Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

CRANDALEBERRY ~ North Allegheny coach Tom Pandolfo is committed to bringing North Allegheny a state championship banner to hang at CRANBERRY BladeRunner’s and right the ship of a program which has had 31 years of talent and 31 seasons, which ended in a loss. For some of us historian’s, maybe just maybe one could remember 1977 [none of these current players where born yet so maybe some of the parents like Jimmy Pekins [Shaler] or Dennis Sheran [Central Catholic] might but probably not ? After winning the WPIHL Championship NA headed off to the Round Robin State Championships in Philadelphia. After splitting the first two games, NA scored a huge win over defending 1976 Pennsylvania AA Champions Abington 6-4, and needed a little help from Cardinal O’Hara to defeat Erie McDowell, who where locked in a 1-1 tie going to the 3rd period. If my memory serves me correctly [I was there to watch Churchill-Richland], the NA coaches, players and parents watched at the old Lafayette rink, Erie McDowell score a late goal in that game dashing NA’s hopes of a shot at a State Title. Ladies and Gentleman, that was 27 years ago, but the closest opportunity the Tigers have come to the promised land. Now as I walked into CRANBERRY BladeRunner’s, I see the Championship Banners with 1977- 1995 – 1999 for the WPIHL Champions [which was a championship in 1977 similar to the Penguin Cup] and can’t help notice the JV Championship Banners, which get equal time and frankly are an eyesore in my opinion and need to be but at Wexford Middle School or somewhere else in the scheme of trying to overcome 31 years of frustration. Oh those opportunities to win it all and Central Catholic coach Kevin Zielmanski, knows as well because in 1998, coach Z led the Viking program to the State Final only to see it slip away 3-2 to LaSalle, a team who had pasted CC 14-0 early in the season. Discipline in the form of two game misconducts cost the Vikings that title opportunity and I guess you don’t appreciate it until you don’t see it for a while. If there was ever an opportunity to be a part of the process of winning a State Championship, this may be the best opportunity since 1998 to do it, so when Central defeated Meadville in the opener, maybe the kids thought this would be their year…..and in game two against Shaler, the players could be seen with open cockiness and almost arrogance prior to that game….which they ESCAPED and probably should have lost with a 2-1 victory over a team they should quite frankly beat by 4-5 goals. While many people want to know why Central Catholic is so up and down, the proof is in the pudding and the Vikings got a little reminder in the form of nemesis Bethel Park, who defeated the Vikings 3-0 on Monday. If they didn’t learn from the Shaler game…….here it is and Coach Z should not have to tell this group of mostly seniors so I will, YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO PLAY EVERY SHIFT OF EVERY GAME AND PUT YOUR INDIVIDUAL GOALS ASIDE FOR THE TEAM GOAL….A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP……and maybe just maybe come March your team will get on a roll and jell to make a run. Franklin almost did it but ran into the master of doing it Meadville, who has a great coach but had players who fully understood the magnitude of the moment and captured it. Central Catholic has the horses but needs the commitment and North Allegheny has the comittment, but needs some of its 2nd line players to step to the forefront and become horses….this makes both of these teams somewhat contenders at this point in the season, but they better find the intangibles aforementioned come January – March if either hope to make a run. Coach Zielmanski, who a my last reckoning, is the coach of the Vikings and is a great coach, decided it was time for a change and he could not have picked a better game to do it…North Allegheny, who defeated the Vikings 4-2 a couple of weeks ago in the Central Catholic Invitational. CC was looking for a spark so it change its lines and maybe needed to play more aggressively and a little on the edge, an edge that was displayed in Meadville in the opener and hasn’t been seen since. Conor [got it!] Hickton opened the scoring as Central displayed balance across three lines, a luxury only available to 3 Class AAA teams including Mt Lebanon [who was off to play LaSalle and Malvern Prep this weekend] and Meadville, at 8:54 to give CC a 1-0 lead. Michael McGurk, one of the silent leaders of CC, caught NA napping on the power play and scored a critical shorthanded goal at 4:05 and all the sudden the Vikings held a 2-0 lead at the end of one period. North Allegheny came back in the second as Ryan Sheran scored on the power play to cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:18. The game was in the balance and the game breaker made it happen as Eddie Martin gave the Vikings a big two goal cushion at 11:31 with a goal on the power play. Bryan Adamczyk, who has been confined to limited action this season, stepped to the forefront and showed why Central has two quality goaltenders, who can play in big games by stopping 33 of 34 NA shots. The third period was a titantic battle with some good physical play as Central had the lead and looked to wear NA down with 3-4 lines of playing on the edge and nobody can do it like Central can. The Vikings went on the power play and almost put the game out of reach but Jeff Kristan stopped Matt Capalongo at 10:34. Cappy returned the favor and showed why he is maybe Central’s best all-around forward as he gave up the body to block a slap shot from the right point by Jon Bishop at 7:17. Adamczyk continued to stop NA as he robbed Bill Weiler with 2:06 putting Central on their way to a huge win. Joe Kerr capped it off scoring on an empty netter with :39 left and the Vikings may have begun to turn the corner with a big 4-1 win over a very good North Allegheny team.

