Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

HARMARVILLE ~ Cathedral Prep Pete McCormick has inherited a hard working group of players which emulates ECP’s style going back over many years. The 2003-2004 season, what the Ramblers really miss in their lineup is the scoring punch of Jeff Dionosio, Kyle Rogers, Jon Merriott, and the others who have graduated, so Prep has resorted to hard work and playing on the edge to force opponents out of their game. Combined with a super goaltending tandem of David Schumaker and Ryan Zapolski, Prep was looking to make a little noise against Fox Chapel and get back in the North Division race. The Foxes have been quietly going about their business in an impressive 6-0 start and coach Keith Kearney would like keep it a secret as he has revamped the Foxes lineup through youth and balance. Where the Foxes may be very strong is between the pipes as Senior Todd Hendry has been one of Class AAA’s best goaltenders over the past two years and while the FC offense may become overzealous at times, the future public relations magnet Hendry has come up with some timely saves and has been real steady as the Foxes head into a real critical stretch of their schedule with Cathedral Prep, Mt Lebanon and finally a big divisional battle with Plum next Monday night. One of the keys to their early season success has been the Foxes ability to get scoring from up and down their lineup and early in the first it was Sam Stack, who opened the scoring at 11:02 beating David Schumaker. The game turned into a tight checking and physical affair, but Fox Chapel would score a critical goal from its top line as Kyle Misour cashed in with a little under a minute to play to extend the FC lead to 2-0. Prep did not concede and start to apply some pressure and the result was a great chance for Andrew Doyle alone in front, but a better save by Hendry who covered the net down low to keep the two goal advantage at 12:31. The Ramblers became a bit frustrated and took some undisciplined penalties creating a 5 on 3 for the Foxes. Joe Budz hit the post for FC at 10:28, but the Ramblers survived killing off the penalties. Prep was whistled again at 4:51 putting the Foxes on the Power Play and this time Fox Chapel would not be denied as Joe Budz and Matt Quigley banged away and Budz got the final stick on it giving FC a 3-0 lead. A delayed penalty gave Fox Chapel another power play and they cashed in again as Justin Kreps found a loose puck on the door step from a Sam Stack rebound and all the sudden it was 4-0 Foxes with 2:44 left. Prep fought back as Nick Longnecker and Andrew Callighan made a nice entry into the FC zone and Callighan fed Andrw Doyle, who buried a shot up over the shoulder of Hendry at 1:52 to put Prep on the board late in the second. The Ramblers had a 5 on 3 carryover to the third,with a big opportunity to get back into the game, but Fox Chapel was able to kill off the advantage. The Foxes put the game on ice as Jason Kreps [4:50] and Adam Petrovich [3:04] put the game out of reach for a 6-1 Fox Chapel victory and a perfect 7-0-0 record heading into a big showdown with Mt Lebanon Thursday at Valley Sports Complex.

