What’s blue and white and happy all over? The Pittsburgh Puffins in their new jerseys, that’s who!The Puffins put aside their traditional red and white for the weekend and unveiled their much anticipated third jerseys in powder blue with white and dark blue accents. By the smiles on the ladies’ faces, their Tenth Anniversary sweaters with matching socks were a welcome addition to their wardrobe.

Looking like the Pittsburgh Penguins in their Winter Classic jerseys, the Puffins hosted the Cincinnati Rising Stars II on Saturday night. The Puffins looked great, skated well, and shot on goal often, but ended up losing this evenly matched POWHA league game by the score of 3-2.

The dynamic duo of Joyce Zwiener and Terri Eaborn led the scoring for the Puffins. Although it was sometimes difficult to determine from the fierce action in front of the net and the pileups in the crease, it was Joyce who emerged with two goals and Terri with two assists.Cincinnati had 27 shots on goalie Lynn Belliotti and scored three times, including a “fluky” shorthanded goal.To their credit, the Puffins kept pace with 28 shots on goal, including 16 in the second period, and, for their third POWHA game, stayed out of the penalty box. For her offensive efforts, Joyce was awarded an MVP. For her third straight POWHA match-up, Marcia Metz was given the defensive MVP.

In addition to the debut of the blue jerseys, this game will probably be remembered as the one with the loud noises. Two seconds into the start of each period, the buzzer went off in a startling and lengthy fashion. Even after three times, no one quite got used to the new time keeping system at the Mt. Lebanon Rink.And let’s not forget the fire alarm going off in the post-game locker room and the arrival of the fire trucks.

The Puffins and Rising Stars II met again for a scrimmage at RMU on Sunday afternoon. Dressed again in blue, the Puffins scored in every period for three goals on 28 shots; however, the Cincy team scored five on 24 shots on goalie Nicole Redmond.

For the Puffins, forward Pam Cullen scored two goals, had an assist on a Kaysie Strang goal, and earned the offensive MVP. Jess Frederick Shandrick made her debut on the blue line and was awarded the defensive MVP for her solid play. Sabrina Krickhaus and Joyce also had assists. Not a bad day, ladies!

Three penalties were handed out in the third period, one for Cincy and two for the Puffins. First-of-the-year penalties were awarded to Ginger Morris (interference) and Gretchen Maxeiner (tripping). The Rising Stars came through with a power play goal and ended up defeating the Puffins 5-3.

Firsts in Blue Jerseys

• Goal – Joyce


• Assist – Terri


• MVPs – Joyce and Marcia


• Penalty - Ginger