Held’s game-winner keeps CV undefeated

Chartiers Valley sophomore forward Tyler Held scored seven goals in the regular season and, even though he did hit the back of the net in the Colts’ opening round victory against Moon, the one he came up with Wednesday against Indiana was his biggest.

Held whipped a shot from between the hashmarks through the legs of goaltender Luke Rowe at 9:50 of the second period for what turned out to be the gamewinning power-play goal as Chartiers Valley (22-0-0) remained perfect on the season with a 2-1 victory against Indiana (16-4-2) in the PIHL Class 1A semifinals at Robert Morris University’s Clearview Arena.

“I had a wide-open shot and a screen in front,” Held said. “The kid was afraid to block the shot.”

Chartiers Valley continued one of the best turnarounds in recent memory. The Colts won only six games each of the past two seasons and had not qualified for the PIHL Class 1A playoffs since 2021 when they lost to Indiana, 3-2, in the championship game.

“We’ve been lucky this year that we’ve had a pretty good season,” Charters Valley coach Paul Bonetti said. “We haven’t lost any games and we’ve just got to keep that going.”

That may not be a problem if teams are going to keep taking bad penalties and setting Chartiers Valley up on the power play. And Indiana took one of the worst possible penalties that led directly to the game-winning goal.

With the game 1-1, Chartiers Valley goaltender Matthew Colberg stopped a puck that rolled into the zone and covered it for a faceoff with nobody really around the cage. Indiana senior forward Landin Wils o n swooped in and sprayed ice shavings in his face.

Wasting no time, the referee immediately sent him off for unsportsmanlike conduct. Wilson barely had time to sit down before Held took a pass from freshman Noah Callender and sent it home.

“At that point in time, you’re not thinking that’s going to be the deciding factor in the game. You’re just trying to kill that penalty off and build some momentum,” Indiana coach Steve Rebovich said. “Obviously it didn’t happen.”

Chartiers Valley never trailed as Held set Callender up on a breakaway with 1:01 remaining in the first period to stake the team to a 1- 0 lead. Held found Callender behind the defense just inside the red line and he had 100 feet to decide what corner he wanted to hit behind Rowe

In the second period, Phil Bell beat Colberg to tie the score.

Other semifinal

Luke Dieter scored on a penalty shot at 10:51 of the second period to give Greensburg Salem a 2- 1 come- from- behind win against Shaler and a berth in the final on Tuesday at 8: 15 p. m. at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Dylan Marsden scored for Shaler at 13:02 of the first period but Chase Kushner tied it at 6:11 of the second.

Tristan Gonzales stopped 29 of the 30 shots for Greensburg Salem, which has never won a championship.