Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2006 Open Division Championship State College 5 Carrick 3 PITTSBURGH – The after thought …………..the Open Division………………and the end of the road. A game that was promised and then told it wasn’t going to happen to the Carrick and State College folks by the Villans. Through lots of phone calls by the members of both organizations, the Open Championship is now a reality. So how did these teams get here? State College left the CPIHL three years ago with promises of the Penguins Cup and after a year in Class A and a memorable year in Class AAA of a zillion miles in travel and two wins, the Little Lions opted for the Open Division. So 50 odd people from State College traveled here for an 8:00 game and another promise that they will get back to University Park before 1:00 AM. The Little Lions program is in a very tough situation on the far Eastern Part of Western Pa or conversely on the far Western Part of Eastern Pa. It is also the biggest school enrollment wise in Western Pa and obviously cannot compete at Class AAA. Putting State College in Class A with no opportunity for a Penguins Cup, the reason they joined the PIHL, is not a solution either. So by deduction, I concluded that State College should play Class AA. Before we finish our thought let’s bring the Carrick COUGARS into the discussion, who had a stint with NO Penguins Cup eligibility in Class A for several years and then took a beating in Class AA needed a place to play so they opted for the Open Division a year ago and had a nice season of rebuilding their program under Chris Chusiano and another one this season. So it came down to State College, Carrick and Kiski for the spot in the Class AAA playdown to play Baldwin and after all three teams went through an entire season with only one loss apiece, Kiski was awarded the Class AAA spot. And Carrick and State College worked their way through the Open Playoffs to meet at Mellon Arena. People………….the Open Division needs to go away and ALL teams need to have an opportunity to play for a Penguins Cup/State Championship and not for an Open Championship. In no other Scholastic sport that I know of does the final game of a season end without a State Championship, except Western Pennsylvania Hockey, the land of billing teams just to have a pseudo league to pay for their mis-administration and purging Varsity hockey. Its great that Carrick and State College get to play at Mellon Arena and thankfully some ‘Concerned Citizens’ of both clubs pleaded with the Penguins to allow them to play for something they earned during this season, but my question is what is the purpose of it? So Mr Freeze and the Joker and their mis-guided administration can give another ‘gut-wrenching’ Save the Penguins speech? Because after tonight, the season is over for the winner and the loser. Even Class A with only 12 schools in Western Pa is sending a representative to play on April 8th at RMU Island Sports Center. Don’t tell that to the throng of faithful Carrick fans who shelled out $ 7 to join the intimate gathering of State College faithful to watch this game. At 10:32 of the opening period, the Carrick faithful rose to their feet as one as Mitchell Faust scored on a Aaron Hahne rebound to give the COUGARS, not Rams a 1-0 lead. State College scored on the power play with 3:07 remaining as Taylor Haney roofed a wrist shot from in tight past the Carrick goaltender to tie the game at 1-1. Just 18 seconds later Brian James scored to give the Little Lions. Matt Abbott of Carrick scored on a great individual effort just 7 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2. At 10:40 of the 2nd period, Daniel Petrick stole the puck from the Carrick defenseman and fired a slapshot through the 5-hole to give the Little Lions a 3-2 lead. The Cougars got the spark they needed with 3:08 left in the second period as Aaron Hahne broke around the State College defense and scored on the the stick side to tie the score at 3-3. With 10:55 remaining in regulation, Kirk Collins buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of the Carrick goaltender to give the Little Lions a 4-3 lead. With 5:46 to play, the COUGARS went on the power play with a chance to tie the game but failed. Down under a minute to go and Carrick earned a power play with a chance to tie with 35 ticks left and pulled the goalie and with 10 seconds left Nick Petrick scored into an empty net to give State College a 5-3 victory and the Open Division Championship.

