Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

By Jeff Mauro Pa Hockey [www.eteamz.com/pahockey] Class AAA – Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings 1 ~ Bethel Park 7-0-0 2 ~ Upper St Clair 4-1-0 3 ~ North Allegheny 5-1-0 4 ~ Mt Lebanon 5-1-0 5 ~ Plum 4-1-0 6 ~ Meadville 3-1-1 6 ~ Central Catholic 2-1-1 8 ~ Penn Trafford 4-2-0 8 ~ Franklin Regional 4-2-0 8 ~ Erie McDowell 5-2-0 With the first month of the season in the books, it is increasingly apparent that the race for the 2005 Penguins Cup in Class AAA will be a four horse race between a rejuvenated Bethel Park club, Upper St Clair, North Allegheny and defending champions Mt Lebanon. Bethel Park has opened the season thrashing through the competition with ease as the Hawks have raced to a 7-0-0 start and own some impressive victories over McDowell 7-1, Franklin Regional 5-1 and an opening night 7-0 win in Meadville, which is believed to be the first running clock EVER in the ‘House of Chills’. BP has outscored their opponents 58-7 with Tim O’Brien, Michael Diethorn and Conner McLean leading the way scoring half of the Blackhawk’s goals, while yielding only a goal a game under coach Jim McVay’s strict defensive system. Upper St Clair was the subject of much of the pre-season predicitions under new head coach John Harford and the Panthers have delivered with a 4-1-0 record with a big opening night win over North Allegheny 2-1 and an impressive 5-2 win on the road at Plum. John Markwell, David Crockett and Mike Penkrot have led the way for USC, whose only bump in the road was a 3-2 setback in Erie to McDowell. North Allegheny has been Class AAA’s hottest team toward the end of the month and head coach Tom Pandolfo is still trying to keep his troops focused on March. NA won the prestigious Central Catholic Invitational with wins over defending Pennsylvania Cup AAA champions Malvern Prep, defending Pennsylvania Cup AA champions Archbishop Carroll, Upper St Clair, Orchard Park and topped it off with a 2-0 victory over the defending Penguins Cup AAA champions Mt Lebanon in the championship. The Tigers then finished off the first month of the season with a 7-1 beating of the Blue Devils just two days later to finish up 5-1-0. Matt Pekins and brothers Wes and Garrett Waldschmidt have had the hot hand for North Allegheny. Mt Lebanon opened the season looking like world beaters with four straight shutouts to start the season, which had to make coach Paul Taibi very pleased. The Blue Devils struggled on a high scoring affair with a very good Penn Trafford team, in a game where Lebo was outshot. Then the Blue Devils were embarrassed by NA leaving some to wonder if Mt Lebanon will successfully be able to defend their title in March. Captain Tony Valerino, along with super freshman Tyler Murovich have combined for a staggering 55 points in the teams first six games and at times have been almost unstoppable. Rounding out the Elite 8 are Plum, Meadville, Central Catholic, Penn Trafford, Franklin Regional and McDowell. Each of these teams have displayed potential to contend but have been less than impressive in losses to higher ranked teams. Of this group, Central Catholic and Meadville are very young teams who could mature throughout season, while Plum and Penn Trafford seem to have the firepower and goaltending to be able to compete with the top four teams in Class AAA. Class AA – Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings 1 ~ Peters Township 5-0-0 2 ~ Canon McMillan 5-0-0 3 ~ West Allegheny 5-0-0 4 ~ Montour 3-2-0 5 ~ Indiana 3-1-1 6 ~ Pine Richland 3-2-0 7 ~ South Park 3-2-0 8 ~ Kittanning 3-2-0 After falling to Archbishop Carroll in last years Pennsylvania Cup AA final, a lot of people wrote off Mark Cooper’s Indians and when goaltender Shane Frey left for supposed greener pastures to Pennsylvania Class A champions Radnor, those people had to feel really secure in their predictions. The Indians are out to prove that this team is on par or possibly up to the level of the past three Penguins Cup AA champions as Peters Township is off and running at 5-0-0 and they are doing it the way the know how, with offense as PT has put up 41 goals in the opening five contests with Dustin Roux, Jake Machel, Gerry Raymond and Jake Della Valle leading the way for the Indians. If there is a team who has surprised this season it has been Canon McMillan, who is also off to a 5-0-0 start including big wins over Greensburg CC 8-5 and Kittanning 4-1. Head Coach