NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — Greg Kraemer scored a natural hat trick in the third period to lead Chartiers Valley over Kiski Area 5-2 at Clearview Arena at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center on Wednesday. The Colts will play in the title game for the first time in 31 years. Logan Marnik stopped 42 shots in the victory.
After getting shut down and shotless for the first seven-plus minutes, the momentum was as far away from Chartiers Valley as it could be. Evan Hileman’s goal just 2:14 into the game gave the Cavaliers an early lead and was followed by a Stephen Rayburg tally at 10:19. Kiski Area continued to pressure the Colts but the momentum started to shift with four minutes left in the frame and Chartiers Valley came alive. Ryan Kantner’s shot from the slot beat Evin Brice with 25.8 seconds left to get the Colts on the board, and he closed out the period with a series of shots on a mad scramble in front.
The second period belonged to Kraemer as the junior came alive for three tallies in the frame, the first was on a perfect feed from Braidon Mangan from behind the net that was deposited high at 2:38, the second was from the same vicinity and shot- but on a rush- at 7:30 and the third a shot from the right circle at 12:09.
Kantner’s short-handed empty net goal with under a minute remaining sealed the victory for the Colts.
Logan Marnik recovered from a shaky first 10 minutes to record a solid effort in net, stopping 42-of-44 shots in the victory.
THE STILLS OF TODHUNTER THE GREAT
UP NEXT
The Colts move on to face Indiana in the Penguins Cup Championship next Monday, April 19 at 9:00pm.
It is the first finals berth for the Chartiers Valley Colts since 1990, when they lost the title game to Johnstown in the precursor to the PIHL, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. They last won the championship in 1986.
