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

Peters finally cracks gritty Latrobe club for Final berth ! ROSTRAVER - Latrobe entered their Penguin Cup Semi-Final matchup with Mark Cooper's # 1 Peters Township squad, relishing their two big playoff victories over Greensburg CC and Pine Richland. Coach Coopers team on the other hand has waltzed into the semi-final round with convincing poundings of Moon and defending State Champ Beaver and had to believe that Latrobe would be a stiffer challenge. Coach Makoski's Wildcats carried the play in the opening moments to Peters and Nick Loughner buried a Matt Makoski rebound at 13:46 of the 1st period and Latrobe took a surprise 1-0 lead. Peters Twp handled this well and responded as speedy Matt Schwartz scored on the backhand to tie the game at 1-1 at 9:49. The Indians have depth and balance across all of their forward lines and began to wear down Latrobe early, but could not solve Wildcat goaltender Matt Bloom until 1:31 remaining in the first period, when freshman Chris Clackson scored to give Peters the 2-1 lead. The Indians continued their assalt on Matt Bloom and it looked as if Latrobe would remain in this game as long as their goaltender kept turning away shots. Then the Wildcats got a break as two Indians were whistled an sent to the box putting Latrobe on a 5 on 3 advantage at 3:55. Tim Armanious scored an apparent tying goal, but the whistle blew prior to the puck crossing the line and the score remained 2-1 at 3:24. Peters Brandon Rubeo made a terrific clearing play late in the Latrobe power play and the Wildcats never threatened again. The Indians killed the penalties in a key turning point of momentum. Now Peters was looking for the knock out punch as they continued to pressure Latrobe with their awesome offense and at 8:48 of the third, Matt Clackson blasted a slapshot which beat Bloom and put the game on ice at 3-1. Jeremy Simmons added another to make the final outcome 4-1 and Peters Twp will make its second appearance in the Penguins in their history (the other in 1998) against Indiana.

Indiana hitting full stride with big win over Kittanning ! ROSTRAVER - Kittanning coach Jeff Smouse had mixed emotions entering the Wildcats Penguins Cup Semi-Final matchup with arch rival Indiana. On one hand, coach was very excited about the opportunity for his young team and on the other hand he knew of the firepower they would face in Ron Hellen's Indians. Indiana looked to be the nervous team early as they agressive Wildcats carried the play in the opening minutes being cheered on by a large contingent of Kittanning faithful. The Indians survived a couple of power plays and the score remained 0-0 until Aaron Smith's wrist shot at 2:32 beat Adam Toy to give Indiana a 1-0 lead, which it maintain after one. In the second period, the Indians took the game over as freshman phenom Casey Haines threaded a beautiful back door pass to Zach Diamond at 8:51 to make it 2-0. Then, captain Nicko Spielmann had his shot blocked but recaptured the puck and walked down the slot at 6:27 and beat Toy and made it 3-0. Mike Nesper blew by the Wildcat D shorthanded and scored another Indian tally at 1:53 to put the Indians up 4-0 and one period away from their first trip to the Penguin Cup Finals since 1996. In the third period, Haines and Diamond added goals and Mike Lady earned the shutout stopping all 24 Kittanning shots for a 6-0 victory. The Indians got a terrific effort as they have all season from the defensive corps and excellent backchecking from their second and third line forwards, who will play a key role in the Indians chances for their first Penguins Cup ever against Peters Twp.

