Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2006 Penguins Cup A Final – Pine Richland 8 Kittanning 3 PITTSBURGH – Pine Richland (20-1-2) and Kittanning (15-5-4) are old rivals from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League with programs that have both been in existence since 1972. The one thing that both programs can say proudly is that they both have a tradition of winning, but they both have that void in their trophy case in the form of an elusive State Championship. The Kittanning / Armstrong program has been to this stage before at the Penguins Cup defeating Meadville as Armstrong Central in 1991 and then falling to Council Rock in the State Finals. Pine Richland, on the other hand, has been a very successful program in gaining the Penguins Cup finals three times, but losing to Peters Twp a year ago 6-2, to Beaver in 2001 4-1 and in 1997 to Bishop McCort 2-1. For head coaches Jon Yackmack of Kittanning and Jimmy Black of Pine Richland, an opportunity to face two-time 2006 Flyers Cup champions Haverford High, a 4-0 winner over Central Bucks South would be yet another chance for vindication. At hand first is the 2006 Penguins Cup, that Pine Richland figured to have a hand in and Kittanning, who has been a Cinderella story, never even dreamed of this season. The Rams pounded the Wildcats 7-0 in a regular season match-up in December, which was a long time ago and really should have no effect on today’s finale. Kittanning showed emotion from the opening faceoff and really needed to keep their emotions in check as the Wildcats went sent to the box in the opening ten seconds. The result was that PR made them pay with the opening goal as Jordan Yoklic walked off the near boards and beat Joey Mecurio at 14:11 with a wrist shot to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. An apparent tying goal by Kittanning was waived off at 7:18 during a power play as referee Tony Trovato, found some Wildcats in the crease and called for the faceoff outside of the zone. The Rams would get another power play at 6:27 as Kittanning was a little over aggressive along the boards. It cost them again at 5:46, as Josh Fodor unleashed a slapshot that appeared to be deflected by George Saad, who was credited with the goal for a power play goal and a 2-0 PR advantage. Stoney Hildreth made his first big save on the Wildcats Colin McKelvey at 2:32 as the Rams held a 9-5 shot advantage and a 2-0 opening period lead. At 13:56 of the second period, Steven Adams sent a harmless looking srist shot toward the slot and Jordan Yoklic re-directed it past Joey Mecurio to give the Rams a huge goal and a 3-0 lead. Kittanning would get their chance on the power play at 12:38 looking for some way to climb back into the game. The Rams would cash in again at 5:54 on the power play as freshman Dylan Trombetta converted a pass from Joe Christman on the power play and the Rams were well on their way with a 4-0 lead. Kittanning caught Pine Richland napping at 3:37 of the second as Justin Kovatch snuck behind the Rams defense and scored on the breakaway through the 5-hole on the ice after a long lead pass off the boards from Colin McKelvey to make it 4-1. With 2:58 left in the period, Zach Avi intercepted an errant clearing pass and beat Stoney Hildreth high over the glove side to make it a 4-2 game. Pine Richland answered just 14 seconds later as Josh Fodor beat the Kittanning defense on the off wing and made a nifty move and beat Mecurio to extend the lead to 5-2 and gain the Rams a huge swing in momentum after two quick Wildcat goals. Early in the third period at 13:18, Dylan Trombetta took the puck at the side of the net and lofted a wrist shot high over the glove side of Joey Mecurio to regain a four goal advantage for Pine Richland 6-2. With 11:13 remaining in the third, Soney Hildreth made a big save on Justin Kovatch and then the Rams came right back up the ice and Dylan Trombetta capped off the hat trick 10:42 converting a George Saad pass from on the doorstep to give PR a 7-2 lead. Joe Ford gave Kittanning a consolation goal with 4:12 to go to make the game a 7-3 game, but Pine Richland continued the onslaught as George Saad put the icing on the cake with 2:21 with a strong move to the net and a backhand past Mecurio to make it a decisive 8-3 game and an end to the playoff ride for Kittanning. The Rams outshot Kittanning 38-15 and captured their long awaited first ever Penguins Cup and a date with Haverford High in the 2006 Pennsylvania Class AA State finals on April 8th at RMU Island Sports Center.