Upper St. Clair Panthers - 1980 - 1987 - 2011 AAA

JOHNSTOWN – For people who have been to Johnstown …there is always something about stepping inside the War Memorial that brings a chill up your spine and when it’s a Bishop McCort – Westmont Hilltop hockey game and they only play once a year….well that’s worth the trip over the mountain to J-Town. An estimated crowd of around 1400 turned out on a Friday night, the final night of the regular season for all teams to prepare themselves for the upcoming playoffs. This game had added significance for both teams as the # 3 seed and avoiding Serra Catholic until the Penguins Cup was at stake. For Bishop McCort, they have been here before and head coach John Bradley’s club is looking to get back to their 10th Penguin Cup in 11 years. The Crimson Crushers have had a decent season, which is a little less than the expectations of the five-time State Champion, but three empty-handed trips to the Penguin Cup against Serra with no prize may be weighing on McCort. A recent loss to Serra for the second time this season may have been another reminder. The Mighty Hilltoppers have new life under Art McQuillan and have been the hottest team in Western Pa, the only blemish a 6-4 lost to Mars. King Arthur says their fightin to get on the bus at another shot at that trip, which many a Hilltopper before them has not completed…..to West Chester to Pennsylvania Cup Class A. The task at hand thing evening was the villan arch rival Crimson Crushers, who continue to make Westy’s life miserable in recent memory. Last years meeting saw Westmont hold a 3-1 lead in the Scholastic Showcase and watch it evaporate in the games final four minutes and then the season finale of 2002, where Westmont held a 4-0 lead after two periods, only to have a furious McCort rally extinguish the Hilltoppers 5-4. Sludgin…. Trudgin….the Mighty Hilltoppers with Bob the Bus Driver, Brace, the ‘first lady’ Queen Arthur and even little Cullen McQuillan, with battle scars from a recent scrap, likely with a Crimson Crusher, all in attendance with a cast of thousands to see if maybe this group of Hilltoppers could exorcise the Crushers. In and evenly played first period, Westmont and McCort battled to a 8-7 shot total, but the game took on a familiar tone as Anthony DeMarco scored at 7:22 to give Westmont a 1-0 lead. Bishop McCort fought hard in the second period to tie the game and outshot the Hilltoppers 12-5, but Pat Krumenacher stood tall for Westy stopping all twelve including two sliding saves on McCort’s scoring machine Joe Delic. At 5:42, DeMarco found a loose puck on a rebound and deposited it past Ron Stenger and Westmont took a 2-0 lead to the locker room. Could the Crimson Crushers come back…..well Bishop McCort dominated the play as Delic hit the post at 9:09. Justin McCloskey had a chance to put Westy up 3-0, but was stopped by Stenger at 8:28….then Scott Kenner missed for the Hilltoppers on the breakaway with 7:09 left and the score still read 2-0 Westmont. Then a break for McCort as Westmont was whistled at 6:07…a turning point ? The Crushers now where throwing everything and the kitchen sink, but Krumenacher wouldn’t let them on the board and the mighty Hilltoppers held on for a 2-0 victory, the # 3 seed and a big confidence booster going into the playoffs.

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BETHEL PARK – Shaler and Penn Trafford met on December 9, 2002 in a regular season contest in Harmarville, with the Titans skating to an easy 7-1 victory over the Warriors. Coach Rich Michalowski’s club finished with a 9-14-1 record and didn’t exactly light the world on fire the last month of the season, so he had to be a little concerned about facing a team his team had handled so easily. Penn Trafford on the other hand made the playoffs for the first time in their history last season at Class AA and did it again at Class AAA. Coach Gary Artz has a very young club with six freshman, but can relay the voice of experience to his freshman and sophomores from his playing days at Churchill, where he played in three consecutive Class AAA State Championship finals as a freshman, sophomore and junior, including the first Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships in 1975. So the Warriors were looking for a little advantage to reverse their fortunes against Shaler. The Warriors got into the post-season on a technicality involving a playoff rule invoked in 1999, which states that the 16th and 17th teams in the final standings will have a playoff if they are within 1 % and since Shaler and Penn Trafford were both 9-14-1, its brought us together for the geometric ‘neutral site’ game at Bethel Park of all places and the prize is a return trip to face the Blackhawks less than 24 hours later. Shaler broke out on top in the first period as Eric Taormina banged home a rebound of a Chris Szczpinski shot at 11:43 for a 1-0 lead. Shaler must have thought this was gonna be a repeat of December, but the young Warriors started to take the play to the Titans with an 11-5 shot advantage. PT’s Bobby Lane walked downthe slot and beat Eddie Stotts on the backhand to tie the game with 1:27 left. The Warriors came right back as Devon McCusker scored on a rebound of a Kyle Sidle shot with just 57 seconds remaining during a delayed penalty call for a 2-1 lead. Penn Trafford extended its lead in the second period as Bobby Lane scored at 10:57 for a 3-1 advantage. Lane scored again at 8:17 of the third and the Warriors now had a comfortable 4-1 lead. Freshman goaltender Joel Sterniak shut the door the rest of the way stopping 18 of 19 Shaler shots on the evening as Penn Trafford captured its first ever playoff victory 4-1 earning a return trip to Bethel Park Monday night.

