Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

SOUTHPOINTE - Peters Township’s Mark Cooper was very happy with the underdog tag a year ago as Thomas Jefferson, Kittanning and Indiana headed into the playoffs with a little edge on the Indians and Coop used that as leverage to motivate his PT players to go out and prove to all that their team was the best in the state and they won their 3rd straight Penguins Cup, but were unable to complete the hat trick of Pennsylvania Class AA State Championships falling short against Archbishop Carroll. The Indians season in 2004-2005 has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows resulting in 6 losses, which is more than in 3 regular seasons prior to this one. So Coop and PT is looking for that magic to appear again and what better motivation than an undefeated # 1 ranked opponent. Canon McMillan is the target on every Class AA teams bullseye and coach Dave Fryer is starting to become accustomed to the Big Macs # 1 ranking in the Pa Hockey Elite 8. The coach also knows that his team will be one loss away from ending their season, when the playoffs start in a few weeks and even though this team has an undefeated record, it will have to prove it when March 1 means only five in a row will make them champions. The Big Macs will be looking to go where no other Canon McMillan team has ventured and have a pretty good start on it with an 18-0-1 record and an opportunity to tie down the # 1 seed and a bye in round one of the Penguins Cup playoffs. Before a packed house of rowdy CM fans on Senior night and Peters faithful of over 600, along with many of the Class AA players who had the night off, the first period began and Peters had a great chance as Brandon Tingle, had a two on one chance, which was gloved by Drew Stanton at 14:14. Then at 13:22, Justin Cormack dipsy doodled in the Peters zone and fired a shot, which Rob Madore handled, but Jesse Patnesky was perfectly positioned at the side of the net and beat Madore to give the Big Macs a 1-0 lead. Canon Mac went on the power play at 7:57 and Madore made a real nice leg save on Patneskey at 6:07. At 5:23, Doug Stanton beat Madore at the far post for a 2-0 lead with a slick shot. The Big Macs dominated the opening period, but may have been a little overzealous in their hitting and Peters had a great opportunity to get back in the game at 3:27 on the power play. At 1:21 a streaking Bryan Papciak had a point blank chance, but Drew Stanton said no! The 2ns period began much like the 1st and the Big Macs went on a 5 on 3 at 14:35 and a chance to go up 3 again. Rob Madore made several key saves and Peters survived and Jeff Hannan’s shot off the crossbar was really the Indians first legitimate scoring opportunity and the PT made it count as Chris Papciak scored into an empty net on a Jake Machel rebound at 11:14 to cut the lead to 2-1. At 8:16, the play was blown dead and the puck was loose and Peters had a chance to score, which was a huge break for Canon Mac, which became a little lifeless in the middle of the 2nd. At 3:43 Rob Madore made a tremendous save on a CM 2 on 1 where Doug Stanton fed Justin Cormack and the Peters goalie made a sliding stop. At 2:17 Peters got the spark they needed as Chris Papciak scored on the short side beating Stanton to tie the hockey game. Moments later at 1:30, Jeff Hannan found the net again on a wrist shot which fooled the Canon Mac goaltender and gave Peters its first lead 3-2. With 42 ticks left in the 2nd, Canon Mac showed frustration and Peters went back on the power play, with a chance to go up by two. Brandon Tingle apparently scored, but referee Dave Kosick ruled it was directed by a foot and no goal was called with 20 seconds left and the game remained 3-2 in favor of Peters. On to the third period we went and with Canon Macs undefeated season and possible # 1 seed on the line and Peters Twp’s chance to regain respectability in the Class AA playoff chase, the next goal go a long way to determining a winner in this one. At 13:31, Eric Lang put a licken on Jake Machel to get the CM crowd back in the game. Madore continued to play strong in between the pipes with another excellent save on Jesse Patnesky at 10:15 and again on Corey Griffith at 9:42 from just in front. At 9:11, Peters Twp scored a big goal as Gerry Raymond swung a pass to a streaking Jeff Hannan who chipped the puck past Drew Stanton for a 4-2 Indian advantage. With 3:29 left Canon Mac was whistled for a penalty and Peters only had to kill the clock on the power play, but Justin Cormack made something happen getting behind the Peters defense causing a penalty and a 4 on 4, but the Indians maintained a 4-2 lead. With 57 seconds left Justin Cormack missed a great chance to cut the lead to one and that would be all she wrote as Peters Twp would win it 4-2.