Western Pa Hockey 2010 – 11 Interscholastic Preview

   The Class AAA Hockey was wide open for the Penguins Cup in 2010 and Canon McMillan emerged from the 8^th Seed to go all the way to the State Finals before losing to Cardinal O’Hara in overtime. The Big Macs should be in the thick of things in 2011 as stalwart defenseman Alexander Baskerov and consistant forward Brett Oldaker along with a nice core of returning players will lead Canon Mac into the season as defending Penguins Cup champions. Upper St Clair was a team a year ago that looked as if they were on the verge of something special and the duo of C.J. Murray and Justin Selep will be tough to defend as the leading scoring tandem in Class AAA. To make the division title even tougher will again be Bethel Park, which had a very good rebuilding year and Michael Shipley will lead the Hawks in their school’s quest for a 6^th Pennsylvania Title.

State College defeated several top flight AAA schools a year ago and again will be a force in Class AAA led by Ryan Pate. Plum was another school  that many felt was one of the better teams in Class AAA and will return a majority of a very good squad led by Hunter Breit. Finally, North Allegheny has a young nucleus of talent and was one of the one goal losses along to Canon Mac along with Seneca Valley and State College, so expect the Tigers will be in the mix come March.       

CLASS AA

  Latrobe has won three consecutive Pennsylvania Class AA titles and will make a bid in 2010-2011 to become the first Class AA school to win four straight titles. The Wildcats are led in goal by State Final hero Shane Brudnock and offensive returnees Zach LaDuke and Josh Singley amongst a very deep program, which should be at the top of Class AA. West Allegheny has been knocking at the Class AA Penguins Cup door for a few years and if they can overcome Latrobe,may be able to unseat them with the goaltending of Jason Kumpfmiller. Perennial bridesmaid Canevin is a team looking to go one step further led by Frankie Vance. Peters Twp is a program rich in numbers and talent and is always a contender in the playoffs. Erie Cathedral Prep is a strong nucleus of Juniors and Seniors that has been together a few years led by Jimmy Buffalino and Chris Coombs and could make noise in Class AA. 

   CLASS A

 Mars won its first Pennsylvania State Championship and 2^nd straight Penguins Cup in 2010 and is a heavy favorite to do it again in 2011 led by goaltender Tyler Stepke and scoring machine Elliott Tisdale. The closest competition will again come from Kittanning led by Jordan Ford, Troy Schall and Willy Koster and the Cats will be a force this year. Serra Catholic made it to the Penguins Cup again last year and Jarrett Rutchka and goaltender Garrett Hudson lead the Eagles quest to return to Consol Energy Center. An interesting darkhorse this season will be the mighty Hilltoppers of Westmont Hilltop and with the exodus of Bishop McCort’s program leaves only Westmont from Johnstown to compete for the Penguins Cup for the first time since 1982. The Hiltoppers will be led by Noah McQuillan, Corey Schaefer and Zac Kindya. Knoch and Hampton round out the top 5 in Class A and both schools had very good seasons a year ago and could be in the final 4 mix into 2011.