MIDDAY REPORT: Keystone clash on ice; 250,000 books await readers; BEA takes top seeds, loses mat coach

HOCKEY fans and book lovers are in for a big weekend, and you've come to the right place to prepare.

First, it'll be Pittsburgh vs. Philly for the first time in eight years in the NHL playoffs. The winner of the series that begins tonight gets a shot at the Stanley Cups.

And both teams have won two Stanley Cups in their great history. Here's their next chance.

Today we have a Keystone clash comparison of the cities on the front page of the Centre Daily Times and here online.

Yinz and yo, pop and soda, Heinz and Tastykake...you get the picture.

We also have a hockey page online with all NHL playoff content and special attention to the Flyers and Pens.

Visit it today and as the series continues, and pick the winner in our poll.

Remember, the first game starts at 7:30 tonight at Mellon Arena. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, closer to home, the "motherlode" of used book sales takes place this weekend to Tuesday at the Snider Ag Arena at Penn State.

You know about this one ... there are 250,000 titles there waiting for you.

Great deals, great values, great friends.

Visit Happy Valley if you can this weekend for the big sale.

Hockey and books top the midday report on a wet Friday. Thanks for joining us.

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GAS is up to $3.69 in these parts, after two increases this week.

What are you paying? You can talk about it in our forum today.

Our voting machine forum is continuing online with Thursday's story, and Centre Daily Times readers read some of the posted comments this morning.

The poll is close with about 1,000 votes. Join in today.

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COMING this weekend, don't miss the great work of our youngest readers as we present Mother's Day sketches.

Look in the Centre Living section both Saturday and Sunday for these great drawings, and we know dozens of Centre County moms are going to be smiling this weekend.

Many sketches will be printed, and all will be posted here online for all to see. Make sure to include them in your Mother's Day reading.

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IN SPORTS today, Bald Eagle Area has the top seed in both baseball and solftball for the district playoffs, it's reported today.

And BEA is losing its wrestling coach, Skip Pighetti. He's trading practices for classrooms and becomes the third county wrestling coach to step aside.

Best wishes to Pighetti.

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HAVE a great Friday everyone and look for sun to return by Saturday.

Thanks for joining a community of 170,000 unique visitors, so far in May, to CentreDaily.com.

Look for the midday report from the newroom each weekday. Send questions, comments or suggestions to bheisse@centredaily.com.