St Joseph's Prep Hawks

Westmont Hilltop 8 Center 3 BEAVER – The Center Hockey program returned to Class A from a 4 year absence from Varsity competition, when the program exited after the 2002-2003 season. The Trojans have not faired too well with a 0-10-0 mark scoring 24 goals and surrendering 107. With only 13 schools in Class A and the majority of the teams being above average, Center will likely go this season with no wins and if they do claim victory, it will likely be against a doormat team out of the playoff picture. The unfortunate part about it is that Center is a prime candidate to play developmental hockey or Junior Varsity, which is what the Open Division was supposed to be and not a feasting ground for the sandbagging AAA sized schools & West Virginia schools to pile up statistics so they can see them in the Post Gazette. Quigley, who Center leading scorer Sean Wormald played for two seasons, opted to go to the Open Division and use players from outside the Quigley School District, which should be considered an amateur team and like the other 8 impure teams in the Open Division have no business competing in High School Hockey. Westmont Hilltop began play in the 1980-81 season at the War Memorial shortly after the Johnstown area lost the Jets professional and the name McQuillan shortly made an impact in the player ranks with the program …………………although Art McQuillan did not play for the Hilltoppers, brothers Pat, Mickey and Kevin did and some played for their brother, which is very interesting and I am not sure happens a lot. The Mighty Hilltoppers have been traditionally winners and they do it their way a/k/a Art McQuillan’s way. The Westmont family has tradition, have loads of fun, a long line of brothers who have come through, a Penguins Cup in 2003, a great rivalry with Bishop McCort [which is maybe one of the best of all of Interscholastic Hockey] and they have Art McQuillan, who is in rare company of coaches, who have last 15 + years including Meadville’s Jamie Plunkett, Shaler’s Ron Steedle, Chartier’s Valley’s Eddie Schultz and maybe a handful of others who don’t come to mind. The opportunity to win 400 games is an important milestone, not only for the coach, but for the program, the has two more McQuillans on the way in Art’s sons Lane 6 and Cullen 9 to carry the tradition of their father. So sludgin trudging the Mighty Hilltoppers hit the ice and there was something special in the air at Beaver Ice Complex at Brady’s Run Park with the Tribune Democrat’s Mike Mastovich and the Super Techno Doug Heck making the trip to Beaver County, all the way from Johnstown, and the Super Techno also sampled the freshly baked Chocolate Chip cookies from the Beaver County Ice Complex’s refreshment stand. In the opening period, Westmont and Center traded goals as Center’s Sean Wormald scored just 30 seconds in to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead. Alex Rohal tied it for Westmont on the power play at 8:53 to tie the score 1-1. Center regained the lead as Zach Morrison scored less than a minute later at 7:56. Kyle Harnish tied the score at 6:16 for the Hilltoppers at 2-2. Shots were surprisingly 8-7 in favor of the Trojans. Westmont coach King Arthur McArthur McQuillan made a switch between the pipes inserting Ian O’Brien for backup Brock Rozich. The Mighty Hilltoppers opened the period on the power play and Chad O’Brien beat the Center goaltender Justin Gantz on the short side to give WH the lead 3-2. At 7:45 Kyle Hardish scored a nice goal on a drop pass from Chris Reid, which is typical Art McQuillan hockey to make it 4-2. Brendan Boyle circled around in the Center end and the lofted a wrist shot past Trojan goaltender Justin Gantz with 6:23 to make it 5-2. WH held a 22-4 shot advantage in the middle period. On top the third period and Steve Kohlers wrist shot clanged off the left post and trickled past Gantz to make it 6-2. At 11:46 Center scored as Sean Wormald picked up his second goal. At 11:31, Will Page converted a nice pass from Brendan Boyle on the power play to make it 7-3. Boyle closed out the scoring with 1:13 to play beating Justin Gantz on a wrist shot from in between the circles to make it an 8-3 final. All of the Hilltoppers contributed and gave their coach his 400th victory of all-time. READ THE TRIBINE DEMOCRAT'S MIKE MASTOVICH's Story by clicking on Icons

Every year Pa Hockey goes through the process of picking the top 25 players in Eastern and Western Pennsylvania. We invite your thoughts on Pa Hockey on our selections and certainly value your opinions. And if that isn't enough our annual list of the top 5 Fans is here and Top 5 Freshman who have come on the scene as well as our Top 5 coaching performances [Eastern and Western Pa]. Finally, if you are going to start a championship organization and need a place to start and I would guess that these kids are top notch in many people's lists. Enjoy it + Comments are welcome..... And if you don't like it you can always discuss in on the Roundtable ..... The Pa Hockey Top 25 is one reason why it the # 1 Interscholastic Hockey Website in the State of Pennsylvania ! The Pa Hockey Top 25 for Eastern and Western Pa is now posted ........only on Pa Hockey !