Dave Fryer’s club wants to be in the Class AA mix and will have to prove the can beat Peters Township to be a contender for the Penguins Cup. The Big Macs have been lead by Jesse Patnesky, Nathan Bohn and Doug Stanton on offense and have been backstopped by the goaltending of Drew Stanton. Equally a surprise has been the play of West Allegheny, who has taken advantage of a weaker schedule for a 5-0-0 start. The Indians have been scoring which has to please coach Norm Cook and have been scary on offense as Ryne Savisky, Marek Polidor, Ian Skacan and Ryan Kumpfmiller have tortured opposing goaltenders for 41 points combined in just five games. The road will get a little tougher as WA faces Montour, Pine Richland and Canon McMillan in December which should be a test of where the Indians stand in the playoff race. The rest of Class AA has been a series of upsets and one-sided contests as Montour, Indiana, Pine Richland, South Park, Kittanning, Greensburg CC and Thomas Jefferson are jockeying for playoff position early in the season. Montour seems to be picking their game up with recent wins over South Park 5-1 and Thomas Jefferson 5-2. Indiana was off to a fast start with wins over Montour 5-4 and Pine Richland 4-1, but has cooled within the last week tying TJ 2-2 and losing to Somerset 5-3 prior to Thanksgiving. Class AA should be interesting as the first half comes to a close in December as many teams will battle to break into the Elite 8 and for playoff contention. Class A – Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings 1 ~ Serra Catholic 5-0-0 2 ~ Westmont Hilltop 4-0-0 3 ~ Mars 5-0-0 4 ~ Quaker Valley 3-1-0 5 ~ Sewickley Academy 4-2-0 6 ~ Quigley 2-2-0 7 ~ Bishop McCort 3-2-0 8 ~ Freeport 4-2-0 If you mention Class A hockey in the State of Pennsylvania over the past five years, the first team which comes to mind in Western Pennsylvania is Serra Catholic. The Eagles have had a stranglehold of the Penguins Cup for four out of past five seasons, but have lost the past two years after winning three consecutive State Titles in 2000,2001 and 2002. Head Coach Tom Mooney enter his first full season, but has been with the Serra program wince 1996 and has seen a first for the program…. The Eagles have more than 12 skaters for the first time since the 8th grade picnic and this depth has carried them to a 5-0-0 start with big wins over Quaker Valley 8-2, Sewickley Academy 9-3 and Bishop McCort 6-4. Joey Manning, Justin Lubasch and Aaron Nolte have been up to their old tricks putting with 49 points in just five games for Serra. The last team from Western Pa to knock off Serra was Westmont in the 2003 Penguins Cup final and head coach Art ‘King Arthur’ McQuillan has the mighty Hilltoppers back on track this season and off to a 4-0-0 start with a big win over Sewickley Academy included in the wins thus far. Patrick Krumenacher is doing his thing between the pipes and Anthomy DeMarco and Kevin Gleason are providing the offensive punch. Westmont is a very young team and could be a year away from contending for a Penguins Cup, but don’t tell McQuillan, who is preparing this group to be a spoiler for this years dance. Mars is another team who is off to a fast start in Class A at 5-0-0 and has taken advantage of a weak schedule, but Eric Glover will take all the wins he can get after the Planets missed the playoffs a year ago. Michael Randolph, Jim Kelly, Ian Finney and Bryan Reel have provided offense which was missing a year ago and can compliment a steady defense in front of veteran goaltender Bryan Ross. Mars may be a young team, but the Planets are building confidence and would love to be in the Elite 8 mix come March. Of the remaining teams in the Elite 8, the tri-fecta of Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy and Bishop McCort are looking like the most dangerous threats to Serra Catholic. The problem is that the Eagles have already handled ALL three of them in impressive fashion. Quaker Valley has a great group of freshmen lead by Tim Hall and Grant Scott and although Serra beat them handily, Furman South was not in attendance and if they can get some goaltending will surely challenge the Eagles. Sewickley Academy is another team, who with Trevor Heck finally back from Soccer, will be a very capable contender in Class A. Bishop McCort seems to be the wild card of the three, but will have to score in the big games to overcome the aforementioned contenders and Serra when the playoff bell rings in March.