Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers - 1994-1995-1996-1997-1999 A

DELMONT - Stu Relnick has been looking forward to a matchup with Franklin Regional to maintain the Mustangs division lead over the Panthers and Gateway, who are breathing down Plums back as the teams enter the final few weeks of the regular season. Franklin, on the other hand, has surged back near the top of the division with a modest three game winning streak. Plum struck first at 7:14 of the first period as Travis Senchur found a loose puck on the doorstep and beat Brandon Stallard for a 1-0 lead. B.J. Schreib stopped Michael Roth on two consecutive golden scoring opportunities towards the end of the period. The second period saw the pace pick up a little with good action at both ends of the ice. The Mustangs John Kalichuk caught Stallard leaning the wrong way and spotted Robbie Tunon with a backhand pass, who buried the puck into the open net at 6:54 to give Plum a 2-0 lead. Thirty seconds later, Tunon took a Senchur feed and scored again to open up the game and a 3-0 Plum advantage. Then at 2:41, Tom Beitler scored on the backhand and the Mustangs opened up a commanding 4-0 lead at the end of two. In the third period, Plum played methodical smart hockey which frustrated the Panthers. Chris White broke Schreib's shutout bid at 6:19 to make it 4-1. Rob Tunon completed the hat trick with Plum on a 5 on 3 to seal the victory for the Mustangs, who outshot Franklin 29-28. The win by Plum sets up a big showdown for the PIHL Eastern Division title with two games against Gateway at the end of February.

CASTLE SHANNON (Special Report to Pa Hockey) The Foxes extended their unbeaten streak to 5 games on Thursday against the Allderdice Dragons. The Dragons picked the Foxes as their senior night because they thought it would be an easy win, the Foxes proved otherwise. FC started the scoring with Jason Kreps cashing in on a powerplay early in the first period. Then, another Fox Chapel goal frustrated the Dragons, who then answered back with 2 goals to tie it up, and the teams went in the locker room with a 2-2 score. Then, the Foxes came out flying, scoring 5 goals in the third period, including 2 goals from Kreps to complete his hat trick. Jason Lorenz and Jake Werner had 2 goals and Brad Killian made 21 saves. The Foxes' next matchup is the 8th seeded Plum Mustangs on Monday at 9:10PM at Harmarville

ROSTRAVER - The 1998 Penguin Cup final between Thomas Jefferson and Peters Township was a defining moment in the hockey programs of both clubs. Coach Don Powell's Jaguars went on to win three consecutive state championships after defeating the Indians in that game. For Peters, it marked the furthest that any PT team had ever advanced in the Penguin Cup playoffs, until this years edition of the Indians rolled out, who are favored by many to go all the way. Mark Cooper knows better and he knew his squad would face a Jaguar team looking to put a blemish on PT's perfect record. Brandon Rubeo gave Peters a quick start at 14:21 tipping a shot from the point past Dan Hartman. Thomas Jefferson came right back and had several great chances and apparantly tied the game at 12:49 as a shot from Tony Mayotte beat Kittleberger, but the goal never went in and was waived off and it remained 1-0. Just 41 seconds later, Matt Schwartz found a wide open Christian Hanson in the slot, who deked Hartman and made it 2-0. Kyle Kittleberger, showed why he is consider one of Western Pa's top goaltenders as he stopped Wade Rhodes from in front and then made a spectacular save on Tony Mayotte after a 2 on 1 with 39 seconds remaining in the first. On to the second as Matt Monheim slipped a backhand on Kittleberger and Brandon School, while on his knees, jambed it home to cut the lead to 2-1 and all the sudden the Jaguars had new life at 12:52. That was shortlived as Mike Papciak capitalized on a TJ giveaway and went upstairs on Hartman to make it 3-1. Then at 10:27, Sam Mack extended the lead to 4-1 as he scored on the rebound. Kittleberger continued his brilliant goaltending as he robbed Daryl Nath from point blank range at the 10 minute mark and continued to hold the Jaguars off the board into the final period. Brandon School scored with 4:24 remaining on a great feed from Luke Warwarniak to give TJ a chance at 4-2. Then the Jaguars got the power play with a little over two minutes to go and came close hitting the post with 50 seconds left. But Christian Hanson closed out the Jaguars with an empty netter with 36 seconds left and a 5-2 final. Peters outshot TJ 40-38.

HARMARVILLE - Deer Lakes Coach Al Pawloski knows his team must win three of its last four to ensure a playoff berth in the upcoming Class A playoffs. The first task at hand would be a very high scoring # 4 ranked Freeport squad, who can light up the lamp and has scored 6 or more goals in eight games this season. Early on was a goaltending dual between Deer Lake's Richard Andemark and Freeport's Eric Gaworski. Andemark stopped Mike Bender twice from in close at 10:39 and 5:39, while Gawroski stoned the Lancers high scorers McIntyre and DiSanti on key scoring opportunities. Then Freeport's scoring machine freshman Nick DeCroo, who is a notable omission from the Class A PIHL all-star roster, went to work as he scooped up a Ryan Janoski rebound and shoveled past Andemark at 4:31 to give Freeport a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Deer Lakes fought back and tied the game on a goal by Tim Paul at 12:53. The Yellow Jackets answered in a big way 10 seconds later as Ben Lowry scored to put them back on top. Then building on the momentum, DeCroo scored again at 11:54 to begin a Freeport onslaught. Scott Gallagher scored on a beautiful shot upstairs at 3:05 on a Justin Gaworski feed to the slot. Then DeCroo took a nice pass from Gallagher and slipped a backhander past Andemark to make it 5-1 and complete the hat trick. Not to be outdone, DeCroo scored a nifty goal by banking his own pass off the goal around the Deer Lakes defender and backhanded a shot past Andemark on the short side for his fourth goal and to cap off a five goal Freeport second period. The Yellow Jackets outshot Deer Lakes 14-4 in the middle frame. Mike Bender closed out the scoring early in the third period and Freeport went on to a 7-1 victory. The win sets up a huge matchup with # 1 ranked Mars Thursday night at the Belmont Ice Complex.

Pa Hockey has released the much anticipated ....mouth watering ....and true blue list of the 2nd Annual Top 25 Players of Western Pa as chosen by our esteemed panel of hockey experts ! Also included: > Top 5 fans of Interscholastic Hockey in > Top 5 Future Young Studs (Freshman) > Top 7 Coaching Performances Only on Pa Hockey !