Flyers Cup AAA - Preliminary Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds 6 Roman Catholic Gladiators 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Holy Ghost outshot Roman 35-10 and was led by John Corcoran with a pair of goals and Nick Seravelli with 3 assists Father Judge Crusaders 5 Archbishop Wood Vikings 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Charles Donahue with a pair of goals and Bob Stewart picks up the shutout in goal Archbishop Carroll Patriots 5 Archbishop Ryan Raiders 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Patriots Robert Fratoni notches the hat trick and goaltender Steve Caggiano stops 24 shots to earn the shutout for Carroll Monsignor Bonner Friars 3 Bishop Shanahan Eagles 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Brian Scott makes 21 saves and Matt Fagioli, Tom Cavanaugh and Alex DeFruscio score as the Friars knock off Shanahan Quarter-Finals - AAA LaSalle Explorers 6 Father Judge Crusaders 1 HIGHLIGHTS: John Williams scores the hat trick as the Explorers outshoot Judge 31-9 Cardinal O'Hara Lions 6 Monsignor Bonner Friars 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Sean Coll scores twice as O’Hara breezes to win over EHSHL rival Bonner Germantown Academy Pioneers 11 Archbishop Carroll Patriots 5 HIGHLIGHTS: Andrew Seravelli notches three goals, Reed Marko scores a pair and Brian O’Neill picks up a goal and 3 assists as GA outguns Carroll. Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds 3 Malvern Prep 2 HIGHLIGHTS: John Soroka’s goal with 4:07 remaining in the 3rd period lead the Firebirds to upset over the 5-time defending Flyers Cup champions from Malvern Prep. Anthony Risoldi stops 29 of 31 shots for Holy Ghost. Semi-Finals - AAA Cardinal O'Hara 5 Holy Ghost Prep 3 HIGHLIGHTS: O’Hara erases a 2-0 deficit and scores three times in the third period to head to the Flyers Cup. Kevin Burke, Dave Devine, Jamie Lasher, Kevin Murray and Mike Cauley score for the Lions. O’Hara goaltender Ryan Klingensmith make 27 saves including 11 of 12 in the 3rd period. Ghost’s John Soroka has a goal and two assists for the Firebirds. Germantown Academy 3 LaSalle 1 HIGHLIGHTS: GA Goaltender Nick Stampone stops 30 of 31 shots and the Pioneers score three unanswered goals to advance to their 2nd straight Flyers Cup final. Reed Marko, Tom Palmer and Brennan O’Neill score for Germantown. Flyers Cup Final - AAA Sat 25/Mar Ice Works ~ 3:00 PM Cardinal O’Hara Lions 6 Germantown Academy Pioneers 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Cardinal O'Hara captures its first ever Flyers Cup with a convincing win over GA. The Lions race to a 4-0 lead after one period and 6-2 lead after two periods as Frank Cross scores twice and Mike Cauley, Jamie Lasher and Ryan Mahoney add singles for O'Hara. Germantown's goals are score by Brian O'Neill, Greg Dobson and Andrew Seravelli.

Flyers Cup AA - Preliminary Bishop McDevitt 7 Freedom Patriots 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Mike Pisko and Mike DeCristofano score twice to lead McDevitt to opening round win Hempfield Black Knights 5 Parkland Trojans 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Shane Dougherty scores twice and goaltender Pat Haggerty stops 24 shots to lead Hempfield into round two of Flyers Cup Central Dauphin Rams 2 North Penn Knights 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Drew Swigert makes 24 saves and Tony Augustine and Chad Weiss score as Central Dauphin upsets North Penn Abington Ghosts 4 Conestoga Pioneers 3 OT HIGHLIGHTS:Matt Leonardis scored his 2nd goal of the game at 6:24 of overtime to lead the Ghosts to a thrilling overtime win. Abington’s Joe Muscara tied the game with just 14 seconds left in regulation and Cameron Levy provided the opening score for the Ghosts. Flyers Cup AA - First Round Neshaminy Redskins 6 William Tennent Panthers 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Mike Clarke scores a pair of goals to lead Neshaminy Central Bucks South Titans 5 Hempfield Black Knights 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Andrew Reuter scores twice and Scott Lawson adds a goal and two assists to lead CB South to win over Hempfield Downingtown East Cougars 7 Washington Twp. Minutemen 5 HIGHLIGHTS: Cougars have seven different goal scorers to defeat SJSHL’s Washington Twp Cherokee 10 Bishop McDevitt [SHSHL] 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Patrick McMahon scores the hat trick and Kyle Manny scores twice for Cherokee West Chester Henderson 4 Pennsbury Falcons 3 [3 OT] HIGHLIGHTS: Rob Katich’s goal at 8:28 of overtime # 3 ends a marathon woth Pennsbury. Max Ashcroft of the Falcons and Christian Beren of Henderson score two goals each Central Dauphin Rams 3 West Chester East Vikings 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Drew Swigert with 24 saves as Rams score three times in the 2nd period to upset # 2 seed WC East as Chad Weiss, Andy Barlup and Chris Fetrow score for Dauphin Haverford High Fords 4 Abington Ghosts 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Lou Pepe’s goal with 6:40 remaining in the 3rd period breaks a 3-3 tie and advances the Fords. Dave Baker adds a goal and an assist for Haverford. Pennridge Rams 4 Ridley 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Glenn Galo scores twice and adds an assist and Mike Page stops 20 shots in net for Pennridge Quarter Finals - AA Downingtown East Cougars 6 Central Dauphin Rams 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Ben Souders scores three goals and add two assists to lead the Cougars into the Semi-finals and knock off Central Dauphin Haverford High 7 West Chester Henderson 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Neshaminy Redskins 3 Cherokee 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Frank Walter scores with 1:00 remaining in regulation and Kevin O'Neill makes 24 saves for Neshaminy Central Bucks South Titans 2 Pennridge 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Kevin McLane scores in 2nd overtime to send the Titans to the Semi-Finals for the 