Churchill Chargers - 1977 & 1979 AAA

CORAOPOLIS - Quigley and Quaker Valley is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in Class A and the entire PIHL for that matter. Add the fact that Quaker goaltender Nick Signet transferred back to QV and was playing against his former teammates and that some significant playoff positioning was on the line, then you have the makings of a classic. What was to be a duel of goaltending between Signet and Quigley's Luke Belsky quickly turned into something a little different before a pack house at the Airport Arena. The Spartans Ken Lytle opened the scoring at 13:28 on the games first shot beating Signet through the five hole. Quaker Valleys Michael Pederson then scored on a long slapshot just 22 seconds later to knot the game at 1-1. The Quakers Ben Herring turn outside the blueline after stripping the Quigley defense of the puck and raced in to beat Belsky and give QV a 2-1 lead at 9:54. Signet failed to control a rebound at 8:07 and Ken Lytle scooped up the puck and deposited it to tie the score again at 2-2. Then at 2:43 of the first, QV's Sam Hairston caught the Quigley D sleeping and got a breakaway to deke Belsky to put the Quakers ahead 3-2. The second period brought more of the same as Adam Kostial put a rebound upstairs to extend the QV lead to 4-2 at 10:00. The goal that turned Quigley's fortune came at 9:23 as Mike Haney scored through the 5-hole again to cut the lead to 4-3. Quaker Valley regained the two goal advantage, as Kostial scored again on a rebound bang bang play at 8:22. Quigley now started to pressure and the line of Haney, Lytle and Chris Cummings was doing the damage. Lytle redirected a Mike Haney pass at 6:38 past Signet to cut the lead to 5-4 at the break. Quigley's Jason DiVito made a great play, when he kept the puck alive in the Quaker zone and fed Chris Cummings who backhanded home the tying goal at 9:30 of the final period and the score was now 5-5. At the other end, Luke Belsky regained his Team Pittsburgh form and was stoning QV on several chances. Then a mental mistake by Quaker Valley, a too many men on the ice call put the Spartans on the power play with just 5:13 left. Off the faceoff, DiVito lofted a wrist shot through traffic which Signet never saw and sailed over his shoulder to give Quigley the 6-5 lead at 5:10. Quaker Valley could not get the equalizer and Quigley won a huge game to give itself a home game for the first round of the upcoming playoffs.

MONROEVILLE - It was Senior Night for Woodland Hills, which could be the last hurrah for the Wolverines varsity hockey club. Goaltender Greg Haduch shutout Woodland Hills and the Cougars scored eight straight to win 8-0.

GREENSBURG - Indiana and Latrobe, in a battle of division leaders. Indiana, who has already clinched and was looking to nail down the # 2 seed behind Peters Twp. Latrobe was looking to clinch the elusive PIHL AA Eastern Division crown. The Wildcats capitalized in the first as a weak clearing attempt by Indiana found its way on to Kevin Lace's stick in the slot and he beat Mike Lady for a 1-0 lead. Indiana on the power play tied the game at 2:45, as Casey Haines walked out of the corner and snapped a shot high on the glove side of Matt Bloom. The game picked up pace in a hard hitting second period and Indiana apparantly grabbed the lead as Haines rung a shot off the post, which was originally called a goal and then waived off at 6:51. The Indians came back just 25 seconds later as Clint Pizarchik used a 2 on 1 as a decoy to beat Bloom with a shot on the stick side for a 2-1 advantage. On to the third and Casey Haines scored twice at 14:44 and just 12 seconds later at 14:32 to break open a one goal game and to complete the hat trick for a 4-1 Indiana lead. Corey Schaffer completed the scoring at 6:58 of the final period as Indiana outshoot the Wildcats 23-11 and went on to a 5-1 victory.

GREENSBURG - The Greensburg CC Centarians are currently ranked # 8 in the Penguins Cup rankings and would like to secure a home game for the first round of the playoffs. GCC got two goals from Matt Ward and singles from John Kennedy, Maunee George and Josh Chiado to defeat arch-rival Greensburg Salem 5-1. Duke Versaw tallied the only score for the Golden Lions, who were outshot 40-28.

Beaver - Senior night at Brady's Run Park and the defending Pennsylvania AA Champion Beaver Bobcats were in the celebrating mode. Doug Rheam's upstart Big Macs were not interested because a win would put CM in a tie with the Bobcats for the division lead. After a scoreless first period, Eric Rheam took a pass in stride and could not beat Beaver goaltender Rob Dappenbrook at 13:58. Then Beaver's Ryan Morgan found a loose puck in the slot and scored to make it 1-0. Then with the Bobcats on the power play, Aaron Veydt picked up a rebound goal shorthanded to tie the game at 1-1 at 6:49. Then it was Beaver's Doug Miller pulling the puck between the defenseman's legs and around another defender and deposited a backhanded through the five hole of Watkinson to give Beaver a 2-1 lead at 5:36. The Big Macs knotted the score again as Tom Hunt blistered a long shot past the Beaver goaltender and we were tied again at 2-2. Then at 11:01 of the final period, Veydt wristed one past Dappenbrook to give Canon McMillan its first lead. The Big Macs had a chance to extend the lead on the power play, but could not score. Then Beaver's Adam Krupp took a Morgan pass and buried it with 3:07 remaining. The game went into overtime and Ryan Morgan streaked down the right side and blasted a slapshot by Watkinson with only :08 remaining in OT and Beaver captured its third straight PIHL West Division championship. To secure the future of Beaver Hockey, the faithful freshman players were routing on their leaders. From the Bobcat Freshman team C.J Sheveryn, Andrew Scott, Colby Hawkey, Chris Juba, Alex Bodrie and Brenden Finn were on hand hoping for Bobcat miracle and it was delivered by Captain Morgan.