Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

ERIE - Exclusive coverage provide to Pa Hockey by McDowell Hockey The McDowell Trojans and Plum Mustangs battled to an exciting 3 - 3 overtime tie Wednesday night at the JMC Ice Arena in a game featuring two of the top teams in the PIHL. Plum is currently ranked #5 in Western PA by PA Hockey while McDowell is ranked #7.Both teams displayed a wealth of speed and firepower as the game turned into a track meet on ice. The Trojans would dent the scoreboard first when Kaylan Rhoades dumped the puck into the offensive zone, only to see it take a tricky bounce and elude Mustang goaltender Brandon King just 3:38 into the game. Even though Plum outshot McDowell in the period by a 16 - 8 margin, Trojan goaltender John Cleary would keep the puck out of the net the entire period. But Plum would keep up the tempo to start the 2nd period and the pressure finally paid off. Jonathan Smith lead a rush up ice for the Mustangs that found him with no other option than to jam home a close range shot to tie the game 4:01 into the period. And a little over two minutes later they would feed off the momentum when Mike Renna scored on a rebound and scramble in front of the net for a 2-1 Mustang lead with 8:12 left in the 2nd. But McDowell didn’t buckle as they controlled play the rest of the period. And with intense pressure in the attacking zone, Mark Skirzynski would save a clearing attempt and Brian Hammel would find Eric Trapp who scored from close range to tie the game at two with 3:02 left in the period. And this time the momentum swung in McDowell’s favor as Trapp would put McDowell back in front on their only power play of the night as he flipped a shot at the post over King’s shoulder with 1:32 left in the period. Plum wasn’t dead just yet as Renna would score his second goal of the night on another goal mouth scramble with just 17 seconds left in the period to pull the Mustangs even once again. With fast and furious action up and down the ice the entire 3rd period and overtime, both teams traded opportunities to take the lead only to see both goaltenders rise to the occasion. After Plum dominated the first five minutes of the 3rd period, McDowell would assume the upper hand after that as they outshot Plum 14 - 9. The overtime saw much of the same end to end excitement as both teams had chances to end the game. But despite all of the offensive pressure, both netminders were unbeatable. Cleary stopped 38 of 41 shots for McDowell while King knocked away 40 of 43 shots for Plum. Both teams enjoyed only one power play opportunity with McDowell capitalizing on their man advantage. Plum defenseman Phil Mains enjoyed a big night contributing 3-assists while Trojan winger Mark Skirzynski chipped in with 2-assists in his first action in four weeks following a shoulder injury. McDowell’s PIHL record now stands at 6-2-1 (12-4-2 overall) good for 2nd place in the West Division behind North Allegheny. Plum leads the North Division with a 5-1-1 record. Goals By Period: Plum / 0 - 3 - 0 - 0 = 3 McDowell / 1 - 2 - 0 - 0 = 3 Shots On Goal: Plum / 16 - 10 - 9 - 6 = 41 McDowell / 8 - 18 - 14 - 3 = 43

