Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

CASTLE SHANNON – Bethel Park won the 2005 Pennsylvania Class AAA title by excellent goaltending, hard work and timely goal scoring. Head Coach Jim McVay’s team opened the season with a loss to North Allegheny and has reeled off four consecutive victories over some good competition including USC 4-2 within the past few weeks. The Hawks are trying to keep pace with Mt Lebanon, who has established themselves as the top team early on in Class AAA. The Panthers have opened the season with a 4-1-0 record and have done so on the strength of their top offensive line of Mike Penkrot, David Crockett and Jono Lohman, who have provided the majority of the offense. Coach John Harford knows USC will need defense and goaltending to spar with the likes of Bethel Park, North Allegheny, Meadville and ultimately Mt Lebanon. This early season has established that the Penguins Cup chase may be a five team race, with the Blue Devils being the early season team of choice. As we learned a year ago, the race could have a clear frontrunner, which ultimately may not win it all, hence North Allegheny, who did everything to win it and fell short giving up just one goal in the entire playoffs, but even that superb performance only yielded a Penguins Cup finalist tag. Upper St Clair started the scoring midway through the first period as David Crockett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Bethel Park outshot USC 6-4 and their best chance to score came as Kye Budziszewski’s shot from the right point hit the post with 26 seconds left. The Panthers and Hawks traded power play chances late in the opening period and into the second and the score remained 1-0. Bethel Park had a great opportunity to tie the game as Tim O’Brien walked down the slot only to be stopped by Kevin Gorder. Paul Crockett’s clearing out of the zone wandered into the neutral zone and Mike Penkrot beat the BP defense to the puck and then beat Pete Cosentino on the backhand with 8:30 left to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Bethel Park went back on the power play at 4:54 but St Clair would capitalize as Mike Penkrot got behind the Hawk defense again and snapped a shot up under the crossbar, which appeared to go in, but Dave Crockett made sure slamming home the loose puck on the doorstep for a shorthanded goal and a 3-0 lead with 4:20 remaining in period # 2. BP went on a 5 on 3 with 3:44 remaining and Kenny Lehmann made it count as he scored on the 2nd rebound to make it 3-1. Bethel Park dominated the 3rd period and had 3 more power plays, but could not beat Kevin Gorder, who stopped 24 of 25 shots on the evening. While the Hawks pressured and created opportunity, Gorder stopped Tim O’Brien at 12:43, Kenny Lehmann at 10:27 and several other key stops to preserve an impressive 3-1 win at the Ice Castle.

CRANBERRY - This is a special report provided by the Tiger Sports Network Junior forward Wes Waldschmidt had a hat trick while senior forward Chris Simanic recorded a goal and three assists to lead the Tigers to a 5-0 victory over Franklin Regional at Bladerunners in Warrendale on Tuesday night. Sophomore goalie Max Richards and junior Adam Lutty stopped 17 Panther shots to share the shutout. The Tigers got off to a quick start with Waldschmidt's first goal at the 11:49 mark of the first period. With NA on a power play, senior Chris Gilson skated behind the Panther net and passed to Simanic who fed a perfect pass to Waldschmidt in front of the goal. Neither team scoring for the remainder of the period although the Tigers had two more good scoring opportunities. Simanic was stopped by Panther goalie Adam Treml who made a good save at the 9:45 mark. Senior defenseman Paul Dittrich sent a blistering slap shot from the point at the 4:44 mark but Treml made a tough glove hand save. The period ended with the Tigers holding a 1-0 advantage. In the second period, the Tigers took advantage of four Franklin Regional penalties to score three power play goals. With Ryan Gallagher just out of the box on an interference call, Waldschmidt scored his second goal on a hard shot from the right circle to give NA a 2-0 lead at the 10:54 mark. Simanic made it 3-0 just 34 seconds later when he scored from right in front of the Panther goal. Senior Joe Camut came close when he skated in alone on the left side but Treml was able to make the save with 9:41 remaining in the period. The Panthers kept picking up penalties. With Tim McDonough serving a double minor, another delayed penalty