What a WPIAL
Mike White takes a minute to reflect on a wild postseason.
Mars looked like it needed a miracle to make it into the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup playoffs.
That was when the Planets reeled off four consecutive victories to not only qualify for the tournament but also win the Northwest Division.
All that fight carried over into the first round of the playoffs.
Mars (11-8-0) fought off a relentless Montour attack throughout the game before Mack Reimer scored his second goal of the game just 22 seconds into overtime to give the Planets a 6-5 victory against the Spartans (14-6-0) at Baierl Ice Center in Warrendale.
It was the first playoff victory for Mars since a 5-2 win against Armstrong in the 2016 Class 2A semifinals. The Planets had lost their past three tournament games.
Montour was playing on back-to-back nights after a 64 victory against West Allegheny Sunday night in a postseason qualifier. The Spartans and Indians finished the regular season tied for second place in the Southwest Division with identical 13-5-0 records and had split their two regular-season meetings.
With the loss, the two leading scorers in the classification were eliminated. Dusty Geregach, who had 28 goals and 52 points in the regular season, was held to one assist against Mars, while Michael Felsing, who had 24 goals and 52 points, had four assist in the loss.
Sean Newman had two goals and an assist and goaltender Danny Mitchell made 47 saves for Mars. The Planets now will play Baldwin in the semifinals at 9 p.m. March 11 at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.
Other 2A
Baldwin 1, Meadville 0: Dylan Belak scored the only goal of the game at 3:56 of the second period despite Baldwin (18-1-0) throwing 45 shots of goaltender Jordan McCurdy of Meadville (9-9-0).
Latrobe 6, Armstrong 2: The Wildcats (17-1-1) got four goals before the end of the first period after trailing, 1-0, to the River Hawks (7-11-1) 2:26 into the game. Alex Schall notched two goals, while Cole Ferri and Alex Walker each had a goal and two assists for Latrobe.
Hempfield 4, Plum 3: Aiden Dunlap scored on a rebound at 12:20 of the first overtime period to put the Spartans (12-7-0) into the semifinals. Plum finished (99-1). Hempfield was the only non-division champion to win in the first round.