Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

SOUTHPOINTE - Behind a stellar, 45-save performance by senior goaltender Drew Stanton, the Canon-McMillan Big Macs won their home opener over the Kittanning Wildcats, 4-1. The win marked the first time in team history that the Big Macs have opened a season with three straight victories. Canon Mac got on the board early when defenseman Josh Tohey found the upper corner on a wrist shot from the point just 35 seconds in to the game. But it would be the Wildcats who would generate most of the offense in the first period. Fortunately for the Big Macs, Stanton was prepared for the early onslaught, turning away all 20 shots he faced in the opening frame. Canon-McMillan would slowly begin to control the tempo during the second period, and Stanton kept the momentum going for his team by turning away some second and third opportunities from his goal mouth. The CM fortitude paid off when Nate Bohn buried a cross ice pass from Tohey on a power play 8:23 in to the period. Both teams would tighten up defensively through the remainder of the period, leaving Kittanning with a 2-0 deficit after 2 periods of play. CM lead would increase to 3-0 2:40 in to the final period when Jesse Patnesky took a pass from Eric Lang and fired a low wrist shot past Pete Tolman. Kyle Harnen was credited with the second assist, giving both Harnen and Patnesky 3-game scoring streaks on the play. After over 42 minutes of shutout hockey, Kittanning finally was able to get one past Stanton when Nick Troup snapped off a shot from the slot with 2:08 left to play to pull his team within 2. Justin Kovatch and Joe Ford assisted on the goal. The goal put a breath of life in the Wildcats, who once again hounded the opposing net in an effort to close within one. Stanton was once again prepared for the challenge, using a series of glove saves to prevent any rebound chances. Patnesky put the game out of reach when he found the back of the unguarded Kittanning net from the far blue line to make the score 4-1. The goal continued another streak for Patnesky -- 3 consecutive 2-goal games. It also secured a 3-game win streak for Stanton, who has been tougher to beat in each successive game. An impressive 31-save performance by Tolman was not enough to keep his team from falling to 0-2 on the season. The Wildcats will seek their first victory of the year when they host Blackhawk on Thursday night. Canon-McMillan has a full week to rest before playing new division foe Elizabeth Forward at Southpointe next Monday. **Game Summary provided exclusively to PA Hockey by Canon-McMillan Hockey

CRANBERRY ~ Special Report provided by the Ambridge Hockey Club Phil Trombetta and Tom DiDonato scored the Pine Richland goals in the first period to take the lead. Then the 2nd and 3rd periods were dominated by Ambridge scoring 5 goals--each by different players. Chas Cvitkovic led all with a goal and 3 assists. Chas's empty net goal with 1:36 remaining on the clock put the finishing touches on any chances Pine Richland had to come back. Pine did manage to score another goal with 1:22 remaining, but then Bryan Johnston scored another empty net goal with 21 seconds on the clock to end the game for the Bridgers. Jason Morgan, Ambridge goalie, faced 23 shots on goal. Tom Zajac faced 25 shots for Pine Richland.

As we have done the past seven years, Pa Hockey will be providing the Post Gazette Rankings every Monday beginning in late November. In addition, you can get a sneak preview of those rankings, the complete Western Pa Hockey standings and PA Hockey Elite 8 rankings every Saturday Morning. Only on Pa Hockey ! FINAL STANDINGS ~ Class AAA,AA,A and Open FINAL "If the Penguins Cup Playoffs Started Today" FINAL Pittsburgh Post Gazette Top 5 Rankings FINAL PA Hockey Elite 8 Rankings

HARMARVILLE – While a lot of things change in Interscholastic Hockey, some things remain the same over the years. Back CC Head Coach Kevin Zielmanski’s first year in 1998, Central Catholic and Plum met in the WPIHL Class AAA Championship best of 3 series before the best high school hockey crowd ever to witness a game I can remember [with the 1996 Bethel Park-Meadville game at Bethel BladeRunners a close second]. Plum won the championship on a storybook goal by R.J. Umberger in the overtime of the mini-game after three consecutive 2-2 ties between the teams. For former Plum Mustang Sean Keller, now and assistant to Stu Rulnick, the CC-Plum rivalry and that series in particular are pretty memorable. For the current Mustangs and Vikings players and fans, fresh in their minds is last year’s 3-2 CC victory in the games final minute, which sent the Vikings on a great 2nd half run to the Penguins Cup semi-finals and sent Plum into a 2nd half of the season tailspin. So Plum and Central Catholic…a fitting way to start the 2004 –2005 season at the BladeRunners Harmarville USA rink before a very nice crowd for both teams of well over 600. The first period of this contest was pretty close checking and the Vikings would hold a slim shot advantage at 8-6, with their best chance coming as Andy Hanno set up Glenn Sherwin with a nice pass, but the Mustangs Brandon King was equal to the task to make the save. Plum went on the power play at 2:46, which was quickly erased by a call against Plum at 2:23 and the opening period remained scoreless. On to the second and Plum cashed in on an odd man break as Jonathon Smith set up David Dincau with a give and go and the speedy Plum forward scored on a tap-in past Brian Adamczak for a 1-0 lead at 11:26. The Mustangs went on the power play at 8:57 and this time it would be defenseman Phil Mains, who took a Mike Renna pass, drove to the net and scored on his own rebound to make it 2-0 at 7:27 and gave the Mustang fans a little ‘frisk me in you can’ celebration on the far boards. The Vikings would strike back and cut the lead to 2-1 as C.J. Stellabotte scored on the backhand from just in front of Brandon King at 2:43 of the 2nd. Plum’s Jonathon Smith beat the CC defense at 13:55 and buried a wrist shot up under the crossbar past Adamczak to give the Mustangs a big insurance goal. Speedy Matt Giunta added another Plum tally at 9:11 and Brandon King shut the door the rest of the way, stopping the only shot of the third period for Central Catholic at 4:47 on a nice leg save of a shot from Doug Dietrich and the Mustangs opened up with an impressive 4-1 victory on the road.

INDIANA - Special Report provided by the Indiana Hockey Club The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey team defeated Montour 5-4 in overtime tonight for their season opener at the Indiana Ice & Expo Center. The Indians led off the scoring effort with four goals by Joe Appolonia, Zach Damico, Troy Gaydosh, and Cory Mills. Nick Onuscheck had the game winning score with 1:39 on the clock in sudden death overtime. Mills, Onuscheck, Damico, Michael Jack, Lance Lewandowski, Abhi Nandi, and TJ George provided assists. Mike Kennedy recorded the save with 19 of 23 shots. Indiana outshot their opponent 25-23. The Indians look to the road next week where they will face Moon H.S. at the Airport Ice Rink on Tuesday, November 9th. Goaltender: Mike Mentch Total shots faced/saves 23/19 Scoring/Assists Joe Appolonia/Cory Mills Period: 1 Time: 2:10 Zach Damico/Nick Onuscheck, Mike Jack 2 9:15 Troy Gaydosh/Lance Lewandowski, Abhi Nandi 2 4:52 Cory Mills/TJ George 2 2:34 Nick Onuscheck/Zach Damico OT 3:21 Goaltenders: Nick Gialloreto Aaron Williams Total shots faced/saves 25/20 Scoring/Assists Brian Dugan/Mario Panucci (powerplay) Period: 3 Time: 12:56 Brian Dugan/Mario Panucci, Aaron Siegel 3 6:52 Ross Polk/Zach Perry, Aaron Siegel (powerplay) 3 3:17 Panucci/Kevin Bishop 3 2:36