allowed the Tigers to bring an additional attacker on the ice and senior Alan Halapin made it pay off with a goal from the right side at the 7:16 mark. Waldschmidt finished the scoring when he deflected a shot by senior defenseman Chris Korenoski from the right point to give NA a 5-0 lead with 1:24 left. The Tigers' Nick Vaglia picked up an interference penalty with 1:01 left, but the Panthers could not score. The period ended with the Tigers holding a commanding 5-0 advantage. The physical play picked up in the third period with seven penalties being called, including a game misconduct against Tim McDonough at 8:57 of the period. The Panthers came out strong but could not score against backup goalie Adam Lutty who started the period in goal. The Tigers had a chance early in the period on a two-on-one. Junior forward Matt Lancaster came in on the left side and passed to sophomore forward Josh Herbert in front of the goal, but his back hand shot was stopped by goalie Anthony Livecchi was entered the game at the beginning of the period. Simanic had a chance later in the period but was stopped by Livecchi. The Tigers had a 5 of 3 advantage for almost two minutes but failed to add to the lead. The Panthers outshot NA, 9-6, in the period, but the Tiger defense and good play in the net by Lutty kept the Panthers off the board as NA came away with the 5-0 victory. It was a good win for the Tigers in a physical contest that saw sixteen penalties called, nine against Franklin Regional. In the game, NA outshot the Panthers, 25-17. For his efforts, the North Allegheny Sports Network selected Wes Waldschmidt as the Player of the Game. With the win, the Tigers regained first place in the North Division of the PIHL. The NA record improved to 4-1 on the season. The Tigers will not be back in action again until Tuesday, December 6, when they meet division rival Seneca Valley at Bladerunners in Warrendale. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 pm. GAME SUMMARY NORTH ALLEGHENY - 5 FRANKLIN REGIONAL - 0 SCORE BY PERIODS 1 2 3 FINAL Franklin Regional 0 0 0 0 NORTH ALLEGHENY 1 4 0 5 INDIVIDUAL SCORING FIRST PERIOD NORTH ALLEGHENY Wes Waldschmidt (Chris Gilson, Chris Simanic) PP 11:49 SECOND PERIOD NORTH ALLEGHENY Waldschmidt 2 (Paul Dittrich, Simanic) 10:54 NORTH ALLEGHENY Simanic (Waldschmidt, Gilson) PP 10:20 NORTH ALLEGHENY Alan Halapin (Simanic, Dittrich) PP 7:16 NORTH ALLEGHENY Waldschmidt 3 (Gilson, Chris Korenoski) 1:24 THIRD PERIOD No Scoring SHOTS ON GOAL TEAM 1 2 3 TOTAL Franklin Regional 3 5 9 17 NORTH ALLEGHENY 6 13 6 25

Canon McMillan 5 Indiana 3 SOUTHPOINTE – Indiana has started off the regular season 1-1-0 with a victory over Chartiers Valley 5-3 and an opening loss to Greensburg CC 3-1. The Indians season appeared in jeopardy a lot earlier than that as the Indiana Ice Center closed in July due to mechanical difficulties and the status of the rink fka the ‘House of King Samuel’ turned into the House less King Samuel’ was up in the air for most of the summer. Finally, after much lobbying by Indiana Hockey supporters the rink re-opened prior to the start of the regular season saving hockey in Indiana, not only for HIS, but for IUP and the Indiana Amatuer Hockey Association, but the casualty would be Sam Kelly, who has dedicated much of his career to hockey in the town and if anyone had common sense would realize that the first coach of the Indiana program is a builder and would find a way to make sure he is employed at the rink he made flourish. Canon McMillan is also to off to a slow start at 1-2-1 after a great season and capturing the number #1 seed berth in 2004-2005, which was easily its best season in the clubs history. The Big Macs schedule has been murderer’s row with all teams who made last season’s Penguins Cup quarterfinals including an opening night loss to Montour 4-2, a 3-3 tie in Kittanning, a 6-4 win over Elizabeth Forward and a 7-4 loss to undefeated West Allegheny resulting in a 1-2-1 record. Tonight’s game is a key early season matchup between two teams with playoff positioning aspirations and could be a tiebreaker game come March 1. This game between Head Coach Dom Glavech’s Indiana club and Dave Fryer’s Canon McMillan club was end to end with good action at both ends. The best Big Mac chance came at 7:16 of the first period as Jesse Patnesky had the Indiana goaltender down but could not beat him and then Nick Cusilito shot the rebound and a sprawling Mike Kennedy stopped him. Moments later, Joe Appolonia had a chance on a partial break, but Michael O’Neill