Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Bishop McCort 4 Westmont Hilltop 1 JOHNSTOWN – Bishop McCort (10-4-1) opened the season at 0-3-1 and since then has been on a roll winning 10 out of 11 games including a 5-4 victory over # 2 Serra Catholic on Monday night. Coach John Bradley’s team is heating up as the first of February is today and the playoffs are right around the corner. The Crimson Crushers have been to the Penguins Cup Playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons and to the Penguins Cup Semi-Final 15 of those years [exception was 1998 when Westmont knocked out the Crushers in the round of 8] including 5 Pennsylvania State Class A Championships and their latest Penguin Cup in 2005, when McCort rebounded from a mediocre start to advance all the way to the State Finals before bowing to Penncrest at HersheyPark Arena. Westmont Hilltop (10-6-0) has rebounded nicely this season after two losing campaigns after 13 consecutive winning seasons up through 2005. ‘King Arthur McArthur’ McQuillan’s Mighty Hilltoppers started the season 8-1-0 and have hit a slide the past 7 games dropping some tough contests to Class A frontrunners Quaker Valley, Mars, Bishop McCort twice, Quaker Valley and Freeport over the past month. Westmont will have to get things corrected quickly if it hopes to defeat those teams in the upcoming playoffs. Bishop McCort opened the scoring at 12:50 of the first on a harmless looking shot to the net by Todd Thomas that handcuffed Ian O’Brien and Jordan Jaco scored into an empty net for a 1-0 McCort lead. At 10:31 Todd Thomas on a pass from freshman Dane Domonkos to make it 2-0 Crushers. AT 5:55, some sloppy play by Westmont defense ended up on the stick of Dane Domonkos, who had a nifty move on Ian O’Brien and beat him on the forehand to give Bishop a commanding 3-0 lead. Shots in the opening period in the first period were indicative of the scoreboard at 17-4 in favor of McCort. On a 5 on 3 at 12:35 of the second period as Chad O’Brien scored on an Eric Miller rebound to cut the lead to 3-1. At 9:48 the Crushers scored on a wraparound that was lost by the official, but confirmed shortly as Todd Thomas scored a critical power play goal to make it 4-1. Bishop McCort seemed content to kill the clock in the third period hemming up the Hilltoppers in their own end for the first half of the period with limited opportunities. Ian O’Brien made a nice stop on Jordan Jaco with 6:09 to play in regulation. Bishop McCort ran out the clock on the Mighty Hilltoppers by the score of 4-1 as the Crimson Crushers continue the torrid stretch and continued to gear for the playoffs.