Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

The 14th Annual St. Margaret’s Fall Face-Off began play in 1993 under the direction of the St Margaret’s Foundation, whose mission is to provide community outreach to the expanded North Hills and East Suburbs of Pittsburgh. The event continues to raise awareness and funds for its Automated External Defibrillator [AED] program each year, while providing a venue for the top High School Hockey programs of the area to compete in a premier season kickoff scholastic tournament. Details can be accessed at http://www.stmargaretfoundation.org/default.aspx The Foundation is proud that this year for the first time, that the event has been expanded to schools from East, West and South of the city culminating 16 teams competing for the St Margaret’s Fall Face Off crown from Monday October 9th through October 12th, 2006 at the Blade Runners Complex in Harmarville, Pa. The Fox Chapel Foxes are poised to defend their 2005 St Margaret’s FFO title in a field that includes the 2006 Pennsylvania AAA State Champion Mt Lebanon Blue Devils and 2006 Pennsylvania AA State Champion Pine Richland Rams among 16 of the top High School programs in Western Pennsylvania. Check out the schedule and brackets for the 2006 St Margaret’s Fall Face-Off. Plan to join the PA Hockey Network with Bx Video for On Demand coverage of the Semi-Finals and Championship on October 12th and the Pre-Tournament Show from Harmarville BladeRunners On - Demand at 5:00 PM on Monday October 9th. Please plan to join the Pa Hockey Network as we will have an array of special guests and personalities to kick off the 2006-2007 Season. Brought to you by the St Margaret's Foundation, we will provide education on the history and community service provided by a great event. Thursday October 12th Semi-Finals North Allegheny 5 Mars 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Tigers rally for four goals in the third period to erase a 2-1 Mars lead to advance to the FFO finals. Wes Waldschmidt and Josh Herbert scores a pair of goals each. Bethel Park 3 Seneca Valley 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Bethel Park outshoots Seneca 36-10 as Logan Bannon, Tommy Whetsel and David Spadacene score for the Hawks. Final - Championship Game Bethel Park 5 North Allegheny 4 ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Monday October 9th North Allegheny 7 Plum 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Wes Waldschmidt and Matt Lancaster score a pair and Josh Herbert adds four assists to lead Tigers to opening shutout Thomas Jefferson 5 Montour 4 HIGHLIGHTS: Brock Heinauer's second goal of the game with 9 seconds remaining in regulation breaks a 4-4 tie to lead the Jaguars to victory. Mars 6 Fox Chapel 2 HIGHLIGHTS: The Planets score six unanswered goals to upend the defending champion Foxes. Mike Heltman leads the way with two goals for Mars. Upper St Clair 3 Franklin Regional 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Don Pegnataro, A.J. Moody and Jack Surma score singles to pace the Panthers of USC to victory Bethel Park 7 Hampton 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Kenny Lehman scores four goals and adds a pair of assists to pace the Hawks to an opening win as Tyler Shipley adds three assists for BP. Seneca Valley 6 Indiana 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Andrew Tang scores twice and Tyler Mesisca adds a pair of assists for the Raiders Pine Richland 6 North Hills 0 HIGHLIGHTS: George Saad notches the hat trick and Phil Trombetta adds two assists as Rams shut out North Hills. Mt Lebanon 4 Shaler 0 HIGHLIGHTS: Sean McDermott scores two goals and adds two assists and Steve Millhouse registers a goal and an assist to lead the Blue Devils Tuesday October 10th Seneca Valley 2 Mt Lebanon 1 Highlights: March of 2005 was the last loss by Mt Lebanon to a Western Pennsylvania team, 4-0 to Bethel Park at Harmarville and Seneca Valley was able to hold off a late Blue Devil rally to win 2-1. Michael McChesney and Sam Jarrett scored for the Raiders Hampton 3 Pine Richland 3 OT Highlights: Long time rivals Hampton and Pine Richland squared off in a hard fought battle that ended in a 3-3 deadlock. Dylan Trombetta scored twice for the Rams including the game tying goal with 5 ½ minutes remaining. Bryan Relihan tallied a goal and an assist to lead the Talbots. Bethel Park 11 North Hills 0 Highlights: David Spadacene with 3 goals and two assists and Matt Quigley with 4 goals and two assists led the Hawks to an easy win over North Hills outshooting the Indians 63-5. Franklin Regional 7 Fox Chapel 3 Highlights: The Panthers used seven different goal scorers to defeat the Foxes as Patrick Coyne tallied a goal and 2 assists for FR North Allegheny 5 Montour 1 Highlights: North Allegheny exploded for four goals in the 3rd period to break open a 1-1 deadlock after two. Michael Peterson, Wes Waldschmidt and Matt Lancaster pitched in a goal and two assists each to spark to NA attack. Mars 2 Upper St Clair 1 Highlights: The Planets stifled the USC offense by limiting the Panthers to 10 shots over the opening two frames. Sam Mashuda and Jake Robosh scored for Mars, while Jono Lohman scored the only goal for USC. Greg Lewis stopped 21 of 22 shots for the Planets. Shaler 4 Indiana 0 Highlights: Tyler Schrieber, Justin Cavlovich, Drew Martz and Zac Lynch scored for the Titans as Shaler yielded only 13 shots to Indiana. Plum 3 Thomas Jefferson 3 OT Highlights: The Mustangs and Jaguars battled to a 3-3 deadlock through overtime. Chad Covol scored twice for Plum and Corey Joseph added a goal ansday d an assist for TJ. Wednesday October 11th Mars 5 Franklin Regional 1 Highlights: Ian Finney picked up the hat trick as the Planets advanced to the Semi-Finals. Greg Lewis stopped 30 of 31 shots only yielding three goals in three preliminary round games. North Allegheny 7 Thomas Jefferson 2 Highlights: Wes Waldschmidt scored the hat trick and teammates Brady Waldschmidt, Donny Lewis, Michael Peterson and Josh Herbert picked up single tallies as the Tigers advanced to the Semi-Finals for the 8th time in 9 years. Seneca Valley 5 Shaler 1 Highlights: Seneca Valley advanced to the semi-finals with three quick goals in the opening period and never looked back. Matthew Jarrett scored the games first two goals as the Raiders outshot Shaler 30-14. Bethel Park 7 Pine Richland 4 Highlights: Graham Cohen notched the hat trick and David Spadacene and Matt Quigley pitched in a goal and two assists each to lead the Blackhawks into the Semi-Finals. Hampton 10 North Hills 4 Highlights: Eric Kelly and Chase Evans scored twice and Bryan Relihan picks up a goal and three assists as the Talbots turned back North Hills. Mark Ringeling scores a hat trick for the Indians Mt Lebanon 8 Indiana 1 Highlights: Brandon Bianco and Jon Wilen scored a pair of goals apiece to lead the Blue Devils to an easy victory over the Indians. Upper St Clair 11 Fox Chapel 1 Highlights: Jono Lohman, Rocky Cersosimo, and Nick Gedeon each scored a pair of goals as USC blasted the Foxes. Montour 4 Plum 1 Highlights: Paul Ciotti led the Spartans with a goal and three assists, while Adam Rizza notched a pair of goals