2nd consecutive year. Mike Burns of Pennridge ties the game with 35 seconds left in regulation time Semi-Finals Haverford High Fords 5 Neshaminy Redskins 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Chris Campli scores twice and T.J. Haberle, Jeff Needs, and T.J. Karpinski add singles as the Fords move one step closer to defending their Flyers Cup AA title from a year ago. Haverford's Jason Hazleton stops 23 of 25 shots. Central Bucks South Titans 3 Downingtown East Cougars 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Titans spot Downingtown East a 2-0 lead as Ben Souders and Ben Swink score for the Cougars. Central Bucks South scores three unanswered goals from Nick DiMarino with a pair and Andrew Reuter to advance to their first ever Flyers Cup. Reuter tied the game with 6:58 remaining in the 3rd period and DiMarino added the Game Winner with 4:53 to play in regulation time. 2006 Flyers Cup AA Finals Haverford High Fords 4 Central Bucks South Titans 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Haverford High captures their 2nd consecutive Flyers Cup AA championship with a 4-0 shutout over CB South at Hatfield. T.J. Haberle scores the opening two goals and Steve Karpinski and Jim Hazleton add 3rd period tallies for the Fords. Jason Hazleton turns aside all 12 Titans shots for the shutout for Haverford High. Congratulations to the Haverford High Fords - 2006 Flyers Cup AA Champs.

North Allegheny 7 Meadville 0 2006 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals CASTLE SHANNON – Meadville (20-3-0) and North Allegheny (20-3-0) have faced each before on several occasions over the past several years and the game that comes to mind was a year ago, when the Tigers thoroughly dominated the Bulldogs in round two of the Penguins Cup AAA playoffs on their way to their first ever Penguins Cup finals. In February, Meadville defeated NA 3-1 at the ‘House of Chills’ to determine the home team for this game in the scheme of positioning for playoff seedings. Both teams come in with identical records, which is trivial when you look at the history of both programs. Coach Jamie Plunkett is now in his 20th season as head coach of the Bulldogs and has captured 8 Pennsylvania State Championships including their last conquest in 2003 over Malvern Prep at Ice Line. For NA the tradition of underachievement has been of much discussion and the coveted State Title that eluded the Tigers a year ago giving up only one goal in 4 playoff games is only three games away, but the question is can they repeat the process and take it one step further. Winning the PA Hockey Director’s Cup and Bethel Park Martin Luther King tournaments are nice on the mantel, but doesn’t measure the commitment of the Pennsylvania Cup AAA crown, which is why you see Meadville, Bethel Park and more recently Mt Lebanon in the hunt year after year. Continuity in coaching is a big part of that and when Tommy Pandolfo disappeared in mid-February, one had to wonder how the Tigers could pick up the pieces. Mike Schenk and Billy Waldschmidt have done an admirable job keeping the ship on course and are looking to take the Tigers one step further than a year ago. North Allegheny looked like a very aggressive and hungry team early in this game and they struck first as Alan Halapin picked up a loose rebound and beat Bryan Danczak 10:13. Moments later NA went on the Power play at 10:08, but it was Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson who got behind the Tiger defense and was in on the breakaway at the 10:00 mark but Max Richards made the save keeping the 1-0 NA advantage. The Tigers and Bulldogs had six shots apiece in the opening period with NA clinging to a 1-0 lead. Sometimes good things happen, when you just get the puck to the net and at 11:50 of the 2nd period, Danny Gaertner took the puck on the near boards and whipped it to the net and Alan Halapin, who was out of the lineup for most of the 2nd half of the season picked up the rebound and beat Danczak through the 5-hole to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Meadville had their 3rd opportunity on the power play and North Allegheny continued their excellent aggressive penalty killing and kept the Dawgs off the board. Halapin is not Irish, but at 5:42 of the second the senior winger gathered an errant shot from the left point and whipped a backhander to the net, which went off goaltender Bryan Danczak’s knee and behind him to make it 3-0. The Bulldogs dug themselves a deep hole and it got deeper as NA went on the power play with a little over five minutes to go and the Tigers made them pay as Chris Gilson shot a rebound over a fallen Danczak to give North Allegheny a 4-0 lead. The Tigers could taste the Penguins Cup just a period away and if it wasn’t tangible, it began to take hold at 14:31 when Matt Lancaster got behind the Bulldog defense and beat Danczak to extend the Tiger lead to an improbable 5-0 lead. It was now a party for NA and Josh Herbert got another breakaway and beat the Meadville goaltender high over the glove side at 11:43 to make it 6-0. Of the jammed packed house at Ralph and Alf’s Ice Castle, this game was warming the heart of coach Pandolfo, the architect of this team, with his lucky green shirt for that Irish Luck for St Patty’s Day entrenched in the opposite corner of the rink with Concerned Citizens of NA Jimmy Pekins and a few other Tigers faithful and for the purposes of this story ‘left his heart in Meadville’. Well his team showed theirs in this game, which was part of the vision and is an intrigal part of the process. With 7:04 remaining, Nick Vaglia scored another goal as this semi-final turned into a 7-0 rout. So all of the tradition and all of those State Championships for Meadville became a rallying cry and motivation for a North Allegheny team hungry to prove their worth and will have an opportunity for redemption on March 25th at the Mellon Arena against the winner of the Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon game in the Penguins Cup final. NA outshot Meadville 29 –15 on the evening.

