Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

AIRPORT - West Allegheny kept pace with Canon McMillan for an outside chance at the Class AA West Division title with an 8-0 victory over Greensburg Salem. Ed Jankoski scored twice and JustinHays, Tom Quinn, Josh Fuoco, Derek Keller, Josh Giegel and Tony Lutz added singles. The drive for 65 continues as Greensburg Salem becomes the 61st team covered by Pa Hockey with a little over two weeks remaining in an attempt to see all 65 Varsity teams.

MONROEVILLE – Franklin Regional is arguably Class AAA’s hottest team with six consecutive wins including recent victories over Mt Lebanon and Plum. Coach Jim Damp’s team is now in position to capture their first division crown since 1996, when those Panthers were coming off four consecutive Penguin Cup final appearances. This year’s team has people in the hockey circles talking about a possible contender as one of the teams who could surprise in the upcoming playoffs. Gateway knows all about that ‘potential playoff run team’ talk as the Gators have been a potential team for the past several years, who have showed that they can beat the best teams in the league……and frankly they are tired of hearing about it. So Dan Serakowski’s squad came into their most important game of the year knowing two important factors. First, Gateway would be playing without speedy Zach Flora, who is a key component to their playoff hopes and second that when the Gators score first they are 12-1-0 and when they don’t they are 1-6. So it was plain and simple for the Gators, get that first goal and their odds were real good in this one. The first period was evenly played with both teams getting a few decent scoring opportunities in the first nine minutes and the game remained scoreless until Matt Kopaczynski found himself with the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and he blasted a snapshot over the glove hand of Brandon Stallard and the Gators owned that coveted first goal at 6:30. Gateway appeared to have a 2-0 lead, but Lucas Pepper’s goal was directed in with a high stick and waived off at 2:51. Franklin came right back as Mike Roth found the net as his shot trickled past David Himes to tie the game at 1-1 with 2:36 left. Then the Panthers went on the power play and Roth buried a rebound off of a Jimmy Daugherty shot with just 31 ticks left in the opening period. In the second period, the Gators tied the game as Kopaczynski made a great move at the blue line and beat Stallard low to the stick side at 7:46. The game remained tied as neither team was able to capitalize on power play chances. The third period started and the Gators took the lead at 13:52 as Kopaczynski walked around the Panther defense and put a shot through the five hole for a 3-2 Gateway advantage. Then a break for the Gators occurred as Justin ‘L.A.’ Scott picked up a FR turnover and buried a wrist shot on the short side at 12:28 to give the home team a 4-2 lead. Gateway, learning from their last letdown against McDowell, started to play smart and simple hockey with some excellent work down low and pinning the Panthers in their own end for much of the third period. Franklin got a last ditch chance with a power play with 1:18 remaining and a 6 on 4 [goaltender pulled] but could not score on Himes. ‘L.A.’ Scott put the exclamation point on a huge Gateway victory with a [between 140 and 145 feet by the Gateway faithful in the lobby] long shot into an empty net with :03 left and a 5-2 Gator win.

ERIE ~ Cathedral Prep started off the 2002-2003 season like a ball of fire through mid-January with only one loss at the hands of Meadville in an early season affair at the ‘House of Chills’ 6-4. Coach Nels White’s squad looked to be in great form after defeating Eastern Pa power LaSalle in the Bulldog Invitational, but then dropped a lopsided game to Cleveland St Ignatius, which threw the Ramblers into a tailspin dropping games to archrival McDowell and Central Catholic. ECP has rebounded though and is back on track after a 10-3 pasting of Upper St. Clair earlier this week. Meadville is back atop the Class AAA Penguins Cup hunt and has played consistently well for a majority of the season. If Jamie Plunkett’s Bulldogs have an Achilles heal, it is that they sometimes have trouble finishing scoring opportunities, which has resulted in some ties and a loss to Gateway a week ago 3-2 and they need timely scoring entering the playoffs if they would like to end up in the winner’s circle in the Penguins Cup. After an adventurous drive to the Tullio Erie Civic Center, a crowd of an estimated 700 people braved the snowstorm to watch top of the top Western Pa schools get it on with the Class AAA West Lake Division title and some bragging rights at stake. This game took on significance for McDowell, who is in chase of Prep and many of the McDowell Trojans players were on hand to root for Meadville. The Ramblers opened the scoring at 10:52 as Pat Figurski found a rare loose puck in the Meadville slot and beat Danny O’Sharuk between the five hole for a 1-0 lead. O’Sharuk made several key saves as Prep continued to pressure the Bulldog backline on Jeff Dionosio at 9:30 and Jon Merriott at 5:42. Andrew Topa intercepted a Meadville clearing attempt and found a streaking Kyle Rogers, who went top shelf at 4:26 to give Prep a 2-0 lead. Meadville was now scrambling and the Ramblers had them in trouble as O’Sharuk stopped Doyle on the breakaway with 2:23 remaining and Pa Hockey top 25 selection David Moyer made a diving breakup of an attempted pass to a wide open Prep forward in the slot with 1:03 left. The Bulldogs began their efforts to build momentum early in the 2nd period and Phil Siverd made it count as he took a Brian Bahurinsky pass and buried it past Rob Allison to cut the lead to 2-1 at 11:25. Allison preserved the Rambler lead with point blank saves on Rick Thomas at 8:37 and Bahurinsky at 5:56. Then a puck and Kyle Rogers got behind the Bulldog defense with a little over a minute remaining….O’Sharuk came out to try to beat Rogers to the puck and Kyle also dove to poke in past O’Sharuk, which he did and while on his knees and an open net in front of him could not guide the puck in and give Prep a 3-1 lead. On to the third period and Prep was trying to get that two goal advantage but Danny O’Sharuk came up big as he stopped Jon Merriott on the breakaway at 10.25 and coupled that with several key stops on a Rambler power play at the ten minute mark. Then the Bulldogs went on the power play at 7:42 and Phil Siverd took a pass from Dan Craven out of the corner and blasted a slapshot through traffic on the short side past Allison to tie the game with 6:19 left. Meadville looked to take the lead and Allison came up big with stops on Harbaugh at 5:55 and Jeffrey Holabaugh at 4:15. The game then turned into a tight checking contest through the overtime in a hard fought 2-2 tie.