Alright.......well you've been asking for it and now its here. Pa Hockey's # 1 time tested feature is back and better than ever. If the Penguins Cup started today is our weekly account in stone of if the Penguins Cup Playoffs started today. We will start with Week 10 and take you all the way into the Penguins Cup playoffs as teams battle for Home Ice Advantage and Playoff Postioning ! Final Penguin Cup Seedings for Class AAA, AA and A Congratulations to the following schools who have clinched playoff spots for the 2007 Penguins Cup Class AAA ~ Bethel Park, Central Catholic, Mt Lebanon, McDowell, North Allegheny, Meadville, Upper St Clair, Seneca Valley, Fox Chapel, Plum, North Hills and Penn Trafford Class AA ~ Pine Richland, Latrobe, Thomas Jefferson, Moon, Franklin Regional, Hampton, Greensburg Salem, Montour, West Allegheny, Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg CC, Indiana Class A ~ Quaker Valley, Freeport, Bishop McCort, Mars, Serra Catholic, Beaver, Westmont Hilltop, Conemaugh Valley

Thomas Jefferson 7 Moon 5 CORAOPOLIS – Moon is 8-3-1, ranked # 4 and sits atop the West Division of Class AA and arguably off to the best start in their 25 years, but maybe the most impressive stat for the Tigers is only 28 goals against in 12 games. The Tigers are blessed with a solid lineup and a hard working club. If you want to point to why Moon is doing so well, you may want to go back to this time a year ago when Craig Bioni took over the Tigers and their improvement increased significantly through hard work and discipline. Thomas Jefferson is off to a 6-4-2 start under the Dean of AA Don Powell, whose club is also in first place in the South Division. The Jaguars, by their standards, are not having a terrific season, but given the parity in Class AA, TJ is in the thick of the playoff picture, amongst a pack of teams from Moon with three losses to teams fighting to stay above the .500 mark such as West Allegheny, Kittanning, and Greensburg CC, who over the past few seasons, like the Jaguars, were fighting for top positions in the seeding. The whole makeup of Class AA is very intriguing and will make for a very interesting final month and a half of the season. The matchup with Moon & TJ could have home ice implications come March. The Tigers struck first as Peter Lyle buried a rebound at 12:55 on the power play to give Moon a 1-0 lead. Thomas Jefferson came back to tie the game at 7:38, as Joe Sabol scored on the power play to the glove side of Matt Wynn. The Tigers regained the lead at 2:56 of the 1st as Pete Lyle’s centering pass to the front of the net deflected off Spencer Neel and behind him to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Coach Powell called his team over to bench to give them some words of wisdom and Neel stopped Lyle moments later on a partial break with 48 seconds to go in the opening period. The Jaguars tied the game in the opening minute of the second period on a pretty re-group and passing play as Dan Nath buried a snap shot low to the stick side of Matt Wynn to deadlock the score at two apiece. The game was close checking through the 2nd period as the Jaguars and Tigers settled into a close checking affair. On a delayed penalty with 2:02 to go in the period Joe Sabol found Brock Heinauer high in the slot, who one-timed a bullet past Wynn to give TJ their first lead 3-2. The referees still gave the Jaguars the power play and with 1:10 to go Dan Nath trickled a wrist shot past Wynn and all of the sudden Thomas Jefferson had a 4-2 lead. TJ added to the lead early in the third period as Brock Heinauer unloaded a slapshot from the top of the right face-off circle at 12:32 that beat Wynn to the stick side to make it 5-2 and Danny Joseph added another goal on a rebound with 12:02 remaining to make it a 6-2 count in favor of Thomas Jefferson. Brock Heinauer made it 7-2 with 10:16 to go and gave the Jaguars a commanding lead. Brandon Pompeo scored for Moon with 9:51 remaining to bring the Tigers to within 7-3. With 8:29 remaining, Matt Reese scored on a blistering slapshot from the right point on the power play and all of the sudden it was now 7-4. The Tigers went back on the power play with 8:18 to go and a chance to cut into the TJ advantage even more, but the Jaguars held strong. Spencer Neel robbed Joe DeNardo with 5:34 to go with two sprawling saves on the doorstep. Matt Reese would be denied with 2:53 to go as he pounced on a rebound for another power play goal and the Jaguar lead was now 7-5. Moments Later, Brandon Pompeo had an opportunity on a partial breakaway, but Neel made a very good save to keep his team in front by two. TJ got defensive and was holding down the fort over the final three minutes b moving the puck into the Moon end and forcing faceoffs. A big win for the Jaguars and for Moon a loss to start a very important stretch against some stiff Class AA team upcoming on their schedule.

Westmont Hilltop's Art McQuillan is nearing his 40oth overall victory and can capture it this Thursday Night against Center. Effectionately known as 'King Arthur' will now be know as 'King Arthur McArthur of the Mighty Hilltoppers' McQuillan, who took over the Hilltop program early in the 1987-88 season and has guided the Hilltoppers to 16 appearances in the Penguins Cup playoffs and 17 winning campaigns. On behalf of Pa Hockey, we would like to congrulate Art McQuillan on his years of service to the Westmont Hilltop Hockey Program and hockey in Western Pennsylvania ! Read the article of Mike Mastovich of the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat UPDATE 1/11/07 - Westmont Hilltop 8 Center 3 and coach Art McQuillan captures his 400th All-Time victory