Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

KITTANNING – Back in week 8, coach Craig Clontz’s Hampton club 3-6-0 and looked ready to mail the season in and miss the playoffs for the first time in a few years. The Talbots have turned their season around with six wins in seven outings including big one goal victories over Indiana and West Allegheny. Hampton was looking to add division kig pin Kittanning to the trophy closet. Kittanning on the other hand is in a real battle with Thomas Jefferson, Peters Twp and Greensburg CC for the top spot in Class AA and the chain of events 24 hours earlier put head coach Jeff Smouse’s club in a must win situation. The Wildcats, who’s lineup looks more like a hospital than a hockey team, dropped a heartbreaker to division rival Pine Richland while Thomas Jefferson’s last second win at Indiana put the Jaguar’s a game ahead of the Wildcats. So the coach was not in his usual cheerful mood prior to the late game at the Belmont. Hampton came out smoking in the opening minutes with some aggressive play and Ben Daniels goal with 8:02 put the Talbots on top 1-0. Michael Mecurio tied the game at 5:21 as the big Kittanning forward continued his hot hand. John Bongiovanni put Hampton back on top with a backhander with just 1:33 left in the opening frame. With his team a little down after Hampton took a 2-1 lead, Mecurio scored a huge goal on a big slapshot with just :53 seconds left to tie the game at two apiece. On to the second and Hampton took the play to Kittanning as Matt Celin scored at 14:52 and again at 10:57 and all the sudden the Talbots had a 4-2 lead. Kittanning now had to dig down and got a big time play as Luke Heller made a terrific feed to budding superstar Eddie Germy who whipped shot past Brian Troiano and the Wildcats were back within one at 4-3 with 8:54 left in the middle period. The Kittanning dug down and started to outwork Hampton and their lunch pail specialist Wade Bowser, while falling down, slipped a shot past Troiano and the game was tied again at 4-4. The long trek to Kittanning’s marvelous locker room facility built by the boosters and players was a little easier as the sick and wounded followed behind to hear the rally cry in the ‘House of Smouse’ between periods and what ever was said really had an impact as the Wildcats hit the ice in the third and Eddie Germy provided the spark as he beat Troiano on a rebound 47 seconds into the final period on a rebound. Back and forth they went and Adam Toy made several key saves along the way as Kittanning clung to a slim one-goal advantage. With the Wildcats winding the clock down, Hampton was awarded a power play with :49 left and the Talbots pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and had several chances with scrambles around the Kittanning net but Toy and the Wildcat four of Justin Avi, Brandon Beatty, Joel Shriver and Michael Mecurio would not let the Hampton score and Kittanning held on for a HUGE victory setting up a big game next week with Indiana.

INDIANA - Indiana has experienced an up and down season with close losses to top dogs in Class AA Peters Township, Greensburg CC and Kittanning. Coach Dom Glavech knows his team can play with the best teams and has the age old problem of getting his guys to play more consistently as the Indians have been impressive at times with big wins over Pine Richland and Canevin, in fact this evening’s opponent Thomas Jefferson may have been their most impressive of the season back on December 28th in the Scholastic Showcase, when Indiana defeated the Jaguars 4-3. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, is coming off an emotional victory over rival South Park, which was costly to the Jaguars as injured forwards Andrew Olmstead and Brandon School along with Eric Holzer did not make the trip to Indiana. Coach Don Powell team is in a battle for the # 1 seed in Class AA with Peters, Kittanning and Greensburg CC and a victory over Indiana would go a long way to securing that berth. So the two teams with the sharpest looking uniforms in all of Interscholastic Hockey faced off at the Indiana Ice Center before a throng of Indiana faithful. Early on, it was all Indiana as Thomas Jefferson netminder Danny Hartman, a Pa Hockey Top 25 selection, helped the Jaguars weather the storm in the first period with keys stops on Aaron Smith at 12:44, Zach Diamond at 12:03, Bryan Schlemmer at 1:57 and Mike Nesper’s set up of Smith at 9:39…..all were great scoring opportunities and Hartman kept the Indians off the board. Indiana goalie Mike Mentch got into the act at 9:01 as he stopped Luke Wawrzeniak on the breakaway. Then Indiana got a break as Jayson Vaughn’s shot from the side of the net bounced off a TJ defenseman and behind Hartman to give Indiana a 1-0 lead at 6:49. Thomas Jefferson had their chances to tie the game, but Mentch stopped Bill Barrett on the breakaway with 2:44 remaining and then robbed Denny Bucci and Mike Luznar with two sprawling saves with :58 left in the opening period to preserve a 1-0 Indiana lead. On to the second and TJ finally solved Mentch at 11:02 as Luke Wawrzeniak spotted Anthony Pandolfo on the backdoor and Pandolfo buried it to tie the game at 1-1. The game went back and forth with Indiana having several power play opportunities, which were thwarted by excellent penalty killing by the Jaguars, the best chance was Dane Bertanazzi who had Hartman down in front but could not find the handle on the puck and the game went to the third period tied at one apiece. At some point in hockey games, team have key points where they are made or broken and when the Indians went on the power plat with 11:47 left it was a golden opportunity to take the lead and possibly secure a big win. Indiana capitalized as Zach Diamond took a pass cross crease from Bertanazzi and # 19’s shot just trickled past Hartman, who almost was able to stop the shot but Indiana had a huge goal and a 2-1 lead with 11:04 remaining. Now TJ coach Powell has been looking for his troups to exude a little character in tight situations all season. Down 2-1 on the road with some injuries to his top scorers in a hostile environment, the Jaguars were looking for signs of a championship team and maybe we would see a little preview as the dreaded curfew clock [it’s a bad rule folks!] ticked away on TJ. CJ Parkinson made a terrific play at the point as he kept the puck in the zone and threw it to the net and there was Derek Kelly for the rebound and Kelly slammed it home past Mentch with 9:27 remaining to tie the game for TJ at 2-2. TJ’s bid to take the lead by Bill Barrett was stooped on a great backchecking effort by Indiana’s Jayson Boske with 7:49 left……then the Jags went on the power play and could not score ……tick, tick, tick went the dreaded curfew clock and the final period clock were almost even as 1:30 went off the curfew clock during at timeout and there would be no time for overtime. So coach Powell’s Jaguars decided we are gonna settle this one ourselves under a minute to play, an Indiana defensive breakdown and there was CJ Parkinson who calmly picked up the loose puck and buried it over a sprawling Mentch with just four seconds left to give Thomas Jefferson an unbelievable 3-2 victory at Indiana. As poetic justice would relieve this writer and everyone else....there was just 4.4 on the STUPID INSIGNIFICANT CURFEW CLOCK cause this one was decided by the players....great game guys !!!!

