Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Montour Hockey Club In an evenly played game, Montour (11-6-2) shut out its opponent for the second consecutive game by the score of 3-0. Montour goalie Aaron Williams had 20 saves for the shutout. Montour scored a goal in each period for the win. In the first period, Ross Polk scored his 8th goal of the year on assists from Kevin Smith and Tyler Kocak. In the second period, Dan Shiwarski scored his 11th goal of the season following passes from Zach Perry and Brian Dugan. Montour finished its scoring with an empty net goal by Mario Panucci, his 17th of the season. West Allegheny with good, clean hits helped goalie Dan Kuzio (24 saves) keep the game close. West Allegheny's Ian Skacan and Bob Maliszewski skated hard and had great forechecking while adding pressue in the Montour defensive zone. Shots for the game were: Montour 27, West Allegheny 20.

DELMONT – Penn Hills coach Jan Battista is really trying to right the Penn Hills Hockey program and has done a fine job despite the Indians 2-15-1 record, which can be mainly attributed to the fallout from the past two seasons of players in the school who are not playing hockey for Penn Hills. Fortunately, Penn Hills has one of the league’s most exciting players and leading scorers Ryan Jones, who is complimented by Willie Banks and Eddie Obenauff. The problem comes from the mix of inexperience and youth which has yet to develop, but the Indians are a team which is a dangerous opponent, especially for a team trying to stay alive in the playoff picture, as evidenced by Monday night’s 9-4 loss to Penn Trafford, which was a 5-4 game well into the third period. If the Penguins Cup playoffs started today, Gateway would currently sit at # 17 and its interesting because prior to Wednesday night, they were # 16. The difference is that Erie Cathedral Prep was given back two forfeited games, which is a source of major controversy in Class AAA, and now stands at 9-10-1. Apparently, the PIHL failed to file the proper paperwork with Cathedral Prep notifying them of the hearings and decisions made, which basically means they are not doing the job which the member schools PAY over $ 100,000 a year for and further evidence that the APPOINTED administration is UNQUALIFIED to run the organization. Cathedral Prep won the games and if they win enough games to get in the playoffs, they deserve to be in the playoffs and Gateway or Shaler, who the Ramblers beat [both] in overtime can look at themselves in the mirror if Cathedral Prep finishes ahead of them and captures the final playoff spot. So now the Gators, who have been to the playoffs five consecutive years, are in a desperate situation and would need a big effort in a must win game. Given the non-sense of players not showing up for practices, who was not in attendance, or missing for a travel game, who was not in attendance, or missing because they can’t find the right colored socks or helmut and missed countless practices, was not in attendance and arguably the best defensive player in the program is out for the season, with an injury. So Gateway could just pack it in and lose to Penn Hills and their season would be over. Sometimes, the best lesson for a true team is that you have the players who WANT IT in attendance and for coach Lou Biancanello, although he had a short bench, he had players who want to play for Gateway and want to win and make the playoffs in the lineup against Penn Hills. The Gators came out with fire in the opening minutes and looked to put Penn Hills on their heels early. Sophomore Scott Lyons found a loose puck in front and banged it home past Zach Cullen at 13:49 for a 1-0 Gator lead. On the very next shift, Craig Leith showed great speed and beat the Penn Hills defense and Cullen at 13:09 and Gateway was off and running 2-0. The Indians came back and Ryan Jones set up Eddie Obenauff who beat J.D. Domenick through the 5-hole to cut the lead to 2-1 at 8:22. Then it was Jones again, who took it coast to coast and beat Domenick on the forehand to tie the game at two apiece at 7:28. Penn Hills came on in the second and took the lead as Jones took and Obenauff pass and buried a wrist shot to the stick side at 13:16 and the Indians had their first lead 3-2. Nice looking sophomore Anthony Battista scored on a Ryan Jones rebound, after a great