Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

As many of you have stopped me in the rink this season and have been anxiously anticipating my annual address of the ‘State of Interscholastic Hockey in Western Pennsylvania’, I decided to pick the timing of my choosing to address the continuing sad state of affairs which plague this side of the state. Before I start and unveil my solution to the dwindling Class A Division and the Glorified JV Open Division, which contains many schools who could not compete at AAA or AA, who sandbagged this season in the name of winning games after miserable 04-05 campaigns, I want to address the Villans of Gotham City, who continue to raise the price of hockey, including their OWN salaries and keep raising FEES. The greatest part about the recent All-Star Event is that each of the Villans exited the Valley Sports Center shortly after the beginning of the Open Division All-Star game, which just proves my point that the Open Division is just a way to collect FEES and a political tool to keep the Villans in power. Mr Freeze, who did not even attend the All-Star Event, can keep busy writing 16-Page Manifestos about me to get re-elected, but has not been seen at one game this season nor did he attend the Joker’s big rally at Mellon Arena last weekend to support the Penguins, which turned out 500 people and not the 8000 predicted by the Ma Parker e-mail. Mr Freeze is worthless as a President of the misguided PIHL and all of the promises made in April were baseless and none have come to fruition. In fact, his beloved Quigley is down to 8 players and supposedly has phantom players on the roster just to field a team. Oh ‘Concerned Citizens of Gotham City’ Class A Hockey is dying as Quigley, along with some other Class A programs are near death and the flourishing Open Division is just as bad. The Class A All-Star game was such a mismatch that I considered not even attending the game because I knew the Southwest would trounce the Northeast and I was right 9-2. In Mr Freeze’s 16-page manifesto, his partner in crime False Face, who commands the Open Division made a public statement challenging me to come forward with my ideas about the PIHL. The first thought I have, which is a continuation of last springs JV-Freshman Philosiphy developed by several schools who were going to pull out of the PIHL prior to the Mafia Villans cashing in their chips and making millions of promises to the General Membership is to HELP REDUCE THE COST OF HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY as follows: 1 – Each School would be responsible for providing 16 Ice Slots for Varsity [2 Hour] and 12 for Junior Varsity and Freshman [1 ½ Hours] and negotiate their own ice costs, EMT’s, Security and League Reps. Therefore you can eliminate the $ 83 per game Admin Costs charged by the PIHL. Essentially, this would eliminate the League Scheduler, Egghead, who has created an absolute fiasco with Schedule Changes in 05-06 and has changed over 100 Varsity Games and don’t blame it on the Weather because we have had a mild winter. Any leftover ice could be used for make-up games or practice time. 2 - Eliminate the Commissioner’s Office and SAVE $ 150,000 in administrative costs and pay Stipends to a Statistician, Registrar, Bookkeeping [for Administrative Costs Only], Referee Liasion and Operations Director. You would not need anyone to schedule Games, EMT’s, Security or League Reps, because this would be the responsibility of the school. 3 – Get a real website that promotes hockey Period ! 4 – Attached is my Re-Alignment Proposal that will create a SOLID Class A, AA and AAA Division for years to come and it will be very competitive and in addition align Western Pennsylvania with Eastern Pennsylvania: CLASS A - <560 Enrollment 1 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL BISHOP MCCORT 211 2 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL CONEMAUGH VALLEY 215 3 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL FERNDALE 101 4 A EAST GALLACTIC ICE JOHNSTOWN 443 5 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL WESTMONT-HILLTOP 234 6 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE BISHOP GUILFOYLE 153 7 A F EAST PLANET ICE FOREST HILLS 313 8 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE HOLIDAYSBURG 558 9 A F EAST PLANET ICE RICHLAND-CAMBRIA 194 10 A F EAST PLANET ICE SOMERSET 345 11 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN ELIZABETH FORWARD 405 12 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN SERRA CATHOLIC 110 13 A SOUTH ICEOPLEX TRINITY 546 14 A SOUTH ICE CASTLE WEST MIFFLIN 465 15 A SOUTH BELMONT FREEPORT 251 16 A WEST CRANBERRY AMBRIDGE 432 17 A WEST BEAVER BEAVER 