Archbishop Ryan Raiders

CASTLE SHANNON – Baldwin head coach Mike Cox has been a rare commodity in Interscholastic Hockey these days as he has lasted more than a couple since he took over the program in the 2001-2002 season. The Highlander coach comes from a long history of Baldwin hockey stemming from his father, who was one of the founders of the program to his late brother Jim Cox, who scored the overtime winning goal in the first ever Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship in 1975 in a 4-3 overtime win over Churchill in Erie, Pa. And also coached the Highlanders to the State Finals to his brother Pat, who has also successfully coached at the Interscholastic level. A testimony is the 33-27-5 mark that Baldwin has enjoyed in a treacherous division including perennial powers Mt Lebanon, Bethel Park, Upper St Clair and Central Catholic over 2 ½ season that Cox has been at the helm including two straight Penguins Cup playoffs appearances. So anyone how doesn’t think Baldwin’s program is headed in the right direction, just doesn’t know 2 year ago, which was the Golden Toronadoes first winning season since 1996-1997, which was the year of the ‘porcelain cow’, which lead Butler to near magical playoff run which ended in the Elite 8 at the hands of Central Catholic. Anyone who looks at the Golden Toronadoes 2-12-0 record needs to not take them lightly because this is a team I suspect will have a better 2nd half of the season and could eke into the playoffs with a few upsets, which almost happened last week as Butler fell 3-2 to Upper St Clair in overtime. The first period was a pretty close checking affair as Butler provided the only highlight as Greg Rogerson found Spencer Crouse with a pinpoint pass and Crouse beat Baldwin netminder Brian Majeda to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. The 2nd period was all Golden Toronadoes as Crouse returned the favor as he threaded a nice pass to Rogerson in front, who beat Majeda through the 5-hole to extend the lead to 2-0 at 12:22. Butler went on top 3-0, as Gereme Hensel scored from right on the doorstep at 11:13. Fletcher Crouse completed the hat trick for his line at 9:27, as he found a loose puck in front and chipped it past Majeda to make it 4-0. Baldwin finally got on the board at 3:18, as Mike Joyce scored on a blistering slapshot low on the ice to the stick side, which was the only shot of 24 Highlander shots which would beat Kris Rhodaberger on the evening to make it 4-1. Butler would ice this game in the 3rd period as Spencer Crouse and Greg Rogerson would score their 2nd goals of the evening and Mike Guethner scored as well for an impressive 7-1 Golden Toronado win before an intimate gathering at Ice Castle.