PITTSBURGH — Tuesday's Class AAA Penguins Cup championship game was following a familiar script for Seneca Valley.

For the third consecutive playoff game, the Raiders netted a third-period goal to force overtime. Unlike the previous two, however, this game did not have a happy ending.

Shaler, which saw a 2-0 second-period lead dissolve, got the game-winner from Shane Shiring with 8:40 left in the second overtime period to give the Titans a 3-2 victory at Mellon Arena.

Shaler, the No. 1 seed in the Class AAA playoffs, will face Flyers Cup Champion LaSalle at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Ice Mine in West Chester in the state championship game.

A span of 12 seconds changed the course of the game when the Raiders' Logan Pfeffer took a pass up the ice, found a seam down the left side and made a move to push the puck past Titans goalie Oscar Prom.

Prom made a stick save as the puck slid across the crease and back toward the boards.

Shaler (23-2) regrouped, quickly rushing up the ice with Shiring fired a slapshot that was slowed by SV goalie Ryan Schutte but still trickled through his legs for the game-winner.

"I wouldn't have picked another player on the team to make that shot," said Seneca Valley coach Denis Kirstein on Pfeffer's shot. "Logan left it all on the ice. It was an unbelievable move. It just went under the crease."

"Going up and down, end to end, it was anyone's game," said Shaler coach Curt Hetz. "We had 41 shots and scored three. Usually, we score on those (breakaways). Tonight, for whatever reason, jitters or whatever, we had a lot of wide shots."

The Titans made just enough, throwing everything they could at Schutte.

"Seneca Valley played a great game," said Hetz. "(Schutte) played out of his mind."

Schutte helped keep the Raiders (14-6-5) in the game after falling behind 2-0.

Shaler's Pat Schafer scored a pair of power-play goals, the first with 8:36 left in the first period off assists from Drew Martz and Zac Lynch. His second came off a Lynch helper with 11:43 left in the second period.

Schutte shut down the No. 2 offense in the PIHL for the next 38 minutes before Shiring's goal.

After Shaler took the 2-0 lead, the Raiders enjoyed a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:03 but couldn't cash in. Still, that was just the trick to get the team moving.

"I think we sat back a bit. It could have been nerves," said Kirstein. "I told them to get aggressive, that we needed a dirty, greasy goal. We came back and got that goal."

That goal was scored by Tyler Mesisca, who took a pass from Sam Jarrett, spun and fired a shot in the bottom right corner of the net with 1:49 left in the second period.

"I thought that 5-on-3 would be a momentum changer," said Hetz. "Up until then we were doing pretty well. We took two penalties. I thought we'd tire them out. We have three lines and they had two, but they kept getting stronger."

The Raiders tied the game at 2 with 4:30 left in the third period when Taylor Wagner scored on a pass from Mesisca.

"When we tied it, I kept seeing us scoring," said Kirstein. "The kids have been there."

The Raiders will lose three seniors, Mike Rohm, Jordan Smith and Dom Sarachine, to graduation, so Kirstein will have almost his entire roster next year to make another run at the Penguins Cup.

"Dan and Jordan are first-year varsity players and Mike Rohm led from the heart," said Kirstein, who was in his first season. "It was nice for them to be the first class to get to the finals.

"We were opportunistic. We snuck up on a lot of people this year. Now, we'll have the bullseye on the kids' backs. That's good because we'll see what they're made of."

Schutte finished with 38 saves; Prom with 25.