Mars is sky-high
PITTSBURGH — Mars hockey coach Tim Coleman has a lot of confidence in his team.
That's what happens when you enter the Penguins Cup Class A semifinals with a 21-1-1 record.
The Planets found themselves in a 1-1 tie with Bishop McCort entering the third period Monday night.
But Mike Mazzotta gave Mars the lead with a goal with just under 10 minutes to play and Andrew Santa added an empty-net tally for a 3-1 victory at Mellon Arena.
The Planets (22-1-1) will face the winner of tonight's other semifinal between Quaker Valley and Serra Catholic March 19 in the Penguins Cup title game.
<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE41029311.MOV " width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>It will be Mars' first appearance in the final.Coleman said he knew his team had superior talent in Monday's matchup."I knew we were the better team," he said. "And I felt we'd end up proving it."Mazzotta, a freshman winger, had taken a hard hit against the boards before scoring the eventual game-winning goal."It bloodied my nose a bit, but that's about it," he said.Michael Gacione assisted on the deciding score, which came with 9:52 left."We needed a big goal, and being the one to score it, it was real exciting," said Mazzotta. ""It was a one-goal game until the end," said Crushers coach Kevin Cooper. "It could have went either way. "The Planets took a 1-0 lead on Mike Heltman's goal with 11:46 left in the second period.Mazzotta streaked down the left side and juked a defender before giving Heltman a perfect pass, which the latter wristed over the right shoulder of Bishop McCort goalie Dan Mock.It appeared as though Mars would take the one-goal edge into the final period, but the Crushers took advantage of a double penalty on the Planets.With 1:59 remaining in the second period, Mazzotta was whistled for interference. Before he made it to the penalty box, teammate Jake Robash joined him with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.Exploiting a 5-on-3 advantage, the Crushers (16-8) tied the game just over a minute later when Todd Thomas' slap shot from the point was deflected past Mars goalie Greg Lewis by Anthony Pioli's stick."I told the team right before the third period began to stop taking penalties," Coleman said. "I told them to use their heads and play their game."Thanks to the talent the Planets feature on offense, Coleman felt comfortable limiting his defensemen's range in the third period."I restricted our defense to just playing defense in the third," he said. "We have plenty of firepower up front. Somebody was going to score eventually."Bishop McCort's last gasp came on a faceoff to the left of the Planets' goal with 30.2 seconds left in the game and the Crushers pulling Mock in favor of a sixth skater.Mars gained control of the puck and Santa followed with the final goal of the game.Lewis tallied 23 saves in the win while Mock made 25 stops.