INDIANA – Over the river and through the woods to ‘the house of King Samuel’ we go…..you know the theme….up route 286 and into Indiana ….a great little town all decked out for the holidays…..the Indiana Ice Center for a pre-Thanksgiving feast between home town Indiana and their route 422 nemesis the Penguin Cup Finalist Kittanning Wildcats before a packed house over 750 strong at the Indiana Ice Center. Now Dom Glavech had to be feeling pretty good about things, but in the back of his mind a memory of a 3-2 playoff loss has a fresh wound for the Indians played at the Belmont in March. So coach Glavech figured that Mike Mentch may have similar feelings as Indiana outshot Kittanning handily but lost sending the ‘Cats’ off to Rostraver for the Penguin Cup Semi-Finals. So Indiana would start Mike Kennedy between the pipes for the # 4 ranked Indians. Jeff Smouse, on the other hand, is always the worrier and his Wildcats are ranked # 2 with a perfect 4-0-0 record with two impressive routs of decent opponents, 10-1 over West Allegheny and an 8-2 shellacking of a good Canevin team on the road. The head coach of Kittanning was on guard that his team may be a little overconfident, but hey why not Adam Toy is between the pipes and this guy has Indiana’s number over the past few years and why would Smouse have any other expectations than another strong performance before a hostial environment in Indiana with ‘the Hockey Hooligans’. The worst thing that can happen in a big game is two officials who over call the game, which destroys the opportunity to let the players decide the outcome, so the two officials assigned to this one did their best to muck it up early with penalty to Indiana at 14:31, penalty to Indiana at 12:28 and another penalty to Kittanning at 12:00 ……and with 10:00 remaining in the opening period the fans got to finally see a little 5 on 5. Through a very evenly played first period, the teams exchanged shots 5-4 in favor of the Indians, but Kittanning struck first as Pat Schneider took a big blast from the left point over the glove side of Mike Kennedy at 4:47 and a 1-0 Wildcat lead. Adam Toy made a great save to thwart a 2 on 1 between Corey Mills and Alan Halapin, Hard work towards the end of the opening period forced an Indiana penalty putting Kittanning on the power play early in the 2nd and the Wildcats capitalized as Schnieder threw a wrister to the net which eluded Kennedy and before the Indiana goaltender could find it Duston Kellner chipped it home at 14:03 and Kittanning opened up a 2-0 advantage. Indiana stuck back quickly as Zach Diamond found a loose puck from an Alan Rusiewicz shot from the left point and in one motion slid the puck underneath Toy to cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:47. Indiana turned up the heat firing 11 shots at Toy, who made a nice save on Zach D’Amico at 8:15. The Indians would not be denied as Michael Jack provided excellent work in the corner and worked the puck to the net where Corey Mills and Alan Halapin did the rest as Halapin got the last stick on it and Indiana tied the game at 2-2 with 7:38 remaining, which carried over into the final period. The Indians came out flying in the 3rd and applied a ton of pressure on the Kittanning defense, but how many times do we see a team get a lot of pressure at one end and the other team respond by scoring a huge goal to deflate the effort. So while Adam Toy was stopping everything but the kitchen sink and the kitchen sink, the Wildcats were patient for that opportunity. Not even Jeff Smouse could have predicted his young guns [Sophomore-Freshman-Sophomore] line would pull through in a big way, but they did ….so with 5:29 left Lee Heilman won the faceoff, Joey Ford moved the puck to the net and Justin Kovatch found that loose puck and banged it behind Kennedy sending the throng of Kittanning faithful into a tizzy and a 3-2 lead. The Wildcats pride themselves in forechecks and great defense, but that blow to Indiana was all they needed as the Indians took a frustration penalty with 4:37 left putting one more nail in the coffin. Indiana would have one last flurry which would end up in the hands of Adam Toy, who absolutely robbed Michael Jack from point blank range with 1:17 remaining, giving the Wildcats a huge road victory 3-2 and a perfect 5-0-0 record heading for showdowns with Thomas Jefferson 12/11 and Pine Richland 12/18.

Semi-Finals 11/23/03 ~ Pine Richland stuns NA in OT ! North Allegheny cruised into the CC Invitational semi-finals with impressive victories over Orchard Park, Central Catholic and Monsignor Bonner and the trademark on Tom Pandolfo’s regime has been the ability to hold the lead in the third period or comeback when down by excellent conditioning, timely goals and aggressive hard work by the Tigers. NA would have to accomplish the same thing against Pine Richland, but would have to do it without top scoring forward Joe Smarto. Pine Richland has seen a re-birth under Jimmy Black, who knows the talent pool at PR has been good for a while and needed some direction to get the program back to the top of Class AA to battle Thomas Jefferson, Kittanning and others for the 2004 Penguin Cup. The Rams defeated a gritty Archbishop Ryan squad and two of Class AAA’s top ranked teams Upper St Clair and Mt Lebanon, Ho …Hum 6-0 over USC and a thrilling 2-1 win over Mt Lebanon and next up would be top ranked NA. PR wasted no time jumping on NA as Adam Fodor opened the scoring for PR taking a feed from Ryan Tessmer and beating Bobby Daly for a 1-0 lead at 14:24. Daly was the story for North Allegheny in the first period stopping Adam Fodor in front at 12:37 and again at 11:03 to keep NA within one. The Tigers had an opportunity to tie the game on a two man advantage, their best chance coming when Paul Dittrich hit the post at 3:50. Dittrich would make the most of another chance late in the 2nd period scoring at 2:31 to tie the game at one apiece going to the third. Pine Richland regained the lead in the third period as Josh Phillips scored on assists from Tessmer and Tom DiDinato just 2:09 in. The Tigers tied it as Dittrich picked up his second goal at 4:57 of regulation. North Allegheny became the aggressor at this point trying to intimidate Pine Richland, but the Rams stood tall and played an even third period with the Tigers. The game went to overtime and Jordan Yoklic buried a great cross ice pass from Ryan Tessmer past Daly at 3:52 of overtime sending the Rams to their first ever Central Catholic Invitational final.