INDIANA - Indiana came into this rivalry game off surprising loss to Somerset prior to Thanksgiving and rebounded with an exciting 3-2 victory on the road over Greens burg CC. The Indians returned home in front of a standing room only crowd at the HOKS Indiana Ice Center and head coach Dom Glavech was hoping to extend the I H S division lead with a big win. Kittanning has had an up and down season thus far including losses to undefeated West Allegheny and Canon McMillan and a 4-3 road win at Greensburg CC. Wildcat coach Jon Yackmack is looking for some consistency out of his young club heading into December’s schedule. The first period was fast paced and at 6:11 Corey Mills burst down the left side and lofted a powerful backhand past the short side of Peter Tolman to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. Kittanning held a slim 11-9 shot advantage in the opening period. Early in the 2nd period a power play for Indiana yielded several good chances and yielded 6 shots which Tolman turned aside, but the Indians gained momentum. Then at 9:07 a big hit by Michael Jack forced a turnover and Jack gathered the puck and moved it toward the net where Steven Geisel poked it past Tolman between the 5-hole and a 2-0 lead including a 12-1 shot advantage for Indiana at this point of the period. At 6:31 of the 2nd, Kittanning had 1:40 to work with on the power play and coach Jon Yackmack saw this as opportunity to get back in game and called timeout. Mike Kennedy made several good saves on Lee Heilman and Joel Shriver and at 3:51 Kittanning had puck on doorstep and apparently scored but puck was kicked in. All of the hard work paid off for the Wildcats as Joel Shriver got his own rebound and beat Kennedy to the puck to open the scoring Kittanning. The’Boys form the Belmont’ captured the momentum with most of their 8 shots in period to that point and Peter Tolman fed off this surge with a nice save on Corey Mills at 2:14. The big goal of the hockey game came at 1:38 as Nick Onuschuk stole puck at Kittanning blue line and moved in and beat Tolman low to the glove side for a big insurance tally and a 3-1 advantage. Indiana never looked back in the 3rd Period as at 12:18 Michael Jack’s big slapshot from right point found its mark high over the glove hand side through a screen past Tolman on the power play to extend the lead to 4-1. An errant clearing pass at 9:12 was intercepted by Nick Troup, who beat Kennedy clean from top of circle with slapshot to cut the lead to 4-2. Then with 7:55 remaining, Indiana’s Joe Appolonia overpowered Tolman after great play by Corey Mills, who intercepted neutral ice pass and drive skated Kittanning defenseman before threading a perfect pass to Appolonia in the slot to the right of Tolman for a final knockout punch for the Indians and a 5-2 victory at the ‘House of King Samuel’.

NEW RANKINGS ARE HERE.....ONLY ON PA HOCKEY !!!! Pa Hockey presents a time honored tradition of Pennsylvania's # 1 Interscholastic Hockey Website. The Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings ranks the Top 8 teams in Eastern Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Elite 8 rankings. We have solicited the expertise of Breakaway Magazine's Matt 'the Ladder' Sacks to rank Eastern Pa's Elite 8 each week and of course I will rank Western Pennsylvania and combine these rankings into the weekly Statewide rankings. Please make sure you look for Breakaway Magazine in the local rinks as they are being distributed in both Eastern and Western Pennsylvania. From the # 1 Source in Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey .....only on Pa Hockey ! Week 16 Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings FINAL Regular Season Rankings

CANONSBURG - *****Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey***** As an undefeated team, Canon-McMillan has a bull's eye on its chest every game; every opponent they face wants to be the team that hands the Big Macs their first loss of the season. Bishop Canevin had every intent of doing just that on Monday night, but once again Canon Mac faced the challenge and came out on top with a 3-2 win over the Crusaders. The attempted upset formula this year has been to score the first goal against Canon-McMillan, and Bishop Canevin followed that pattern when Dane Hetland snuck a shot under the crossbar from the slot for a 1-0 lead. The goal came at 12:43 and was assisted by Scott Christopher. Canevin outplayed their opponent the rest of the period to keep the 1-0 lead in place after 15 minutes of play. The action would intensify in the 2nd period, and Canon Mac evened the score 4:30 in to the period when Doug Stanton took a head-man pass from Josh Tohey to convert on a 2-on-1 break in to the Canevin zone. Stanton carried the puck to his left and looked across to a streaking Jesse Patnesky to create a lane for himself to the net and an opening on the short-side to bury a wrist shot. The Crusaders restored their lead at the 7:00 mark when Christopher slammed home a loose puck on the backdoor, with assists from Hetland and Kevin Pawlos. Canevin then battled hard to extend their lead, but CM goaltender Drew Stanton denied each of their chances. As the period wound down, it looked as though Canon-McMillan would have to attempt their first 3rd-period comeback of the season. But Doug Stanton decided to start the rally a little bit early by blasting a slap shot from the high slot for his second goal of the night with just 7 seconds remaining in the period. Justin Cormack recorded the assist on the play, and the period ended with the score knotted at 2. A tripping call against Canon Mac just 35 seconds into the final period opened the door for Canevin to regain their lead, but Drew Stanton the Big Mac penalty killers kept the score even. Canon-McMillan got a power play opportunity of their own with 9:51 to play, but several point shots and rebound opportunities were turned aside by Crusader goaltender Joe Ziemianski. But a few minutes later, Patnesky was able to beat Ziemianski and put the Big Macs ahead with a quick slap shot from the right wing circle at 5:24. Tohey earned his second assist of the night on the play, and Canon Mac had their first lead of the night. From that point, the Big Macs tightened up defensively to keep Canevin from tying the game, and Drew Stanton was able to stop all 4 third period shots to earn his 5th win of the season. He finished the game with 23 saves, while Ziemianski did one better by making 24 saves. The win improved Canon-McMillan's record to 7-0, setting up a showdown of unbeaten teams on Thursday night when the Big Macs travel to play the West Allegheny Indians. Bishop Canevin fell below .500 with the loss, moving to 3-4-1 on the year. The Crusaders play again on Thursday night when they make a trip to Johnstown to play Somerset.

