Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

INDIANA ~ Pine Richland pulled of an upset late in the 2002-2003 season over Thomas Jefferson in a game involving many of the players who traveled to and suited up against Indiana last evening. Coach Jimmy Black wasn’t even around to see it, but ever the student of Pa Hockey, probably knew about the young talent for the Rams. PR has showed that talent early on in the 2003-2004 season and under the direction of Black are going to be a very interesting team heading down the stretch and into the playoffs. What strikes this writer is the many players who seem to be on the verge of really breaking through, but as Black and his young Pine Richland squad found out in a 7-1 pasting in the Central Catholic Invitational, is that it can fall that much harder if you don’t come to play every night or in Meadville’s case every shift. Pine Richland is striving for the consistency that drive coaches nuts and is the mark of a contender. Indiana knows all about that animal, as a group of Seniors two years removed from a Penguin Cup appearance has been at it for three years and has done a pretty good job of being consistent. Coach Dom Glavech has it down to a science and must go through a pre-game ritual every time he chooses goaltenders and this night he would turn to the veteran Mike Mentch, who at times over the past three seasons has turned in some brilliant performances and others not so brilliant. The other intangible is that the Indians will need to get goal scoring in a timely fashion in big games, which they failed to do in close loses to # 2 Kittanning last week and # 1 Thomas Jefferson the week before. Maybe a little desperation and the fact that an Indiana loss would put the Indians two games behind Pine Richland, Kittanning and Thomas Jefferson, in the race for the top spot in Class AA. In the playoff scheme, this was a must win situation for Indiana in early December. A feeling out process took place in the first period at the HOKS [House of King Samuel] as the Kittanning braintrust and players looked on in eager anticipation to see who their divisional nemesis for 2003-2004 would be. Although the shots were 6-6, Indiana had the bnest chance of the opening period as Michael Nesper flew past the PR defense and in alone on Dan Gazzo, who came up with a brilliant pad save getting his toe on the deke by the speedy Indiana forward. The period ended in a scoreless 0-0 deadlock. The play opened up in the 2nd period, as Pine Richland’s John Phillips had a great opportunity at 13:09, which was turned aside by Mentch. If their was a defining point of this game it came at 11:45 as Michael Jack put a punishing hit on Ram star Ryan Tessmer and rather than trying to put him in the refreshment stand, Jack [using skills from Football at HIS like a great linebacker] separated Tessmer from the puck, which found its way to the stick of Corey Mills, who walked to the net and put a backhand on Gazzo who stopped him but could not control the rebound, which Jack found and deposited into the net for a 1-0 Indiana lead at 11:45. This play seemed to charge the Indians and turn the tables on Pine Richland, who had several chances after getting by the Indiana defense, but did not capitalize. The Rams were a little sloppy in clearing rebounds at 6:27 and Zach Diamond made them pay as the big forward cleaned up a Mike Nesper rebound and poked home a second chance rebound to make it 2-0. Less than a minute later, Mike Hart threw a seemingly harmless shot from the right point, which Gazzo did not control and Jason Boske found and buried to make it 3-0 Indians. Black had seen enough and pulled Gazzo, to try to provide a spark for Pine Richland, in favor of Tom Zajak. That maneuvered seem to work as PR came on late in the second, but Michael Mentch was equal to the task stopping Jordan Younklin at 3:35 with a great glove save, followed it with a nice stop on Adam Fodor at the 2 minute mark and robbed Tom DiDinato with another glove save with just :37 left to take a 3-0 advantage to the locker room. On to third period and the Rams continued to pressure Indiana and finally Jordan Younklin put his team on the board beating Mentch to the stick side at 8:54giving Pine Richland new life. Not so fast Rams, said Zach Diamond as just 11 seconds later the power forward for Indiana walked off the near boards and right to the net and buried a wrist shot over the glove side of Zajak and took the starch right out of Pine Richland 4-1. While PR was still reeling, the next shift Nesper and Diamond combined again as Diamond fed a great pass to Nesper, who walked down the slot and beat Zajak at 3:55 for a 5-1 Indiana lead. Pine Richland went on the power play and pulled the goalie in an attempt to score, but Zach Diamond found a loose puck and shot it 170 feet into the open pantry for his first career hat trick and a convincing 6-1 Indiana advantage at 3:55. Mike Mentch sealed the stopping 9 of 10 in the third, including a blistering slapshot by Ryan Tessmer for a 6-1 victory at the Indiana Ice Center.