lead pass by Willie Banks, at 11:48 and Penn Hills held a 4-2 lead. Gateway would have numerous opportunities late in the second on the power play and looked pretty lethargic as Penn Hills took a two-goal advantage to the locker room. Friday the 13th was not looking too good for the Gators as they took to the ice for the 3rd period, but maybe they could get back in the game on the power play to start the final period. Just 17 seconds in it looked like doomsday as Eddie Obenauff beat Dominick on the forehand shorthanded and Penn Hills opened up a 5-2 lead. Brennan DiBasilio tipped in a hot from the point at 13:56 to make the power play count and cut the lead to 5-3. Obenauff finished off the hat trick on a rebound at 12:03 and gave Penn Hills a 6-3 lead and they looked well in command at this point. Gateway never gave up and when Matt Rose scored on the wrist shot at 7:18, the Gators were back in the game 6-4. Steve Lyons threw the puck to the net at 6:06 and it trickled past Zach Cullen to pull Gateway within one at 6-5. Penn Hills showed a ton of frustration and took an illadvised penalty and Gateway made them pay as Craig Leith buried a slapshot from the top of the circles high over the glove side of Cullen and the Gators tied the game 6-6 with 4:14 left in regulation. No comeback would be perfect without a great finish and this time it was Ryan Whitfield in overtime, who lofted a backhand toward Cullen which handcuffed the Penn Hills goaltender and trickled over his shoulder into the net giving Gateway a miraculous 7-6 come from behind victory at Center Ice, keeping the Gators playoff march alive.

NEW KENSINGTON – Plum has been through the ringer in the second half of the 2003-2004 season with losses to contenders Meadville, Mt Lebanon, Bethel Park and Monday night’s division clinching loss to Fox Chapel, where the Mustangs outshot the Foxes, but came up short on the scoreboard 5-3 with an empty net goal. What Head Coach Stu Relnick is more concerned right now is securing a playoff berth and a home ice berth in the playoffs and Plum is currently sitting in 9th place in the overall standings, which would send them on the road. Shaler coach Ron Steedle has a different theory and he only could dream of having Plum assistant coach Mike Sargo [who scored over 100 goals in leading Gateway to the WPIHL AAA crown and Penguins Cup Semi-Finals in 1996] suit up in Shaler Blue and White or maybe borrow Travis Senchur for a half of season, the Titans could have capitalized during the unreal ten one-goal games in which Shaler and they would be talking about home ice advantage in the playoffs and not just trying to survive and avoid a first round trip to Meadville or Mt Lebanon, which equates to Siberia for Titans. Shaler has lost twice to Plum, 5-1 in St Margaret’s and a 5-0 whitewash in November and was looking to measure its progress over the season’s 2nd half. Shaler came out and took the play to Plum in the first period pressuring the Mustangs which would result in the opening goal as Graham Papciak on his off wing beat J.P. Balson low on the ice at 5:26 for a 1-0 Shaler lead. Then the Titans were whistled for hauling down a Plum player in the slot and the Mustangs capitalized on Shaler’s inability to clear the puck. Travis Senchur blasted a slapshot high over the shoulder of Ben Burns with 2:48 remaining in the first. Plum took the lead at 11:14 of the second period as Senchur took a Jonathon Smith feed and beat Burns between the legs for a 2-1 Mustang advantage. The Titans came back and tied the scored as John Shannon’s shot was like a pinball off defenseman and legs and sticks and ultimately J.P. Balson to knot the score at two apiece with 6:09 remaining in the middle period. The Mustangs would answer as Mike Dunlap would take advantage of a Shaler defensive meltdown in its own zone and beat Burns with exactly five minutes remaining in the middle frame. On to the third period and both teams had several chances to score but it was Shaler once again who had the better chances late in the game, but could not beat J.P. Balson who stopped 27 of 29 shots on the evening. Jim Rouda had a wide open net and the puck just would not go in for Shaler, who pulled the goalie and watched Josh Huber’s shot in the final seconds ring off the post and Plum held on for a 3-2 victory at the Palladium at Parnassus.

