Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

2005 Penguins Cup AA ~ Pine Richland Rams vs Peters Twp Indians Mellon Arena - Pine Richland has advanced to the Penguins Cup twice in their history in 1997 in Class A against Bishop McCort and lost 2-1 in a nailbitter. The second appearance was in 2001 as the Rams met Beaver at the Cambria War Memorial and lost to the eventual Class AA State Champions and Richland has never been back since. Over 29 years of Pine Richland hockey has yielded 380 + wins and lots of excellent players have come out of the program including Kenny Trombetta, who found his way to Division 1 hockey for Yale and goes all the way back to the Coles of the early 1970’s, when the program started. Unfortunately, all of that is nice but hasn’t measured up to any championships outside of the 1999 WPIHL AA crown under Bobby Black. Bobby’s brother Jimmy is now coaching the Rams and he understands what it takes to win it all having been an assistant on the 1991 Beaver Class AA State Champions. Jimmy Black comes from a hockey family and his father the late Frank Black epitomized a hockey person as a rink manager at the old Sewickley rink and one of the founding fathers of USA Hockey in Western Pennsylvania with dedication to serving the hockey community for many years, as a volunteer and did what it took in the early days to promote the sport and its players. What would really bring smiles to the Black family would be a State Championship and Pine Richland may be at the beginning of a nice run with a wealth of talent in the organization. There is no time like the present for Pine Richland as they take the ice at Mellon Arena hoping the 3rd time is a charm. The Peters Township Indians and their charismatic head coach Mark Cooper enter tonight’s Penguins Cup as the 3-time defending Penguins Cup champions, with two Pennsylvania State High School Hockey Championships in 2002 with a 10-3 beating of Archbishop Carroll at the Rostraver Ice Garden and impressive 9-3 throttling of a highly Holy Ghost Prep squad at Ice Line to capture a 2nd straight title. It was all going to be pretty easy for the Indians after they came back to defeat Indiana in the 2004 Penguins Cup with a great comeback, but reality set in real quick as PT lost to Archbishop Carroll at RMU Neville Island Sports Center, leaving a void in their run. The 2004-2005 season has been memorable for the Peters Township Hockey program with moments of greatness and moments to forget. With all of the distractions of the season behind them, this team has hit stride in the playoffs with exciting wins over a very good Greensburg CC club 2-1 in round two and last weeks 6-4 comeback victory over the # 1 seed Canon McMillan in the Penguins Cup semi-finals at Harmarville. Coach ‘Coop’ has the boys playing for the names on the front of the jersey’s after a season of playing for the ones on the back for most of the season. Peter’s is poised to win it again and is far from a # 7 seed with 8 losses and everyone in Western Pennsylvania knows it and what was expected has transpired. In their way is a Pine Richland team who beat them 4-3 in February, but that was a different time and the game had a lot less riding on it as a team who has been though the process Peters meets an up and comer Pine Richland for the 2005 Penguins Cup for the right to move on to this Saturday to face the Haverford High Fords, the 2005 Flyers Cup AA Champions and # 1 seed, who defeated Cinderella Council Rock South 5-1 at the Haverford Skatium last night. The game had chances for both teams early on but the games first great scoring opportunity came at 12:25, as Jake Della Valle took a nice feed from Eric Windemueller, but stopped on a great save by Tommy Zajac. At 5:50 of the first with the Rams on the power play, Tommy DiDinato had a great chance but Rob Madore made a great stop to keep it scoreless. At 1:32 of the first the Indians struck as the forgotten player on their roster for most of the season, who has sat on the sidelines, Matt Lazzaro backhanded a rebound past Tommy Zajac after a shot from Jake Delle Valle to give Peters a 1-0 lead. Pine Richland outshot Peters in the first 12-8 in the opening period. Rob Madore continued to pitch a shutout since 8:12 of the 2nd period of the Canon McMillan semi-final win with save after save into the 2nd. And then it happened, a great play without the puck by Tommy DiDinato at 11:48 to elude the defender and take a perfect cross ice pass from Brendan Conlon and snapped on down on the ice to tie the game at 1-1 and a power play goal. With 8:26 remaining in the second period, Peters got a big break and a lucky goal which they’ll take as Matt Lazzaro played pinball with a Ram defenseman and the puck waundered past Tom Zajac for a 2-1 Peters lead. The Indians went on the power play moments later with the lead and a chance to expand, Zajac made a great stop on Gerry Raymond, but Peters scored with just five seconds left as Eric Windemueller was parked in front and chipped home a rebound for a 3-1 lead with 6:01 left in the middle period. The Indians were now sniffing a wounded animal and started to apply pressure on the Rams defense and with 5:17 left Garrett Rooney’s shot was tipped in by Eric Windemueller for a 4-1 Peters advantage. Josh Fodor had an excellent chance at 4:43, but again it was Madore, who got enough of a piece of it to keep it out. At 4:11, the Indians were whistled and the Rams went on the power play and needed to start thinking about getting back in the game. At 3:35 Rob Madore stoned Evan Goetz. At 2:38, PR’s Tommy DiDinato had a golden opportunity but could not find the handle for an open net. And Peter’s took a 4-1 lead to the locker room and 15 minutes away from a trip back to the State Finals. Yes, 15 minutes until the end for this version of Pine Richland’s season and maybe a little less individuality and a little more passing or possibly a break or some desperation from a young squad. At 13:10, Rob Madore stopped Josh Fodor from in tight. Peter’s came back with a chance with 12:50 left as Jeff Hannan hit the crossbar. Then with 11:50 left, the Rams finally solved Madore as Fodor slid a rebound into the empty goal after Madore made the initial save on Tom DiDinato to make it 4-2. Now the break…as Peters pulled down a loose Phil Trombetta with 9:16 left to give Richland a chance to pull within one. Then a mistake and Jeff Hannan made a play at 7:29, that Peter’s fans better become accustomed to as he picked off a pass and beat the PR defense and Zajac for a shorthanded goal and a comfortable 5-2 with 7:29 remaining. And now it was Rob Madore’s turn to close the deal and send his team to Hershey as the clock and Jake Delle Valle stole Madore’s thunder trickling a shot past Tom Zajac with 5:14 left in regulation to help start the reservations for a 4th trip in a row for Peters to the State finals with a 6-2 lead. So for all of Mark Cooper’s critics, who wanted to hang him for turning the jersey’s over in the final regular season game against Thomas Jefferson, I will say it. Let the people raise the money for the program and let the coach coach his team, because Coach Coop’s squad is now playing for the Indians on the front, which will make Arnold ‘Slick’Ziffel proud and his squad will be moving on to face Haverford High in the 2005 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship at the Hersheypark Arena.