~ Central Catholic Invitational [November 2003] Nov 20 - 23, 2003 at Harmarville - BladeRunners Note: Game Summaries & Pictures are now available SUNDAY 11/23 CHAMPIONSHIP Meadville 7 Pine Richland 1 ****GAME SUMMARY NOW AVAILABLE**** SEMI-FINALS Pine Richland 3 North Allegheny 2 [OT] Meadville 4 Thomas Jefferson 3 [2 OT] ****GAME SUMMARIES NOW AVAILABLE**** Consolation Round Monsignor Bonner 4 Archbishop Ryan 4 Lancaster B 4 South Park 4 Central Catholic 3 Upper St Clair 2 [OT-Shootout] Holy Ghost Prep 5 Fox Chapel 4 Mt Lebanon 4 Orchard Park 2 Lancaster 1 Bethel Park 0 Preliminary Round MOUNT LEBANON 4 UPPER ST. CLAIR 1 Highlight: Mike Jordan with 2 goals for Blue Devils BETHEL PARK 4 LANCASTER B 1 Highlight: Mike Diethorn & Conner McLean with a pair of goals THOMAS JEFFERSON 4 FOX CHAPEL 1 Highlight: Brandon School 2 Goals & Danny Hartman 17 Saves NORTH ALLEGHENY 4 ORCHARD PARK 3 Highlight: NA scores 3 in the 3rd to win it PINE-RICHLAND 5 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 4 Highlight: Ryan Tessmer 4 points as PR holds off rally by Raiders CENTRAL CATHOLIC 8 MONSIGNOR BONNER 2 Highlight: Matt Urso & Joe Coulter 3 pts & Michael McGurk 2 Goals LANCASTER A 3 MEADVILLE 3 Highlight: Tom Zielinski 34 saves for Lancaster HOLY GHOST PREP 1 SOUTH PARK 0 FOX CHAPEL 9 LANCASTER B 4 Highlight: Matt Quigley 3 G + 2 A & Joe Budz 2 goals THOMAS JEFFERSON 2 BETHEL PARK 1 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** MOUNT LEBANON 4 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 3 Highlight: Mike Jordan 2 Goals PINE-RICHLAND 6 UPPER ST. CLAIR 0 Highlight: Ryan Tessmer 2 goals + Nick Gazzo 20 saves for SO ORCHARD PARK 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 4 NORTH ALLEGHENY 4 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 2 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** LANCASTER 8 HOLY GHOST PREP 1 Highlight: Jeff Rutkowski with the hat trick for Lancaster MEADVILLE 4 SOUTH PARK 1 Highlight: Phil Siverd 2 goals for Bulldogs THOMAS JEFFERSON 8 LANCASTER B 1 BETHEL PARK 5 FOX CHAPEL 0 Highlight: Michael Mastracci with 20 saves for the Hawks UPPER ST. CLAIR 7 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 1 Highlight: Anthony Sirabella & Jono Lohman a pair of goals for USC PINE-RICHLAND 2 MOUNT LEBANON 1 ***GAME SUMMARY IS NOW AVAILABLE*** ORCHARD PARK 3 CENTRAL CATHOLIC 2 Highlight: Kevin Sheehan nets 2 goals for Orchard Park NORTH ALLEGHENY 5 MONSIGNOR BONNER 1 MEADVILLE 8 HOLY GHOST PREP 1 Highlight: Christian Nickerson, Phil Siverd & Rick Thomas lead way for Dawgs to Semis LANCASTER 6 SOUTH PARK 1 *See the History of this Tournament by Clicking on Pa Hockey Logo*

