Mars had every chance to give in to fate during its Penguins Cup semifinal against Chartiers Valley.
There was the point where the Colts erased an early one-goal deficit and took the lead into the second period intermission.
It could have been when Chartiers Valley goaltender Matthew Colberg made two unbelievable stops during a scramble in front of his net to thwart a Mars power-play chance.
Surely the Planets would fold when they had a potential game-tying goal disallowed with 13:18 remaining in regulation.
But that’s not the way they do things.
“At the end of the day, we told these guys during the playoffs we believe that, no matter what, we’re a resilient team,” Mars coach Cody Black said. “We have a ‘We believe’ mentality that, no matter the deficit, no matter the situation, we can come out on top.”
Apparently that was enough. Oh, and the two third period goals kind of helped.
Gavin Stevenson tied the game at 9:35 of the third period then Xavier Bossola tapped home the eventual game winner past Colberg at 12:55 to give Mars (20-3-0) an incredible 3-2 victory against defending champion Chartiers Valley (20-2-0) in the PIHL Class 1A Penguins Cup semifinals Wednesday at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.
“Scoring that goal meant a lot,” Bossola said. “I just thought I wanted to celebrate with the student section. It was so hype.”
It wasn’t only trailing by a goal that Mars had to overcome to win.
Mars, somewhat surprisingly, opened the scoring just 1:17 into the game when Shay Clark deflected a Ben Bowser pass under the crossbar behind Colberg to put Chartiers Valley into an early 1-0 hole. It was the first goal the Colts allowed in the playoffs and the first the team had allowed since Rowan Parker of Wheeling Catholic scored against them at 10:39 of the third period in a 7-1 victory on Feb. 3, a span of 160 minutes, 18 seconds.
It was also the first time Chartiers Valley had trailed in a game since the team gave up the opening goal 42 seconds into the second period of a 7-1 win against Beaver on Jan. 13, an amazing 309 minutes, 13 seconds.
But that Mars lead lasted less than four minutes.
With the Planets’ Alex Gatto in the box for tripping, Brady Nairn flipped a perfect cross-ice pass to sophomore Noah Callender, who was set up just below the right circle. The sophomore sniper, who has back-to-back 30-goal seasons, whipped home a one-timer for his second of the postseason to tie the game, 1-1, at 5:01.
That was how it stayed until Callender took care of business himself. He was stoned trying to dance into the Mars end but chased down the loose puck along the right-wing boards, came out into the circle and snapped a shot past Mars goaltender Adam Goul at 14:01 of the second period to put the Colts ahead, 2-1, at the second intermission.
Mars had an opportunity to knot it up with a power play late in the second period, but Colberg somehow kept the Planets at bay. The senior netminder was run into in the crease by a Planets forward and was seemingly down and out on the play. Mars got two shots off on Colberg and, somehow, he scrambled to keep both pucks from getting behind him.
Then, with :01 remaining in the penalty and 16.1 left in the period, he stopped a 2-on-1 with a pad save to maintain the Colts one-goal lead.
“He kept us in it for a long time,” Chartiers Valley coach Paul Bonetti said. “When they had that power play and all the scramble down by our net, I kind of figured maybe the hockey gods were smiling on us. It just wasn’t our night.”
Mars appeared to convert a 2-on-1 into the tying goal with 13:18 remaining in regulation, but the referee immediately waved it off, stating a Planets player interfered with Colberg in the crease.
“You’ve got to push through adversity at some point,” Black said. “I didn’t even talk to them to get them back in the right mindset. They pick each other up on the bench and they knew it was going to come back our way.”
Undaunted, Mars still came back with the two last goals 3:20 apart to earn its spot in the Penguins Cup final Monday at 8:45 at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
Other semifinal
Avonworth 6, Moon 2: The Antelopes have only been in Class 1A since the 2022-23 season, but now they will take the ice in a championship game for the first time in school history.
Avonworth (19-3-1) shook off an early Clayton Foster goal at 2:35 of the first period that gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead as five different players hit the back of the net.
Randy Bevan tied the game at 16:28 of the first period, then Brendan Hennigan and Jack Dolan scored second period goals to give Avonworth a 3-1 lead heading to the intermission.
Foster gave Moon (18-3-1) hope when he scored an unassisted goal at 4:45 to get the Tigers back to within a goal, 3-2, but Austin Dzadovsky and Cooper Powell scored 1:01 apart to put the game away. Dzadovsky also added an empty-netter with 1:24 left.
In two regular season losses to Moon, the Antelopes only scored four goals.
First Published: March 13, 2025, 2:59 a.m.
Updated: March 13, 2025, 3:12 a.m.