14th Annual McDowell High School Tri-State Invitational Championship McDowell 6 Cary-Grove Illinois 5 Preliminary Round McDowell 3 Cary Grove (Illinois) 2 McDowell 9 Fairview 0 McDowell 4 Ft LeBouef 0

15th Annual St Margaret Foundation Fall Face-Off

       Invitations are now being issued to participate in a 16-team showcase of the top Varsity high school teams from Western Pennsylvania in the Premier Interscholastic Pre-Season tournament. The 15th Annual St Margaret Foundation Fall Face-Off will host the best teams in Western Pennsylvania for the FFO Championship Director’s Cup, that will be dedictaed for this year's event. This year’s field will include defending Fall Face-Off Champions Bethel Park Blackhawks, the 2007 Pennsylvania Class AAA Champions North Allegheny Tigers and the 2007 Pennsylvania Class AA Champions Pine Richland Rams.

        The philosophy of the St Margaret Foundation Fall Face-Off is to challenge top-level Varsity teams, who do not face each other during the regular season to compete at the same level. Each team is guaranteed three divisional games. The top teams from each bracket will advance into the medal round. The tournament will be played on two rinks in prime time and the St Margaret Fall Face-Off Final will be held on October 11th. The Pa Hockey Network plans to Webcast the event including a pre-tournament preview, the 1st Annual Skills Competition, the Medal Round Semi-Finals and Finals.

