Shooting gallery
WARRENDALE — The Seneca Valley hockey team was firing off plenty of shots.
None of them were lighting the lamp.
No matter. The Raiders kept shooting and eventually Fox Chapel goalie Chad Veltri, who had been up to the barrage, let a few slip through as Seneca Valley routed the Foxes 6-1 at BladeRunners Ice Complex Tuesday night.
After the first period, Seneca Valley (3-2) and Fox Chapel (0-5) were deadlocked at 1-1, but the Raiders had out-shot the Foxes 19-8.
“Credit to (Veltri). I felt like we had a lot of opportunities we should have finished,” said Seneca Valley coach Anthony Raco. “We know the majority of the time we are going to score on those kinds of opportunities. When a goalie gets kind of hot like that, it's just a matter of being patient and getting our chances.
“I think the good thing we were able to do on the bench is not get frustrated,” Raco added. “We were getting good opportunities and there's only so much you can do and only so much he can stop. We were doing the right things out there.”
Fox Chapel jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a power-play goal from Anthony Veltri.
The Raiders, though, were able to knot it up with a goal off the stick of Peter Kipin just two minutes later.
Seneca Valley pulled away in the second period with a trio of goals from Alexander Crilley, Spencer Schutte and Ben Jarrett for a 4-1 lead.
After two periods, the Raiders had out-shot Fox Chapel 45-17.
Chris Marziotto assisted on all four Seneca Valley goals in the first two periods.
“The assists mean a lot to me,” Marziotto said. “Not everyone sees the assists, but to me it's important because I'm play-making and getting some players who haven't had a lot of goals some goals — being a leader on the team.”
Marziotto came in with two goals and six assists on the season, but improved his point total significantly with his four-assist game.
He now leads the team with 12 points this season.
“Chris is a very unselfish player,” Raco said. “He looks out for the general good of the team. We look for him to score goals, but as long as that plus-minus is staying on the plus side of it, he's doing his job. And his line-mates are doing a good job that we don't have to just rely on him. That's what's going to be a key for us: working as a team.”
The Raiders added a pair of goals in the third period from Andrew Gagnon and another from Crilley to finish off the rout.
Seneca Valley wrapped up the game out-shooting Fox Chapel 57-26.
The Foxes did have more penalties — 12 of them. Several came in the third period as tensions mounted.
Seneca Valley was good at killing its own penalties. The Foxes were 1-of-9 on power play chances, including a pair that were two-man advantages.
“We wanted to stay disciplined,” Raco said. “We wanted to get guys out there who were willing to block shots and just play that contain game and being aggressive and knowing when they could push forward on the puck. I thought they did a really good job tonight.”
