Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

CRANBERRY - North Allegheny [12-1-0] ranked # 1 in the Post Gazette and Penn Trafford [10-3-0] ranked # 5 in the PG in a rematch of a game in which North Allegheny defeated Penn Trafford in the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase Medal Round Semi-Finals on 12/28/04 by the score of 3-1 and went on to defeat Bethel Park in the Director’s Cup Final 5-1. Coach Tom Pandolfo’s squad started off the 2nd half of the season with an impressive 4-0 win over first place Plum in the East and would be looking to knock off three division leaders in a row including PT and Bethel Park in successive games. Penn Trafford out to send a message to Western Pennsylvania that they intend to put their hat in the ring when the Penguins Cup playoffs begin in March. Penn Trafford would line up without leading scorer Chris Cerutti who had reindeer practice this evening, but would have crafty Nick Whaley, who did not face the Tigers in the Showcase. At 4:41 of the 1st Period Paul Dittrich scored from the right point on a shot through traffic, which PT netminder Joel Sterniak may have not been able to pick up through the screen for a 1-0 North Allegheny lead. NA outshot PT 26-3 in the opening period. At 7:26 of the 2nd Period, Garrett Waldschmidt picked up a loose puck on a Matt Pekins rebound to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. The Tigers continued their dominance by outshooting the Warriors 16-3 and Joel Sterniak made several very good saves to keep his team in the game. In the third, NA struck quickly as Chris Simanic beat Sterniak on the ice to extend the lead to 3-0 at 13:34. Penn Trafford went on the power play at 11:55 with a chance to break the shutout and get back in the game, but where whistled for a penalty at 11:02 to nullify the opportunity. The Warriors did capitalize at 8:37 as Dan Sidle scored on the power play beating Jeff Kristan on the short side to tighten the game at 3-1. North Allegheny just put the puck possession game and defensive game into high gear the final 8 + minutes and stuffed the Warriors in their back pocket and another win for the Tigers.

CRANBERRY - Freeport has been the big surprise at Class A in first place in the North Division with a 9-2-1-0 record. Coach Dave Hepler’s squad only has two blemishes, a 4-0 loss to Bishop McCort and a 5-1 loss to Richland Cambria. Mars and Freeport played to a 2-2 tie in the last game prior to the end of the first half of the season at the Belmont. Dustin Gaworski has had the hot hand for Freeport and leads the team in scoring through the first 12 games of the regular season. Mars has also been a pleasant surprise under Eric Glover with a 8-3-1 record. The Planets have played well as of late and their most impressive outing may have been a 5-3 loss to # 1 and undefeated Serra Catholic on December 17th. Mars has had a complete turnaround from a year ago and would like nothing more than to return to the Penguins Cup semi-finals, which it accomplished back in back in 2003, before falling to State Finalist Westmont-Hilltop at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Goaltender Bryan Ross was a freshman on that team and has now established himself as one of the top goaltenders in Class A. After a scoreless 1st period, at 13:50 of the second period Mike Riefner beat Freeport goaltender Tim Zahumensky on the stick side to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. Bryan Reel caught Zahumensky off the post at 13:15 of the second and scored on the wraparound to give Mars a 2-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets would answer at 6:42 as Zach Hepler beat Bryan Ross with a wrist shot to the stick side to make the score 2-1 On to the third period and Freeport had a power play and a chance to tie the game to start the 3rd period, which was killed by Mars. Dustin Gaworski did not come out for the 3rd, which would make the Yellow Jackets plight even more of an up hill climb. This would be the game that the Planets would not relinquish and with 3:45 left Michael Randolph beat the Freeport defense and threw the puck to the net where Bryan Reel found a wide open net for his 2nd goal and deposited for a 3-1 Planet lead. Zahumensky made several nice stops in third, but Mars held on to win the game 3-1 and moved closer to first place in a battle with Sewickly Academy and Quaker Valley