GREENSBURG ~ Special Report provide by the Indiana Hockey Club [Q] The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey woke up late in the game to pull off a 6-1 win against Greensburg Central Catholic Thursday night at the Nevin Ice Arena in Greensburg. Mike Nesper scored the first two goals, late in the 2nd and early in the 3rd to start off the scoring effort. Zach Diamond added two more, while Jason Boske and Nick Onuscheck placed one apiece. Nesper and Boske also led assists with three apiece, with Diamond, Mike Hart, and Brad McCoy adding one each. Michael Mentch had 17 saves for the night, while the Indians outshot Greensburg 28-18. Indiana now 6-2 comes home next week facing Trinity on Wednesday, and Chartiers Valley on Friday.

KITTANNING ~ Special Report to Pa Hockey provided by Butler Hockey Club The fans went wild as number 53, Greg Rogerson, with 2:50 left on the overtime clock found the puck at center ice, got a break away and scored, unassisted, to bring Butler its 8th win of the season. Butler started the night off with 2 quick goals in the 1st period. The first came at 13:32 when B.J. Tipton put in goal #1, with an assist from Andy Turner. Only 16 seconds later (13:16), Spencer Crouse hit the net, assisted by B.J. Tipton and Andy Turner. Seneca Valley answered back at 9:13 with its 1st goal by Peet (correct spelling) Poillon, assisted by Matt Cummings and Justin Ball. The 2nd period brought its Seneca's tying goal when at 2:31 Kevin Raynovich found the net, with assists by Rick Seibel and Justin Ball. Each team hit the locker rooms with a tie score of 2-2 Coming out in the 3rd period, Butler's Tyler Druschel was the first to score with Jared White assisting at 12:40. Only 3 1/2 minutes later (9:19) and Seneca tied the game 3-3 when Danny Nelson scored with assists from Peet Poillon and Kevin Raynovich. With the game ending in a 3-3 tie, no break was taken and the 5:00 overtime clock began ticking. Both teams had several opportunities, but goalies Bucky Holt (B) and Jeff Reed (SV) protected their nets amazingly. As luck had it, the puck slipped loose at center ice and the Butler fans held their breath as Greg Rogerson broke away from SV's 2 defenseman and planted a beautiful goal after deeking (spelling?) Seneca's goalie. Seneca Valley's goalie Jeff Reed took 38 shots on goal, saving 34. Butler's goalie Bucky Holt faced 24, stopping 21. Butler is now rated by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as one of the top 5 teams in their division. They will meet another top 5 rated team on Monday, December 22, 2003 as they play Mt. Lebanon in Mt. Lebanon. Starting time is 7:35 p.m.

NEW KENSINGTON ~ Freeport coach Dave Hepler is in his first year and takes over a team two years removed from a Penguin Cup semi-final appearance. Nick DeCroo was a big part of it as the junior forward scored over 50 goals to lead his team to the promised land, but Nick didn’t play for Freeport last season and only plays on Monday’s this season according to sources close to the team [I’ll give you all 3 guesses as to why ?]. So when leading scorer Dustin Gaworski went down with an injury and the coaches son Zach Hepler went down to an injury, that leaves the Yellow Jackets with just nine healthy skaters. So in a growing trend in Interscholastic Hockey, Freeport is nearing the danger area of not being able to field a team and another sad state of affairs for Western Pa Hockey, which has lost 15 Varsity teams since the PIHL was formed in 1999-2000. Deer Lakes Al Palowski has his own problems with lack of numbers, but has gone the route of bringing in foreign exchange students to fill the void. The Lancers added a new player to their roster in the form of Mike Watson, who has made his mark as an excellent amateur player and is a welcome addition to DL. Deer Lakes had its low point of the season losing to South Division doormat Linsly , but has rebounded with a couple of big wins including a 4-3 upset of Elizabeth Forward and is looking to move into playoff position. Freeport held its own in the first period and forged a 0-0 tie mostly on a great effort by defensive duo of Tommy Ferrante and Scott Gallagher, who only left the ice to get a drink of water. Deer Lakes coach Pawloski had to be concerned, but the newcomer got things started as Mike Watson scored at 13:47 to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. Matt Romutus continued his hot hand at 10:01 extending the DL lead to 2-0. Watson scored his 2nd goal at 7:54 to expand the lead to 3-0. Josh Schreckengost got Freeport on the board at 6:56, but that was as close as it would get as Rich Bigley scored twice at 6:39 and 2:53 to turn this one into a rout 5-1. On to the third period and Troy Barker pulled Freeport back to 5-2 at 8:43. Deer Lakes countered with three goals of their own as Watson completed the hat trick at 4:02 and Stefan Karsay added two more [3:12 and 2:46] for an 8-2 victory. Jiri Frkal stopped 25 of 27 Freeport shots as DL outshot the Yellow Jackets 28-17 on the evening.

