Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Note: My apologies for folks waiting for this game summary as I curfewed myself after Johnstown Wednesday, State College Thursday and Neville Island last night ! NEVILLE ISLAND – As I strolled out of my house on Christmas Eve after putting the finishing touches on the 2004 Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase, I finally had a chance to relax and pick up the morning paper. After reading a well done and very much appreciated article about the tournament by Marky Bilson in the PG East the day before, I wandered to the Sports Section of the Post Gazette and found an article by Colin Dunlap titled ‘Local hockey programs could use a big check’ [which I have attached for your enjoyment. The interviews include quotes from the President and overpaid Commissioner, who took this opportunity to express how desperate the PIHL is for money and sanctioning by the PIAA, which PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman dismissed in two very thoughtful and obvious sentences. The PIHL has 55 varsity teams, which has been reduced from the 79 when it started with for the inaugural 1999-2000 and the number of total teams has gone from 206 down to 174 at the start of this season. The reason is as the illustrious President says ‘is money’ and the second reason the PIAA wants nothing to do with it is that there are 200 plus schools playing Varsity hockey in the State of Pennsylvania, including the 141 in Eastern Pennsylvania and the 26 Independent and Laurel Highlands schools who refuse to pay all of the fees associated with the PIHL. I did not see ANY quotes where either the President or Commissioner offer to reduce costs by taking a pay cut for the over 125,000 of administrative costs hidden in the PIHL Budget or maybe resignations for the complete mismanagement of the organization by a very stale and self serving Executive Board and its Commissioner’s office in 5 of their 6 year [not including the year I was President, which was when it was managed]. The third and more important factor for all of us, who attend the games on the ice is the product and folks, Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey, as I suggested in my Quaker Valley – Bishop McCort game summary is in the lobby. The illegitimacy only took one night to rear its ugly head as our Shaler team took a six hour round trip & spent nearly $ 1000 for bus to State College only to have the game curfewed with 2 ½ minutes left in overtime because the League Rep, who is paid by the PIHL and showed up late for the game, let nearly 15-20 minutes run off the curfew clock and two teams, who are fighting to stay out of the basement, was not afforded an opportunity to win, lose or draw, which is a joke and a bad product if your selling it anyone. Which brings us to Friday night’s game of the season between two of Class AA’s top teams, Montour ranked # 2 in Post Gazette for Western Pa and # 4 in State and winners of nine straight games against Canon McMillan ranked # 1 in Post Gazette in Western Pa and # 1 in State by Pa Hockey. For two schools where a big game at Canon McMillan constitute a wrestling match or for Montour possibly Basketball, but for both teams in hockey is a rarity, in fact between both schools have a total of three playoff wins in their 11 and 19 year histories respectively and neither have ever ventured past the 2nd round of the Penguins Cup playoffs. So who could blame Doug Stanton for going away with the Junior B Penguins, the game that meant everything for these teams, really is still looking for legitimacy. No Scouts, No Press [except for PA Hockey], No PIHL President, No PIHL Comissioner, No PIAA and the only thing is someone forgot to tell the fans because Neville Island was packed in the stands and two deep along the railing at the top of the stands including coaches and players from Pine Richland, West Allegheny, Kittanning and Peters Township. And the PA Announcer, who gracefully said ‘ It doesn’t get any better than this !” And he was right on the money until about 8:30 PM. Montour struck first in this big game in the 1st Period as Chad Talotta gathered a deflected shot of Ross Polk of a shot from the left point from Aaron Siegel and deposited behind Drew Stanton for a 1-0 lead at 10:56. Canon Mac tied the game on the power play at 7:59 as Eric Lang scored from all alone in front. Justin Cormack gave the Big Macs the lead with 1:51 left in the first on a wrist shot past the stick side of Nick Gallioretto. In the 2nd period, Gallioretto made a key stick save on Jesse Patnesky to keep the deficit at one goal at 10:54. Canon Mac played opportunist at 6:17 as Justin Cormack intercepted an errant pass in the neutral zone and with good speed made a move to his left and wristed it past Gallioretto through the 5-hole to give the Big Macs a big 3-1 lead. The remainder of the period was an exchange of penalties as the game got a little chippy. At 13:14 of the third, Montour went on the power play with an opportunity to get back in the game, but could not scored. Montour received another power play and a ton of momentum at 8:42 as Justin Cormack also received a 10-minute misconduct and exited the game. The Spartans converted this time as Danny Shiwarski took the puck from his own end and found Joe Clarke at the top of the circle, who Stanton high over the stick side to cut the lead to 3-2 with 7:40 remaining. Montour came right back at 6:28 as Joe Clarke banged home a rebound on the doorstep after some nice work by linemates Zach Perry and Shiwarski to tie the game at 3-3. Then at 4:36, the Big Macs went on the power play with a golden opportunity to regain the lead and Nick Gallioretto stoned Nick Cusolito with a diving stop with 3:11 left in regulation. Joe Clarke made a great effort to get the puck out of the zone and was hauled down at 2:52 giving Montour the turkey on the table and an opportunity on the power play. After Drew Stanton robbed Joe Clarke’s bid for the hat trick, the Spartans would not be denied as Zach Perry scored from an impossible angle with 53 seconds left to give Montour a 4-3 lead with 53 seconds left. The Big Macs came back and pulled the goalie and Jesse Patnesky provided the magic scoring with just 5.7 seconds left in regulation after Danny Shiwarski hit the post on the empty net. On to overtime we went…..and the game was curfewed with 3:56 left in overtime. Maybe the PIAA would like a tape of this because this game was great, but we will never know what would have happened because of a stupid rule made up by an illegitimate organization of people who should resign because they are doing their best to ruin the sport we all love !