Pa Hockey will be on the air to televise yes you heard that correctly televise upcoming Penguinc Cup Playoff games.......Ron Steedle and Jeff Mauro will be on hand to provide all the pomp, pagentry and probably a laugh or two !

CORAOPOLIS - West Allegheny coach Sean Hart has to be going nuts as he has watched his team try to hunt down Canon McMillan for the Class AA West Division title. The Indians were in prime playoff position after a big win over Canevin a few weeks ago, but have fallen on hard times in the scoring department since dropping a couple of key games to remain behind the Big Macs. First year coach Norm Cook, would like to have Hart’s problems as his Bridgers have fallen off the map in the Class AA playoffs picture. Ambridge has had some impressive performances, but has been unable to put it together against the league stronger teams. In the first period, Ambridge looked to be in a battle with West Allegheny as the game remained game scoreless early on. Then off a turnover, Terry Maitz beat Phil Sweet on the backhand and the Bridgers were on top 1-0 with 8:20 remaining. West Allegheny came right back as Tom Quinn’s wrist shot from the point was tipped by Tony Lutz behind goaltender Morgan to tie the game at 7:41. Then it was the Indians freshman sensation Steve Sarachene, who benefited from some great corner work by Josh Fuoco, who buried a shot upstairs to give WA a 2-1 lead at 5:50. Then the backbreaker for Ambridge came with just 11 seconds remaining, as Fuoco showed why he is one of Pa Hockey’s top 25 as he made a nifty move from behind the net and slipped a backhand past Morgan to give the Indians a 3-1 lead. The floodgates opened in a five goal West Allegheny second period as Tom Quinn, Steve Sarachene, Bobby Maliszewski, Derek Keller and Quinn again tallied to break the game wide open. The Indians were now outshooting Ambridge 30-9 after two periods with an 8-1 lead. Josh Fuoco and Kevin Walsh added goals in the third and West Allegheny captured a much need 10-1 victory.

CORAOPOLIS - When you are a first year coach for a hockey program, it is a long season when you go winless for the first 15 or 16 games. For Carrick’s Chris Chuisiano and Knoch’s John Nicholas, this 2002-2003 campaign has to be even more strenuous since both teams have had trouble competing and have been on the back end of some blowouts that were in the teens and some have reached twenty. So for both coaches Carrick vs Knoch was the ‘Game of the Year’ and an opportunity to put some light on a dismal season. The teams traded goals in the first period as Knoch’s Zach Neubert scored on the breakway at 13:27 and Carrick’s T.J. Gault scored on a wrist shot at 2:35 to keep the score at 1-1 after one. In the second period, after Knoch killed a 5 on 3 disadvantage, Carrick senior Ryan Sullivan made it a Senior Night to remember as he buried a rebound past Knight netminder Joey Zacherl with 6:56 remaining to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead going to the third. Knoch wanted this game so badly that Neubert and fellow Senior Phil Jancosko never left the ice in the third period. An extraordinary feat as the Knight seniors vowed to lead their team to its first victory. While killing a penalty, it was Jancosko, who stole the puck from the Carrick defense and raced in one the breakaway and beat Justin Ritz on the forehand with 12:47 remaining to tie the game at 2-2. Then at 9:58, it was Neubert, who made a nice move and beat Ritz to give Knoch a 3-2 lead with 9:58 remaining. Knight first year goaltender Zacherl shut the door on Carrick and Jancosko add an empty netter with :01 left and Knoch captured its first win which brought a big smile from coach Nicholas.