Peters finally cracks gritty Latrobe club for Final berth ! ROSTRAVER - Latrobe entered their Penguin Cup Semi-Final matchup with Mark Cooper's # 1 Peters Township squad, relishing their two big playoff victories over Greensburg CC and Pine Richland. Coach Coopers team on the other hand has waltzed into the semi-final round with convincing poundings of Moon and defending State Champ Beaver and had to believe that Latrobe would be a stiffer challenge. Coach Makoski's Wildcats carried the play in the opening moments to Peters and Nick Loughner buried a Matt Makoski rebound at 13:46 of the 1st period and Latrobe took a surprise 1-0 lead. Peters Twp handled this well and responded as speedy Matt Schwartz scored on the backhand to tie the game at 1-1 at 9:49. The Indians have depth and balance across all of their forward lines and began to wear down Latrobe early, but could not solve Wildcat goaltender Matt Bloom until 1:31 remaining in the first period, when freshman Chris Clackson scored to give Peters the 2-1 lead. The Indians continued their assalt on Matt Bloom and it looked as if Latrobe would remain in this game as long as their goaltender kept turning away shots. Then the Wildcats got a break as two Indians were whistled an sent to the box putting Latrobe on a 5 on 3 advantage at 3:55. Tim Armanious scored an apparent tying goal, but the whistle blew prior to the puck crossing the line and the score remained 2-1 at 3:24. Peters Brandon Rubeo made a terrific clearing play late in the Latrobe power play and the Wildcats never threatened again. The Indians killed the penalties in a key turning point of momentum. Now Peters was looking for the knock out punch as they continued to pressure Latrobe with their awesome offense and at 8:48 of the third, Matt Clackson blasted a slapshot which beat Bloom and put the game on ice at 3-1. Jeremy Simmons added another to make the final outcome 4-1 and Peters Twp will make its second appearance in the Penguins in their history (the other in 1998) against Indiana.

Indiana hitting full stride with big win over Kittanning ! ROSTRAVER - Kittanning coach Jeff Smouse had mixed emotions entering the Wildcats Penguins Cup Semi-Final matchup with arch rival Indiana. On one hand, coach was very excited about the opportunity for his young team and on the other hand he knew of the firepower they would face in Ron Hellen's Indians. Indiana looked to be the nervous team early as they agressive Wildcats carried the play in the opening minutes being cheered on by a large contingent of Kittanning faithful. The Indians survived a couple of power plays and the score remained 0-0 until Aaron Smith's wrist shot at 2:32 beat Adam Toy to give Indiana a 1-0 lead, which it maintain after one. In the second period, the Indians took the game over as freshman phenom Casey Haines threaded a beautiful back door pass to Zach Diamond at 8:51 to make it 2-0. Then, captain Nicko Spielmann had his shot blocked but recaptured the puck and walked down the slot at 6:27 and beat Toy and made it 3-0. Mike Nesper blew by the Wildcat D shorthanded and scored another Indian tally at 1:53 to put the Indians up 4-0 and one period away from their first trip to the Penguin Cup Finals since 1996. In the third period, Haines and Diamond added goals and Mike Lady earned the shutout stopping all 24 Kittanning shots for a 6-0 victory. The Indians got a terrific effort as they have all season from the defensive corps and excellent backchecking from their second and third line forwards, who will play a key role in the Indians chances for their first Penguins Cup ever against Peters Twp.

Crimson Crushers reach Penguin Cup for 10th time in 11 years ROSTRAVER - The Elizabeth Forward Warriors in their first year of varsity hockey since 1997 had to be a little in awe of the cinderella nature of the path, which carried them to the Penguin Cup semi-final matchup with perennial Class A power Bishop McCort. The Crushers on the other hand were looking for their 10th trip in 11 years to the Penguin Cup finals and possibly a rematch with Serra for the 3rd straight season. The game was a rematch in which BM defeated EF 3-1 on the opening night of the season. McCort came out with pressure early on the Warriors and established that they would win the battles for loose pucks. Matt Belsky's wrist shot found the net at 11:29 for a 1-0 McCort lead. Matt Domonkos added to the lead at 7:15 with a quick shot on the stick side to make it 2-0. After EF got through the early game jitters, they settled down late in the opening period and started to get some chances. Billy Repas picked up a Jason Wallace rebound and the Warriors were on the board with 2:46 left. The Crushers showed why they earned the # 1 seed as Joe Delic got his own rebound and scored a huge goal at :50 to regain the two goal advantage at 3-1. To start the second period, Reichl made a splendid sliding stop at 14:22 on Danny Thomas and EF came right back and scored as Mike Mitchko beat Anthony Feyock on a great move and all the sudden it was 3-2. Then the big line for the Crushers took things into their own hands as Delic, Matt Domonkos and Thomas scored in a five minute span and McCort surged to a 6-2 lead. McCort's Thomas and Mitchko traded goals in the third period as Bishop McCort advanced to the Penguin Cup for the 4th straight season with a 7-3 victory. A scary moment in the third as freshman sensation EF forward Jeremy Delmaster was involved in a collision and was taken off on a stretcher and we would like to wish him a speedy recovery.