Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2005 St Margarets Fall Face-Off First Round – October 10, 2005 Plum 5 Franklin Regional 3 When we last left the Plum Hockey program, the disappointment of a hard fought playoff loss brought tears and pride from a group of players who overachieved and came within one goal of advancing to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals. It was here at the St Margarets Fall Face-Off, we first noticed the Mustangs as a team to be reckoned with in the hunt for playoff glory. That task will be a higher hill to climb as former Plum star Shaun Keller takes the reigns from Stu ‘Pizza Pub’ Rulnick, as the Mustangs must figure a way to replace Philip Mains, Ryan Griffin amongst the graduating seniors who have departed. The leadership of the team will begin and end with Jonathon Smith, Matt Giunta, David Humphries and Ben Colosmo, who will be counted on to carry this year’s offensive load. Franklin Regional and Head coach Jim Daugherty, know all about graduation as the program once rich in numbers and talent has dwindled to only a Varsity and Junior Varsity. It has only been 3 years in 2003 since the Panthers trip to the Penguins Cup final and they have felt the pinch as several potential key players have decided not to play for FR and only play amateur hockey and whether they are superstars or not, they are ingredients, which could make them a 2nd or 3rd round potential playoff team in 2006, but will ultimately result in early round playoff disappointment. FR looks to Joel Sirianni, Joe Nicoletti and swift skating sophomore Turner Andritz to lead the charge up front. Plum goaltender John Bronder made the games first big save stopped Brian Buckley on a partial breakaway with 9 ½ left on the opening period. The Panthers had the advantage with the games early chances and struck on the power play as Joe Nicoletti pounced on a rebound off a Greg Peters shot from the left point at 6:52 and beat Bronder for a 1-0 FR lead. At 10:38 of the 2nd period the Plum cowbells starting ringing a familiar tune as Jonathon Smith saucered a beautiful pass and Matt Giunta did the rest tying the game at one apiece beating freshman goaltender James Orr from right on the door step. Franklin came right back at 7:41 as Jared Yesko cashed in from point blank to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. It didn’t take long for the Mustangs to knot the score at 2-2 at 5:43 on shorthanded breakaway as Matt Giunta notched his 2nd goal. FR came right back on the power play as John Cecere scored at 3:48 giving FR a 3-2 lead. Plum didn’t take long to tie it as Ben Colosmo buried a shot after hard work by linemate freshman Andy Weston at 14:43 to tie the game at 3-3. A little over two minutes later, the Mustangs struck again as Colosmo scored his 2nd to give Plum a 4-3 lead. Franklin appear to tie it at 11:23, but the goal was waived off as a player was in the crease. Franklin went on the power play and John Bronder came up with a big save on Joel Sirianni, who danced around the Plum defense at 10:13 as the Mustangs clung to a 4-3 advantage. Freshman David Smith would seal the victory for the Mustangs with an empty netter 40 seconds remaining for a 5-3 Plum victory and a 3rd consecutive date in the semi-finals of the St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off. Bronder finished a very strong performance between the pipes stopping 25 of 28 shots including several chances in the final period. North Hills 4 Hampton 2 North Hills had a very good end to the 2005 season with a strong finish to the campaign and a near upset in the first round of the playoffs against Penn Trafford. Matt Hansen takes over a squad which could be a surprise team in Class AAA and returns some quality starters including Nick Rostek, Fred Latini and Dave Hansell. Hampton had a miserable season in 2004-2005 and coach John Jennings hopes that a new season brings better results and the Talbots can bring their program back to playoff prominence. North Hills opened up the 2005 Fall FaceOff with a 4-2 win over the Talbots bursting to a 4-0 lead after two periods. Fred Latini, Dan Stein, and Nick Rostek with a pair led the way as the Indians advanced to the Semi-Finals. Former Central Catholic defenseman Rick Coyle and John Balish. Fox Chapel 6 Shaler 0 Fox Chapel returns a strong corps of players from a playoff team for Jim Damp in 2005-2006 including Kyle Misour, Joe Budz and Justin Kreps along with goaltender Eric Thiessen. The Foxes should be in a battle with several teams jockeying for playoff position in the season’s 2nd half. Shaler, on the other hand is coming off a year of growing pains and will battle just to be able to compete at the AAA level. First year coach Steve Esau will rely on the goaltending of senior Nick Bennardo and young core of players and junior Grant Duss, who returns to Shaler after a year off. Fox Chapel defeated rival Shaler in 04-05 three times and picked up right where they left off spanking the Titans 6-0. Kyle Misour racked up four goals and Alec Chang and Steven Bartinski added single. Eric Thiessen stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Foxes moved on to the Semi-Finals to face North Hills. North Allegheny 2 Pine Richland 1 Pine Richland finish a great season in 04-05 falling in the Penguins Cup AA final to eventual State Champions Peters Twp. Coach Jim Black has modest expectations this season as the Rams return the majority of their nucleus from a year ago including leaders Josh Fodor, Steven Adams, Phil Trombetta and Brendan Conlon, but one loss that will hurt their effort will be Tom DiDinato, who opted not to play High School Hockey . PR will be one of the favorites by many not only to return to the Penguins, but to go where no Ram squad has been, to dare I say the State Finals. North Allegheny coach Tom Pandolfo accomplished just about everything last season as NA won everything in site including a date with Bethel Park in the Panguins Cup AAA finals for the first time ever. One goal is all the Tigers surrendered in the entire playoffs to Bethel in the final and an unreal goaltending performance by the Hawks Bryce Merriam and unseized opportunities led to a Pennsylvania playoff first and the Hawks moved on and won the Class AAA State Championship and NA was left to wonder what happened. The Tigers return with a little less firepower, but now understand the process of what it takes to get there and with Wes Waldschmidt, Paul Dittrich, Alan Halapin and a young but talented supporting cast, coach Pandolfo will try to orchestrate another run and begin to defend their St Margaret’s title from the past two years. The first period was scoreless and it was NA picking up where it left off and outshooting Pine Richland 10-2 in a scoreless first period. PR keeper Stoney Hildreth stopped them all for the Rams. The game remained scoreless through the 2nd period as NA held a 14-5 shot advantage into a power play. PR struck in the period’s final 13 seconds as Evan Goetz found a loose rebound after Jordan Yoklic was stopped by Tiger goaltender Max Richards from point blank range. North Allegheny tied the game early in the 3rd period on the power play at 13:45 as Matt Lancaster chipped a Paul Dittrich pass up under the crossbar to tie the score at 1-1. The game picked up pace in the third period as PR closed the gap in shots and in territorial play. With 4:49 remaining in regulation, Chris Gilson got behind the PR defense but lost his balance and a chance to take the lead. The Tigers cane right back and wouldn’t let the Rams out of the zone as Ian McGlumphy score with just 4:20 left to give NA a 2-1 lead. Richard made a point blank save on Josh Fodor with 1:13 remaining and followed that up with several more as Pine Richland pressed to tie the score. The Rams closed the gap in shots to 19-18 but NA would hold on to capture a 2-1 victory.