Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Plum uses quick start to defeat Penn Trafford & capture GCC Crown Plum 7 Penn Trafford 2 GREENSBURG - After Plum’s semi-final win over State College, the question was asked ‘when the last time Plum won a tournament’. No. it wasn’t when David Smith’s grandfather Jim coached because he coached Penn Hills in the 1970’s before Plum began their program in 1989 and captured the Pennsylvania Class A Championship the same year. With the memory churning, we need to look no further their the Plum bench and head coach Joe Piccolino, who played for the 1997 WPIHL AA Champions who defeated Fox Chapel and the 1996 WPIHL AA Champions, who defeated Indiana, but it was the 1998 WPIHL AAA Championship series with some kid named Umberger, who scored in overtime, to beat a team from Central Catholic in the third and deciding game of the WPIHL Championship Series before a packed house at Harmarville that will long be remembered as the Mustangs greatest conquest. That was the last time Plum won anything of significance, which is a decent amount of time. Penn Trafford has never won a league, Penguins Cup or State Championship, but after 10 losing seasons in 2003, the Warriors almost upended defending State Champions Bethel Park and lost a heartbreaker in overtime after a controversial penalty gave BP a power play in overtime and the Hawks prevailed. The confidence from that game coupled with the arrival of Todd Purvis behind the bench has resulted in three consecutive Class AAA East Division titles. The Warriors consecutive division title streak may be on the line and if anyone can derail them it’s the Plum Mustangs and this championship game could be a preview of a more meaningful game on January 27th at the Center Ice Arena. PT won the 2004 Greensburg CC Invitational by defeating Franklin Regional 4-0 and is looking to make it two out of three in the Greensburg CC Invitational. At 10:04 of the opening period, Andy Weston got around the PT defenseman causing a hook and a power play chance for Plum. With 8:47 left in period number one, Vinnie Somma took a pass from Chad Covol and wristed it past Billy Taylor low to the stick side to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. At 7:29 of the first period, the Mustangs went back on the power play. With 5:59 left in the period, David Humphries took a shot from the center point and Andy Weston gathered the rebound and buried a shot up under the crossbar past Billy Taylor to extend the Plum lead to 2-0. With 3:55 remaining in the 1st, Penn Trafford received their first chance on the power play. The Mustangs would play opportunist as Vinnie Somma, stole the puck with 2:26 to play and beat Taylor inside the far post to give the Stangs a 3-0 advantage. On to the 2nd period at 10:52, Shawn O’Conner scored on the backhand to up to lead to 4-0. Plum continued its onslaught at 3:48 as freshman Vinnie Somma would not be denied as he showed the tenacity of a pit bull and banged away until the puck ended up behind the Penn Trafford goaltender and it was now 5-0. With 1:50 remaining, Somma and Chad Covol dug the puck out of the corner and Ben Colosmo finished it off to make it 6-0, as Somma picked up his 3rd assist and 6th point of the evening. In the third period, Penn Trafford finally broke through with 6:54 remaining as Chase Keibler broke John Bronder’s shutout bid on the Warrior’s 14th shot to make the count 6-1. Jessie DiPietro scored a power play goal from in between the circles with 3:38 remaining to cut the Mustang lead to 6-2. Chad Covol wrapped up the scoring with 1:13 left resulting in the final score of 7-2. So now the answer to the question as to when Plum won a tournament is now 2006 in the Greensburg CC Invitational over division rival Penn Trafford. For more Recap on the Plum Website please click on the icon or title above