Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Bishop McCort 3 Freeport 1 KITTANNING – Bishop McCort is 16-2-1 on the regular season and currently sits in 2nd position tied with old foes Serra Catholic, but owning the tiebreaker, for the upcoming Penguins Cup playoffs by virtue of a 1-0-1 record against the Eagles in the two meetings, the latest a 0-0 tie this past Sunday afternoon. The Crimson Crushers have a schedule with Freeport, Mars and Sewickley Academy and if they fall in one of those games could face one of them in round one of the playoffs. BM appears to be headed for a matchup with King Arthur’s Mighty Hilltoppers of Westmont, who they defeated to capture Head Coach John Bradley’s 200th coaching victory last week at the War Memorial. Freeport sits at 13-5-1 and holds a slim lead over Sewickley Academy team and with games against # 2 Bishop McCort, # 1 Quaker Valley and doormat Ferndale, it is likely that the Yellow Jackets will end up with the 4th or 5th seed and face Sewickley Academy unless of course the Panthers drop a pair in their 5 game stretch, which means they would likely face a very much improved and oncoming Mars club that has arguably been the hottest team in Class A outside of Quaker Valley. What Head Coach Daved Hepler has to be looking for in the final regular season games is to see if his team is capable of competing against the top teams and whether it can translate into an opening playoff win and a trip to Penguins Cup Semi-Finals for the first time since their only time in 2002, when the Yellow Jackets were beaten by eventual State Champions Serra Catholic. The Crimson Crushers opened the scoring in this contest when Zack Seidel gathered a puck in between the circles and fired a bullet high over the glove hand side of Tim Zahumensky with 5:36 remaining in the opening period. McCort upped its lead to 2-0 just a minute and a half later as Jordan Jaco found a loose puck to the left of the Freeport goaltender and shipped it past him at 3:51 putting the Yellow Jackets in a hole after one period. Freeport had a great opportunity to cut the lead in the middle of the second period with a 5 on 3 power play, but the Crushers survived. Bishop McCort went on the power play late in the second period, but the Yellow Jackets killed off the first minute of the disadvantage and headed to the locker room for the ice cut. Freeport tried to stretch the ice several times early in the 3rd period and it paid dividends at 9:53 with a power play. Just 6 seconds into the power play, the Yellow Jackets struck as Zach Hepler unloaded a wrist shot that beat Brent Troyan high over the stick hand side to cut the McCort advantage to 2-1. The Crushers showed why they are defending Penguins Cup champions at 8:05 as Paul Reilly scored on a wrist shot down low past Zahumensky to regain a two goal margin for McCort. Freeport went on the power play at 6:47, but Brent Troyan and the Crusher defense stiffened. Freeport pulled their goalie in the games final minute, but was unable to score as McCort was able to earn a 3-1 victory at the Belmont Ice Complex.

Kittanning 8 Peters Twp 4 KITTANNING - On my way up route 66, which was the old route we used to take in the 1970’s, the mind began to wander back to my first game at the Belmont in 1972 to see the Armstrong Arrows take on my favorite team, the Churchill Chargers in a West Penn High School Hockey League tilt attracting a packed house, a band, two of Western Pa Hockey’s top teams and even television. This was High School Hockey in Kittanning and things haven’t changed much over the 35 years in between. Sure the teams, the players, the coaches and the fans have come through the gates, but the Armstrong and Kittanning program has been winning hockey games consistently over that time period. Pat McCue, the first great player for Armstrong, returned to participate in the Alumni game this year, as do many others like Scott Patterson, Andy Walbert, current Head Coach Jon Yackmack, his assistants Lee Grafton, and Jamie King, who are just some of the players who have donned uniforms starting in the excellent in-house programs tutored by folks like John Wilson and Dave Crain and finishing their careers with Armstrong or Kittanning. Some outstanding coaching including Jon Spangler, the late Bob Patterson, Joe Ritchey and more recently Al Stipp and Jeff Smouse have engineered the program along with others to 499 wins in Regular Season, League playoff and Pennsylvania State Playoffs to this point over 35 seasons and tonight is the first opportunity to reach 500. The flipside of the equation for this evenings contest is Peters Twp, who have won 3 out of the past 4 Pennsylvania Class AA titles. Head Coach Rick Tingle’s squad enters with a 13-4-0 record tied for 3rd seed with Canevin and facing a tough stretch with Kittanning, West Allegheny, Canevin and Indiana for the final four contests. The Indians are again one of the favorites to be in contention and after a year ago when they proved everyone wrong by going on a magical playoff run there is no question anyone will count them out until they are eliminated from the playoffs. The unfortunate part for Peters is that their team only plays together when ALL of their players are in attendance. Due to the extortionist policies of the ‘Penguins’ Hornets, Peters has been without a half dozen players for many games this season and for