Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Indiana 6 Canon McMillan 3 Report Special to Pa Hockey ~ Thank you to Indiana for this report ! The Indiana High School Varsity Ice Hockey team opened their season at home with a win over Canon-McMillan, 6-3 at the Indiana Ice & Expo Center Wednesday night. A packed arena saw goals by Mike Nesper, Mike Jack, Steve Kinter, Zach Damico and two by Zach Diamond. Nesper and Jack also provided two assists, with Diamond, Phil Paterson, Jason Boske and Joe Appolonia adding one apiece. Indiana outshot their opponent 38-20. Goaltending duties were shared by Mike Mentch in the first with 10 saves, while Mike Kennedy finished the game with 7 more. For Canon-McMillan, now 1-1-0 the goal scorers were Josh Tohey with two goals and Jesse Patnesky on a shorthanded tally at 8:25 in the 2nd. The Indians, now 2-0-0, go on the road for a three-game tour meeting Thomas Jefferson Monday night at the Rostraver Ice Garden.

WEEK 16 - Final Standings and Scores and Final 2004 Post Gazette and Pa Hockey Elite 8 Rankings

MEADVILLE - Ah... the summer is officially over and a little a drive up I-79 in the Big Blue Jeep crossing into Crawford County and into range of WMGW Sports Radio and the voices of Gary Clark [voice of the Bulldogs beginning his 17th season] and his faithful sidekick Dick Tedesco, previewing a opener between two teams who have built quite a history against each other ….# 1 Meadville vs # 2 Central Catholic. When we last saw the Bulldogs, it was pandemonium at Ice-Line in Philly as Meadville stormed back to capture their 8th Pennsylvania State Championship, but probably the sweetest due to the drought that existed since 1996, when the Dawgs last won it all. Head coach Jamie Plunkett’s squad is filled with new blood and some of the key cast of characters from last years championship team namely goaltender Danny O’Sharuk, stud defenseman David Moyer and the hero of last year’s playoffs Christian Nickerson, who was donning the “C” for leading Meadville to the promised land. So if Plunkett was gonna give some advice to his counterpart Kevin Zielmanski of CC, it would be patience. You see 1998 was coach Z’s first year with the Vikings and as he begins his 8th season at the helm, the thought is maybe this will be the year that CC goes all the way. And wouldn’t it be nice to spoil the banner raising ceremony before an overflow crowd at the MARC. Central had to feel pretty good about its chances with Russ Hefner back between the pipes in Meadville for the first time since a 5-4 overtime victory in the 2002 playoffs. This would be a goaltending battle early on as Danny O’Sharuk stopped Central’s Neil Kennedy from in close at 9:26. The Vikings showed their depth as Chris Urso slammed home a rebound after O’Sharuk robbed Ryan Gebler to give CC a 1-0 lead with 5:22 left in period # 1. Meadville had a couple of good chances as D.J. Durkee took a long lead pass from Anthony Scarpino and walked the CC defense and just missed at 1:10 and with just 13 ticks remaining Hefner stoned Christian Nickerson from point blank range. On to the 2nd and Michael McGurk pick the Bulldog defense’s pocket at the blue line and buried a backhander past O’Sharuk for a 2-0 CC lead at 13:53. Meadville went on the power play at 9:55 and then went on the 5 on 3 with 9 ½ left in the middle frame. Zielmanski used his 3 top players to kill in a big point of the hockey game as the Vikings lost the services of captain Andrew Wroblewski for 12 minutes. After a great steal and clear by Eddie Martin CC got caught on a bad line change which created an odd man break and Christian Nickerson made them pay beating Hefner on the backhand to cut the lead to 2-1 with 8:07 left. The Dawgs came right back on a 2 on 1 and Anthony Scarpino buried a wrist shot upstairs after a great feed from Nickerson to tie the game at 6:15. Central Catholic came out and was the aggressor in the third and had all sorts of chances as Neal Kennihan was stoned by O’s Haruk at 11:37. Connor Hickton hit the crossbar after a Michael McGurk rebound as Central dominated play early in the 3rd. The Vikings went on the power play at 8:54 and McGurk won the faceoff cleanly to Matt Urso, who walked between the circles and buried a wrist shot through the 5-hole and Central Catholic reclaimed the lead 3-2 after just 4 seconds of PP time. Now close hockey games sometimes have twists but the key to winning them is poise, discipline and sometimes a break along the way. Meadville was still in the game down a goal and why Tyler Learn chose this time to pick a fight with J.R. Hess was absolutely not a good situation, the result was that tempers flared forcing referees Mark Klimow and Ray King into a decision regarding Learn, who would not leave go of Hess facemask, which in normal situations is a Match Penalty and 30 days ! With 4:57 remaining the last thing the official’s want to do is determine the outcome, but they had no choice. The result was a 5-minute power play for Central and a break and as cause and effect would have it Meadville was behind the 8-ball. Now professor Zielmanski had five minutes left to put the Dawgs on ice. Do they try to score or just kill time and the ever thinking coach Z reverted to the Dean Smith [legendary North Carolina basketball coach] 4 corner offense. Matt Friday, Matt Urso and Eddie Martin took the puck down below the goal line and cycled puck for 3 ½ minutes and put the Dawgs to sleep on the porch. As an old friend from Toronto once told me when he said [and he was right about 19 years ago and now] “if the other team does not have the puck they cannot beat you !” and that’s what CC did ….lulled Meadville and then in an instant Eddie Martin threaded a perfect saucer pass to Matt Friday who made no mistake and sent the Bulldogs faithful to the parking lots with :52 left and a 4-2 Central Catholic victory.

