Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

Pittsburgh 5 Wisconsin 4 [Shootout ] 2007 Chicago Showcase – Finals BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS – The 2007 Chicago Showcase between Team Wisconsin and Team Pittsburgh features two states that have ties of one of the most monumental moments in National Hockey League History for the Pittsburgh Penguins, when one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons Badger Bob Johnson led the Penguins to the 1991 Stanley Cup after years of service to the University of Wisconsin Badger hockey and to USA Hockey. After the greatest moment in United States Hockey history winning gold in the 1980 Olympics, growth of hockey in the USA exploded to the far reaches of the lakes of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and hotbeds such as Boston and the Northeast to places across the country. Today, 43 states across the United States compete for State Championships in places such as New Mexico, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, just to name a few, which is a testimony to the growth of the sport and for this event, the Chicago Showcase is really a celebration of Interscholastic hockey played in those aforementioned states. Team Wisconsin Head Coach Mike Calouri has been with the program for eight years now and hails from Madison after coaching for a couple of perennial powers and has dedicated his time to the Team Wisconsin program. Wisconsin advanced to the finals in 2005, only to fall to Minnesota 4-3 in the finals of the Chicago Showcase. He described to me the process of the playoff round as a ‘dogfight’ and it certainly was for Red to advance to these finals prior to defeating North New England 6-1 and Ohio 7-0. Wisconsin opened the tournament with a 4-2 loss to Minnesota and a tie with Northern New England 3-3 and then in one of the best hockey games of this tournament defeated defending Chicago Showcase champions New Jersey 4-2 in a nailbitter that went down to the final minute a one-goal game. Pittsburgh’s plight was similar, but has been a process of 23 years of first class service to Team Pittsburgh from General Manager Dave Klasnick, who passed the baton to Gina Colligan this season and unbeknownst to her would end with a joy ride to the championship under a team headed by Bethel Park Head Coach Jim McVay. The Team Pittsburgh hockey community stretches from the shores of Lake Erie to State College and throughout Western Pennsylvania and really has been boosted by the Mario Lemieux affect, which has resulted in rinks throughout the region and is evident throughout the lineup of Team Pittsburgh. Boys from places like Bethel Park, Freeport, North Allegheny, Meadville, West Allegheny, Franklin Regional, Mt Lebanon, Greensburg CC, Central Catholic, Montour, Serra Catholic, Pine Richland, Seneca Valley are the names we are accustomed to seeing their names with but representing Team Pittsburgh and Western PA Hockey is the unified goal of these young men. At 13:32 of the opening period, Wisconsin won the face-off cleanly and Ted Falk had a chance on a partial break and North Allegheny Max Richards was equal to the task. Pittsburgh’s first good chance came at 9:45 as Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson made his way through the Wisconsin D and fired a wrist shot and Bulldog teammate Luke Killmeyer pounced on the rebound, but goaltender Alan Armour made two nice saves. Pittsburgh’s inability to clear the puck out of the zone almost cost the a goal, but Mt Lebanon’s Mike Roman made a nice defensive play to clear the puck to safety. Pittsburgh took a bad offensive zone penalty with 21 seconds left in the first period. Shots on goal in the first period were Wisconsin 14 Pittsburgh 16 in a scoreless tie. On the power play, Wisconsin worked the puck to the bottom of the circle to Ian Andrews at 16:45 to Ian Andrews and Max Richards came up with a big save. Wisconsin took a penalty at 16:25 to eliminate the power play. At 14:19 of the second period West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpmiller spotted Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta at the right face-off circle, who blasted a snapshot over the glove hand of Armour to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Pittsburgh went on power play at 13:51, with a chance to go up two and did an unreal job setting up plays and shots, but Armour came up big and Wisconsin survived down by one. With 7:40 to go in the 2nd period, Pittsburgh went back on the power play and increased its man advantage at 6:33 to a 5 0n 3 and a key moment is this championship. At 6:09 of the 2nd a penalty shot was awarded to Wisconsin’s Ricky Wozniak after being hauled down on a partial breakaway and he scored on the forehand beating Max Richards to tie the score at one apiece. Pittsburgh came