was equal to the task. Indiana went on the power play with 1:42 remaining in the first period, but it was the Big Macs Justin Cormack who provided the fireworks as he stripped the Indiana defenseman of the puck and fired a forehand low on the ice past Mike Kennedy for a shorthanded goal with 41 seconds remaining to give CM a 1-0 lead. At 14:44 of the second, Indiana was caught napping again as Jesse Patnesky took a Cormack steal and deposited a backhand high over the shoulder of Mike Kennedy for a 2-0 lead for Canon McMillan and two shorthanded tallies. At 14:10 another penalty on the Big Macs and just 19 seconds later another chance for the Big Macs, which Kennedy stopped. With 11:56 remaining in the middle period, the Big Macs went on the power play, but the Indians were able to keep the score 2-0. Indiana’s Troy Gaydosh had a great opportunity with 7:25 to play in the period on a 2 on 1, but Mike O’Neill turned aside a wrist shot to keep the Indians off the board. With 4 ½ minutes left Canon Mac threw a flurry of shots at the Indiana goal and Mike Kennedy made several brilliant saves the last robbing Corey Griffith from on the doorstep to keep it a two goal deficit for his team. On the power play for CM again at 3:32 and the Big Macs finally were able to solve Kennedy as Jesse Patnesky picked up his second goal, this time a power play goal for a 3-0 lead. On to the third and the Big Macs struck again at 12:17 as Matt Rivetti found a wide open Corey Griffith in front and fed him for a quick one timer past Kennedy and a 4-0 lead. Then with 9:45 remaining in the third, the Indians struck as Joe Appolonia scored on a rebound of Jay Pettina over a fallen O’Neill to make it 4-1 and brought the intimate gathering of ‘Concerned Citizens of Indiana’ to their feet. At 9:26, the Indians had a chance to creep closer on the power play and they did as Steven Geisel caught O’Neill off the post and a wraparound later at 7:37 brought our count to 4-2 with plenty of time remaining. Then the old adage to throw anything to the net applied as Adam Rusiewicz wrested a shot to the net, which resulted in a rebound which John Ogden deposited past O’Neill with 3:32 left and all the sudden it was 4-3. A hush fell over the throng of very ‘Concerned Citizens of Canon McMillan’ crowd in attendance, but was restored to a roar as Jesse Patnesky deposited an empty netter for the hat trick with 46.6 seconds left for a 5-3 Big Mac lead and the victory as the clock ran out on Indiana.

Peters Township 8 Chartiers Valley 3 SOUTHPOINTE - Peters Township is off to a quick 2-0-0 start with victories over Elizabeth Forward and Beaver. The defending Class AA Pennsylvania State Champions are expected to be back there again and for head coach Rick Tingle it is a not a matter of whether, it is a matter of who will be in the lineup every night. With several players who play travel hockey jockeying between the Hornets and the Indians, the fact of the matter is that while players are looking to further their careers after high school in Junior A and Collegiate hockey by being seen, these kids love playing before and with their peers for Peters Township. Many of these players learned a very important lesson in life last March from predecessor coach Mark Cooper, when he had them turn their jersey’s over in the regular season finale vs Thomas Jefferson. The lesson is this….as long as you play this game, it is better to play for the emblem on the front of the jersey rather than the name on the back. With this in mind the Indians survived several close calls against Greensburg CC and Canon McMillan and went on to capture the 2005 Penguins Cup over Pine Richland and then shut out Haverford 4-0 to capture their 3rd Pennsylvania Cup in four years. Chartiers Valley coach Paul Bonetti went through a dream season in 2005 – 2006 and I am not talking about the Open Division thrashing of a bunch of bad teams and the Nailers Cup. I am talking about the re-birth of the Colts Hockey program, which endured a horrible campaign the prior year, which almost led to extinction. The beauty of the 2004-2005 season was the fact that many players who were not playing for the Colts came back to the program and lead them into the Penguins Cup playoffs by virtue of a very bad playoff system, which put the Colts, who were clearly a good Class AA team against the # 3 seed Montour Spartans. CV upset Montour in overtime and then went on and came within a period of upsetting # 1 seed Canon McMillan. So from that standpoint, Chartiers Valley hockey is alive