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MONROEVILLE - Gateway coach Dan Serakowski could fill a resume with experience from his first year with the Gators as he has seen just about everything. It’s like the ABC’s Wide World of Sports commercial, which portrays the ‘thrill of victory’ as well as ‘the agony of defeat’. The Gators showed why many consider them a very dangerous team by defeating # 1 ranked Meadville and have showed at times that they are merely a pretender with some lifeless individual circus act shows that would rival Barnum and Bailey………coach Serakowski has been like a broken record stressing team play and that team play would include passing the puck, discipline in tight situations and playing smart fundamental hockey, which the Gators must do to be successful. McDowell posted a 3-18-2 record a year ago and I am sure head coach Marlin Coon hoped not to go through another season like that one. The Trojans have pleasantly surprised this season with an 11-5-2 start with a pasting of Cathedral Prep [8-1] and several other impressive outings this season. The team traveled by bus to the Golden Mile for a big playoff positioning matchup with Gateway, there would be a lot on the line as the # 7 and # 8 ranked teams in the PA Hockey Elite 8 would lock horns. The Gators started off with a penalty early in the 1st and killed the McDowell opportunity, but the Trojans jumped on Gateway for the games first goal as Pa Hockey Top 25 Selection Stephen Kobert whistled a wrist shot on the ice through traffic past David Himes at 11:17 for a 1-0 lead. Gateway responded on its power play chance with some excellent work down low by Zach Flora, Lucas Pepper and Rob McCoy which opened up the point and at 9:04 it was Matt Kopaczynski, with a big blast from the center point past Joe Comstock on the stick side to tie the game at one apiece. The Gators took the lead with 5:31 remaining as Chris Gyke found Lucas Pepper in the slot and Pepper scored on the backhand to give Gateway a 2-1 lead. Then in true GMIC fashion late in the first, the scoreboard went out after the opening period buzzer. Early in the second Gateway could not extend the lead with several power play opportunities. Then at 10:14, McDowell’s Brian Hammell missed on the breakaway just wide and the puck took a ‘Golden Mile bounce’ off the end boards and found its way on to the stick of Gary Peterson, who deposited it behind Himes and the game was tied again at two apiece. The Trojans received a bench minor for yapping at the officiating crew, who seemed to be overcalling and mucking up an excellent hard fought hockey game. This would cost McDowell, as Gateway’s Chris Gyke knocked down a clearing attempt and fire a bullet upstairs on the glove side past Comstock to give the Gators a 3-2 advantage with 5:29 left in the middle period. On to the third period and Gyke continued his hot hand as he jumped into the play and his attempted pass cross ice deflected off a Trojan defenseman and behind Comstock for a 4-2 Gator lead with 11:03 to play. Gateway was now looking for the knockout punch and with 9:29 to play they appeared to have it as Zach Flora took a feed in front, but Comstock made a spectacular save sliding across the crease, which would turn out to be huge. Just fifteen seconds later at 9:14, Gary Peterson beat Himes on a wrist shot to cut the lead to 4-3 in favor of Gateway. The battle turned it up a notch as Hammel and Flora looked horns near the McDowell bench and a scrum ensued with several players. An overzealous official gave Flora the gate with a game misconduct and Hammel remained in the game receiving a double minor, which had the Gator faithful and bench livid and justifiably so. At the 6:24 mark McDowell would go on the power play for three minutes and Gateway was trying to hold on and appeared to be doing so as captain Matt Kopaczynski looked like Bobby Orr killing off over a minute of the disadvantage. The Gator momentum resulted in a Lucas Pepper shorthanded chance but Comstock came up with another big save with 4:50 remaining. The Trojans finally cashed in and tied the game as Lee Rohan set up Brian Hammel, who scored on a big wrist shot past Himes on the glove side and the game was tied again at four apiece. The Trojans now had the momentum and continued the pressure on Gateway and with :38 left, Hammel found the loose puck and beat Himes on a swift backhand to give McDowell a huge comeback win. The loss for Gateway sets up a must win for Gateway against division rival Franklin Regional next week for any hope of a division title.