NEW KENSINGTON – Baldwin coach Mike Cox didn’t watch the Plum-Shaler game before their matvhup with Fox Chapel, but if he did he would see a lot of characteristics of his team with Shaler in the Highlanders inability to come up with the big goal when they need it. The Highlanders have been struggling to put pucks in the net but lets keep in mind who their opponents where ….Mt Lebanon, a 2-0 loss, Central Catholic, a 6-1 loss after being a one goal game in the middle of the second and Upper St Clair, a 5-2 loss. So the degree of who Baldwin was playing had a little something to do with it even though the theory is consistant. The equalizer to all of this is Matt King, who is arguably the best goaltender in Class AAA and a Pa Hockey Top 25 selection, who has carried the Highlanders and has them on the doorstep of the playoffs again after a long drought for the storied Baldwin program. Fox Chapel coach Keith Kearney on the other hand has the scoring and has the defense and his team is just looking for a little respect for their 17-2-1 record and clinching of the East Division title. The Foxes consider themselves a contender for the Penguins Cup and this writer agrees that if EVERY player suits up for them they are. The player who will swing the pendulum is sophomore Matt Quigley, who is in my opinion one of the top 5 players in Class AAA. The two games in which Quigley was not a factor were the two losses to top dogs Meadville [he didn’t play] and Mt Lebanon [he left in a 0-0 game in the 2nd period]. Thursday night is here and Quigley was in the lineup against Baldwin. The Foxes came out flying in the first period and took a 2-0 lead as Joe Bduz scored at 5:32 and Quigley scored his 1st goal on the evening at 4:33. The Foxes pounded Matt King with 13 shot to Baldwin’s 6. Fox Chapel looked like a machine in the second period as Quigley scored at 14:06 and then overpowered King with a blistering snapshot upstairs at 9:35 to give the Foxes a commanding 4-0 lead. Baldwin did not quit and picked their game up at this point and began to chip away at Fox Chapel with nine shots on Todd Hendry. Lou Del Greco finally broke the ice at 3:31 of the 2nd to get the Highlanders on the board 4-1. Things started to get interesting as Michael Joyce found the net just over a minute later and the FC lead was now only 4-2 at 2:24. The next goal would be huge and Baldwin would get it as Garrett Beisinger caught Hendry in no mans land as he intercepted a bad clearing attempt and slid the puck past the diving Foxes goaltender to pull Baldwin within one at 4-3 with 14:07 remaining in regulation. FC would go on the power play, but the Highlanders would capitalize as Dave Stock found his way around the FC defense and scored on the breakaway beating Hendry just inside the far post to tie the game at four apiece with 10:59 left in the 3rd period. Fox Chapel would pound away with 15 more shots on King and a 38-23 shot advantage for the game. With 6:49 remaining Jason Kreps fire a bullet to the glove side of King, who juggled the puck but could not control and fell on the door step. Matt Quigley found it and tapped it in with a great display of speed to beat the Baldwin defense to the puck and give Fox Chapel a 5-4 lead which they would not relinquish.

Thanks to # 6 for providing a special report provided by the Indiana Hockey Club VALENCIA ~ The IHS Ice Hockey team showed what "Miracles" were made of by defeating #2 ranked Pine-Richland 5-3 Thursday night at the Ice Connection in Butler. Indiana scored first at 11:01 in the second period by Cory Mills, assisted by Alan Halapin. Mike Nesper had a short-handed goal and an empty-netter, while Zach Diamond added two goals for the night also. Assists were provided by Diamond and Boske with two apiece, and Joey Appolonia, and Mills kicking in one each. Mike Mentch provided an outstanding job in goaltending stopping 25 of 28 shots. Josh Fodor, Patrick Nicholas and Thomas DiDinato scored for Pinr Richland. Indiana outshot their opponent 35-28. Indiana now 12-4 drops Pine-Richland to 12-5, as they look forward to two home games next week.