back as scored on the power play on a pretty passing play as West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller scored at 5:13 set up by Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. Wisconsin outmanned Pittsburgh to the zone and was abale to tie the game at 3:19 as Keith Clawson scored finding a loose puck and chipping it past Richards. Pittsburgh went back on the power play at 3:0. Pittsburgh was really sloppy in its own end and Max Richards came up with a big save and apparently the official thought Wisconsin was overzealous and gave Pittsburgh a 5 on 3 and they converted as Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson scored from the bottom of the circle at 1:21 low on the ice on a pass from West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. Shots on goal in the 2nd period were Pittsburgh with 20 and Wisconsin with 16. On to the third period and with 14:05 to go Wisconsin went on the power play with an opportunity to get the equalizer, which was killed by Pittsburgh. With 10:29 to go Wisconsin got a gift call for a power play chance and Pittsburgh killed it off surviving several good chances for Wisconsin. With 7:42 to play after a terrific play by Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson to keep the play in the zone and freeze the Wisconsin defense, Seneca Valley’s Nick Jones fired a wrist shot from the right circle on a super pass by Bethel’s Bryan Brown to give Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead. With 7:00 to play, Wisconsin answered as Alex Gerke scored on a long shot from the point to cut the lead to 4-3. With 1:11 to go Pittsburgh failed to clear and Wisconsin made them pay as they found the loose puck on the doorstep as Alex West poked it home to tie the game 4-4 and the game went to overtime. Shots Wisconsin had 24 and Pittsburgh with only 4 as Red dominated the third period. With 7:14 to go in overtime, Wisconsin was whistled for too many men on the ice and Pittsburgh was unable to really mount any good scoring chances. David Spadacene had a breakaway with :03 left and Alan Amour made a great glove save. Wisconsin was whistled for a penalty on the play. The overtime period ended and the teams play a 5-minute overtime would be played. 3:43 Bannon breakaway stopped by Amour…with 3:05 to play Logan Bannon apparently scored the game winner, but it was ruled the net was moved before the puck went in. With 2:33 to play, Wisconsin’s Ryan Smet got behind the Pittsburgh defense and Max Richards made a great glove save. 32 Morgan Nickerson great chance and puck just went wide. After the two overtime periods and two tremendous teams battling tooth and nail for a better part of 5 periods, tournament officials decided to have this one decided by a shootout. The goaltenders in the shootout were Alan Armour of Hayward, Wisconsin HS and Max Richards, from the Pennsylvania AAA State Champions North Allegheny Tigers. Both young men made countless stops in this contest and were to be counted on for more heroics in the 5-man shootout. Pittsburgh shot first, giving Wisconsin the opportunity to counter. First shooter Morgan Nickerson missed for Pittsburgh, as did Ryan Smet for Wisconsin. Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta and Central Catholic’s Chris Urso scored and couple with misses by Wisconsin gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. Wisconsin facing sudden death scored on two of their last three chances to forge a 2-2 tie as Tedd Falk and Ricky Wozniak came through in the clutch. There seemed to be confusion as to the shootout procedure as both teams used some of the same players from the original shootout. After four consecutive misses by both teams, Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Chris Urso and Wisconsin’s Zachary Kohn from Arrowhead HS traded goals as the score remained tied at 3-3 until the 5th Sudden Death shooter. Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Chris Urso made a nifty move to score his third shootout goal to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead. Zachary Kohn shot again and this time North Allegheny’s Max Richard’s stoned him giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 win in the shootout and a 5-4 win over Wisconsin in as thrilling of a hockey game as you will ever see. Pittsburgh captured their first Chicago Showcase National Title in 23 years with an impressive run of wins over North Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, New York and Wisconsin. As the cell phones rang and the joy erupted you can’t help but feel a special congratulations to General Manager Dave Klasnick, who has conducted this Team Pittsburgh program with class from the beginning in 1984 and was not able to attend the finals, but as always was more thrilled for the 20 young men who accomplished their goal of bringing Pittsburgh a hockey title for the ages ! Shootout Summary [Tied 2-2]: Pittsburgh # 11 No Goal # 17 Goal # 19 Goal # 9 No Goal # 6 No Goal Wisconsin # 23 No Goal # 21 No Goal # 9 Goal # 12 No Goal # 21 Goal Sudden Death Shootout Summary [Pittsburgh 2 Wisconsin 1] Ø 1st o P # 17 No Goal o W # 16 No Goal Ø 2nd o P # 11 No Goal o W # 21 No Goal Ø 3rd o P # 19 Goal o W # 19 Goal Ø 4th o P # 9 No Goal o W # 9 No Goal Ø 5th Ø P # 19 Goal Ø W # 19 No Goal

