WARRENDALE — Freeport had a golden opportunity.

Mars made sure it slipped away.

Holding a 3-1 edge entering the third period, the Planets killed off a 5-on-3 Freeport power play and pulled away for a 6-1 PIHL Class A quarterfinal victory Thursday at Warrendale Bladerunners.

Mars (18-2) took a step toward its fourth consecutive Penguins Cup championship. However, if the Planets earn another title, they will have to do it without team captain Joe Bender.

The senior hit Freeport's Jared Kapustik with 58 seconds to go in the contest and was given a game misconduct. Kapustik laid on the ice for several minutes while receiving medical attention before being helped to the bench.

It was Bender's fifth penalty on the night, which meant an additional game misconduct. As a result, Bender has been suspended two games and won't be eligible to return until the state title game.

Mars coach Steve Meyers disagreed with the penalty.

“I think it's a horrible call,” he said. “The hit, from where I was standing, it was right in the chest. (The referee) said it was in the helmet and it was malicious.

“With a minute left in the game, I think that's a terrible call.”

On the other hand, Freeport coach David Hepler believes the referees got it right.

“Jared had his head down,” explained Hepler, “and the guy came from probably a good six, eight strides out and just leveled him.”

Mars will play in the semifinals Monday at 8 p.m. against Hampton — a 1-0 winner over Westmont Hilltop — at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center.

Freeport (11-8-2) nearly took an early advantage Thursday just 16 seconds into the game after banging home a rebound. The referees waved off the goal, though, as the net was dislodged and a Yellowjacket was near the crease.

“I don't know how he calls in the crease at that point in time,” said Hepler. “If it's going to happen, it's a good time to have it. We can recover from that.”

But the Planets eventually struck first thanks to a goal from Robert Foley off an assist from Craig Mazzotta with 5:34 to go in the first period.

Freeport responded just one minute and 35 seconds later as Devin Christy found the back of the net off a Nicholas Zidek assist.

Mars had an answer of its own, though.

Austin Heakins scored only 43 seconds after the Christy tally and the Planets never relinquished the lead from there.

Freeport senior goalie Cody Lee kept the Yellowjackets within striking distance, but Nick Blaney made it 3-1 with a deflection in front of the net off a Heakins blast.

Lee finished the game with 33 saves, but Mars outshot Freeport by a 39-11 margin. Blaney was impressed with the Yellowjackets' netminder.

“Cody Lee has always been a great goaltender,” the Mars forward said. “Great kid, great hockey player and kudos to him. He played a great game out there.”

With 11 seconds to go in the second frame, a Yellowjacket became tangled with Mars goalie Christian Knapp. A few Planets charged the net to defend Knapp, which led to roughing calls against Bender and Nicholas Berteotti. Freeport suddenly had a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.

However, Mars prevented the Yellowjackets from gaining any steam on the pivotal power play. Freeport also missed out on a power-play chance to start the second period.

“Those were good kills,” said Meyers. “It's something we work on every practice relentlessly and it really came through for us tonight.”

“They're definitely a strong power-play team,” said Heakins, “but we knew if we could kill the penalties we could take away their thoughts about coming back.”

Freeport was left to imagine what could have been.

“If we score there, it's a totally different game,” said Hepler.

Mars put away the win with a trio of third-period goals. Bender scored off an assist from Heakins and Blaney, before Heakins added his second tally of the game on Blaney's third assist.

Later, Freeport's Tyler Greene grabbed Berteotti from behind after a whistle and a fight broke out between the two. Both received unsportsmanlike conducts and were done for the game.

Noah Master responded with Mars' final goal.

“We had a good season,” said Hepler. “We're still real young. We need to get a little more aggressive and hopefully next year we'll be a lot stronger.”

Mars is happy to be moving on.

“We knew we had to get a lot of offense and the fact that we got six goals is pretty impressive,” said Blaney. “Hopefully, it will wake up the rest of the PIHL and say, ‘Hey, you better watch out for Mars hockey.'”