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Latrobe Hockey is a Greater Latrobe High School club organization which participate in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League (PIHL). The club is supported by the Greater Latrobe High School but no an official "Varsity" sport. No high school hockey team in Western Pennsylvania is due to the cost. The program was established in 1981 and has progressed dramatically throughout the years. The Latrobe hockey team is one of the most recognizable hockey teams in the Western PA area. There are three levels of competitive play within the organization including; Freshman, Junior Varsity, and the highest level of play is Varsity. The freshman level is for grades 6-9, the JV level is grades 8-12, and Varsity is 9-12. The overlaps are for players who were unable to make the cut for the higher level team. Example: 10th grade player doesn't make varsity so is put on the JV team.
In recent years due to dramatic success, Latrobe hockey has added a development program to its club. The development program is for younger kids interested in playing ice hockey to try it out for little to no cost at all. The development team plays in a couple games but is in no competitive league.
History
The Latrobe Hockey club was started in 1981. It was not successful in its debute year only winning 6 games and incurring 13 losses; however, the 2nd season was a completely different story. Since then, the Latrobe hockey team has seen spurts of success and failures along the way. In 2002-2003, the Varsity team advanced in the playoffs all the way to the semi-finals but lost to the number one-seeded team in a close game. Since then, the program has increased the attendance at the games and the overall support from the community.
The 2005-2006 Freshman Crew
After suffering 2 losing seasons, the Latrobe Varsity team hired the head coach from the 2002-2003 season to reshape and reignite the Latrobe Hockey program. The coach did exactly that. In tryouts of the 2005-2006 season, 2 Senior players who had previously played on the varsity team were cut, and several sophmores and Juniors were overlooked as the coach selected 7 Freshman players which was unheard in previous years. Mike McCurdy, JeffJoe Regula, Brody Aukerman, Tommy Ridge, Ryan Laduke, Andrew Ong, and goaltender Nick Loyacona were selected as Freshman. McCurdy, Regula, and Laduke were the top 3 scorers of the season. The team improved record improved enough for them to return to the PIHL playoffs, but still were not above .500. It was a turn around though, because aside from a few seniors, the majority of the team was returning for the next two or three years.
Divison Title
In the 2006-0007 season, the Latrobe varsity team had improved it's record to a staggering 18-4 capturing their first division title since 2003 and finished 2nd in the league. It was a surprise to everyone except the players and coaches themselves. The goal was to win the division and they did, the next goal was to win the Class AA Penguin Cup (Western PA Championship). This goal was not accomplished as the Icecats were upset by West Allegheny in an overtime game in the Quarterfinals. Although very disappointed in an early out in the playoffs, the team and community remained confident in the following years team and proud to have won a division title.
State Champions
Upon entering the Preseason in the 2007-2008 year, expectations were very high as the same team was returning. Only 2 players graduated the previous year. High expectations were soon shot down by a terrible preseason. The Icecats went 0-4 in a preseason tournament. Coach Ron Makoski sat the team and parents down for a mandatory meeting before the regular season started. Issues were discussed and the players left the meeting feeling more confident. Makoski scheduled another tournament right before the Regular season started to make sure his team was ready. They went 3-0 in the tournament but lost the championship game to Serra Catholic high school in a shootout. Although the loss was heartfelt, Makoski felt satisfied.
Days later the Regular season started and the Latrobe IceCats hit the ice hard. The team went nearly half the season before they suffered their first loss to South Park high school. Latrobe took control of the league again after winning the next 2 games. South park was able to pull off another upset a few games later, and then rival Greensburg Central Catholic pulled off a major upset at the very end of the year leaving the IceCats with a slightly better record of 18-3-1. South Park and GCC were the only 2 teams Latrobe did not beat.
Many standout performances took place by the players. JeffJoe Regula, Mike McCurdy, Brody Aukerman, Ryan Laduke, Jeff Rossi and Nick Loyacona were selected on the All-Star team. McCurdy, Laduke, and Regula were among the league's top 10 in points the entire season. Nick Loyacona was among the best goalies in the league as well.
The IceCats won another division title and entered the PIHL playoffs as the Number 1 seed. This year, the IceCats took on Indiana high school in the quarterfinals, but Indiana was blown out by Latrobe. Latrobe was then set to make their 2nd ever appearance in the PIHL Penguin Cup Semi Finals, but this time, the game was played in Mellon Arena.