Pittsburgh 4 Illinois 1 2007 Chicago Showcase BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS - Team Pittsburgh opened the 23rd Annual Chicago Showcase with 4-1 loss to a very strong and talented Michigan team and rebounded to defeat nemesis North Dakota 3-2, holding off a 3rd period rally by the Sioux and killing he clock. The opponent for a crucial play-in game for the Elite 8 of the 2007 Chicago Showcase is the host of the annual tournament Team Illinois. The winner of this hockey game will claim the # 3 seed in tomorrow’s playoff round and the loser MAY be playing for pride. This year’s Illinois squad is comprised of some familiar teams for those who follow Interscholastic Hockey Nationwide in New Trier Green, Fenwick, Glenbrook North and Loyola Gold and the Illinois squad is headed by Bob Melton of New Trier. Pittsburgh Head Coach Jim McVay knows the names as his Bethel Park squad has faced New Trier and Fenwick over the past few years and is very familiar with the caliber of hockey needed to be successful against them. Illinois opened the Showcase with a 6-4 win over North Dakota and then succumbed to Michigan 4-2 after holding an early 2-0 advantage. Donned in their Virginia Tech attire, coaches McVay and Fryer went to work to help Pittsburgh advance. With 14:59 remaining in the opening period, Illinois had the first opportunity on the power play and Pittsburgh killed it. Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson had a partial break at 9:35 only to be turned aside by Bartlett’s Steven Tomczyck. Central Catholic’s Chris Urso almost gave Pittsburgh the lead but was turned aside by Tomczyck. Pittsburgh’s first opportunity came on the power play at 7:45, which Illinois methodically killed off. Pittsburgh got another opportunity at 2:19, which was killed by Illinois, but West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller nearly scored in the closing seconds on a strong move to the net. Pittsburgh held a 6-3 shot advantage after the opening period. At 14:28 of the second frame, Bethel Park’s David Spadacene just missed on a play set up by teammate Kenny Lehmann and Franklin Regional’s Tim McDonough with a couple of nice lead passes. End to end action ensued in the 2nd as Pittsburgh had the better of the play. At 5:02 remaining, Bethel’s David Spadacene thought he scored, but the puck hit the far post and the game remained scoreless. Moments later at 4:48, Pittsburgh went back on the power play. Freeport’s Zach Hepler’s drive from the left point rung off the crossbar at 4:10. Pittsburgh struck first as Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson fired a laser pass to Bethel’s Logan Bannon, who chipped it past the Illinois goaltender for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead. Then with 27 ticks remaining in the period Pittsburgh scored again as West Allegheny’s Ryan Kumpfmiller crashed to the net and took a beautiful feed from Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta for a huge goal and a 2-0 lead. Pittsburgh outshot Illinois 18-5 in the middle period heading to the ice cut. With 15:04 to go in regulation, Fenwick’s Nick Powers had a great chance, but Mt Lebanon’s goaltender Robbie Behling made a super stop to keep the score 2-0. Illinois kept up the pressure and almost scored moments later. With 10:17 to go Pittsburgh was whistled for a penalty putting Illinois on the power play and a chance to get back in the game and it would be Pittsburgh who would ring the bell as Central’s Chris Urso led Meadville’s Morgan Nickerson, who was in on the breakaway and slipped a backhand through the 5-hole of Illinois goaltender Tomczyk with 8:36 to go to make it 3-0. Pittsburgh didn’t waste any time scoring again as Pine Richland’s Phil Trombetta pounced on a Bethel’s Bryan Brown rebound at 7:58 and Pittsburgh was now up 4-0. Fenwick’s K.C. Madock found a loose puck and beat Robbie Behling to make it 4-1 with 4:48 to go and break the shutout. Bethel’s David Spadacene had great chance to score on a breakaway on a great lead pass by Freeport’s Zach Hepler and was stopped on a great save by Tomczyk at 3:09. Pittsburgh would finish it off with a very good defensive effort exemplified by the 36-17 shot advantage including 12-9 in the 3rd period for an impressive 4-1 pasting of Illinois to capture the 3rd seed and advance to the round of 8 for the 4th time in five years.