HARMARVILLE – A standing room only crowd at Harmarville turned out Thursday night as one of Western Pa’s best rivalries commenced for the second time this season as a rematch of a 4-2 Fox Chapel victory in November. A lot has changed since November as both teams have matured into playoff contenders, so this would be a big test for both teams. A moment of silence for Mr. Rogers, a Pittsburgh icon, who did his best work next door to the Central campus at WQED for many years, was held with class as the well mannered Fox Chapel and Central Catholic student sections respectfully waited for the national anthem on the state of the art BladeRunners sound system. Head coaches Kevin Zielmanski [CC] and Keith Kearney [FC] were looking forward to this meeting as both teams are preparing for the upcoming playoffs. A playoff atmosphere led to a quiet first period as both teams played very defensive. With 2:31 remaining, Conner Hickton chipped a puck behind the Foxes, like a downhill chip on Oakmont CC’s fast greens, which speedy linemate Joe Coulter was able to corral and backhand past Todd Hendry to the far side and give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Central held an 8-6 shot advantage in a evenly played first period. In the second period the game opened up as both teams failed to capitalize on power play opportunities. At 9:31, Chris Niznik stopped a Fox Chapel scoring chance with a great backcheck and caught the Foxes in a line change and in one motion spotted Eddie Martin in alone and Martin buried a shot past Hendry to give Central a 2-0 lead. Hendry kept the game close as he stopped Matt Urso at 5:57 from in close. Fox Chapel got on the board as Matt King won the faceoff to Jake Werner who’s hot to the net created a rebound, which was buried by Jason Lorenz to cut the CC lead to 2-1 at 4:21. The Foxes began to pressure, which resulted in a 5 on 3 power play late in the second and early in the third. Impatience by the FC PP unit and excellent penalty killing by CC, led by Chris Niznik and Eddie Martin killed off a huge opportunity for Fox Chapel. This set the tone for the third period as the Foxes had several opportunities, but did not get great scoring chances and the chances they had were easy pickins for Bryan Adamczak, who returned to the lineup after a layoff of almost a month. Central Catholic Held on for a 2-1 victory setting up a rematch in the first round against Upper St Clair, who beat the Vikings last Monday. Fox Chapel will move on to travel to either Mt Lebanon or McDowell next week to open the playoffs.

HARMARVILLE – A standing room only crowd at Harmarville turned out Thursday night as one of Western Pa’s best rivalries commenced for the second time this season as a rematch of a 4-2 Fox Chapel victory in November. A lot has changed since November as both teams have matured into playoff contenders, so this would be a big test for both teams. A moment of silence for Mr. Rogers, a Pittsburgh icon, who did his best work next door to the Central campus at WQED for many years, was held with class as the well mannered Fox Chapel and Central Catholic student sections respectfully waited for the national anthem on the state of the art BladeRunners sound system. Head coaches Kevin Zielmanski [CC] and Keith Kearney [FC] were looking forward to this meeting as both teams are preparing for the upcoming playoffs. A playoff atmosphere led to a quiet first period as both teams played very defensive. With 2:31 remaining, Conner Hickton chipped a puck behind the Foxes, like a downhill chip on Oakmont CC’s fast greens, which speedy linemate Joe Coulter was able to corral and backhand past Todd Hendry to the far side and give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Central held an 8-6 shot advantage in a evenly played first period. In the second period the game opened up as both teams failed to capitalize on power play opportunities. At 9:31, Chris Niznik stopped a Fox Chapel scoring chance with a great backcheck and caught the Foxes in a line change and in one motion spotted Eddie Martin in alone and Martin buried a shot past Hendry to give Central a 2-0 lead. Hendry kept the game close as he stopped Matt Urso at 5:57 from in close. Fox Chapel got on the board as Matt King won the faceoff to Jake Werner who’s hot to the net created a rebound, which was buried by Jason Lorenz to cut the CC lead to 2-1 at 4:21. The Foxes began to pressure, which resulted in a 5 on 3 power play late in the second and early in the third. Impatience by the FC PP unit and excellent penalty killing by CC, led by Chris Niznik and Eddie Martin killed off a huge opportunity for Fox Chapel. This set the tone for the third period as the Foxes had several opportunities, but did not get great scoring chances and the chances they had were easy pickins for Bryan Adamczak, who returned to the lineup after a layoff of almost a month. Central Catholic Held on for a 2-1 victory setting up a rematch in the first round against Upper St Clair, who beat the Vikings last Monday. Fox Chapel will move on to travel to either Mt Lebanon or McDowell next week to open the playoffs.