West Allegheny was the Semi-final opponent(W.A. was the team who beat Latrobe the previous year in overtime) and the match-up was very anticipated. The game was close the whole way through, and tied in the 3rd period. The Icecats were in a difficult situation when Mike McCurdy took a penalty with less than 3 minutes to go in the game. The Icecats were able to kill the penalty and the game went into overtime where McCurdy redeemed himself by scoring the overtime game-winning goal and the IceCats advanced to their 1st ever Penguin Cup Final game by a score of 3-2.
Rival and division opponent Franklin Regional high school came ready to play in the Penguin Cup Championship. They outworked the IceCats for the first period, but Latrobe found a way to overcome it and force the game into overtime for the second straight game. This time Jeff Rossi was the hero, scoring a couple minutes into overtime to win the IceCats their 1st Penguin cup Title by a score of 3-2. The next stop was the Pennsylvania Class AA State Championship against Conestoga.
The State Championship location alternates from east to west every year. This year was to be played in Western PA(Latrobe was Home) in the War Memorial Stadium in Johnstown, PA. Latrobe wasn't completey unaware of who Conestoga was, they defeated Latrobe in a tournament game 2 years prior. Again, the game was close the whole way through. Conestoga outshot Latrobe heavily, but Nick Loyacona stood up to the challenge and lead the IceCats to their 1st ever Pennsylvania Class AA State Championship by a score of 3-2. Head Coach Ron Makoski retired after accomplishing his goal of winning a championship.
Repeat Championship
The IceCats graduated a lot of players after winning the State Title in 2007-2008, but the Freshman Crew still remained in tact. Expectations weren't as high for the 2008-2009 year, but the community still thought the team could be competitive and were ready for new Head Coach Dan Ridder to prove he can follow in Makoski's footsteps. The IceCats proved to the High School hockey world that they were the best team in the area. Latrobe went 6-0 in a preseason tournament, 22-0 in the Regular Season, 6-0 in the PA Scholastic Showcase(biggest tournament in area, all levels A,AA,AAA), and never came within 2 goals of an opponent. The IceCats won every game during the season by at least 2 goals and never gave up more than 3 in a single Regular Season game. The Team and a few players including Captain Mike McCurdy, JeffJoe Regula, Ryan Laduke, Assistant Captain Tommy Ridge, and assistant Captain Robert Himler were featured in ESPN's Rise Magazine. The team was rumored to be mentioned in Sports Illustrated as well due to their domination of Western PA hockey. Not only did the IceCats go undefeated throughout the season, they also blew past all Penguin Cup opponents as well winning their 2nd straight Penguin Cup Championship.
The Pennsylvania Class AA State Championship was to be played in West Chester, PA giving Council Rock South home ice advantage; however, Latrobe's community support differed. Latrobe students and adults drove across state to view the game selling out the arena. The fan ratio was said to be at a 5:1 rate in favor of Latrobe. The game was the most exciting of the year. Latrobe was down 2-1 halfway through the 3rd period and people finally began to worry as the IceCats had never come close to losing this year. It was until about the midway point when Dillion Hunter scored to tie the game up. Minutes later, Tyler Berger scored to give the IceCats a 3-2 lead with only about a minute to go. The rest of the game was nerve racking but the IceCats held off Council Rock South to win their 2nd Consecutive Class AA PA State Title. Latrobe was the 3rd ever team in Pennsylvania High School Hockey history to have an undefeated season including playoffs.
The team was graduating the rest of the Freshman Crew, so the expectations went way down again for the years to come, especially as Steller Goalie Nick Loyacona was graduating as well.
Continued Success
Latrobe again proved to be the best team in the State as they won their 3rd Class AA State Title in a row in 2009-2010. The unofficial undefeated streak from the past three years was at 48 straight games. That is an unofficial PIHL record as well. Latrobe's 3-Peat State Title gave the impression that the organization was going to be a successful team for years to come as the JV and Freshman teams in the organization had steller seasons as well.
References
[edit]pihlweb.com pahockey.net greaterlatrobehockey.com
External links
[edit]http://www.pihlweb.com/ http://www.pahockey.net/ http://www.greaterlatrobehockey.com/
Hockey Latrobe Latrobe Sports