Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2006 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Pine Richland 4 Peters Twp 3 CASTLE SHANNON – Pine Richland (19-1-2) and Peters Twp (15-8-0) met in the 2005 Penguins Cup final at Mellon Arenain a game, which the Indians controlled from start to finish beating the Rams 6-2. The victory was the 4th consecutive Penguins Cup for Peters Twp and they captured their 3rd State Championship in 4 years by defeating Haverford High 4-0 at Hersheypark Arena. Pine Richland has been the Penguins Cup three times including 1997 losing to Bishop McCort 2-1 in Class A and in 2001 losing to Beaver 4-1 in Class AA at the War Memorial in Johnstown. What intrigues the observer about the path is the resiliency of Peters Twp defeating Thomas Jefferson and then # 2 seed West Allegheny 5-3, which is a very similar path that the Champions took to go all the way a year ago. The momentum is an important component for a team that refuses to lose. And they will need it against a Pine Richland that has dominated Class AA all year and opened up with a 9-0 thrashing of Greensburg CC in their playoff opener. The Rams and Indians winner will face the upstart Kittanning Wildcats, who have come out of nowhere to capture a spot at Mellon Arena on March 25th. Peters grabbed the lead at 8:11 of the opening period as Gerry Raymond’s intial shot was saved by Stoney Hildreth, but Dave Rigatti pounced on the rebound to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Pine Richland went on the power play at 6:07. With 53 seconds remaining in the opening period, Dustin Roux handled the puck with precision and found a wide open Brandon Tingle in the slot, who buried the puck past Hildreth to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Shots on goal in the opening period were 11-6 in favor of Peters Twp. The Rams went on the power play early in the second period and Josh Fodor had a very good chance at 13:07, but Mike Mastracci was equal to the task. Peters would get the next chance at 11:39, but it would be Phil Trombetta with a shorthanded breakaway, that glanced off the post at 10:23. Pine Richland looked like a confused team as Peters continued to frustrate their attack limiting the chances to low quality scoring opportunities. Then the dagger came as Dustin Roux beat the Pine Richland defenseman and slipped a backhander high over the stick side with 22 ticks remaining on the clock…a huge goal for the defending champions and disaster for Pine Richland after a great play in his own end by Jake Della Valle. Pine Richland showed life as Josh Fodor scored a power play with an overpowering wrist shot which beat Mastracci high to glove side with just 1.6 second left to cut the lead to 3-1 in favor of Peters. Shots were nine apiece. Just 29 seconds into the third, Pine Richland had a golden opportunity on the power play, that they failed to score on. But the Rams pulled closer with 8:11 to go as freshman Dylan Trombetta converted a George Saad pass to cut the lead to 3-2. Josh Fodor went on a length of the ice rush and backhanded a cross ice pass to Jordan Yoklic who beat Mike Mastracci with 5:42 remaining to tie the score and erase a 3 goal lead and tie the game 3-3 and a huge momentum swing for the Rams. Then on a wild play with just under a minute to play, Pine Richland would not be denied as first it was Jordan Yoklic and then Josh Fodor who finally gathered the puck and beat the Peters defense and then lofted a wrist shot past Mastracci to the puck with 55 seconds to go in regulation to give the Rams an amazing 4-3 victory over Peter Twp and a date with Kittanning in the Penguins Cup on March 25th. For the Indians the end of a great run with 4 Penguins Cup and 3 State Championships and maybe a passing on the torch in the Rams can go on a capture the State Championship they have long coveted, but have been unable to win. Now Pine Richland has an opportunity to do it and although it didn’t look good with under a minute left in the 2nd, it does now. Shots in the final period was 15-0 in favor of the Rams.