Shock Wave
CRANBERRY TWP — Seneca Valley survived Peters Township’s first wave of goals.
The second, however, served as a knockout blow.
The Indians scored four goals in the span of 12 minutes of the third period in claiming the Class 3A Penguins Cup with a 6-2 decision at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Monday night.
Patrick Dolan and Jacob Komaniak had pulled the Raiders even at 2-all with goals in the first and second period, respectively.
The Indians moved ahead for good with Chase Stauffer’s power play goal with 12:53 left in the game.
“We felt we had the momentum and were looking to come out in the third and continue to be aggressive, put bodies on people and put the puck on the net,” said SV coach Anthony Raco. “Then they get that power play goal and we were just never able to come back from it.”
The Raiders (12-9) earned precious few opportunities in the final 17 minutes as the Indians out-shot them in the third 12-2.
“When you’re down by a goal, there needs to be a sense of urgency,” Raco said. “We just didn’t get deep enough into the zone and weren’t the first ones getting to pucks.”
Stauffer’s tally against SV goalie Jonathan Nichols snapped SV’s streak of successfully killing nine straight penalties in the playoffs. The former received a pass from the right corner and took two swipes at the puck just to the right of the crease. The second paid off.
Austin Malley and Ryder Mertens both scored over the ensuing 10 minutes for a 5-2 edge before Luke Casciola scored on an empty net with less than a minute left in the game.
“We train for the third period of games,” said Peters Township assistant coach Cliff Bumford. “We have four solid lines and can run ‘em out there quickly. We can overwhelm teams at times.”
William Tomko and Malley staked Peters (16-5) to a 2-0 lead with goals less than two minutes apart early in the first period.
“We told the guys that we weren’t down by two goals, we were down by two shots,” Raco said. “There was a lot of hockey left at that point.”
SV’s rally began when, during a power play, Jonathan Leishman’s pass from behind Peters’ net found Dolan’s stick with 7:09 left in the first period.
The goal was surrendered by junior netminder Nolan Hilbert. He allowed the equalizer to Komaniak with 2:44 left in the second, a period that saw the Raiders pelt Hilbert with 13 shots.
It would turn out to be the high-water mark for SV, as the Indians thoroughly dominated the third.
“We never thought we were out of it,” said SV senior forward Shane Kozlina. “We knew we just had to keep pushing, but the puck just didn’t bounce our way. It didn’t happen for us.”
Tobias McKee and Ethan Lindberg also tallied assists for the Raiders.
Nichols stopped 25 shots for the Raiders while Hilbert had 20 stops.
SV was attempting to win its second Penguins Cup title. The Raiders defeated Peters, 4-2, for the crown here in 2018.
“Triple-A is super-competitive,” said Raco. “I hope the younger guys can feed off of what these guys have done.”
