 3 for LaSalle for 1:37 and the Explorers made it happen as at 5:06 Adam Berkle was on the door mouth and had a tap in goal after a great pass from Kyle Zoldy. At 4:46 Kevin Seybert scored on a rebound shot from Ryan Tyson for another power play goal to make it 3-0. At 4:09 Ross Denczi scored making it four goals in 2:27 for LaSalle. To add insult to injury for St Ignatius at 1:31 a Shorthanded goal by Adam Schmidt made it 5-0 with the shots in favor of LaSalle 12 St Ignatius 1.
The second period continue the onslaught as LaSalle scored again at 4:16 of the 2nd as Kyle Zoldy scored after miscue by Ignatius defense and goaltender resulted in a empty net goal. At 10 :38, Mark Schnupp’s shot from point squirt through and the count was 7-0. The Explorers added goals at 3:06 from Patrick Gallagher and at 3:33 as Kyle Zoldy’s centering pass caromed off an Ignatius defenseman and it was 8-0. LaSalle ran out the clock and capture a 9-0 win over St Ignatius and an opportunity to defend the Bulldog Title from a year ago. The Explorers have now gone four games without a goal against and Dan Pyne earned another shutout.
2008 Meadville Bulldog Invitational
Pool Play
Friday January 18, 2008
Highlights: McDowell and St Edwards battled to a 1-1 tie in their opener of the bulldog Invitational. Cody Bilsk scored a shorthanded goal at 9:24 of the 1st period. Chris Michalak scored a power play goal in the 2nd period.
| LaSalle |
11 |
North Allegheny |
0 |
Highlights: LaSalle throttled the defending Pennsylvania State Champions 11-0. Ryan Tyson had a hat trick for the Explorers. Ross Denczi and Kyle Zoldy pitched in a pair of goals and Adam Schmidt had five assists for LaSalle.
| Meadville |
1 |
St Ignatius |
2 |
Highlights: St Ignatius has a great history in the Meadville Bulldog Invitational and got a great start in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over the host Bulldogs. Jeff Deacon scored twice for St Ignatius and Morgan Nickerson scored at14:33 of the 3rd for Meadville, who out shot Northview 30-23.
| Mt Lebanon |
2 |
Sylvania Northview |
2 |
Highlights: Sylvania Northview scored in the 3rd period to earn a 2-2 tie against Mt Lebanon. James Greeno and Brooks Behling scored for the Blue Devils and Bob Napierala and Brandon Snead scored for the Wildcats.
Saturday January 19, 2008
| North Allegheny |
4 |
McDowell |
3 |
Highlights: North Allegheny scored two goals in 8 seconds to break a 2-2 tie and defeat McDowell 4-3. Joe Snatchko, Donny Lewis, Dylan Rohar and Bo Schwab scored for the Tigers. Greg Harrington, Sean Perhacs and Josh Cunningham scored for the Trojans.
Highlights: In the best games of the Pool Play round LaSalle and St Edwards played a scoreless opening period and Adam Berkle’s goal 27 seconds into the 2nd period turned out to be the difference as the Explorer’s Dan Pyne stopped all 21 shots and the Eagles Robbie Ginsburg stopped 21 as well.
| Sylvania Northview |
6 |
Meadville |
3 |
Meadville entered the 2nd game of Pool Play on the heels of a 2-1 setback to St Ignatius in the opener. The Bulldog injury list is playing havoc with the lineup and has caused a greater dependance on the top line of Morgan Nickerson, Nick Fedorka and Drew Finton and has also caused a quick on the job training for a pretty green group of sophomores jettisoned into the role of becoming difference makers for the Dawgs. Welcome to the world of Meadville hockey.
On the blotter for the Bulldogs today would be no easy task as Head Coach Jim Cooper’s [# 1 ranked in Ohio and undefeated] Sylvania Northview Wildcats had to settle for a 1-1 tie with Mt Lebanon in the opener. Northview advanced to the Sylvania Bracket of Ohio finals only to fall to Toledo St Johns. The Wildcats are an explosive squad with a talented duo of scorers in Brandon Snead and Carter Bourland.