CASTLE SHANNON – Baldwin head coach Mike Cox has been a rare commodity in Interscholastic Hockey these days as he has lasted more than a couple since he took over the program in the 2001-2002 season. The Highlander coach comes from a long history of Baldwin hockey stemming from his father, who was one of the founders of the program to his late brother Jim Cox, who scored the overtime winning goal in the first ever Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship in 1975 in a 4-3 overtime win over Churchill in Erie, Pa. And also coached the Highlanders to the State Finals to his brother Pat, who has also successfully coached at the Interscholastic level. A testimony is the 33-27-5 mark that Baldwin has enjoyed in a treacherous division including perennial powers Mt Lebanon, Bethel Park, Upper St Clair and Central Catholic over 2 ½ season that Cox has been at the helm including two straight Penguins Cup playoffs appearances. So anyone how doesn’t think Baldwin’s program is headed in the right direction, just doesn’t know 2 year ago, which was the Golden Toronadoes first winning season since 1996-1997, which was the year of the ‘porcelain cow’, which lead Butler to near magical playoff run which ended in the Elite 8 at the hands of Central Catholic. Anyone who looks at the Golden Toronadoes 2-12-0 record needs to not take them lightly because this is a team I suspect will have a better 2nd half of the season and could eke into the playoffs with a few upsets, which almost happened last week as Butler fell 3-2 to Upper St Clair in overtime. The first period was a pretty close checking affair as Butler provided the only highlight as Greg Rogerson found Spencer Crouse with a pinpoint pass and Crouse beat Baldwin netminder Brian Majeda to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. The 2nd period was all Golden Toronadoes as Crouse returned the favor as he threaded a nice pass to Rogerson in front, who beat Majeda through the 5-hole to extend the lead to 2-0 at 12:22. Butler went on top 3-0, as Gereme Hensel scored from right on the doorstep at 11:13. Fletcher Crouse completed the hat trick for his line at 9:27, as he found a loose puck in front and chipped it past Majeda to make it 4-0. Baldwin finally got on the board at 3:18, as Mike Joyce scored on a blistering slapshot low on the ice to the stick side, which was the only shot of 24 Highlander shots which would beat Kris Rhodaberger on the evening to make it 4-1. Butler would ice this game in the 3rd period as Spencer Crouse and Greg Rogerson would score their 2nd goals of the evening and Mike Guethner scored as well for an impressive 7-1 Golden Toronado win before an intimate gathering at Ice Castle.

All-Star Games ~ Sunday January 30th Ice Castle Castle Shannon, Pa. NorthEast Conference vs SouthWest Conference Class A ~ Northeast 3 Southwest 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Westmont-Hilltop's Anthony DeMarco scores a pair including the game winner with 1:19 remaining in the 3rd period. Hilltopper teammate and goaltender Patrick Krumenacker stops all 9 shots in the final period. Deer Lake's Moritz Weissenhorn scores the other goal for the Northeast, while Quaker Valley's Furman South and Sewickley Academy's Trevor Heck score for the Southwest. Class AA ~ Southwest 5 Northeast 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Elizabeth Forward's Billy Repass, Montour's Brian Dugan and TJ's Brock Heinauer score a goal and add an assist each and Montour's Chad Talotta and South Park's Ryan Delvecchio score single to lead the way for the Southwest. Hampton's Patrick Duffy and Pine Richland's Jordan Yoklic score for the Northeast. Moon's Andrew Slifkin is brilliant between the pipes stopping 16 of 17 shots in the final period. Class AAA ~ Southwest 7 Northeast 0 HIGHLIGHTS: The Bethel Park and Mt Lebanon contingent did a majority of the scoring as BP's Conner McLean score a goal and added two assists, Mt Lebanon's Shane Ferguson popped in a pair, Bethel's Tim O'Brien score a goal and an assist, the Hawks Jacobus Bliek had a goal and 2 assists, Bethel's Michael Diethorn chipped in two assists, and Mt Lebanon freshman Tyler Murovich scored a shorthanded goal [on a Denis Savard spin-a-rama move] to lead the Southwest. North Allegheny's Paul Dittrich scored and the goaltending tandem of Cathedral Prep's Ryan Zapolski, NA's Jeff Kristan and Central Catholic's Bryan Adamczak stopped all 20 Northeast shots for the shutout. Class Open ~ Northeast 4 Southwest 2 Chartiers Valley boys light it up as Drew Paocelli scores the hat trick while teammates Eddie Olczyk adds a goal and 2 assists and Tommy Miller chips in 3 assists for the Northeast. Ringgold's Dan Tonini and Wheeling Park's Derek Felici score a goal and an assist apiece for the Southwest. Maybe next year these players will play using real all-star jerseys and not cheap imitations or maybe through my wishful thinking there will be no Open Division? Couple of Comments: Great venue and Great Hospitality by the Ice Castle folks made these games fun for all ! Click on the logo or the TITLE to access printable rosters for Class A, AA, AAA and Open

All-Star Games Ice Castle Castle Shannon Northeast Conference vs Southwest Conference Class A Game ~ 12:30pm Class AA Game ~ 2:30pm Class AAA Game ~ 4:30pm Ooen Division ~ 6:30pm