Semi-Finals 11/23/03 - Meadville overcomes TJ in classic 4-3 in 2 OT ! Thomas Jefferson coach Don Powell love putting his Jaguars to the test and has taken the philosophy of trying to get his team ready for the stretch run by playing the best competition available. TJ made it to the 2002 CC Invitational finals and was looking to do it again with victories over Lancaster, Fox Chapel and Bethel Park…..which is a nice resume heading into the semi-finals. Coach Powell would love to add another big notch in the form of defending Class AAA State Champions Meadville to go with their # 1 ranking in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 State Poll. Meadville coach Jamie Plunkett returned behind the bench for the semi-finals benefiting from some nice work by long-time assistant Dick Holabaugh, who guided the Dawgs to a hard fought tie against Lancaster and victories over South Park and Holy Ghost. Those victories came with a price as starting goaltender Danny O’Sharuk, Phil Siverd and Anthony Scarpino were forced to the sidelines with injuries. What we may have seen is trouble, but this is Meadville and a preview of the future was taking hold as freshman Michael Licinski stepped between the pipes, looking like a veteran of 3 seasons. The Bulldogs also had a new look in the red, black and white of the Chicago Black Hawks and Ricky Thomas gave TJ a little same old Dawgs routine as he deposited a David Moyer rebound past Danny Hartman one the power play at 9:17 for a 1-0 lead. Christian Nickerson intercepted and errant clearing attempt by the Jaguars and fed a streaking Thomas, who redirected a shot past Hartman and all the sudden it was 2-0 Meadville with 7:00 remaining in the first. Thomas Jefferson showed a ton of character by digging down and taking the play to Meadville as almost scored as Brandon School’s shot bounced over Licinski into the crease, but big brother Nate Licinski cleared it from danger at 6:28. Eric Holzer went to the net hard and the Meadville faithful held their collective breath after Saturday’s injury to O’Sharuk at 5:30. TJ finally got on the board as Holzer’s shot beat Licinski inside the post after a great second effort by Derek Kelly to poke the puck past [soon to be PIHL All-Star defenseman and should have been for three years] David Moyer. The Jaguars almost tied the game as Licinski just got a skate on a Billy Barrett shot with 3:44 left in the opening period. On to the second and hard working forward Shawn Harbaugh scored on the power play at 11:37 to extend the Meadville lead to 3-1. Danny Hartman kept his team in the game stopping 10 Bulldog shots with excellent saves on D.J. Durkee and Harbaugh in the waning moments of the middle frame. Thomas Jefferson took advantage of a 5 on 3 power play Luke Wawrzeniak scored on assist from Brandon School at 14:40 and those same two combined to tie the game a short time later as School scored less than a minute later to tie the game at 3-3. The Jaguars had the better of the play and sent the game to overtime. In overtime, Ricky Thomas appeared to have a shorthanded breakaway which was whistled down on the offside play five minutes in. David Moyer hit a streaking Christian Nickerson who fought his way behind the TJ defense and slipped a shot underneath Hartman at 11:58 to send the Bulldogs to the CC Invitational final.

Meadville 7 Pine Richland 1 11/23/03 ~ Bulldogs capture 5th CC Invitational crown ! Pine Richland advanced into the finals of the CC Invitational for the first time ever and coach Jimmy Black had to be satisfied with his teams effort in knocking off the Class AAA Elite. Next up would be PA State AAA Champ Meadville in a first ever meeting to my recollection of the two schools. Meadville was looking for a record 5th CC Invitational Title including a 4 year run from 1991 through 1994 and coach Jamie Plunkett would like to start another run for the Bulldogs. A glimpse of the future would be in order as injuries forced the Dawgs to insert some freshman and sophomores into the lineup in the Central Catholic final. Pine Richland struck first as super looking forward Josh Fodor beat Michael Licinski to give the Rams a 1-0 lead with two minutes gone in the hockey game. The Bulldogs would counter shelling Dan Gazzo with 11 shots in the first period to PR’s 4. Meadville just kept coming in waves in the second and D.J Durkee scored just :24 in from in front on a nice feed from Christian Nickerson. Pine Richland looked to be tiring a little and made a mental mistake with a too many men on the ice penalty and a 5 on 3 Bulldog power play. David Moyer looked like Bobby Orr as he made a great play to keep the puck in the zone and then went for a nice skate around the zone twice as the players on both teams watched in amazement, then the big Meadville defenseman buried a slap shot down on the ice in the stick side with 11:00 left in the 2nd and the Dawgs were off and running 3-1. The Rams had a great chance to cut the lead as Josh Phillips had a shorthanded breakaway but hit the post at 9:56. Championship teams have a redeeming quality in their relentless pursuit to put away teams and put and exclamation point on it and Meadville may have created the PA Hockey version in the early 1990’s. What was most impressive about the game between Pine Richland and Meadville was the young players in Red, Black and White stepping to the forefront in this championship game as Pat Leone scored 11:46 of the third to make it 4-1 and Shawn Harbaugh put the game out of reach 5-1 just 58 seconds later. The Bulldogs continued their onslaught as Tournament MVP and Bill Downey award recipient Christian Nickerson tied the all-time CC Invitational scoring mark with a goal at 6:09 left in the third to make it 6-1 and Chris Leone closed it out on a nice feed from Tyler Learn with just 1:01 remaining for an impressive 7-1 stomping of Pine Richland and the 2003 Central Catholic Invitational Championship for Meadville.