Wisconsin White 4 Philadelphia 2 2007 Chicago Showcase BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS - Team Philadelphia entered the 2007 Chicago Showcase with aspirations of winning the Kevin Kodalen C Bracket and advancing to the round of 8 this year. Unfortunately for Germantown Academy Head Coach Gump Whiteside and General Manager Kenny Haas, President of the Suburban High School Hockey League, the area of the Delaware Valley with 141 High School Hockey teams is unable to attract the best players from the Philadelphia area from schools such as Malvern Prep, LaSalle, Holy Ghost Prep, Haverford High and the other premiere programs to participate and even try out for this team. The reasons for which I don’t quite understand, the best players tend to listen to travel coaches, who apparently discourage the participation, which is typical and I know its not from lack of effort to market the program, which is done over all of the 7 League Websites that make up the Flyers Cup program. So with all of that said, Philadelphia needed a victory over Wisconsin White, the 2nd Wisconsin team in the Chicago Showcase, which is a team brought together with players from almost 500 miles of area and really amazing to see kids from Milwaukee to Superior to Madison and all over as a unit of 20. The other remarkable thing is that in all of that area, they do not have nearly the number of High School teams as Philadelphia. As a person who represents Pa Hockey, I am willing to help promote the process of getting the best players here to Chicago on a national stage and challenge the best players in Philadelphia to come experience a great event for themselves. When I first got involved in Team Pittsburgh in 1996, our team was in the C Bracket and after 1997 began the climb the A Brackets, where we have been since 1999 and have not left since. Philadelphia’s plight looked good in the opening period as Wisshickon’s Jayson Ritchey scored to give them a 1-0 lead at 13:04. Wisconsin tied the game on a goal by Vince Hagman at 6:50. The second period saw Philly take the lead again as Justin Krute of the Hill School scored on an assist from Eric DeFelice of Central Bucks West at 6:53 to give the Orange and Black a 2-1 lead. Philadelphia missed a golden opportunity to take a two-goal advantage on a breakaway. Wisconsin White rallied scoring a power play goal by Brody Zebro at 3:43 and then took the lead on a shorthanded goal by Casey Lutz with just :09 left in the period to take a 3-2 lead. The third period was penalty filled and Philadelphia was killing off the majority of them. A late power play gave them a chance to tie the score, but was unsuccessful dashing the hopes of Team Philadelphia advancing to the Quarter-Final round as Wisconsin’s Brody Zebro scored an empty netter with 18 seconds remaining and gave Wisconsin a 4-2 victory outshooting Philly 31-25 in the opener of play on Friday at the 2007 Chicago Showcase.