Mt Lebanon 4 Bethel Park 3 2006 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals CASTLE SHANNON – Mt Lebanon (23-0-0) and Bethel Park (18-4-1) return to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals where a year ago the Blackhawks defeated Lebo 4-0 on their way to their 5th State Championship over Malvern Prep at the Hersheypark Arena. Mt Lebanon won both meetings this season 5-1 and 2-0, which in the scheme of things attributed to their tremendous 23 win perfect regular season in which they only yielded 13 goals, but in a one game elimination playoffs adds to the drama of the defending State Champions against the # 1 seed. Ralph and Alf’s Ice Castle is filled to he brim in a circus atmosphere for as two schools who are old rivals from the South Hills engaged right in the backyards of both teams. Mt Lebanon is looking to advance to their 5th Penguins Cup [2004, 2001, 1985 and 1976] and capture their first state title since 1976 and 3rd Penguins Cup. Mt Lebanon has been the discussion of a lot of discussions for one of the greatest high school teams of all-time, but must win the State Championship to even be considered in that company and Bethel Park, the defending State Champions is a big hurdle despite any regular season records, regular season games, rankings, dialog or anything else. Many great teams have had great seasons shortened and knowing coaches Paul Taibi and Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, the only discussion is the next shift and one step, which is this hockey game between Bethel and Lebo. Bethel Park goaltender Pete Constatino made the games first great save at 12:46 diving to stop Jon Wilen in a scoreless opening minutes. The Blue Devils went on the power play at 11:53 and it didn’t take long as Josh Mandic buried a wrist shot up over the glove side at 11:37 from the off wing for a 1-0 lead. A Bethel Park power play with a little over 8 minutes to go and the Hawks capitalized as Bryan Brown scored on a Tim O’Brien rebound at 7:59 to tie the score at 1-1. The Hawks struck again less than a minute later as Jeffrey Konyk unloaded a slapshot which beat Matt Vaughn inside the far post at 7:10 for a 2-1 BP lead. The Hawks were presented with a golden opportunity at 2:32 with another power play and without star forward Mandic for 10 minutes. The Blue Devils killed the penalty and stuck fast as Matt Bartkowski took a picture perfect pass from Jesse Root and beat Constatino to the stick side with 23 seconds left to tie the game at two apiece. Shots on goal in the opening period were 8-5 in favor of Bethel Park. The game slowed from the frantic pace of the opening period, but Lebo’s Jon Wilen scored on a rebound after a great individual effort by James Cichra, who took the puck through the BP defense at 9:20 to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead. The Hawks went on the power play and at 8:14 as Bryan Brown deflected the puck and scored on his own rebound of a shot from David Spadacene. Lebo got the next opportunity on the man advantage at 6:06 and Mt Lebanon scored after some pin point passing as Matt Bartkowski found Shane Ferguson at 4:15 to give the Blue Devils a 4-3 lead. Shots on goal in the second period were 14-4 in favor of the Blue Devils. With 12:05 left in regulation, Bethel Park went on the power play with an opportunity to tie the game, but could not score. At 8:07, Lebo went on the man advantage and Bethel survived with great penalty killing. The Hawks took an uncharacteristic undisciplined penalty at a critical time with 5:12 remaining and Bethel Park survived against thanks to great goaltending of Pete Constatino. Mt Lebanon was able to hold on for a nailbitting 4-3 victory and advance to the Penguins Cup against NA. Mt Lebanon outshot Bethel Park 26-19 on the evening.