Peters sake hopefully all will get ten games in necessary for the Pennsylvania High School playoffs. And hopefully, the league in which they play in will have their act together to avoid the fiasco, which took place a year ago surrounding the Peters Twp – Canon McMillan Penguins Cup semi-final at Harmarville, which was a great hockey game, with a sour taste for many including the winners and the losers. So before and packed house at the Belmont, Kittanning and Peters 66, not to be confused with Lebo 66 [their neighbor down Route 19], locked horns in what has been a great rivalry over the years and with a little piece of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania High School Hockey history at stake as the Wildcats look to become the 2nd program in two weeks time to achieve their 500th all-time victory. With 12:00 remaining in the opening period Wildcat goaltender Joey Mecurio stopped Chris Papciak from in close for the games first big save. With 9:50 left in the opening period, Steven Phelps scored on a rebound beating Mike Mastaracci, from the right side of the crease to give Kittanning a 1-0 lead. Justin Kovatch lit the lamp on a breakaway with 7:00 left on the clock to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. Forty seconds later it was Kovatch, who collected a rebound with 6:20 to go and chipped it past Mastracci to make it 3-0. Then at 5:57, after Mastracci was chased in favor of Fitzgerald, Nick Troup made shot # 1 against the new Peters goaltender count beating him low to the stick side to make it an amazing 4-0 advantage for the home team in a little over 6 minutes. With 2:17 remaining, Evan Blodgett threaded a perfect pass on the back door to Colin McKelvey, who made no mistake and increased the score to 5-0. On to the second period and Kittanning continued the onslaught at 14:17 as Justin Kovatch tipped in a Kyle Adams shot from the point to make it 6-0. At 12:35 Brandon Tingle got the Indians on the board on the power play and then lit the lamp again at 12:04 to give Peters its second goal and make it 6-2. With 9:26 remaining in the second, Brandon Tingle completed the hat trick with a rocket snapshot high over the glove hand side of Joey Mecurio to make this a hockey game at 6-3. Mike Mastracci returned to the game after the 6th Kittanning goal and made a huge save on Lee Heilmann on a breakaway at 6:32 and keep his team within range at 6-3. Peters went on the power play with a little over 4 ½ minutes to go and a chance to cut the lead again and with 3:17 left in the second Dustin Roux unleashed a wrist shot beating Mecurio on the stick side for a power play goal and now a 6-4 hockey game with 4 unanswered goals. With 1:54 remaining, Brandon Tingle followed the bouncing puck over the Kittanning defenseman’s stick and was in on a breakaway, but this time Joey Mecurio stopped him with a big league save. After the ice cut, Kittanning went on the power play at 13:34, but Peters was able to kill it off. The Wildcats would settle into a tight checking third period and with 1:38 left in the period, when Lee Heilmann scored from on the doorstep, a hush fell over the Belmont crowd of relief and then a collective roar of the ‘Concerned Citizens of Kittanning’ as the score read Kittanning 7 Peters Twp 4 and Joey Ford added an empty netter in the waning moments, the celebration began as 35 years and 500 wins was a reality for a great hockey program, a great hockey town, who was able to come cheer a great accomplishment for everyone who has stepped on the ice as a player, coach, referee [you too Larry !] and the fans, young and older, like myself who enjoy making the trip to the Belmont !

The 2006 Penguins Cup Previews are located by clicking on the Pittsburgh Penguins logo. The previews will offer a team by team analysis including top players and a few fearless predictions on the Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania State Finals. Enjoy ! The FINAL Penguins Cup Seedings are located with the PENGUINS CUP 2006 tab and the complete history of the Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania State High School Hockey Championships is available by clicking on the Penguins Cup or Pennsylvania State Championship trophies. Penguins Cup Playoff Schedule - Penguins Cup Semi-Finals Class A - Monday March 13th - Ice Castle Serra Catholic Eagles 4 Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers 0 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Quaker Valley Quakers 6 Sewickley Academy Panthers 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Class AA - Tuesday March 14th - Ice Castle Kittanning Wildcats 6 Canevin Crusaders 4 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Pine Richland Rams 4 Peters Twp Indians 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Class AAA - Wednesday March 15th - Ice Castle North Allegheny Tigers 7 Meadville Bulldogs 0 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Mt Lebanon Blue Devils 4 Bethel Park Blackhawks 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** 2006 Penguins Cup Finals Saturday March 25th - Mellon Arena Quaker Valley Quakers 6 Serra Catholic Eagles 0 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Pine Richland Rams 8 Kittanning Wildcats 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Mt Lebanon Blue Devils 3 North Allegheny Tigers 1 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** 2006 Open Championship State College Little Icers 5 Carrick Cougars 3 ***GAME SUMMARIES***