2005 Penguins Cup AAA ~ North Allegheny Tigers vs Bethel Park Blackhawks MELLON ARENA - North Allegheny coach Tom Pandolfo has played this game in his mind ever since he took the helm over the Tiger program last season. The classic underachievers over the 32 years of North Allegheny hockey has been that the program has the resources in players and the desire of the people, what it needed and has found is a leader in their coach and a collective leadership of their players, which has carried the Tigers for the 1st time ever in to the 2005 Penguins Cup finals and an opportunity to move on and play Malvern Prep on Saturday at the Hersheypark Arena in the 30th Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship. In the way is Bethel Park, a team the Tigers defeated for the 2004-05 Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Director’s Cup in December 5-1 and followed up with a 4-1 regular season 4-1 victory at Bethel Park Blade Runners in February. So Na knows they can beat Bethel and will have to prove it on the big stage of the Mellon Arena with some big stakes in a Penguins Cup title on the line. Bethel Park has been to the dance in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002 and went on to win the Pennsylvania four times over Malvern Prep 4-3 at Iceline, over Father Judge 3-2 at the Mellon Arena, Malvern Prep 2-1 at Haverford Skatium and Malvern Prep 4-3 in overtime at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Guess who the winner of the 2005 Penguins Cup gets in the 2005 State Championship…..you got it Malvern Prep defeated a very good Germantown Academy 4-3 team for their 5th consecutive Flyers Cup last Thursday at the Spectrum and a chance to defend their State Title from a year ago. This would set up the first meeting between Malvern and Bethel since the Rostraver stick measurement game. Jim ‘Mort’ McVay just wants that opportunity and has a big roadblock ahead of his team in the form of North Allegheny, who surpassed the Hawks in the standings and the rankings in December. So a large task which has been a mighty defending champ Meadville in 1997 by a 3-2 score, a rough Cathedral Prep squad in a hostile environment in Erie 5-4 in 2000, Cinderella Allderdice 7-3 in Johnstown in 2001 and archrival Mt Lebanon 3-1 at the Mellon Arena in 2002. So Mort knows the adversity of a strong opponent and knows how to prepare to defeat them and now has another one in NA. The first opportunity of the game came at 7:23 as Bethel Park went on the power play but could not score. A very mundane and boring first period with tight checking and an 8-3 shot advantage for the Tigers. At 12:52 of the 2nd the Waldschmidt’s of Garrett then Wes went to work to give NA a lead and it was Bryce Merriam who answered with two great saves. An excellent play by Michael Diethorn but may have been a little too much agressive, put NA on the power with a little over 11 minutes left in the middle period. The Blackhawks dug in defensively and did a great job shutting down the dangerous Tiger power play and the game remained scoreless. At 8:09, Bryce Merriam made an unreal save on Wes Waldschmidt with the glove which brought the Bethel fans to their feet as he stacked the pads and snagged a wicked wrister. Then at 5:57, the Bethel fans prayers were answered as the dangerous Timmy O’Brien got loose and scored on his own rebound to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 18-7. Now to the mentality as the Tigers surrendered their first goal of the playoffs. Now to the mentality of this game as the Tigers now trailed for the first time in the playoffs and with 3:05 left Wes Waldschmidt was throttled to boards with a clean hit and the question is what would the Tigers do now that one of their main offensive pieces went down, but Waldschmidt was able to get up under his own power. And the game continued and Bethel was whistled again with 2:38 left putting the Tigers on the power play and a golden opportunity in what may be a real low scoring game to tie it. With 1:29, Brian McGinty was pulled down and it could have very well been a penalty shot, but ended up being hooking and a 4 on 4 . With a 26-1-0 record for the season and 26 wins in a row, its hard to believe the Tigers are now 15 minutes and another hot Bryce Merriam period away from being eliminated. But it’s true and have only given up one goal as part of the process. Welcome to the world of the quest to win a State Championship and Jim McVay to this point has coached a brilliant game of text book Bethel hockey with defense and the goaltending of Merriam, which he knew would be a key and has happened to plan thus far. This could go down as a classic, but a long way to go in the final period of regulation. The hole got al little deeper for the Tigers with 12:53 left as Bethel went on the power play. Tick . Tick. Tick. on the Tigers season. With around 9:00 to go another Merriam save on Matt Zrebiec and still 1-0. As NA shortened the bench, coach McVay kept running 4 lines and fresh players, who play position, with relentless determination and defensive prowess. Tick. Tick. Tick. With 5:29 Merriam stopped Paul Dittrich and made it look easy. With 3:01 left coach Tom Pandolfo called timeout and time stood still on the Tiger’s season down 1-0. With 2:27, Matt Pekins with a snapshot and Merriam handled it. A flurry with under two left and Bethel survived. The recipe was desperation for both teams under a minute and Bethel Park stood tall against the giant and in a classic finish the Hawks would move on to play Malvern and for NA, who only gave up one goal, would go home. For Bethel Park and its coach the banquet would be next Friday in Hershey and coach McVay, who maybe will get a little more encouragement and gets to face a Malvern team, who will defend their title, but has never beaten the Blackhawks in the State Final.

