Central Region

MONROEVILLE - Penn Hills Jerry Bass was looking for intangibles at Tuesday's pre-game practice session at the Golden Mile. Boy, if hindsight was 20/20, Bass should have dressed special guest Vancouver Canuck (NHL 1st round draft choice) R.J. Umberger and maybe no one would have noticed. All kidding aside, Penn Hills could really use a dose of good offense. North Allegheny on the other hand has cruised to the top of the West AAA division with scoring and good team play. Penn Hills and North Allegheny skated through the first period with each getting plenty of opportunities for goals, but the Indians Justin McCullough and Tigers Thierry Clermont kept the game scoreless. Penn Hills had the better of the play in the second, but Clermont kept them off the board. Then Joe Smarto's poked at a rebound which was loose and McCullough apparently had the puck underneath him, but when he tried to return to his feet knocked it into his own net and NA had the 1-0 lead. Onto the third and the Tiger's Bill Waldschmidt scored at 11:55 to give NA a 2-0 cushion. As Penn Hills continued to pressure, Clermont stopped them cold. Then it was Waldschmidt again wristing one by McCullough to give theTigers a 3-0 lead with 3:30 remaining. Penn Hills finally solved Clermont with just 1:12 left and the goalie pulled as Matt Cancilla scored from in front. Jeff Hall added an empty netter for NA to make the final 4-1. Penn Hills outshot the Tigers 28-20 on the night.