     Check out the St Margaret Fall Face Off LINK Site at http://eteamz.active.com/pahockey/index.cfm?league=604905&subsite=4200813.

Pittsburgh 2 Missouri 1 2007 Chicago Showcase – Quarter-Finals BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS – Team Pittsburgh returns to the quarter-finals of the Chicago Showcase, where a year ago they did not play their best game against Team Tri-State [now Midwest], but was able to come away with a victory to advance to the Semi-Finals, only to lose to North Dakota. Head Coach Jim McVay has been a little superstitious throughout the tournament sticking to the routine laid out with team functions and this has really helped to mould this unit. Pittsburgh has just gotten better as the games have progressed with wins over North Dakota and Illinois. Missouri was able to win the B Bracket with wins over Colorado (2-0) and Indiana (4-1) and a tie with Team Midwest (4-4) in the final game of the preliminary round. The Mid-States Hockey Association of Missouri has produced some pretty good hockey clubs over the past few years in CBC and DesMet, who have dominated the landscape of hockey in that State and travel to outlying areas to play pretty good competition. Missouri got the first opportunity on the power play at 13:43 , which was nullified at 12:46 by a penalty. Pittsburgh had an abbreviated power play and Bethel Park’s Bryan Brown had a point blank chance with the penalty running out was stopped by goaltender Corey Rickermann. Pittsburgh had several shots but could not dent the Missouri goaltender and Missouri went on the power play with 5:32 to go in the opening period and as the penalty ended Pete Bensing’s shot from the center point through traffic bounced past North Allegheny’s Max Richards with 3:30 to go to give Missouri a 1-0 lead. Pittsburgh’s very next shift was terrific as they continue to test Missouri goaltender Corey Rickermann to no avail. With 55 seconds to go in the period, Pittsburgh went on the power play and could not score. Shots in the first period were 19 – 3 in favor of Pittsburgh, but the scoreboard read 1-0 in favor of Missouri. Pittsburgh went on a 5 on 3 at 16:39, but Rickermann kept them out. Pittsburgh kept working hard and forced another man advantage with 11:23 to go and again after lots of shots could not score. Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta was robbed by a glove save at 8:59. With 5:26 to go Missouri got a gift penalty putting them on the power play and Bethel Park’s Kenny Lehmann was in on a shorthanded breakaway and stopped by the Missouri goaltender with 5:01 to play. Pittsburgh was whistled with 4:10 to go for too many men on the ice creating a 5 on 3 for 44 seconds and a crucial part of this hockey game in my opinion. Pittsburgh showed some inspired penalty killing and Missouri showed an extreme lack of skill and inability to move the puck. With 1:04 to go another chance for Pittsburgh and with 18 ticks to go another Missouri penalty created a 5 on 3, which would carry over to the 3rd period. Pittsburgh continued to dominate play outshooting Missouri 15 – 9 in the 2nd period. On to the third and Pittsburgh starts with a 5 on 3 power play and the game on the line. Pittsburgh continued to pressure but could not score and Missouri survived and clung to a 1-0 advantage. With 11:31 to go another power play chance for Pittsburgh, which increased to a 5 on 3 with 10:58 to play. Pittsburgh piled up the shots and was given a weak penalty at 9:33 and Pittsburgh got the break they need as Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta sprung Bethel Park’s Kenny Lehmann, who buried a wrist shot to tie the game. Moments later at 8:40 Meadville’s Morgan Nickkerson broke down the left side and buried a wrist shot on the ice to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. With 5:56 to go. Missouri went on the power play with a chance to tie the game, but Pittsburgh’s penalty killing was too strong and they held off Missouri for a hard fought 2-1 victory and advanced to the semi-finals against New York tomorrow morning. Pittsburgh outshot Missouri 24-6 in the 3rd period and 58-18 for the game.

