Baldwin hockey rallies to extend winning streak to 3

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 18, 2019 | 7:42 PM

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Three quick goals, and it was all over.

Baldwin scored three times late to defeat visiting Penn-Trafford, 5-3, on Jan. 14 in a PIHL Class AA game at Ice Castle Arena.

It was an important matchup as both teams are battling for a playoff berth.

“It wasn’t the best our team can play, but we showed a tremendous amount of character by pulling out a win when we didn’t have our best effort,” Baldwin coach Justin Glock said. “Even though it was tied 2-2, we weren’t thrilled with our result after two periods. The players stuck with it and came out with a much better effort in the third.”

Thanks to goals by Tyler Bosack, Ryan Esquino and captain Ben Leslie, Penn-Trafford held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 until the Highlanders’ three goals in the final 4 minutes, 12 seconds.

“We fell behind 3-2 early in the third, but there was no panic on the bench,” Glock said. “We squandered power-play opportunities, but we displayed our best power play in our last opportunity late in the third.”

After junior Justin Pollard knotted the score at 3, junior Noah Fischer scored the winner 19 seconds later at the 3:53 mark.

Junior all-star Paul Zmuda sealed it on a breakaway goal with 47 seconds left.

Baldwin improved to 6-6-1 with its third victory in a row, leapfrogging the Warriors (6-7) into fifth place in the Southeast Division.

“It was a huge win for us because Penn-Trafford beat us earlier in the season, and we’ve been competing with them for the last playoff spot in our division,” Glock said.

“It was great to see the team come back from three one-goal deficits and come out on top.

“We have to keep improving and continue to win games, one game at a time. But the players were excited about our big win.”

Junior Vinnie Espiscopo, who provided a wake-up call for his team with 13 seconds left in the first period, and senior Nathan Hobson scored Baldwin’s first two goals.

The Highlanders also defeated Shaler during their winning streak.

Jason Kavulic, a junior, recorded three assists against the Warriors, and senior all-star goaltender Cole Shannon made 30 saves for the Highlanders.

While the Jan. 7 victory against division-leading Latrobe was a confidence-builder, Shannon believes the 3-2 loss to undefeated Pine-Richland on Dec. 10 also proved invaluable.

“It was more of a step forward than backward,” he said. “That game proved to ourselves that we could hang with any team in the league, and I believe that is a reason for our recent success after the holiday break.”

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Baldwin