WARRENDALE, Pa. — Junior forward Mack Riemer scored just 22 seconds into overtime of the Class-2A Penguins Cup quarterfinal game at Baierl Ice Complex Monday night to lift Northwest Division champion Mars (11-8-0) to a 6-5 win over stubborn Montour (13-6-0), last year’s Class-A Penguins Cup champ.
The Planets will face top seed Baldwin in the semifinal round Wed., Mar. 11, at the RMU Island Sports Center in Neville Township. The Spartans, after outlasting West Allegheny in Sunday’s play-in contest at Colonials Arena, were trying to become the first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League (PIHL) team since the 2015-16 Erie Cathedral Prep squad to earn consecutive titles in different classifications.
Montour, one of the top offensive outfits in Class AA throughout the 2019-20 season, out-shot Mars 52-24 in regulation. However, Wes Scurci set up Riemer behind the Spartans’ net, and he wrapped the puck around and underneath the outstretched right leg of Anthony Reinholt to send his fellow Planets into orbit within the Galaxy Arena, converting the only shot on goal accredited to either team in the brief sudden-victory frame.
“Me and Wes mess around a lot, but we also practice that a lot in practice,” said Riemer. “Scurci and I have a lot of chemistry, and it showed right here.”
In addition to scoring last, Mars struck first. A Shaun Wasylson faceoff win in the right circle came to Sean Newman, who sniped it past Reinholt to give the Planets the lead with 11:21 left in the first period, though Montour offered a quick answer. Michael Felsing left a puck right on the doorstep of goaltender Danny Mitchell for Preston Muha, who finished to tie the game just 53 seconds later.
There were only 57 seconds to spare when the Planets jumped back on top. Nick Crowley won a puck battle deep in Spartans territory and somehow snuck it through a crowd and into the top corner, over the shoulder of Reinholt, from the right side for a 2-1 advantage.
Following the late-period goal, Crowley cashed in early in the second. From the left wing, a centering pass from Matthew Bobko bounced off a few Montour feet and right to the well-placed junior, who put it into the exposed net for a 3-1 lead with only 1:32 gone.
Undaunted by the violent momentum swing, the Spartans cut it to 3-2 thanks in part to a slap shot from David Strilka at the right point. Tommy Gollob redirected the freshman blue-liner’s blast past Mitchell with still 12:43 until the ice cut.
Mars regained its two-goal bulge 1:17 afterward, with Muha off for slashing. Its power play made it look easy, as Newman found Riemer right in front, and the latter promptly caught Reinholt out of position.
Team captain and regular-season scoring champion Dusty Geregach tried to will his team back into the game, again, with the first of his two tallies. The Johnstown Tomahawks prospect riveted the visiting fans when he picked up speed, dangled around a Mars defender and whipped the puck past Mitchell with 5:09 to play in the second.
Montour made it a 4-4 game with a late-period goal of its own, and a power play goal of its own, for that matter. Felsing, who tied Geregach for the most points in Class AA, corralled the puck forever before passing down low to Anthony Migliozzi, who went five-hole on Mitchell with just under 40 seconds to go and Nathan Isaac in the box for interference.
Nevertheless, the Planets persisted. Newman picked the far corner behind Reinholt for his perfectly-placed wrist shot from the right side and a 5-4 edge just 1:18 into the third period.
Again, it didn’t take long for Montour to counter-punch. Geregach stayed patient with a rebound and swatted it into a yawning net from the left circle a mere 62 seconds later.
The Spartans, 24 hours removed from surviving that dreaded pigtail game, had a golden opportunity to take control of their destiny with 7:24 left in regulation. They stubbornly poked, prodded and whacked at a puck that Mitchell desperately tried to cover beside his cage–a puck that was eventually covered, illegally, in the blue paint by the hand of a Mars skater, resulting in a penalty shot being awarded to Felsing.
However, Mitchell, whose 47 saves were his season high, stuck right with Felsing, watching a harmless, bad-angle shot go by after his fellow PIHL All-Star ran out of room to deke him.
“I knew Danny had that,” Riemer laughed, lightheartedly. “We always have trust in him. A couple games ago, he shut down another great offense in Quaker Valley. He’s always there for us.”
Shortly thereafter, Felsing was given something perhaps just as rare: a minor penalty for kneeing. Montour did well to insulate Reinholt and kill off the penalty, prompting Riemer to put in a little extra work to play hero for the home team.
“It was big on our goalie. Danny played a freaking great game. Even though they doubled us on shots, he held us in,” said Riemer. “And Hudson [Finn], playing shut-down ‘D,’ really carried us.”
Felsing ended his season with a noble four-assist effort, he and Migliozzi (goal, three assists) co-leading all participants with those four points. Newman’s three points paced the Planets.
Their semifinal matchup with the Highlanders gets underway at 9 p.m. on the Island next Wednesday.
“It feels pretty good,” Riemer said. “[Mitchell] played great. The whole team played great tonight. We’re ready to win the next game.”
