Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Fox Chapel Hockey ~ After a week of ups and downs with the 7-6 win over huge rivals Pittsburgh Central Catholic and a tie, 3-3, vs Latrobe in a 57-7 shootaround, Keith Kearney's bunch remained confident with a solid win over Allderdice on Monday 10-1. Senior forward Larry Gizzi will not let the Latrobe game out of the Foxes' mind, as he made a sign simply saying, "Latrobe-3 Fox Chapel-3 NEVER take any team lightly." But...a scary image was placed in the back of their minds as they witnessed their upcoming opponents defeat the respectable Upper St. Clair Panthers 5-4 at the Ice Castle before the Allderdice game. Although Butler has not been competitive in past seasons, this year they are a force to be reckoned with. The power duo of Greg Rogerson and Jared White plus the goal scorer Spencer Crouse in the lineup has proved to be a scary combination for many defenses. To go along with that their goaltending form Jared "Bucky" Holt has been stellar, which is why he will be joining Kreps, Quigley, Misour, and Hendry in the All Star game at the end of the month. So this all set the stage for a huge match-up between the Foxes and red hot Tornado in a late game at Belmont. Butler took the ice and came out prepared as they registered the first 2 shots of the game, but shortly afterward Kyle Misour put home a one-timer from Matt Quigley just 2 minutes into the game. The rest of the first period was played in both ends of the ice and the shots were 8-8 at the end of the first. The opening of second period play saw more of Fox Chapel as fellow amatuer teammate Ryan McDonald put another one past Holt to give the Foxes a 2-0 lead, but not for long. An errant pass by FC in the Butler zone was picked up in mid-ice by Spencer Crouse and taken to the house on a breakaway as he burned Hendry on the glove side to make it a one goal game. Fox Chapel senior forward Corey Day then took advantage of a loose puck in front of the Butler cage and slammed it home to put the Foxes up by two once again. The rest of the period was Butler dominated though as they outshot the Foxes 17-11. After the intermission, one would expect the Butler Tornado to come out of the gates flying, but Fox Chapel shut down almost every opportunity they had with excellent defense in both the offensive and defensive zones. Butler had trouble getting the puck out of their zone and into the FC zone because time after time they were shut down by the hard-nosed defense led by veteran defensemen Jason Kreps and Sam Stack. Butler and FC traded powerplay opportunities but nothing came of either attempt, and suddenly, 2 minutes remained. With the goalie pulled and the extra attacker on Butler could taste the goal they desperately needed, ringing the crossbar and barely missing the net, but still could not find a way past Hendry. The buzzer rang and the game went to the much deserving Fox Chapel Foxes who through hard work and defense defeated the Butler Tornado 3-1. Fox Chapel outshot Butler 34-31.