12/2/03 ~ QV flexes muscles by wearing down Deer Lakes CORAOPOLIS Quaker Valley coach Kevin Quinn has resigned himself that he will not have the services of Ben Herring for a better part of the season and I hope he knows that the Penguin Cup Playoff Rules require a player to play 10 games to be eligible for the Playoffs. Unfortunately, Herring has become yet another fallen victim to being developed by Quaker Valley and the Beaver County Midget program, and then being snatched by the Pittsburgh Hornets, who make high school aged kids sign [10 + pages] contracts stating their commitment to the organization, which includes something along the lines of NEVER missing a practice for ANY High School activity. So Ben’s being deprived of being an opportunity to enjoy his senior season at Quaker Valley, a team he grew up with for the pipedream of being the next Ryan Malone…..and I have news for you Ben, Ryan played for Upper St Clair and R.J. Umberger, the next NHLer from Western Pennsylvania played for Plum when there was a sensible agreement that you played High School during the week and Amatuer or Travel during the weekend. Anyway, the Quakers have moved on without Herring, who has played only a handful of games, and according to people close to the team, play better without him. Quaker Valley is one of the top teams in Class A because of the great coaching and stability of Quinn and assistant Jim Miller, who have been with the program from the beginning. The Quakers have two bonafide superstars in Sam Hairston and Furman South, who have really carried the scoring for QV to a 4-1-0 start, lone blemish a tough 4-3 loss to Somerset. I am sure Deer Lakes coach Al Palowski has a ton of empathy for Quinn, as the Lancer coach has seen a handful of Deer Lakes players plucked away for Junior B or Shadyside Academy and is doing an unreal job just keeping his alma mater afloat. Deer Lakes has talent but their bench looks more like men’s league than Varsity with only a dozen or so players dressed for each game. The Lancers do have some nice looking players in Brendan Orris, Jason Graney and foreign exchange student Stefan Karsay, who have been called on to replace Matt Disanti and Sean McIntyre. The Lancers opened the scoring as Brendan Orris scored at 7:16 for a 1-0 lead. QV’s Sam Hairston tied the game a short time later at 4:42 at 1-1. This was a pretty even game in the opening period as the Quakers out shot DL 11-9. On to the 2nd and Jason Graney gave Deer Lakes the lead with 9:44 remaining 2-1, which the held onto until with 5:48 remaining Kelly Elson beat Jiri Frkal to tie the score. Deer Lakes was under siege at this point as the Quakers blasted 16 shots at Frkal for the middle period, while Jed Michael saw only 5 shots, the result was that the roof came crashing down on the Lancers, as Hairston scored his 2nd goal at 4:57 and completed the hat trick with 1:51 remaining to break open a tight game to a 4-2 QV advantage. Jason Burrus added a tally with just 11 seconds left which may have put the dagger in the Lancers at 5-2. Hariston picked up his fourth goal just 15 seconds into the final period beating Frkal on the backhand to make it 6-2. Furman South got into the act burying a wrist shot upstairs over the glove hand at 12:42. Jason Burrus banged home a Hairston shot at 9:34 as the Quakers seemed to be getting stronger and the rout was on 8-2. QV’s foreign exchange defenseman from Denmark Jeppi Boldsen put the exclamation point on a 9-2 Quaker Valley victory, with a big blast from the right point as the Quakers out shot Deer Lakes 35-23 on the evening.

