2007 Season Recap
The 2006-2007 season came to an end March 21st with a 7-6 overtime loss to Bethel Park. I was very proud of the effort that the kids put forth. Unlike a year ago, when North Allegheny defeated us 7-0 in the semi-final, the kids came to play and when all was said and done, Bethel Park knew they had been in a game. Maybe, as some folks said a few days later, North Allegheny saw something as they defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 in the Penguin Cup Final.
The playoffs are a fun time of the year. I felt the players did a great job preparing for each game. In the first round, the team dominated Penn-Trafford from start to finish and for ten seniors, they won the final game they would ever play at home in front of a big crowd and moved on to the second round against McDowell.
In twenty one years, Meadville had never played McDowell in the playoffs and we had never played a playoff game in Erie, so this was all new for everyone. As we prepared for McDowell, I had a good feeling about the game. I knew we would have a big following at the game and when the game was scheduled to be played at Mercyhurst College, I felt even better. We hold our team camp there every summer and it was a rink that our kids were familiar with. The Erie Civic Center is a great place to play, but for a high school playoff game, the Mercyhurst rink is a much better venue. The atmosphere was terrific and it was a great game to be part of.
The game was tied 0-0 at the end of the second period. Special teams were the biggest part of the game. Neither team could do anything with the man advantage as the penalty killers stole the show. Finally, McDowell took a 1-0 lead in the early stages of the third. It looked as though it might hold up as we could not generate anything offensively. With just over a minute to go, Mike Liscinski made a terrific save and as we went up the ice we pulled Liscinski and got the extra attacker on the ice. Codi Peterson made a great play at McDowell's blueline, right in front of their bench to keep the puck in and got the puck in to the corner where Pat Leone walked out of the corner and eventually Morgan Nickerson tapped in a puck that was along the goal line to even the score.
At that time I was thinking about overtime and who I wanted on the ice. The last thing I thought was going to happen was another goal, but when I looked up from the bench, there was Nick Fedorka on a breakaway and putting the puck past the McDowell goalie to give us a 2-1 lead. We held on for the remaining seconds and moved on to face Bethel Park.
Preparing for Bethel Park is never easy. They do so many things well that you hope as a coach you don't give our players too much to think about. In the end, hockey is a read and react sport and our teams over the years have always tried to play a physical game against our opponents and I felt that was going to be priority number one if we were to be successful.
Prior to the game, I said to one of our coaches that in a perfect world Pat Leone would score two goals to reach 50 and Morgan Nickerson would score two goals to reach 50 and we would win the game. Bethel Park does not allow many goals against. Yet here we were in the third period up 5-3. Leone scored the first two goals on the power play and Nickerson tied the game early in the third with a power play goal. And then, in one of the most dominating displays of one on one play, Nickerson scored twice in a short period of time shorthanded (5 on 3) to give us a 5-3 lead.
Eventually, Bethel would tie the game, but we came back and scored another power play goal as Mike Noonan gave us a 6-5 lead.
Unfortunately, we could not hold the lead and lost 7-6 in overtime. For ten seniors, it was a tough way to finish their high school careers. It is never easy addressing your team after a playoff loss. This year was no different. There are no words that make sense. I could only tell them that they played well and represented the Meadville jersey proudly. In the dressing room were three former players – Jim McCarney, Gabe Amato and Scott Phillis. They said the same thing – that all former Bulldog hockey players would be very proud of them and the effort they gave.
The next day we met as a team and it is difficult to look around the room and realize that this would be the last time that we would meet as a team. I felt very proud to be associated with these kids and I know that for many years, people will talk about how well they played in the playoffs and how well they represented the jersey.
