WARRENDALE — Penalties are supposed to be a bad thing.

Seneca Valley disproved that theory Tuesday night, scoring four short-handed goals on its way to an 8-1 drubbing of Erie McDowell in a PIHL Class AAA game at Warrendale BladeRunners.

"I told our coach that might be some kind of record," Raiders forward Tyler Mesisca said.

Seneca Valley coach Denis Kirstein said a Mercyhurst College player scored three short-handed goals in a game last week "and that's the first I've heard of anything like this."

Mesisca registered the first hat trick of his varsity career, including a pair of short-handed goals early in the third period.

The Raiders (7-1), in first place in Section 2-A, added three power-play goals to cap a stellar night on special teams.

"I was joking with the guys on the bench that maybe we should take another penalty to get our offense going," Kirstein said. "Of course, I'm not advocating that. We have to stay out of the box."

Seneca Valley has scored nine short-handed goals in eight games.

"We come out and pressure the defense up high," Mesisca said of the Raiders' penalty-killing unit. "We have a lot of speed on our penalty kill and force some odd-man breaks that way. We've just been talking advantage of them."

The game was tied at one through the first period. McDowell (2-3-3) has scored only 15 goals in eight games, but the visitors lit the lamp just 13 seconds into the game.

Trojans leading scorer Steven Martin picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped it past SV goalie Josh Hickey.

Mesisca got the Raiders even less than two minutes later, beating McDowell goaltender Nick Mankosa on the shoreside.

With SV's Tyler Rose in the penalty box for roughing early in the second period, the Raiders took control of the game.

Logan Pfeffer picked up a loose puck in the high slot, walked in alone on Mankosa and beat him for a short-handed goal.

Just 37 seconds later, Sean Sokolowski chipped the puck toward the net and Sam Jarrett batted it past Mankosa during a scramble in front of the cage for his team-leading ninth of the campaign.

"We were staying with them for a while, then those two short-handed goals totally changed the momentum," McDowell coach Nels White said. "Seneca Valley has plenty of skilled players and they're quick moving the puck."

Hickey stopped 28 of 29 McDowell shots. The Trojans have allowed 26 goals in eight games, including 14 in two games against the Raiders.

Sokolowski scored a power-play goal midway through the second period. Mesisca's short-handed tallies came courtesy of a long Pfeffer pass that sent him in on a breakaway and Mesisca stealing the puck in the offensive zone.

Mike Pietrandrea and Derek Hathazy added late power play goals to round out the scoring.

Erie McDowell 1 0 0 — 1Seneca Valley 1 3 4 — 8First PeriodM: Steven Martin 6 (Sean Perhacs) :13SV: Tyler Mesisca 4 (Sam Jasrrett, Sean Sokolowski) 1:41

Second PeriodSV: Logan Pfeffer 7 SH (unassisted), 4:13SV: Jarrett 9 SH (Sokolowski) 5:00SV: Sokolowski 4 PP (unassisted) 6:30

Third PeriodSV: Mesisca 5 SH (Pfeffer, Kaleb Schwab) :37SV: Mesisca 6 SH (unassisted) 4:49SV: Michael Pietrandrea 2 PP (Cody Siegfried, Kevin Rohm) 11:23SV: Derek Hathazy 2 PP (Pietrandrea, Bronson Dodd) 12:35

Shots on goal: McDowell 10-12-7-29; Seneca Valley 14-7-9-30

Power play opportunities: McDowell 0-for-6, Seneca Valley 3-for-5