Freeport Yellow Jackets

North Allegheny 3 McDowell 1 CRANBERRY – When North Allegheny hired Tom Pandolfo three years ago, there was an instantaneous change to the hockey program with a reputation of being rich on talent, but never winning anything. Sure, the Tigers won the WPIHL Championship a handful of times in 1977, 1995 and 1999, but the true measure in this Interscholastic Hockey era is the success in the Penguins Cup and the State Championship of the State of Pennsylvania. This is and always has been the goal of the program, but now its attitude and expectations are geared toward it. After the Penguins Cup finals loss to Bethel Park a year ago and loss of some key personnel, the Tigers have re-tooled and are once again on course for another strong regular season at 10-1-0, but more importantly positioning for another playoff run in March. North Allegheny’s tribute to consistency over Pandolfo’s tenure was evidenced by its 3rd consecutive Director’s Cup title in a 4-2 win over Defending Pennsylvania Class AAA State Champions Bethel Park. The McDowell hockey program has a long history in Class AAA in Western Pennsylvania, which began to take form in the inaugural Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships in 1975. In the early days, the Trojans were the dominant team in the Lake Shore Hockey League in Northwestern Pennsylvania, who were in the hunt for Class AAA State Championships in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, & 1980, only to fall short by a game or two. After some pretty good success in the early 2000’s with a couple of Penguins Cup semi-final appearances, coach Paul Mancini has inherited a group laking the front line talent to compete with the Bethel Park’s. Mt Lebanon’s, Meadville’s and now North Allegheny’s for the ultimate prize as the Trojans are off to a respectable 6-4-0 start. McDowell skated stride for stride with the Tigers for the opening 14 minutes as John Cleary kept NA off the board. North Allegheny went on the power play in the final minute of the period to take the lead. At 13:39 of the second period, NA finally solved Trojan goaltender John Cleary with just 3 seconds left in the power play as Alan Halapin scored on a rebound to make it 1-0. With 9:04 remaining in the period, Dylan Rohrer picked up a loose puck at center ice and raced toward John Cleary only to be stopped, but had the presence and tenacity to pick up his own rebound and score a very big goal to make it 2-0. McDowell came back to cut the lead to 2-1 at 6:10 of the second period as Andy Kohler scored on a high shot over the shoulder of Max Richards, which seemed to fool the Tiger goaltender. With 8:15 remaining Alan Halapin scored a huge goal sneaking a snapshot past John Cleary to make it 3-1, which gave the Tigers Insurance. North Allegheny was able to skate out the clock defeating their former division rivals and moving closer to a home playoff berth.