The Bulldogs came of flying in the opening period and took the lead courtesy of a
Power play goal at 13:07 as Drew Finton scored on a rebound set up by Nick Fedorka. The lead grew to 2-0 at 8:28 of the period as Aron Nye’s shot from the center point was deflected by Nick Fedorka past the Wildcat’s Craig Trego, again on the power play. At
7:38 a 5 on 3 chance for Sylvania Northview was nullified by Wildcat penalty at 7:31. A key turning point of the opening period came at 1:06, as Morgan Nickerson was in on a breakaway, but was stopped by Trego and just 10 seconds later with :56 to go Carter Bourland was set up by Brandon Snead and he made no mistake and cut the lead to 2-1.
Shots on goal were Sylvania with 11 and Meadville with 10.
On to the seconds period and at 12:47 it was Sylvania’s Carter Bourland again beating the Meadville defense and Bryan Danczak for PPG to tie the game at two apiece. A little over a minuet later, at 11:09, Sylvania’s Cody Booth shot through traffic and beat Danczak clean for the Wildcats to take the lead 3-2. Meadville tied the game at 3-3 with 8:32 to go in the period on the power play as Drew Finton scored his 2nd goal of the game on a one-timer on a great pin point pass from the far boards from Morgan Nickerson. The Wildcats took the lead again at 3:29 as Sylvania’s Bob Napierala scored on a rebound of a shot by Eamonn Reynolds to make the count 4-3. The turning point of this contest came at 2:54, after great hustle by Nile Culver cause a miscue by the Bulldog defense and the puck ended up behind Danczak, as Sylvania secured a two-goal lead.
The Bulldogs ran out of gas in the third period and at 8:03 Carter Bourland picked up a 3rd rebound and show great patience and held the puck forever before he buried shot and completed the hat trick chasing Danczak and gave the Wildcats a 6-3 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
| St Ignatius |
2 |
Mt Lebanon |
1 |
Highlights: Mt Lebanon took a 1-0 lead in the opening period on a goal by James Greeno. St Ignatius rallied at 10:42 of the 2nd as Thomas Paras found a loose puck and scored to tie the game at 1-1. The teams battled into the third period and appeared to be ending in a tie game. With :06 to go in regulation, St Ignatius Jay Mazzarella snap shot from the hash marks that found its way into the net and gave the Wildcats a 2-1 victory over Mt Lebanon.
| St Edwards |
2 |
North Allegheny |
1 |
Highlights: St Edwards outshot North Allegheny 26-14, but had to hold on for a 2-1 victory. John Plagens and Vinnie Buttitta scored for the Eagles and Ryan Worscena scored for NA, who got a strong goaltending performance from Lindsay Holdcroft.
Highlights: LaSalle carried a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period and cruised to a 6-0 victory over McDowell. The Explorers played nine scoreless periods of hockey during Pool Play matching the 2001 Meadville Bulldogs, who also played scoreless hockey through the Pool Play.
| Sylvania Northview |
4 |
St Ignatius |
2 |
Highlights: Sylvania Northview broke a 2-2 in the third period as Kyle Hymore scored with 8:54 to go in the 3rd period and Brandon Snead added an empty netter to give the Wildcats a 4-2 victory and trip to the Semis. Bob Napierala and Carter Bourland scored for Sylvania. Kevin Carlin and Jay Mazzarella scored for St Ignatius. Northview outshot Ignatius 35-26.
Highlights: Fueled by a Morgan Nickerson hat trick and a Bryan Danczak shutout, Meadville defeated Mt Lebanon 4-0.
Sunday, January 20
13 8:00 am Semi Final #1
14 10:00 am Semi Final #2
| Sylvania Northview |
|
St Edwards |
|
| LaSalle |
|
St Ignatius |
|
15 3:00 pm Championship game
