Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Latrobe 3 Franklin Regional 2 Greensburg - Latrobe is off to a quick start keeping pace with Greensburg Salem in the East Division. Head coach Ron Makoski likes getting to the rink early in anticipation of his teams games as the Wildcats are 2-0 and ranked # 4 in the early Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings. In fact, the Class AA rankings will take many twists and turns throughout the 06-07 season and come February it is the goal of the Wildcats to be in the mix for a top 4 seed this season as the Latrobe program is been building since coach Makoski’s return to become an annual contender in Class AA and there would be no better time to do it than with this years squad. Franklin Regional has found Class AA to be not as inviting as anticipated as the Panthers have started 1-2-0 with losses to Greensburg Salem and Thomas Jefferson. Head Coach Jim Daugherty has not had much luck with injuries as promising sophomore Pat Coyne is on the shelf for the Panthers, with uncertainty of their return status and Turner Andritz has finally returned to the lineup. FR has a real nice group of underclassmen and will have to find leadership and scoring within that group to flourish in a night-to-night grind in Class AA, which will command the Panthers Before anyone could get settled in their seats, Jeff Joe Regula flew through the neutral zone and buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of Anthony Livecci to give Latrobe a 1-0 lead at 13:29. Latrobe had a 5 on 3 power play on a questionable call and at 3:01 they scored on the power play as Tyler Ridder scored from right in front. Michael McCurdy add to the assault with 2:30 remaining in the opening period as he walked down the slot and beat Livecci to make it 3-0 in favor of the Wildcats. Franklin Regional scored with 15 ticks left as Turner Andritz scored on a slapshot through traffic that made its way through the 5-hole to cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of one period. The Panthers went on the power play to start the 2nd and upped the pressure and the shots and were rewarded with a second man advantage as a result of hard work but could not capitalize and the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Wildcats. The next power play would be a charm as Eugene Mack tipped in a Tim McDonough slap shot through the 5-hole with 4:13 remaining to cut the lead to 3-2. Anthony Livecci stoned two Latrobe scoring opportunities with under a minute to go in the second period. Shots through the 2nd stanza were 18 – 14 in favor of the Panthers. The Panthers continued to carry the play in the 3rd period but could not beat Latrobe goaltender Nick Loycana. The Wildcats went on the power play at 6:55 with a chance to regain a two-goal advantage, but the Panthers killed it. With 1:13 Andrew Ong had a breakaway, but Livecci laid his body on the ice to make a spectacular save. Franklin Regional had several chances in the final minute but could not beat Nick Loycana and held on for a 3-2 win for Latrobe [3-0-0]. The Panthers outshot the Wildcats 29-22.