Welcome to the Pittsburgh Puffins site!

The Pittsburgh Puffins are a recreational women's ice hockey team made up of women ages 20 to 64 with various ability levels. We play to learn and have fun! The Puffins began in 1998 and are a founding member of the Pennsylvania-Ohio Women's Hockey Association (POWHA). We compete in its lower division as well as play games against area teams and travel to tournaments around the US and Canada.

For more information about the Puffins, please check out our About Us section.



Puffin merchandise can be purchased at the Team Store or our special 10th anniversary store.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PITTSBURGH PUFFINS MEDIA GUIDE!

2011-2012 POWHA League Record 5-1-2
Overall Record 8-7-3


FINAL 2011 SEASON RECORD
2010-2011 POWHA League Record 7-5-1
Overall Record 12-7-2

Puffins take on the IUP/Ice Minks U19 team in fun day of hockey!

Saturday, March 24th, the Puffins met for the first time with the a team made up of U19'ers from the IUP club team members and Indiana Ice Minks. The Crimson Hawks made the trip out to Mt. Lebanon to play the Puffins two times on Saturday, and while they were both wins for the Puffins, they were certainly two very different games.

The first game at 11:00 AM was a tight defensive battle with 33 combined shots on net for both teams. That game resulted with the Puffins holding on for a 2-1 win. Goals were scored by Aimee Zosky, who was in perfect posistion to catch a rebounded puck and get it in the net, and by practice Puffin Erica Bankowski who had a nice wrist shot to the upper part of the far corner of the net.

The second game at 4:00 PM was more wide open with the Crimson Hawks scoring first, then eventually going ahead to a 5-2 lead in the second period. However, the Puffins pulled themselves out of the hole and rallied the rest of the second period to take a 6-5 lead by the end of the 2nd, and putting one more in the net in the 3rd for a 7-5 victory. Center Amanda Thornton led the Puffins with 4 goals, and the other 3 goals were scored by three seperate Puffins, Erica Bankowski, Maria Totin and Janine Maxeiner. Goaltender Charlene Bidula evened came away with the 2 wins for the day with solid performances in both games. Overall, it was a great, fun day of hockey with very little penalties, and great play by both teams.

Puffins battles the Bandits in exciting home weekend of hockey.
Puffins take first place in POHWA regular season!

The Puffins had 17 of the 18 POWHA rostered skaters suited up for a two game battle vs. the Columbus Bandits the weekend of March 10th and 11th. Saturday night saw the first matchup at 8:10 PM at Mt. Lebanon Municipal. It was a defensive battle from the start with no goals being scored in the first period. The second period saw a series of penalties resulting in a 4 on 4 matchup for an extended period of time. The Bandits were able to draw first blood on the 4 on 4. However, the Puffins bounced right back and got the goal back within a minute from a bouncing shot from the point from Defenseman Melanie West, who scored her first POWHA goal. The Puffins built on their momentum and scored again from Center Amanda Thornton within 30 seconds from West's goal to take a 2-1 lead. The game continued without any goals into the third period, when the Bandits lead scorer was able to find an open lane to breakaway and score to tie the game up 2-2. The two teams continued with their tight defense and the game ended in the 2-2 tie.

The following morning saw the Puffins and Columbus face each other again at 10:10 AM, both determined to break the two game tie streak that had occurred in the last two meetings. The Puffins again had a large bench of 17 skaters, and the travelling Bandits had a much smaller bench of 9 skaters. The game started out to look like it might be a shootout, as the Bandits leading scorer scored a goal in the first 11 seconds of the game, but then the Puffins own leading scorer, Amanda Thornton, answered immediately with a goal 9 second later making the game a 1-1 tie just 20 seconds into the game. After the initial flutter of goals, however, both teams settled in. The Puffins were able to put another goal up on the board from Thornton before the end of the first period making the game a 2-1 Puffins lead going into the second period. In the second period, the Puffins large roster seemed to start wearing the Bandits down, as the Puffins were able to put up another goal from Thornton - making it a hat trick day for Amanda, and the Bandits came away from the period with no goals and committing two penalties. In the third, the Puffins were relentless with pressure and the Bandits were getting worn out, committing 5 penalties before the buzzer. Captain Marcia Metz put the cherry on top of the steller game by the Puffins with a powerplay goal with 3:39 left in regulation. The Puffins came away with their first victory over the Columbus squad since 2009 with the 4-1 win.