Central Catholic prevailed over Indiana 3-2 in the Kittanning Invitational Championship. Zach Diamond (Indiana) started the scoring at 7:06 of the first period. Matt Friday of Central tied the game at 11:32 of the first. Central went ahead on a second goal by Friday at 12:21 of the second, with Cory Mills tying the score at 13:56 of the second. In the 3rd Andrew Wroblewski of Central scored at 4:23, and Central held off Indiana to win. The tournament MVP was Eddie Martin of Central Catholic. ***Thanks to Kittanning, Central and Indiana for seperate reports on the championship***

Kittanning Invitational Central Catholic 6 Kittanning 4 Kittanning coach Jeff Smouse has done an outstanding job over the past two season keeping his Wildcats focused and he understands that his team has to remained focused to reach the promised land and return to the Penguins Cup in 2004. The host Wildcats have had an excellent pre-season and opened the Invitational with impressive victories over Archbishop Carroll and Latrobe. The big test would be AAA power Central Catholic, who look to be one of the top contenders to unseat Meadville in the Penguins Cup race. Viking coach Kevin Zielmanski would have to beat Kittanning with depth with Matt Capalongo and Michael McGurk out of the lineup with a trip to the Kittanning Invitational finals on the line. Central came out storming in the first period as Eddie Martin scored a little less than four minutes in to give CC a 1-0 lead. Wildcat goaltender Adam Toy faced 7 Viking shots most of them quality and was under siege early on. Kittanning turned up the physical play and neutralized CC’s offense and it paid off as Eddie Germy tied the game with just 1:02 remaining in the opening period. Tyler Ochs slammed home a rebound with just 18 ticks left and the Wildcats took a 2-1 lead to the 2nd. Central continued to pressure Toy who was equal to the task stopping all 10 Viking shots in the middle period. Eddie Germy scored with just 23 seconds left in the period to take a 3-1 Kittanning lead to the locker room, but not before Toy stopped Martin on the breakaway before the buzzer. The Vikings took control in the third period as Martin scored at 13:05 and 11:15 remaining to knot the score at 3-3. What was a 3-1 for Kittanning evaporated as Matt Graboski floated a shot which had eyes and snuck behind Adam Toy to give CC its first lead 4-3 with 9:22 remaining. Matt Urso extended the Viking lead to 5-3 near the halfway point in period to make it 5-3 Central. The Wildcats pulled within one as Germy scored just 19 seconds later, but it would be Eddie Martin who would put the exclamation on this one adding his fourth goal late in the third to give Central Catholic a 6-4 victory and one win away from a trip to the finals. Indiana 5 McDowell 4 McDowell coach Marlin Coon was looking forward to turning his clock back on Sunday to start another campaign with the Trojans and if he had to do it all over he may have wanted to start John Cleary in goal for the Kittanning Invitational opener against Butler. Dom Glavech has a little goaltending controversy of his own at Indiana, but it may end up being a luxury for the Indians as they gear up to make a run at the Class AA crown. In a real physical battle in the first period, the teams battled to a 1-1 tie as McDowell’s Gary Peterson and Indiana’s Zach Diamond exchanged goals. The period featured some excellent goaltending by Cleary and Indiana’s Mike Kennedy. Indiana broke the tie in the 2nd period as Mike Nesper and Mike Hart tallied to give the Indians a seemingly safe 3-1 lead at the end of two. The Trojans came back in the third period as Peterson added his second goal and Ed Maras tied the game with 2:04 remaining after Zach Diamond extended the Indiana lead to 4-2 5 ½ mintutes into the final frame. The Indians Jason Boske swatted a rebound out of the air past Cleary with 1:12 remaining to give Indiana a 5-4 victory, a perfect 3-0 record in the tournament and a date in Sunday’s final. Archbishop Carroll 5 Latrobe 4 Patriot coach Bill Hammonds made his annual trip to Western Pennsylvania to see what Class AA has to offer on Friday and received a rude welcome from host Kittanning in the form of a 7-1 pasting at the hands of the Wildcats. Latrobe coach Greg Wano could empathize with Hammonds fresh from a 9-0 beating at the hands of Central Catholic on Friday and a 6-2 setback to Kittanning on Thursday. So both teams were looking for a victory in the Kittanning Invitational. In a seesaw game which saw a lead change from Latrobe to Carroll several times, the Patriots Shane Aldinger completed the hat trick with 2:22 remaining to give Carroll a 5-4 victory and keep alive slim hopes of reaching the final with a victory over Central Catholic. Derek Lutterman led Latrobe with two goals and two assists as Carroll outshot Latrobe 35-15. Butler 9 Unionville 1 Word was ringing through the Belmont that this was the best Butler team in years and I am sure coach Bob Hoehn would like to keep it a secret until about mid-February. The Golden Tornadoes surprised McDowell earlier in the day with a 5-3 victory after being edged by Indiana Thursday evening 4-3. Unionville was looking to rebound from its opening 5-0 loss to Indiana. This game was all Butler as they outshot Unionville 38-23 and coasted to a 9-1 victory. Spencer Crouse had the hat trick as linemates B.J. Tipton and Greg Rogerson chipped in a pair of goals.