Pittsburgh 3 North Dakota 2 2007 Chicago Showcase BENSENVILLE, ILLINOIS - Team Pittsburgh opened the 23rd Annual Chicago Showcase with 4-1 loss to a very strong and talented Michigan team. Head Coach Jim ‘Mort’ McVay and assistant Dave ‘the Boy Wonder’ Fryer are pretty studious coaches and had an opportunity to scout North Dakota and Illinois on Wednesday afternoon and any time you give good coaches an chance to see their next opponent, the adjustments and game plan can be made. This is exactly what the coaches hoped to accomplish and from knowing these two guys for a few years, I can tell you that they were pretty confident that Pittsburgh could get back on track. History is another story as North Dakota has been a thorn in Pitssburgh’s side the past few years in the A Bracket, most recently knocking off Team Pittsburgh to advance to the finals of the 2006 Chicago Showcase, were they were defeated by New Jersey. Pittsburgh came out flying in the opening minutes as there appeared to be a mismatch in speed as they caught North Dakota flat footed a couple of times. Seneca Valley’s Matt Jarrett chipped a lead pass to Central Catholic’s Chris Urso, who made a great move on ND goaltender Jamall Wold on a deke and beat him on the forhand for a shorthanded goal and a 1-0 lead at 7:01. Pittsburgh continued to pile on the shots in the opening frame and Bethel Park’s Bryan Brown scored on his own rebound at 5:58 to make it 2-0 in favor of Pittsburgh. With the shots 14-7 in favor of Pittsburgh in the first, a huge one came off the stick of Freeport’s Zach Hepler as his long wrist shot from the right point made it’s way through traffic and past Wold on the stick side at knee level to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead with 4:21 to go in the first period. North Dakota was able to muster some offense in the 2nd period as they began to pressure Pittsburgh, but North Allegheny’s Max Richards came up big at 7:53 of the period stopping the best Sioux scoring chance of the hockey game at 7:53. Pittsburgh countered with some offense of its own as well in the period resulting in a power play with a little over two minutes remaining and continued to control the play, but could not score. North Dakota had a golden opportunity with a shorthanded 2 on 1, but Seneca Valley’s Nick Jones made a terrific play to intercept a pass and Pittsburgh headed to the ice cut with a 3-0 lead and 26-15 shot advantage through two periods. One of the most dangerous leads in hockey is 3-0 and Pittsburgh had many opportunities in the 2nd period to extend the lead to 4-0. North Dakota was able to get on the board at 13:53 as Zach Welding got behind the Pittsburgh defense and beat Max Richards to cut the lead to 3-1. Pittsburgh took a penalty and North Dakota capitalized as Zachery Miller was on the back door and roofed a pass from Scott Samuelson for a power play goal and the lead was now only 3-2 for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh took another penalty giving ND a chance to tie the game, but the Sioux took a hooking call behind the play to nullify the man advantage at 9:43. Pittsburgh took another penalty at 8:37, but a very questionable call and break for Pittsburgh came at 7:15, which kindof killed the North Dakota at that point of the game. Pittsburgh and North Dakota battled over the last half of the third period and each team had their chances and the score remained 3-2 in favor of Pittsburgh. With :52 to go in regulation, Pittsburgh was whistled for too many men creating a 6 on 4 power play for North Dakota. Pittsburgh’s defense and Max Richards stiffened and they held the Sioux off the board to earn a 3-2 victory over nemesis North Dakota.

The 2007 Keystone State Summer Games were held on July 27-29 at the York City Ice Center in York, Pennsylvania. 2007 Keystone State Games July 26-29, 2007 ~ York City Ice Center East ~ Blue Mountain/Pocono/Capital South ~ Philadelphia Central ~ Great Lakes/Nittany/Laurel Mtn West ~ Pittsburgh FINAL RESULTS Bantam Division West 5 East 1 West 1 South 0 East 5 West 4 South 4 East 2 West 4 South 0 Gold - West Silver - East Bronze - South Midget Division South 5 Central 1 East 4 West 3 Central 4 West 3 East 3 South 2 West 5 South 3 East 8 Central 3 Gold - East Silver - South Bronze - West Junior Division East 6 West 1 Central 8 South 3 West 5 Central 2 East 8 South 1 West 9 South 0 East 7 Central 3 Gold - East Silver - West Bronze - Central Female Division East 5 West 2 South 8 Central 3 West 6 Central 2 East 9 South 0 East 9 Central 1 West 3 South 2 Gold - East Silver - West Bronze - South