HARMARVILLE ~ Special Report provided by Fox Chapel Hockey Club ~ After a rough 4-0 defeat against Mt. Lebanon on Thursday last week, Fox Chapel found themselves at the bottom of the Elite 8 through the weekend. Fox Chapel head coach Keith Kearney looked to keep his squad together and positive coming into their last game of their tough three game stretch, starting with a win over Erie Prep 6-1 last week and the loss to Mt. Lebanon. The game against Plum scheduled for Monday night was clearly the most important of the three, being that the winner would take over the lead of the East Division. However, the Plum Mustangs, with a 7-0-0 record, were ranked #1 in the Elite 8, with just Upper St. Clair remaining with an undefeated record (6-0-1). Plum's schedule hadn't been the toughest in the league so far, with no wins over any teams in the Elite 8, but 7-0-0 is still 7-0-0. At the start of the game you wouldn't doubt that Plum's preseason win over Fox Chapel, 4-2, in the St. Margarets Fall Face-Off was lingering in the back of the Foxes minds. Although power forward Ryan McDonald is still in the stands for Fox Chapel, struck with illness, it still did not take any wind out of the scoring power of the Fox Chapel. Matt Quigley struck first with 5:17 remaining in the first period from a rebound off of Plum's net minder J.P. Balson. PIHL's Penguin Player of the Month for November, Joey Budz got an assist, along with Dan Thiessen. Just four minutes later, Captain Jason Kreps fired a slap shot from the blue line that deflected off of a Plum defenseman and past Balson right in front of the Plum-dominated crowd. Thiessen again got an assist on the goal. Fox Chapel led after the first period, 2-0, but was out shot by the Mustangs, 6-5. The second period began with Plum again becoming relentless with shot after shot, but when Fox Chapel went on the power play, a loose puck at the blue line was picked up by a Plum penalty killer and brought it down on a breakaway for a prime scoring opportunity. Salvation for Fox Chapel would again come in the likely form of senior goaltender Todd Hendry, who snagged the shot headed for the top shelf with his glove. Hendry continued to shut down Plum's offensive strike, and Plum broke again with another Jason Kreps goal with 7:06 remaining in the second period. The Foxes seemed to be content with their 3-0 lead, but Plum was not ranked #1 for no reason, hot scorer John Kalichuk took a shot from the blue line that deflected off of FC defenseman Brad Sullivan, faking Hendry out and going into the far side of the net for Plum's first goal. The second period would end with a FC 3-1 lead, with Plum again out shooting the Foxes 13-8 in the period, with an overall 19-13 lead in shots. Fox Chapel seemed to have the game sealed at 10:09, when PIHL's leading goal scorer Joe Budz put another one past Balson with a Matt Quigley assist. The Mustangs still would not give in to the Foxes 3 goal lead. Plum's Travis Senchur then took center stage on the Power Play and walked between 2 FC defensemen and put one top shelf on Hendry to cut the lead to 2 goals with 5:10 remaining. Conceivable? It didn't seem so as another breakaway was shut down by Hendry late in the third period. But then, with Balson on the bench and the extra attacker on, Senchur again lit the light behind Hendry as he rang one off the crossbar and down into the net on a sniper shot from the point with just 35 ticks remaining. Plum would get 2 more good scoring chances before the final buzzer rang and the Fox Chapel victory was official. Plum again out shot FC in the third period 10-9. Overall shots were 29-22 in favor of Plum, but it’s the score that matters, and with a 4-3 victory over the formerly undefeated Mustangs, the Foxes move into first place in the division with their next three games against Woodland Hills, Penn Hills, and Gateway before the holiday break. Plum will face Gateway, Woodland Hills, and an improving Baldwin squad before the holiday break.