Canon McMillan 4 Thomas Jefferson 3 ROSTRAVER – Thomas Jefferson [11-7-0] enters this evening’s game currently in the 6th slot in Class AA for the upcoming Penguins Cup playoffs and is looking to lock down home ice advantage for the opening round. The Jaguars struggled during early in the 2nd half of the season and for coach Don Powell, it may have been a nice luxury in the back of his mind that he had Cody Krynock in the lineup and the comforting thought is that Krynock is a goaltender by trade and returned in between the pipes to fill a void that many clubs would love to be able to call on. Canon McMillan [9-6-3] has clinched a playoff spot in the upcoming Penguins Cup playoff and is in a log jam with Kittanning and Greensburg CC battling for spots 7 and 8 behind TJ. The Big Macs will need to run the table to even have a chance of a home ice advantage, especially since Greensburg CC owns the tiebreaker by virtue of a 6-4 victory over the Big Macs earlier in the season. A win over TJ would is critical to those plans for coach Dave Fryer’s squad. Nate Bohn opened the scoring for CM at 9:59 firing a wrist shot just inside the pipe for a 1-0 lead. The Big Macs opened up a 2-0 lead with 2:48 remaining in the opening period as Jesse Patnesky buried a wrist shot high over the glove side of Krynock. The Jaguars got on the scoreboard in the second period as Dan Jantzi scored on a rebound at 11:31 to cut the CM lead to 2-1. The Jaguars outshot CM 15-6 in the middle period. On to the third period and after the Big Macs could not beat Cody Krynock at one end, TJ took advantage of a defensive error at 11:27 as Brock Heinauer found a loose puck at the side of the net and deposited it past Mike O’Neill to tie the score at two apiece. The ‘Concerned Citizens of Canon McMillan’ rose to their feet with 6:37 remaining as Jesse Patnesky raced the puck from the center zone in on the breakaway and beat Krynock on the backhand to give the Big Macs a 3-2 lead. With 4:55 remaining Joe Moore scored on a long shot from the right point to tie the score 3-3. Then the goal of the season thus far as Justin Cormack and Jesse Patnesky exchanged a give and go at the Thomas Jefferson blue line and then Patnesky doing his best Denny Savard spina-rama putting the Jaguar defenseman in shock and fired a bullet wrist shot high over the glove side of Cody Krynock with 1:28 remaining to give Canon McMillan a 4-3 lead, bringing the Canon Mac faithful in Murph’s pub to their feet and even possibly got Dave ‘Robin the Boy Wonder’ Fryer and assistants Tim ‘the Green Hornet’ Fryer and Eric ‘Kato Moon’ Boring. TJ pulled the goaltender but could not score the equalizer and the Big Macs held on for a big 4-3 win over the Jaguars.

NEVILLE ISLAND - Thank you to Plum Hockey for providing this report ! The Plum Mustangs and North Hills Indians met at the Island Sports Complex in a battle for one of the two remaining playoff spots. The Indians dominated the early play, outshooting Plum 12-5 in the opening period; but Plum’s goalie, John Bronder, was able to keep North Hills off the board with several sparkling saves. Three minute into the second period, it was the Mustangs who were able to take the lead. Jonathan Smith came free on a breakaway, but North Hills’ netminder Kevin Gubish made the save. Gubish then stopped Ben Colosmo on the rebound, but Matt Giunta shoveled the second rebound over Gubish into the net to make the score 1-0. At 8:31 of the second period, Smith took a pass from Colosmo, skated to the high slot and blistered a wrist shot past Gubish’s blocker to put Plum up by two. The Indians halved that margin at 6:15. Nick Rostek walked out from the corner and wristed the puck off the crossbar over Bronder’s glove to bring North Hills within striking distance. Three minutes later, the Indians took advantage of a Mustang penalty. Plum was unable to clear the puck, and it was Rostek again finding himself all alone in the slot. Rostek waited patiently and beat Bronder with a wrist shot past the blocker to knot the game at two. The game remained tied into the third period. At 8:15, North Hills’ Dave Hansell came in free on a breakaway, but Bronder came up big with the save to keep the game tied. Plum went on the power play with seven minutes remaining, but it was North Hills coming up with several scoring opportunities on the penalty kill. Bronder stopped Rostek with two sharp leg saves, and the Mustangs were able to survive their own power play. With only 3:23 remaining in the third, it was the Giunta-Smith-Colosmo line coming up big again. Giunta carried the puck into the Indians’ zone down the right wing and spotted Smith trailing down the left wing. Giunta hit Smith with a cross-ice pass, and Smith one-timed the puck to Colosmo who came flying down the slot. Colosmo deflected the Smith pass toward the open cage, and the puck slowly trickled into the net to put Plum up 3-2. North Hills put the pressure on in an effort to get the game-tying goal. With 1:13 to go, the Indians pulled Gubish for the extra skater. North Hills had several scoring chances, the last one coming on a slapshot with five seconds remaining; but Giunta sacrificed his body, going down and blocking the shot out of the Plum zone to seal the victory. The Indians outshot Plum 30-24 in the game.