Announcement
CORAOPOLIS –
Mars (13-0-1) has been pretty much on cruise control since their November 27th beating of Quaker Valley at Cranberry. The Planets have outscored opponents 104-11, but a study shows that they have given up twice as many goals in away games than at home. The goal of all of this is for Mars to advance to their first ever Penguins Cup and the looming # 1 seed with a game and a half lead would receive a significant boost with a win over the Quakers. Let’s forget about the Post Gazette # 1 ranking that the Planets have held since the first weeks of the season and lets focus on the mental aspect facing this team that has plagued them in the past. While Quaker Valley was busy with competition over the holidays, coach Tim Coleman’s squad decided to rest and with the lack of competition in Class A, Mars will have to find a way to keep hungry and sharp down the stretch to try to move on to the Penguins Cup and last week’s 1-1 tie with defending Penguins Cup champ Freeport, is just a reminder that ANY team is just one goaltending performance away from elimination and Quaker Valley will testify to that.
Quaker Valley (13-2-0) lost to Serra Catholic and Mars in November and has reeled off a series of wins to become the hottest team in Class A since those setbacks. Taking into account that the Quakers had a semi-surprised return of Mik Lemieux as a Chirstmas present to QV’s fortunes brings a whole different element to the offense, which now becomes multi dimensional with Lemieux, Colin South and George Jackson leading the offense and Noah Zamagias move back to defense to solidify a defense with Cody Scott. Head Coach Kevin Quinn’s smile was a little more noticeable as the Quakers got ready to take on # 1 Mars, who now stands in the path of the Quakers redemption of the Penguins Cup loss from a year ago and possibly a 2nd State Title in 3 years. The underlying philosophy of the Lemieux return may be questioned in some parts and certainly I have been outspoken about Eligibility, but in this case it really has nothing to do about who he is, but the principal is that Mik Lemieux is a player who was developed in the Quaker Valley organization, played three years for the team and SHOULD be eligible immediately for those of you naysayers.
Quaker Valley jumped all over Mars in the opening period as Noah Zamagias gave the Quakers a 1-0 lead. Mik Lemieux made his presence known as he set up Colin South on a nice passing play to extend the lead to 2-0 before the ‘Concerned Citizens’ of Mars and Quaker Valley could get settle in their sets, which was a nice crowd for the premier matchup in Class A for a scheduled 9:00 PM start courtesy of the promotionally challenged PIHL (who sent the Riddler to watch this games instead of someone who might know a little about hockey), who is more interested in promoting themselves than their teams. At 3:18 of the period, the Quakers nearly made it 3-0, but Mars Brady Sipe broke up a play between South and Lemieux with a tremendous backchecking effort to keep the two goal deficit for the Planets.
The second period turned into a goaltending dual between Mars Greg Lewis and QV’s Zach Taylor as the teams battled for the all important third goal of the contest in the first five minutes of the second. Quaker Valley would get the prize as Lemieux took a Colin South feed from the top of the circle and whipped it past Lewis and the Quakers now had a 3-0 lead at 9:12. Mars answered on the power play as Brady Sipe took a shot from the left point and Jake Robasch pounced on the rebound and jammed it past Zach Taylor and the Planets were on the board at 3-1 at 6:08. That momentum didn’t last long as Colin South drew a penalty and put the Quakers on the power play at 4:44. South took a cross ice feed from George Jaskon and fired a bullet off the cross bar that appeared to go in, but just in case Mik Lemieux made sure and tapped it in for a 4-1 QV lead heading to the ice cut. Shots were 33-20 in favor of QV.
Mars did not quit and they could have laid down in this game after Mike Heltman was stopped on the breakaway with 12:25 remaining in regulation. Mars had a golden opportunity with 11 ½ minutes left on a 5 on 3, but Zach Taylor made a great save on Mike Mazzota at 10:38 and Quaker killed it off. On a QV power play, Mars goaltender Greg Lewis made an unreal stop on Mik Lemieux, but left the game under his own power. Mars kept on grinding and finally broke QV as Ian Finney redirected a Michael Tracy shot from the left point through the 5-hole with 3:39 to go and give a glimmer of hope to the Planets. Any fire the Planets had was extinguished just ten seconds later as Colin South found an empty net after Marty Lamneck made a save on Mik Lemieux and it was now 5-2. Time ran out as Mars continued to pressed for goals as Mike Mazzota scored on a beautiful shot inside the post to make the final count 5-3 in favor of Quaker Valley, who pinned the first loss of the season on Mars, which could prove to be a preview of a third meeting and that would be in the Penguins Cup final in March.