The win put Columbus and Pittsburgh tied for the first place in the POWHA with both teams having 5-1-2 POWHA records, however the tiebreaker for the league is goals against. The Puffins only had 16 goals against in POWHA games vs. the Bandits 17 against, making the Puffins in first place for POWHA lower division regular season!

Puffins travel to Columbus for 3-3 tie.

The Pittsburgh Puffins travelled out to Columbus, OH for a away rematch vs. the Columbus Bandits in the second of four POWHA league matchups for these two teams. The game was hard fought, with the Puffins putting up the first goal with center Amanda Thornton's goal in the first period. The Bandits would come out on fire in the second period, scoring two goals within the first two minutes of the second period to take a 2-1 lead. The Puffins immediately answered, however and tied the game up just one minute after the Bandits second goal. Winger Kelley Vitale netted her first POWHA goal of the season. In the third period, the Puffins took a 3-2 lead with a goal from a goal from Captain Marcia Metz with a sweet snipe from the point. A late penalty led to a powerplay with less than 2 minutes remaining and the Bandits tied it back up with 49 seconds remaining. The game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Puffins win big in Cincinnati with roadtrip 2 game sweep.

The Pittsburgh Puffins travelled 5 hours out to Cincinnati, Ohio to face the Cincinnati Rising Stars II in a pair of POWHA matchups on February 4th and 5th. The first game, on Saturday evening, stated out close with the Rising Stars making the first goal against the Puffins. The Puffins responded with a goal from Amanda Thornton to bring the game to a 1-1 tie at the end of the first period. However, in the second period, the Puffins managed to put the puck in the net 3 times with goals from Thornton, Mikki Danielson, and Roselle Trello - who was playing in her first ever Puffins POHWA game. The Rising Stars got additional goals in the second and third, and Thornton scored again for the Puffins to cap off a hat trick for her in the 3rd. Overall, the game was a well played game with all Puffins players contributing and the Puffins came away with a 5-3 victory.

On Sunday morning, the Puffins again faced the Rising Stars II and again dominated the game from start to finish. The Puffins saw goals from Amanda Thornton and long-time Puffin center, Gretchen Maxeiner. Goaltender Tracy Burgoon also logged her second shutout of the POHWA season with the 2-0 win over Cincinnati.

Puffins suffer 2 tough losses in roadtrip to Columbus.

The Pittsburgh Puffins suffered 2 tough losses January 14th and 15th in Columbus, OH. The first game was on Saturday vs. POWHA foe, the Columbus Bandits. The teams were faced with extremely substandard ice conditions at the rink, as the facility was having issues with their chillers, causing the surface to remain wet almost the entire game and causing for slow and unpredictable game. The Puffins had a tough first period of that game and fought valiently in the 2nd and 3rd periods, but could not muster a rally enough to overcome a 6-3 loss.

The next morning, the Puffins travelled to a different rink to face POWHA upper level team, the Columbus Capitals. The Puffins played well against the Capitals and managed more shots on goal vs. that team than the night before, however,the Puffins were outgunned and lost the game 9-3.

Puffins sweep Cincinnati in 2 weekend POWHA matchups.

The Pittsburgh Puffins started out the POWHA league season the weekend of December 3rd and 4th with two games versus the travelling Cincinnati Rising Stars II.

The first game was Saturday night at 8:10 PM at Mt. Lebanon municipal. A well fought game, with the Rising Stars taking a bold stand with only 8 skaters vs. the full 18 Puffin skaters. The game was scoreless after the end of 2 periods, with an earlier Puffin goal from Kelley Vitale waived off because the goalie had knocked the goal off of its mooring a split second before the goal was scored. In the 3rd period, the Rising Stars came out with 11:52 remaining to strike first blood, but the Puffins qucikly responded 23 seconds later when left wing Janine Maxeiner was in perfect position to bury a rebound from the point shot of defenseman Ginger Morris. Maxeiners goal tied the game at 1-1 and momentum quickly turned in the Puffins favor. The two teams continued to battle, but it was Puffins Captain, Marcia Metz that put the game winner in with 5:18 remaining to give the Puffins their first Powha win this season with the 2-1 victory.

