And, quite appropriately to boot.

On a night when Hollidaysburg’s seven senior players and one senior student coach were introduced prior to the game, with each giving a salute to their favorite teachers, two Golden Tigers’ senior forwards, Ty Fitzgerald and Cole Hartman, distinguished themselves particularly well.

Fitzgerald scored four goals and Hartman scored three goals and added an assist as Hollidaysburg outscored Laurel Mountain Hockey League archrival Altoona, 9-5.

The Golden Tigers (9-5), who boasted a significant 47-26 shots-on-goal advantage, broke out to a 3-0 lead after one period on goals by Fitzgerald, Hartman, and freshman Clark Monahan, who accounted for two Hollidaysburg goals in the game.

01/27/26 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Altoona's Parker Mirobelli shoots a wrister for goal past Hollidaysburg's Carter Hartman.

After Altoona (3-9) came storming back in the second period to cut its deficit to 5-4, Hollidaysburg secured some much-needed separation on goals late in the period by Hartman and Fitzgerald to build a 7-4 lead.

Third-period goals by Monahan and Fitzgerald, who scored with the Tigers on the power play, broadened Hollidaysburg’s advantage to 9-4 and put the game out of reach for Altoona.

“This means a lot,” Fitzgerald said. “I’ve been playing for Hollidaysburg for four years, and in that time, we haven’t lost to Altoona once. They’re our rivals, and this is a backyard brawl, and we’ve won every time that we’ve played them.”

Fitzgerald and Hartman scored twice apiece in the second period for Hollidaysburg after Altoona had made a game of it on goals by Parker Mirobelli, Owen Piper, Lukas Umholtz, and Carter Panick. Panick scored twice in the game for the Mountain Lions.

“I’m proud of the way that our kids played tonight,” Hollidaysburg coach Joe Duey said. “After Altoona came back, we could have let up, but we continued to play hard. Altoona is a good team, and if you don’t play hard against them, they will score goals.

01/27/26 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Hollidaysburg's Ty Fitzgerald (left) celebrates his goal with Marshall Martin.

“We kind of let our feet off the gas in the second period, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” Duey added. “But we moved some players around defensively, we got back on course, and we got the momentum back.”

Altoona’s loss overshadowed a great individual performance by Mountain Lions’ goalkeeper Seth Conrad, who made 39 saves.

“He was outstanding,” Altoona coach Don Burgmeier said of Conrad. “But he just didn’t get much help. We played well in the second period, but you can’t spot a good team like Hollidaysburg a 3-0 lead like we did in the first period. Then we spent the whole night chasing them.”

Along with Fitzgerald and Hartman, other Hollidaysburg senior players recognized before the game were Jayden Mentzer, who contributed four assists, as well as Tanner Rossman, Marshall Martin, Brody Duey, and Lucy Carles, along with student coach Ryan Breton.

“All season, we’ve had different players – seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen – stepping up for us,” Coach Duey said. “Tonight was another team effort.”

SCORE BY PERIODS

Altoona 0 4 1–5

Hollidaysburg 3 4 2–9

First period

1, H–Fitzgerald (Martin), 5:34. 2, H–Cole Hartman (Mentzer), 7:14. 3, H–Monahan (Cole Hartman, Mentzer), 9:55.

Second period

4, A–Mirobelli (unassisted), 2:10. 5, H–Fitzgerald (Duey), 2:22. 6, A–Piper (Wasovich), 3:37. 7, A–Umholtz (Stivers), 5:16. 8, H–Cole Hartman (Link, Carter Hartman), 11:24. 9, A–Panick (Stivers, Stroup), 12:38. 10, H–Cole Hartman (Mentzer), 15:47. 11, H–Fitzgerald (Creamer), 16:51.

Penalties: Hollidaysburg (slashing), 7:47; Hollidaysburg (tripping), 12:47.

Third period

12, H–Monahan (Link, Cole Hartman), 5:11. 13, H–Fitzgerald (Mentzer), ppg, 9:06. 14, A–Panick (unassisted), 9:54.

Penalties: Hollidaysburg (roughing), 6:14; Altoona (tripping), 8:52; Hollidaysburg (unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:51.

Shots on goal: Altoona 6-9-11-26; Hollidaysburg 16-19-12-47. Saves: N. Breton, HOL, 21; Conrad, A, 38.

Records: Hollidaysburg (9-5); Altoona (3-9).