PITTSBURGH — Mario Dalesandro was looking for a teammate. He found euphoria.

The Canon-McMillan senior forward fired a pass toward the goal crease, trying to connect with another forward crashing the net. The puck hit a defenseman's skate, deflected off the goalpost and into the net.

The goal, just 1:42 into overtime, gave the Big Macs a 3-2 win and shattered Seneca Valley's dreams in the Penguins Cup Class AAA championship game Saturday night at Mellon Arena.

The Raiders (18-6-1) saw their season end in overtime of the Cup final for the second consecutive year.

"Just getting here two years in a row for a program that had never gotten this far is a tremendous accomplishment these kids can take with them," SV coach Denis Kirstein said.

"I told them to go hug their parents, kiss their girlfriend ... In the scheme of things, this is just a game. The lasting friendships that have been made is what this is really all about."

Seneca Valley scored what looked to be the game-winning goal with 3:15 left in regulation. Canon McMillan goalie Brandon Smolarek tried dumping the puck off to his defenseman, who had already started up ice and wasn't looking for the puck. Tyler Mesisca jumped on the loose puck to the right of Smolarek and flipped it to Logan Pfeffer alone in front of the net.

Pfeffer buried a wrist shot and the Raiders had a 2-1 lead.

The Big Macs (18-7-1) couldn't even get their goalie off the ice for an extra attacker late as the Raiders kept them bottled up in their own end.

With 46 seconds left in regulation, Sean Sokolowski and Dalesandro collided at center ice. Dalesandro landed squarely on his tailbone, lay motionless for a while and had to be assisted off the ice.

Sokolowski went to the penalty box for interference.

"I was hurting pretty good," Dalesandro admitted. "We just ran into each other. I didn't see him and he didn't see me. My skates got caught and flipped up and I went flying.

"It was a freakish thing. I didn't think it should have been a penalty. I told (Sokolowski) that after the game."

With 18 seconds left in regulation, Brett Oldaker tied the contest when his wrist shot hugged the ice, weaved through traffic and into the net. SV goaltender Ryan Schutte didn't appear to see the puck.

"I thought his arm fell on top of it, then maybe it didn't. ... It was hard to tell," Kirstein said. "Either way, we were still in this game. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to talk to my team before the overtime period started.

"All I told them was to play under control and get pucks to the net. Ultimately, that's how we lost. But that's hockey. Get the puck toward the net and you never know."

Canon McMillan coach Yuri Kuvokuha didn't know if Dalesandro was even going to play in overtime.

"I asked him to take a brief skate in front of our bench (before overtime) and he looked to be about 50 percent," Kuvokuha said. "I told him we didn't need that. He told me he was playing."

Named after Penguins star Mario Lemieux, Dalesandro said there was no way he wasn't playing.

"I felt sore, but overtime of the Penguins Cup? Are you kidding? Just try keeping me on the bench," he said, smiling.

The eighth-seeded Big Macs had never been to the Penguins Cup semifinals before, let alone won it.

"We got a bit of luck tonight, but you need that at some point to win a championship," Kuvokuha said. "We're not a Cinderella team. Hard work brings good results."

Seneca Valley is saying goodbye to 14 seniors, including leading scorers Sam Jarrett, Mesisca, Pfeffer and goaltender Schutte.

"We have to replace a bunch of parts," Kirstein admitted. "But our freshman team is still in the playoffs, our junior varsity just got done. We've got younger talent coming up through.

"I don't think we're going away."

Canon McMillan 3, Seneca Valley 2Canon McMillan 1 0 1 1 — 3Seneca Valley 0 1 1 0 — 2First PeriodCM-Ryan Thomas 1 PP (Mario Dalesandro, Joe Mottiqua) 13:24Penalties: CM-Chris Horan (interference) :43, SV-Tyler Mesisca (boarding) 5:04, SV-Kaleb Schwab (holding) 9:32, SV-Sam Jarrett (cross checking) 12:54

Second PeriodSV-Erik Larson 1 (Mesisca, Brandon Platt) :21Penalties: SV-Jarrett (interference) 5:17, CM -Kyle Almazy (charging) 8:01, SV-Schwab (slashing) 13:48, CM-Mottiqua (slashing) 13:48

Third PeriodSV-Logan Peffer 3 PP (Mesisca) 11:43, CM-Brett Odaker 3 PP (Horan, Mottiqua) 14:42Penalties: CM-Dalesandro (hooking) 5:48, SV-Derek Hathazy (cross checking) 9:30, CM-Alexander Baskakov (hooking) 10:11, SV-Sean Sokolowski (interference) 14:14

OvertimeCM-Dalesandro 3 PP (unassisted) 1:42Penalties: CM-Horan (holding) 1:12, SV-Tyler Wagner (holding the stick) 1:12

Shots on goal — Canon McMillan 12-7-12-1-32, Seneca Valley 6-12-7-0-25

Power play opportunities — Canon McMillan 2-for-6, Seneca Valley 1-for-4