CORAOPOLIS ~ Blackhawk coach Dave Stepanian loves the fact that his team is off to a 6-0-0 start, in first place and ranked # 4 in the Post Gazette poll. The Cougar coach knows that his team will do better when it faces division foes Sewickley Academy and Quaker Valley plus Wheeling Park after that over the next week or so. Blackhawk has done it with the excellent goaltender of John Fitzgerald and the stalwart defensive tandem of Sam Kristian and Eric Steadman leading the way. Quigley has had a rough start in 2003-2004, but head coach Bob DiVito and his trusty assistant coaches Hank and Chris Cummings know having stud forward Kenny Lytle back in the lineup would boast the fragile ego of a club which is off to an 0-4-1 start with losses to ranked teams Serra, Elizabeth Forward, Quaker Valley [2-1 OT] and Wheeling Park and a tie with defending Penguin Cup champion Westmont Hilltop. The Spartans also play with heavy hearts as long time Quigley stalwart Josh Singleton passed away on 9-14-2003 and his jersey hangs above their bench in memory, as he is sorely missed by the Quigley folks. The first period saw some good end to end action as John Fitzgerald made the games first big save on Josh Backus with a sliding stop at 13:01. The deceptive Matt Stepanian showed great presence as he gathered the puck below the goal line and threw the puck at the backside of Josh Brunner and trickled behind the Quigley goaltender for a 1-0 Cougar lead at 8:37. Blackhawk had a couple chances to go up 2-0 with no avail in the middle of the first period. John Fitzgerald became the story in the opening frame as he stoned Josh Backus again from point blank range at 7:17 and made several key saves in killing off a Spartan power play to hold onto a slim 1-0 advantage at the end of one period. On to the 2nd and Drew Bosco got behind the Quigley defense and beat Brunner on the forehand at 8:57 for a 2-0 lead for Blackhawk. Quigley showed great character by turning up their game a notch led by freshmen Sean Wormald and Tim Powell, who almost scored but were turned away by Fitzgerald. Then the Spartans got a break late in the period on a 3 on 1 as Josh Backus put the puck to the net and Kenny Lytle slammed home the rebound with just 48 ticks left and cut the lead to 2-1. Quigley kept on coming and almost tied it forcing the Cougars to take a penalty and put the Spartans on the power play to start the third. Quigley almost tied it on the power play in the 3rd as Nate Dobson just missed at 13:55. The Spartans finally tied the game at 9:45 as Kenny Lytle got behind the Blackhawk defense and made no mistake as he buried a shot upstairs on the stick side to knot the game at two apiece. Blackhawk showed resilience and why they are undefeated as all of their players seem to do the little things necessary to win close hockey games, a sign of good coaching. While Quigley was pressuring to go ahead, the Cougars struck when the had to as Drew Bosco and Eric Steadman provided some nice work to get the puck into the Quigley zone and to the front of the net where unheralded Zach McMillan was stationed and hit paydirt beating Brunner on the rebound at 5:03 for the game winner and a 3-2 Blackhawk victory and a perfect 7-0-0 record.

Special Report to Pa Hockey courtesy of Upper St Clair ~ CASTLE SHANNON - USC and Mt. Lebanon renewed their backyard rivalry Monday night with undisputed possession of first place in the AAA West Division on the line. Mt. Lebanon got on the board first, when Eric Sloan scored off a feed from Jack Millhouse late in the first period. USC stormed back early in the second. The Panthers tied it when Jeff Greenberg deflected a Kris McDonough shot from the right point. Less than two minutes later, Ian Joyce scored on a brilliant individual effort to put USC on top. The Panthers looked like they might take command, but the Blue Devils capitalized on a pair of USC penalties late in the period. Dan Wilen scored on the 5 on 3 off an assist from Tony Valerino, then Valerino scored on the ensuing 5 on 4 off an assist from Eric Sloan, as the Blue Devils led 3-2 at the end of two periods. USC picked up the tempo in the third in search of the tying goal, and got it midway through the period when Kris McDonough blasted a slap shot from the left point to beat Lebo goalie Matt Vaughn, off assists from Matt McGinnis and Jeff Greenberg. Both teams threatened late but Vaughn and USC goalie Kevin Gorder each made clutch saves to preserve the tie. After Mt. Lebanon out shot USC 19-17 through two periods, the Panthers had the upper hand in the third and in overtime, outshooting the Blue Devils 11-5, for a game total advantage of 28-24. An outstanding AAA game, with end to end action and only three penalties. With the tie, USC moves to 6-0-1, while Mt. Lebanon is now 6-1-1.