267 18 A WEST AIRPORT QUAKER VALLEY 226 19 A WEST AIRPORT QUIGLEY 97 20 A WEST ISLAND SPORTS SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 120 CLASS AA - >560 Enrollment 1 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG C C 235 2 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG SALEM 440 3 AA EAST CENTER ICE KISKI AREA 590 4 AA EAST VALLEY PENN HILLS 668 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE WOODLAND HILLS 754 6 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN HEMPFIELD 834 7 AA F EAST KIRK NEVIN LATROBE 541 8 AA F EAST BELMONT BUTLER 1052 9 AA F EAST BELMONT KITTANNING 313 10 AA F EAST INDIANA INDIANA 429 11 AA F EAST GALLACTIC ICE ALTOONA 970 12 AA F EAST PSU STATE COLLEGE 1053 A SOUTH BETHEL PARK SOUTH PARK 309 11 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN THOMAS JEFFERSON 369 12 AA SOUTH AIRPORT CHARTIERS VALLEY 473 13 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN CONNELLSVILLE 822 14 AA SOUTH ICEOPLEX CANON MCMILLAN 533 15 AA SOUTH ICE CASTLE CARRICK 581 16 AA WEST ICE CONNECTION HAMPTON 438 17 AA WEST MT. LEBANON CANEVIN 137 18 AA WEST CRANBERRY MARS 317 19 AA WEST AIRPORT MOON 363 20 AA WEST ISLAND SPORTS MONTOUR 435 21 AA WEST AIRPORT WEST ALLEGHENY 449 CLASS AAA – Open Enrollment 1 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK BETHEL PARK 735 2 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK UPPER ST. CLAIR 583 3 AAA SOUTH ICE CASTLE BALDWIN 696 4 AAA SOUTH MT LEBANON MT LEBANON 730 5 AAA SOUTH ICEOPLEX PETERS TOWNSHIP 483 1 AAA EAST CENTER ICE FRANKLIN REGIONAL 521 2 AAA EAST CENTER ICE GATEWAY 586 3 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PENN-TRAFFORD 615 4 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PLUM 568 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE NORWIN 668 1 AAA SOUTH HARMARVILLE CENTRAL CATHOLIC 657 2 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE FOX CHAPEL 609 3 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE SHALER 798 4 AAA NORTH ICE CONNECTION PINE-RICHLAND 458 5 AAA NORTH ISLAND SPORTS NORTH HILLS 689 1 AAA WEST ECC CATHEDRAL PREP 388 2 AAA WEST JMC ARENA MCDOWELL 977 3 AAA WEST MEADVILLE MEADVILLE 394 4 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY NORTH ALLEGHENY 1057 5 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY SENECA VALLEY 887 Please E-Mail me your comments or post them on the Roundtable under 06-07 Re-Alignment

Canevin 5 Montour 3 MT LEBANON – Montour is ranked # 2 in the latest Pa Hockey Elite 8 poll with a 14-3-0 record and fresh off a 5-1 victory over previously undefeated West Allegheny 5-1 late last week. Canevin is ranked # 4 in those same rankings with a 10-3-2 mark and is tied with Peters Twp for the 4th seed in the playoffs. Both teams have been playing well in the 2nd half of the season and this is a rematch of a 3-2 Canevin win on January 2nd. Needless to say this game will have monumental impact on the Class AA bye picture and seeding later this month. Peter Gegick gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead as he shoveled a rebound past Nick Galioretto 8:19 of the first period. Paul Ciotti tied the game for the Spartans after a nice play by Adam Rizza along the boards getting the puck to Zach Perry who shoveled it toward the net to tie the score at one apiece. With 18 ticks left in the opening period, Keith Kurelis found a loose puck on the doorstep to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. On to the second period and Jason Rogerio lit the lamp unassisted on the power play on a shot from the point to knot the score at 2-2. Josh Daley scored on a rebound 4:03 remaining in the 2nd period after a scramble in front to give the Crusaders a 3-2 lead beating Nick Galioretto. Just 7 seconds into the third period, Zach Haluzchak controlled the puck from the opening faceoff and fired a low shot on the ice through the 5-hole to give Canevin a two goal margin 4-2. At 12:21 of the third, Haluzchak beat Gallioretto with a long wrist shot from the top of the circle, which was shorthanded and gave Canevin a 5-2 lead. A 4 on 4 situation and a face off in the Canevin end resulted in a Montour goal by Zach Perry with 9:23 remaining and now a 5-3 hockey game. The Crusaders received a 4 on 3 advantage with a little over 9 minutes to go, which was nullified by a bad penalty creating a 3 on 3 with 8:56 left in regulation. After a countless exchange of penalties, the Spartans hada 5 on 3 chance with a little over 5 minutes to go and the Crusaders killed it and essentially any Montour chance of a comeback. Tempers flared in the final minute and a big scuffle occurred and was curfewed with the Crusaders picking up a big 5-3 win over Montour.

