Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

DELMONT - January is when we start to take a look at the playoff race and there is no question that Plum and Mt Lebanon will make the playoffs this year .....with 16 teams quaifying, why not just let the other eight in and let Connellsville travel to Erie and Woodland Hills travel to Meadville just for the hell of it and see what happens ! Now playoff positioning, thats another story and both the Mustangs and the Blue Devils are currently positioned to possibly get a second round playoff home game......and both Stu Relnick and Paul Taibi know that come March tonights game could be pivotal to where their respective teams will end up should they advance past the first round. So the game was delayed by the normal route 22 gridlock to Delmont as it took yours trully 1 1/2 from Bellevue to Center Ice [Normally 45 minutes on a non-traffic day]. Plum carried the play to the Blue Devils in the first period with an early 10-3 shot advantage. Mt Lebanon struck first on a pinpoint pass from Tony Valerino to Lebo sniper Eric Sloan who buried the shot past BJ Schreib at 5:21 to make it 1-0. The Mustangs could not beat freshman keeper Matt Vaughn as the period finished with Plum outshooting the Blue Devils 14-4. In the second, the Mustangs continued their onslaught on Vaughn outshooting Mt Lebo 14-5...but could not score on the Blue Devil goaltender. Bill Leckenby had a golden opportunity to extend the Blue Devil lead as Sloan found him alone in front but could not get the shot off. With just :02 left Schreib made a hug save on Sloan, who walked around the Plum defense and the score remained 1-0 in favor of Mt Lebanon. On to the third and Mt Lebanon seemed to tire and made a meantal mistake with a too many men on the ice penalty at 12:07. Plum continued their pressure and John Kalichuk finally broke through at 10:49 on the power play cashing in on a third rebound as Vaughn topped the inital two shots to tie the game at 1-1. Plum came right back just 35 seconds later as Mike Renna got his own rebound and beat Vaughn to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead at 10:14. Although Plum outshot Mt Lebanon 12-6 in the third and 42-15 on the night, the Mustangs seemed to go into the dreaded 'Cleveland' prevent defense with under five minutes remaining and with some bad neutral zone passes came Mt Lebanon opportunites. Michale Jordan made them pay at 2:28 as he found open ice down the right side and beat Schreib on the stick side to tie the game at 2-2. With :44 left Bill Leckenby's apparent go ahead goal was waved off citing the referee had lost sight of the puck. In the overtime, Plum had chances to win as Kalichuk missed with 1:10 remaining and Robbie Tunon's backhander went off the crossbar and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.