3 would be quite charming

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

March 21, 2009 Last Updated: April 15, 2009 05:10 PM High School

PITTSBURGH — The Mars hockey team is looking to complete another hat trick in the Penguins Cup playoffs.

The second one might not come as easily.

The Planets (22-1-0) soundly defeated Quaker Valley, 4-0, for the third time this season in the Penguins Cup Class Asemifinals Wednesday at Mellon Arena.

On Tuesday night, they will seek a third win over Bishop McCort in the 2008-09 campaign. If it comes, the program's first Cup championship will come with it.

"It's not going to be the same,"Mars coach Steve Meyers said. "Not at all. I know the same strategy isn't going to work."

Against Quaker Valley, the Planets shut down high-scoring winger Colin South by shadowing him with at least two players.

Bishop McCort has a similar scoring sensation in senior Todd Thomas, who was third in PIHLClass A with 35 goals and 61 points.

Thomas added three goals and an assist in the Crushers' 4-0 win over Knoch in the first round of the playoffs, but scored only one goal in his team's 9-3 semifinal win over No. 2 seed Serra Catholic.

"They'll be trying to shut down Todd. That's part of the game," Bishop McCort coach Kevin Cooper said. "But we've got a number of guys who can put the puck in the net and so do they."

Meyers agreed.

"You can't clamp down on any one player with them,"he said.

Zach Barto had three goals in the Crushers' win over Serra. Kurtis Straw was the 10th-leading scorer in PIHLClass A with 19 goals and 44 points.

Bishop McCort (17-4-2) has 10 players who scored more than 10 points in the regular season. Mars has 12.

The Planets' Jake Robash was second in Class A with 37 goals and 68 points. He's added three goals in two playoff games.

"Like Todd, one of the reasons Jake's had a big year is that no one can key on him,"Cooper said. "Mars has a deep lineup. Our two teams are similar in a lot of ways."

Winning is one of them. Mars brings a 20-game winning streak into Tuesday's game. Bishop McCort's only two losses in its last 15 games are to the Planets:6-0 Dec. 12 and 3-2 in overtime Feb. 19.

"I feel like we're hitting our stride now,"Cooper said. "We're over some injuries and our lines have gotten used to playing together."

Bishop McCort has plenty of hockey tradition on its side. The Crushers last won the Penguins Cup in 2005 and have claimed five state championships, the last one coming in 1999.

Assistant coach John Bradley was a goaltender for the minor league Johnstown Chiefs and was drafted by the Boston Bruins.

McCort goaltender James Strenger is a freshman with a 12-4-2 record, a 2.38 goals against average and three shutouts. Mars goalie Tyler Stepke is 12-1 with a 1.02 goals against. His shutout of Quaker Valley was his seventh of the year.

"Mars is an excellent skating team, a veteran squad that's well-coached,"Cooper said. "This will be a tough game for us."