WARRENDALE — Seneca Valley hockey dropped its final regular-season game to Cathedral Prep Monday night, 5-2, at the Baierl Ice Complex.

The Raiders have dropped their final three games heading into the Class 3A playoffs after they ended a seven-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over Canon-McMillan two weeks ago.

“We started the season out 5-2 and then you lose seven straight, I think the frustration sets in,” SV coach Anthony Raco said. “I felt we were controlling play and had more scoring chances than teams, we're just not getting bounces to go our way. When you are only scoring around two goals per game, you need some superb goaltending to do that.”

Shortly after the opening faceoff, Cathedral Prep was able to draw first blood with a goal at the 15:00 mark from Jake Kruszewski.

The Raiders (6-12) were getting plenty of opportunities in the first period behind seven shots and loads of time in the Ramblers' zone.

“I think in the first period with the forecheck we were getting one guy there and then we weren't winning board battles, so we were sustaining pressure, but we couldn't turn the puck over,” Raco said. “We weren't using the points early on, we tried to use that more in the second period and that's how we were able to find more shots on net.”

Cathedral Prep added another goal with just over three minutes to play in the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the second.

Seneca was able to notch 13 shots on goal in the second period and was finally able to find the back of the net with 51 seconds remaining on a goal by Will Hohman. Noah Nicklas landed an assist on the goal.

“Just go out and do the things you did in the second period and you have to expect that they were going to come out with a different type of aggressiveness,” Raco said. “They did and we didn't follow through with what we needed to follow through on.

“I felt like we were consistent with playing hard in the third period, yet some guys were playing hard, some guys not and when you're doing that, it's just not going to go your way.”

In the third period, Cathedral Prep scored two goals less than two minutes apart to extend its lead to 4-1 with 9:52 to play in regulation.

At the five-minute mark, Hohman scored his second goal of the evening as he was set up by Adam Raible and Michael Spokane. The Raiders would pull goalie Robby Halyama with under two minutes remaining, but were not able to cash in. Kruszewski was able to score his third goal of the game with the net empty at 1:35, ensuring the Ramblers a 5-2 victory.

“We kind of have to go into the playoffs with a new season, new attitude and take this time before playoffs to try and look at things and maybe change some things up,” Raco said.

Several teams still have to finish their regular season slate. All the Raiders can be sure of right now is that they can't finish any lower than seventh in Class 3A.

“There is so many different scenarios in 3A,” Raco said.