Upper St Clair 9 Butler 2 CASTLE SHANNON – Several years ago, actually in 1996, a process began to re-count the history of hockey in Western Pennsylvania and after compiling several years of archives and the standings of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, South Hills Interscholastic Hockey League, the Lake Shore Hockey League [still incomplete], South Penn Hockey League [mid-1970’s to late 1980’s] and the Ohio Valley High School Hockey League including League Playoffs and Penguins Cup playoffs [f/k/a Western Regional Playoffs], the realization of the first hockey program in the State of Pennsylvania to reach 500 wins came down to Upper St Clair and Armstrong/Kittanning. The list of coaches who led the Panthers at the Class AAA level throughout their history, which began in 1971-72 at the Alpine Ice Chalet includes a who’s who of Pennsylvania hockey as R.T Ford, Buzz Dugiovanni, Taylor Railton [who led Conestoga to Pennsylvania State Titles in 1985 and 1986], Lenny Semplice [who lead the Panthers to their 1st Pennsylvania State Title in 1980], Dave Hornack [who led USC to an undefeated State Championship in 1987], Joe Gaul, Bobby Kennedy, Chuck Kelly, former Pittsburgh Penguins Star Warren Young, Kip Guenther and currently John Harford to accumulate through last week a staggering 499 wins in 786 Regular Season and Playoff games, which is around a .667 winning percentage in the programs history. The interesting contrast to tonight’s contest, which is Upper St Clair Senior Night, is that the Butler program the Panthers will face has been up and down and is more on the downside of a 1-16-0 season and out of playoff contention for the 2005-2006 season. Their lone win was over Gateway and the Golden Toronadoes also dropped a game to Shaler, in the opening game, that has since dropped 17 straight. If you ask any one the difference between the two programs can solely be placed on numbers within the St Clair program and there lack of for Butler. As the game unfolded and started, it didn’t take long for the Panther to strike as Dave Crockett scored on a bank shot just 9 seconds in the opening period. USC took a 2-0 lead as Crockett picked up goal # 2 with 6:09 remaining. The senior forward completed the natural hat trick with 2:20 left in the 1st to make the count 3-0. Butler got on the board with just 53 seconds elapsed in the 2nd period as Steven Stepanian scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1. The Panthers came right back 2 minutes later as Dom Pegnatero scored on a rebound to increase the lead to 4-1. David Crockett picked up his 4th goal of the contest with 9:06 left in the middle period, which sent the water bottle flying to increase the count to 5-1. Just 13 seconds later at 8:53, Kevin Lucas scored on a rebound and the Panthers now led 6-1. Fletcher Crouse scored with 3:17 to go for Butler to make it 6-2, but Davey Crockett lit the lamp on the power play with just 11 seconds remaining in the period to give St Clair a 7-2 lead. Crockett scored his 6th goal of the evening with 2 ½ minutes gone to extend the lead to 8-2 and Rich Kline closed out the scoring as the Panthers registered a 9-2 win over the Golden Toronadoes and picked up their 500th win of all time.