again and now they are back in AA where they belong, but the first three games were not so kind as the Colts dropped contests to Class AA powers Indiana 5-3 & West Allegheny 7-5 and a less than spirited effort in a loss to Latrobe 8-2. Just 14 seconds into the opening period, Chris Morford threw a puck into the air which eluded CV goaltender Mike Evangalista to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. The Colts would have the first opportunity on the power play at 7:31, which was nullified as CV was whistled to produce a 4 on 4 situation at 6:07. This situation would seemed to favor the Indians and Dustin Roux made the most of it at 5:02 with a backhander of a loose puck high over the shoulder of Evangalista to make it 2-0. Eddie Olczyk got behind the Peters defense resulting in a penalty and another CV power play at 4:06. With 1:23 remaining in the first period, Gerry Raymond picked up the puck behind the opposition net and wheeled around into the slot and fired a blistering wrist shot upstairs over the Char Valley goaltender to make it 3-0. On to the second period and the onslaught continue as Dustin Roux parted the red sea and the Colts defense and undressed the Chartiers Valley goaltender in the opening minute for a beautiful goal and a 4-0 lead. At 11:16, Chartiers Valley would have a chance to get back in the game as Peters was whistled for a double minor. At 8:19, Ryan Kelly tired to elude the Peters defense and got the result he wanted as the puck trickled past Timmy Fitzgerald, who replaced Mike Mastracci, who pitched a shitout in the first period. At 7:29, it was Dustin Roux again who made pylons of the Chartiers Valley defense and buried a wrist shot past Evangalista to complete the hat trick and make it 5-1. Just 11 seconds later Jake Della Valle buried a Jeff Hannan setup in the slot to make it 6-1 at 7:18. Jake’s next goal was even more impressive at 1:37 as he made a strong move to steal the puck and buried a shot on the far side to make it a lopsided 7-1 in favor of the Indians. Chartiers Valley scored with just 12 ticks remaining in the 2nd as Ryan Kelly picked up his second goal on the power play as he slipped the puck through the five hole to make the count 7-2. The Colts started the third on the power play and Eddie Olczyk Jr cashed in at 12:23 to make it 7-3. With 9:24 remaining, Eric Windmiller got an early present aqnd slapped it home to make it 8-3. Peters Twp held on for the win 8-3 and moved to 3-0-0 as special guests Eddie O, Dave Hannan. Batman and the Boy Wonder watched on from Jay’s in the third period for a little Gotham City who’s who.

This report provided by the Plum Hockey Club -HARMARVILLE The Plum Mustangs earned their third consecutive victory in a span of seven days with a 6-2 win over the Shaler Titans. The Mustangs came out smoking in the opening period and scored early. At 12:41, Senior Jonathan Smith took a feed through the slot from Senior Matt Giunta and one-timed the puck into the Shaler net to put Plum on top. Junior Shawn O'Connor got the second assist on the goal. Just 1:02 later, Shaler's Jesse Grossman capitalized on a one-timer of his own in front of the Plum net and knotted the game at one. The Mustangs then took over, registering the next 13 shots on goal. At 8:11, Junior Chad Covol backhanded a rebound of a shot from Junior Ben Colosmo into the net to give Plum a lead they would not relinquish. Junior Andy Weston also assisted on Covol's goal. With 3:48 left in the first, Smith got his second of the night. O'Connor passed the puck to Giunta who fed Smith as he entered the Titan's zone. Smith broke free, waited for the Shaler goalie to go down and fired the puck into the net over the goalie's blocker, making the score 3-1. Exactly one minute later, Colosmo one-timed a perfect pass from Covol past the Shaler netminder to give Plum a three-goal lead. Weston picked up his second assist of the game on Colosmo's goal. After a scoreless second period, the Mustangs stretched their lead to 5-1 at 12:46 of the third. Giunta slid the puck to O'Connor from behind the net, and O'Connor wristed a shot past the Titan goalie's short side. The Titans answered that goal 1:16 later when Patrick Sullivan scored for Shaler on a traffic jam in front of the Plum net. At 4:02 of the third, Smith completed his second hat trick of the season, scoring his tenth goal unassisted on and end-to-end rush that he finished off by cutting across the slot and ripping a forehand shot over the sprawling Titan goalie. Plum outshot Shaler 36-11 in the game.