The next game was bright and early at 9:15 AM at Rostraver Ice Garden. Even though it was early (and very cold), the Puffins were ready to go and scored two goals in the first period with goals from Gretchen Maxeiner and Maria Totin. Both first period goals were achieved by the ladies positioning themselves to be in the right spot for rebounds and making the most of opportunities. In the second period, Gretchen Maxeiner again scored through tenacious play close to the net. Puffins veteran, Jean Deep scored the fourth goal from the off-side post when center Amanda Thornton drew the defense into her setting up a perfect pass to Deep for her first ever Powha league goal. The Puffins continued playing strong in the third period when they put in their fifth and final goal of the game that came from a flying backhanded centering pass across the front of the net to right winger, Kaysie Strang who positioned herself on the far post, handled and buried the puck. The Puffins defense, again shined with only 11 shots being allowed on net, and goalie Tracy Burgoon had her first shutout of the season, finishing out the weekend with a 95.2% save percentage. After this 5-0 win, the Puffins have a long hiatus with the next games to be January 21-22nd in Columbus, OH.

Puffins return to Cleveland and split games

The Pittsburgh Puffins traveled to Cleveland Heights, OH in early December to play two non-Powha scrimmage games. Once again, the team the Puffins were facing were made up of a mix of Cleveland Falcons and Cleveland Ice Hawks players. Saturday nights game was a very close game with the Puffins winding up on the losing end of a 2-1 battle. Defenseman Deb Bayha scored the Puffins lone goal in the game and Puffins goaltender, Tracy Burgoon stopped 23 of the 25 shots against her. Sunday morning proved to be a much brighter outcome for the Puffins, with a surge of 2nd period scoring helping to solidify and extend a lead that would culminate in a 6-2 win for the Puffins, their first for the season. Highlights from the game were center Amanda Thorntons hat-trick, Captain and defenseman Marcia Metz's two goals and new full-time Puffin Linda Nicoloff's first ever Puffin goal! Tracy once again had a steller game in net stopping 27 of 29 shots and finishing with an impressive 92.6% save percentage for the weekend! The Puffins are on an upswing and are looking forward to the upcoming Powha matchup versus Cincinatti this coming weekend at home!

Puffins go 0-2-1 in Strongsville

The Pittsburgh Puffins traveled to Strongsville, OH November 11-12th to play in the annual "Fall Classic" womens hockey tournament. The Puffins struggled early with a loss to Niagara on Friday night, came back strong Saturday afternoon and narrowly missed a win versus Strongsville with a 3-3 tie, and dropped a tight game vs. the Steel City Sirens on Saturday night. The Puffins took not only some of the core "Powha game" Puffins, but also had many "practice Puffins" getting their shot at participating in these fun games. Overall, even though the win-loss record wasn't a success, the team got some valuable experience and team building throughout the weekend.

Puffins drop 2 close games in Cleveland

The Pittsburgh Puffins traveled to Cleveland Heights, OH in early October to play two non-Powha scrimmage games. The team the Puffins were facing were made up of a mix of Cleveland Falcons and Cleveland Ice Hawks players. Even though the rosters for the opposing team was different from Saturday nights game to Sunday mornings game, the result was the same score a 4-5 loss for the Puffins. Each game was well fought and came down to the final seconds.

Puffins looking forward to 2011-2012 season

After a long summer off, the Pittsburgh Puffins are looking forward to getting back to the ice as a team. The Puffins enjoyed a fun summer, and even played in a "Pink the Rink" tournament in May in Wooster, OH and took first place! The Puffins welcome several new members up to the "full time" roster and have added a few new faces to the "practice" roster. The first Puffins Practice is September 9th and the Puffins first scrimmage is Saturday October 1st in Cleveland Heights, OH.

This year Puffin practices will be held on Friday nights at 10:40 pm at the Mt. Lebanon Ice Rink starting on September 9th.

Look for our full practice and game schedule available for viewing from the menu on the left side of this page.

As always, go Puffins!