VALENCIA - *****Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey***** The Canon-McMillan Big Macs got an unexpected test from the Hampton Talbots on Sunday night but remained steady to come away with a 7-5 win. The victory kept the 2nd-ranked Big Macs' unblemished record in tact at 6-0, but the 2-goal margin was their closest of the season. The Talbots fell to 1-7 on the year despite a 32-save effort by goaltender Tim Pappert. The Talbots struck first just 1:53 in to the opening period when Dan Relihan found a loose puck at the side of the crease and tucked it in to the CM net. Pat Duffy and Brian Goncar created the scramble in front and were credited with assists on the play. Canon Mac would even the score just over 2 minutes later when Doug Stanton tallied his first of the night with an assist from Eric Lang. The tied score only lasted 29 seconds, however, as Talbot winger Dan Flory beat CM goaltender John McFalls for a 2-1 lead. McFalls, who was playing in his first Varsity game, boarded up the nets from that point, making 14 saves in the first period alone. That gave the Big Macs an opportunity to build some momentum. Stanton slammed home a loose puck in front of the Hampton net at 8:23 after chances by Jesse Patnesky and Jake Borish to tie the game at 2. Back-to-back penalties by Hampton late in the period put all the momentum in Canon-McMillan's favor, and they would seize the opportunity. Nate Bohn took a feed from Stanton and blasted a slap shot by Pappert to notch a 5-on-3 power play tally at 2:45. Bohn then returned the favor and assisted on a power play goal by Stanton 38 seconds later. Lang also got an assist on the play, and the Big Macs claimed a 4-2 lead after one period of play. The scoreboard would remain active in the second period, but it was the penalty clock doing a majority of the work. Six penalties were handed out in the period, and it wasn't until Duffy scored on a low wrister with 1:40 left that the score would change. Pappert was the star of the period, though, turning away all 13 shots he faced to keep the Talbots within a goal. The 1-goal deficit was erased when Goncar beat McFalls to the glove-hand corner on a power play breakaway at 11:45. Canon Mac restored their lead when sophomore forward Corey Griffith put his own shot in to the top shelf for a 5-4 lead for the visitors. It was Crazy Eights when #8 Goncar responded to #8 Griffith's goal with a shot from the slot that beat McFalls at 8:49. Talbot forward Matt Celin fired the puck in to the Canon-McMillan zone, and the puck caromed off the end boards and straight out to a streaking Goncar for the goal. With the score deadlocked, Hampton was driving hard to the Canon Mac net to accomplish the upset, but it was a drive from the point by Lang that put the Big Macs ahead for good at 4:27. Nick Cusolito and Erik McKown got assists on the goal. Stanton sealed the deal by taking the puck end-to-end for an empty net goal with 14 seconds left. The goal was Stanton's 4th of the night and team-leading 11th of the season. He would finish the game with 5 points, while Lang had 3 assists to go with this game-winning goal. Relihan also had a goal and 3 assists for Hampton, while Celin finished the game with 3 assists to his credit. McFalls got his first career win by making 27 saves. After a 12-day lay off prior to this game, Canon-McMillan doesn't get much rest afterwards since they return home to face Bishop Canevin on Monday night. The Big Macs also play at 3rd-ranked West Allegheny in a battle of current unbeatens on Thursday night. Hampton gets the rest of the week off before traveling to face Greater Latrobe next Monday night.