Pittsburgh 5 New York 4 2007 Chicago Showcase – Semi-Finals BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS – The interesting part about the Semi-Finals of the Chicago Showcase is the absence of hoopla that is evident the first four days of the event. Gone is the cookout out front of the Edge in Bensenville, many of the 24 teams in the event are headed back home, many of the scouts are no longer present and the excitement in the building of game after game of action has diminished. Left are four teams, including three of four who realistically could not have figured to be a part of the championship chase. Wisconsin coach Mike Calouri has been here before and knows the drill of what it takes to be champions of a National High School Hockey Tournament, but for Ohio (C Bracket Champions and upset winner over # 1 seed Michigan), New York (B Bracket upset winner over Minnesota) and Team Pittsburgh, it’s uncharted waters. Pittsburgh did make the finals in 1999, with a group of a half dozen or so Division 1 studs, only to lose to Minnesota. As described by one of the long-time followers of the Chicago Showcase, Team Pittsburgh is that pest little brother that just won’t go away to the Interscholastic hockey powers like Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Northern New England, and Illinois, all whom are headed home and have no shot at the 2007 Chicago Showcase title. Team New York, which is comprised of players from clubs in the Long Island area knocked off Minnesota in the Quarter-Finals and is looking for their first trip to the finals in recent memory if ever. Team NY defeated Massachusetts 7-3, lost to Connecticut 3-2, iced Washington 5-1 and defeated Minnesota to get to this point. So before an intimate gathering of less than 50 patrons in the AHAI rink in Bensenville the game was under way. With 14:28 to go in the opening period New York got the first opportunity on the power play and was evened up at 13:08 on a call on NY. Another penalty on New York at 10:51, put Pittsburgh on their first unabbreviated power play, which was nullified by a Pittsburgh penalty. At 6:46 of the opening period, Alfred Vitsentzos scored on a tap in rebound as a result of sloppy defensive zone play by Pittsburgh. Moments later at 6:17 New York scored again as Jon Weintraub scored on a long shot from the center point. Pittsburgh came right back at 5:01 as Bethel Park’s David Spadacene scored on his own rebound on the backhand set up by BP’s Kenny Lehmann to make it 2-1. Pittsburgh went back on the power play with 3:24 to go and could not capitalize and disturbingly did not get the play set up in the zone real well. Pittsburgh outshot NY 10-4 in the opening period, but trailed on the scoreboard 2-1. Pittsburgh didn’t take long to tie the contest 2-2 as Logan Bannon scored on a David Spadacene rebound at 16:06. Moments later Bethel Park’s Bryan Brown just missed giving Pittsburgh the lead at 15:41. Mt Lebanon’s Mike Roman gave Pittsburgh its first lead at 13:56 of the period on a long slapshot to the stick side of Keith Kincaid to make the score 3-2. David Spadacene had a great opportunity to extend the lead at 10:21, but Kincaid made a spectacular save. After the teams traded power play chances, New York tied the score on a great individual effort by Stephen Mele, who burst don the left side and beat Mt Lebanon’s Robbie Behling on a backhand with 3:49 remaining in the 2nd period. Pittsburgh came right back as Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta converted a beautiful cross ice pass from West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpmiller to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead with 1:34 to play in the period. Pittsburgh did not do a very good job backchecking or playing defense and New York’s Michael Bochichio made them pay scoring on a turning backhand with under a minute to play in the 2nd period and the score was tied again 4-4. Pittsburgh outshot New York 19-13 in the middle frame. New York power play with 14:10 to go in regulation and Pittsburgh showed great resilience to kill it. With 11:45 to play in regulation, Pittsburgh went back on the power play and had several good chances but Kincaid made several nice saves. New York went on the power play and it wasn’t long as they took a penalty just ten seconds into the man advantage to nullify the power play at 7:17. With 6:01 to play, Pittsburgh would have a golden chance to take the lead on the power play on a 4 on3 and after some nice puck movement West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller moved the puck to the front of the net and Central Catholic’s Chris Urso would not be denied fighting off two defenders to score a power play goal and give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead with 5:36 to go in regulation. With 3:24 to go. Pittsburgh went back on the power play, with a chance to extend the lead, but could not capitalize. Pittsburgh held on in the final minute scoring a 5-4 victory over New York and advance on to play Wisconsin in the championship. Pittsburgh outshot NY 13-4 in the 3rd period and 32-17 for the game. Team Pittsburgh returns to the final for the first time in 8 years seeking its first ever Chicago Showcase National Invitational Championship in 23 years.