Mt Lebanon 3 North Allegheny 0 MT LEBANON – A Who’s Who night at the Mt Lebanon Rec Center as Ralph of Ralph and Alf guided us into the secure Batcave Parking location deep below the Rec Center rather than the albatross parking lot up top. Bobby Montana, sporting a new long California look accompanied Head Coach Paul Taibi and Dave ‘Hershey’s Chocolate Milk’ Dorsey on the Blue Devil bench, while Tom Pandolfo, sporting a new look lime Scott Hoch golf shirt with Sport Jacket guided the Tigers. Also in attendance for our who’s who night were Bob ‘King Tut’ Sebastian, Chuck Kelly, Mr.Canevin Kenny Vance, Jack ‘I am not taking pictures for Mort but I have my camera’Bliek, Jim ‘Mort’ McVay, Jamie ‘I forgot we have a game against Butler’ Plunkett, Jamie Cummings, stripes Tim ‘No Regrets’ Morgeret and Chet Steen, W&J Coach Peter Taglianetti, Gina Colligan, Bob ‘I have no nickname’ Behling, and John ‘the Scheduler’ McKelvey. Mt Lebanon entered tonight’s contest with a perfect 16-0-0 record and has gone unchallenged in Class AAA for most of the season. The Blue Devils are on a mission which many teams would like to think about, but only a few have accomplished in the 36 years of Class AAA hockey. The history tells us that 1986 Conestoga, 1987 Upper St Clair, a couple of Meadville teams in the 1990’s and 2002 Bethel Park went the entire regular season and playoffs undefeated and captured the State Championship and the Blue Devils are well on their way to that feat. For coach Paul Taibi, it may be time to be thinking about putting the foot to the floor for the stretch drive. If there is anyone who can feel for the Blue Devils, it is North Allegheny as their run a year ago came to as close as perfect as you can get as from the second game of the season until the 2005 Penguins Cup, no one beat the Tigers and just one goal and one slip against Bethel Park cost the Tigers an opportunity to complete the magical run. Coach Tom Pandolfo has formed a new young group of Tigers, who have only lost once this season and sit adjacent to the Blue Devils in the standings. The irony is that no one is talking about the great season NA is having and no one expects them to do anything because all of the discussion has revolved around Mt Lebanon. This game tonight for the Tigers is a test and a part of the process and don’t be surprised if when the Penguins Cup come knocking that NA is sniffing again. I am sure that Bethel Park will have a say and possibly Meadville, which is why both of their head coaches were in the building tonight. In a fast paced opening minutes, Mt Lebanon showed emotion first as Matt Bartkowski maybe was a little over-zealous with an open ice check and was whistled for a penalty at 12:12, giving NA a power play chance, which the Blue Devils killed effectively. Blue Devils goaltender Matt Vaughn made the games first big save as he swatted aside a Josh Herbert shot ticketed for the far corner with a stick save. The Tigers continued to give Mt Lebanon a lot of different looks on the forecheck including Paul Dittrich at forward. Max Richards made the first big save on Sean McDermott at 3:10 and drew a penalty putting the lethal Blue Devil power play to work on their first opportunity. The teams play to a scoreless opening 5 minutes with NA holding a 7-4 advantage in shots. On to the second period and Mt Lebanon committed penalty # 2 and 14:12 giving the Tigers a chance to draw first blood. Blue Devils Shane Ferguson almost struck early in the penalty, which was saved by Max Richards and Lebo 100 killed off the rest. Mt Lebanon would have the next chance on the power play with 9:40 remaining. Max Richards made a nice stop on Shane Ferguson at 6:55. NA went on the power play with a little over 5 minutes to go but James Cichra had other plans stealing the puck and forcing a penalty with 4:05 remaining creating a 4 on 4 situation. Tyler Murovich prove his slippery ability almost banking the puck off the skate of Max Richards with 3:18 to play and the game remained scoreless. The Tigers took an undisciplined penalty at 2:54 putting the Blue Devils on a 5 0n 3 and they capitalized as Tyler Murovich found the net after some great puck movement with 2:36 to play to give Mt Lebanon a 1-0 lead. 15-10 In the third period, Mt Lebanon turned up the heat early on and Max Richards made a super save on Jesse Root at the 12 minute mark. With 9:59 remaining, the Blue Devils had NA on the run and Brandon Dornish found a loose puck in the slot and scored just inside the post to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead. The Tigers went on the power play with 9:29 left. Then the closer as Sean McDermott was the recipient of a tap in at 5:13 after tic tac toe by Jesse Root and Jon Wilen to make it 3-0. The final shots were 25 in favor of Lebo 100 and 12 for North Allegheny, which is amazing considering NA held a 7-4 advantage in the first. So the Blue Devils are now 17-0-0 and heading for a date with the defending State AAA Champions Bethel Park next Monday.