Penncrest Lions 2005 High School Roster 91 John Mowry 12 V 12 Rob Rottensteiner 12 V 15 Brad Ryan 12 V 28 Kevin Vanaman 12 V 10 Dave Bixler 11 V 41 Bryan Chacosky 11 V 61 Paul Farnschlader 11 V 8 Scott Griffin 11 V 88 Bill Griffith 11 V 16 Nick Kusturiss 11 V 21 Sal Lopiccolo 11 V 40 Ryan McElhenney 11 V 4 Dave Sakers 11 V 25 Chris Tull 11 V 11 Mike Maser 10 V 19 Franny Naselli 10 V 22 Eric Lutz 9 V 27 Tim Paulson 9 V Head Coach - Steve Mescanti - 12th season A Assistants - Eric Wolf - Kraig Kaufhold

2005 Pennsylvania Cup and Penguins Cup AA Champions Peters Township Indians 6 Mike Bucci 11 D 8 Aaron Croft 12 D 11 Jake Della Valle 10 F 4 Carter Docking 10 D 14 Jeff Hannan 10 F 47 George Hecht 12 F 27 Matt Lazzaro 11 F 95 Jake Machel 10 D 17 Rob Madore 10 G 70 Bryan Papciak 12 F 31 Chris Papciak 10 F 69 Gerry Raymond 11 F 63 Eric Rectenwald 12 F 77 Garrett Rooney 12 D 26 Dustin Roux 11 F 16 Brandon Tingle 11 F 23 Eric Windmueller 10 F Head Coach - Mark Cooper Assistant Coach Denny DeFelice Assistant Coach Scott Simmons

2005 Bethel Park Blackhawks Pennsylvania Cup and Penguins Cup AAA Champions 1 Rick McLuckie Goaltender 12 3 Ryan Hedglen Forward 12 4 Kye Budziszewski Defense 11 6 Ken Lehmann Forward 10 7 Tyler Zaremski Forward 11 8 Connor McLean Forward 12 9 Bryce Merriam Goaltender 11 10 Timothy O'Brien Forward 11 11 Edward Bendik Defense 11 12 Jason Hosko Defense 11 13 Jacobus Bliek Defense 12 14 Rob Torchia Defense 10 15 Brian McGinty Forward 9 16 Graham Cohen Forward 10 17 Bob Heyl Forward 11 18 Jason Hedglen Forward 12 19 Bryan Brown Forward 10 21 Adam Kaczmarek Forward 11 22 Logan Bannon Forward 10 23 Michael Diethorn Forward 12 24 Jeffrey Konyk Defense 11 25 Tim Davin Defense 10 Jim McVay - Head Coach Dan Mackin - Assistant Matt Brunk - Assistant Jack Bliek - Team Manager