Montour 5 West Allegheny 1 CORAOPOLIS – Montour has involved in a lot of close one goal games over the past month including narrow losses to Canevin and Peters Twp. Head Coach Dan Siegel knows the rigors of the playoffs and will admit I am sure that the Spartans must overcome this to become a contender for this year’s Penguins Cup. With a 13-3-0 record, Team Montour sits in 3rd position in the seedings in a battle with the aforementioned Peters Twp and Canevin for a very important bye and home playoff berth. Having said all of this there will be a fundamental decision, which will have to be made for the playoffs about the goaltending rotation or lack thereof as I believe that starting freshman Matt Skoff, who I consider the ‘Next One’ for every playoff game will give the Spartans a chance for a long playoff run and combined with the better play of the team, they can avoid the situation that presented itself a year ago when Char Valley bounced the also third seeded Spartans from the Class AA playoffs. West Allegheny knows all about getting bounced from the playoffs a year ago as an Elizabeth Forward team that lost to them 8-1 came back and upset the Indians in round one. Coach Norm Cook’s club is 17-0-0 entering this game and talk about Penguins Cups and playoff runs is dancing through many people’s heads in West Allegheny. The Indians have balance on offense and possess a mixture of veteran players and youth that will make opposing coaches heads spin. Kyle Mortimer has been outstanding in between the pipes and will be a key to any playoff run. The Indians are working on capturing the # 1 seed and any losses or two heading into the schedule ahead which includes Montour, Peters Township and Pine Richland, could vault WA out of the top spot. Before a packed house at the Airport Ice Arena the teams took the ice with an air of electricity as students, fans, parent and bystanders of the ‘Concerned Citizens of West Allegheny’ and the always ‘Concerned Citizens of Montour’ less Frankie Vallie and the four Spartans, who anxiously awaited Limo Service, but not from Canevin’s Kenny Vance, who was at Mt Lebanon. The opening period started with a torrid pace from the outset and the Spartans struck first at 13:56 as Josh York took a cross ice pass from Zach Perry and buried it high over the glove hand side of Mortimer for a 1-0 lead for Team Montour. At 7:26, Ryne Savisky stripped the puck from the Spartan defense and was stopped on a great save by Matt Skoff. The freshman goaltender continued to keep the Indians off the board and made an unreal save on Tony Lutz, who had a wide open net but Skoff was able to extend and glove a potential tying goal and keep Montour on top 1-0 after one period. The Spartans started period two on the power play, but West Allegheny had a great chance to tie it as Tony Lutz was in on the breakaway at the 14 minute mark but Skoff challenged him and Lutz just missed. As things would go the Spartans way less than a minute later, Keith Kurelis intercepted a bad clearing attempt and found the open net past Mortimer at 13:04 high to the glove side and all the sudden Team Montour was up 2-0. The Spartans sensed a wounded animal and Zach Perry went for the jugular at 12:19, when Mortimer made a real nice save and the puck glanced off the post keeping the WA deficit at two and this could have been a key turning point as Montour took an undisciplined penalty after the whistle. The Spartans killed off that West A power play and the third time was a charm for Perry, as at 8:09 he walked out of the corner and fired a slap shot past the Indian goaltender erupting the Montour faithful and chasing Mortimer in favor of freshman Phil Sweet. The Indians stepped up their game late in the second period at finally was able to get on the board on the power play as Steve Sarachene would not be denied getting his own rebound and beating Skoff with 3:32 left to cut the Montour to 3-1. West Allegheny had plenty of time to go in this game and the firepower to come back in the third period, but Zach Perry sucked the wind out of any comeback aspirations as he took the opening faceoff and from just inside the blue line blasted a slapshot high to the stick side past Phil Sweet to make it 4-1 with 14:43 left in regulation. The Indians freshman goaltender foiled Perry’s hat trick bid on a breakaway at 12:42. Montour was able to play solid defense the rest of the way and Paul Ciotti capped it off with an empty netter with 23 seconds remaining to earn a thrilling 5-1 victory and knock West Allegheny from the ranks of the undefeated.