Raiders seniors come through
WARRENDALE— Seneca Valley honored its seniors for a reason.
They succeeded in turning around the program and they succeeded in holding off a gritty Butler squad Friday on Senior Night at Warrendale BladeRunners.
The Raiders' Andrew Tang knocked in a rebound off Joe Sasala's shot from the point with 45 seconds left in overtime, giving Seneca Valley a 3-2 triumph.
Tang and Sasala are two of the eight seniors on the Raiders roster.
"This group of seniors came in the same year I did,"SVcoach Mike Schall said. "They've been dedicated to the program since that first day.
"They've picked up 42 wins in four years. The year before I got here, Seneca Valley didn't make the playoffs. The year before that, there wasn't even a varsity team here."
The win was the seventh straight for Seneca Valley (14-3). Butler (2-15) dropped its 12th straight, but not without a fight.
Seneca Valley was 0-for-6 on the power play and watched the Tornado tie the game twice before finally putting away the win.
After a scoreless first period, Tang got the Raiders on the board by knocking in a rebound with 6:13 left in the second. Senior Ryan Dowd and Sam Jarrett assisted on the play.
Just 59 seconds later, Butler tied the game with a power-play goal when R.C. Double deflected in Mavrik Goepfert's shot from the point for his 10th goal of the season. Beau Bechtel had an assist on the play as well.
The Raiders took a 2-1 lead with 1:53 left in the period when senior captain Matt Jarrett's shot from the point got through traffic and behind Butler goaltender Tim Smith. Senior John Raymus assisted.
With seven minutes left in the third period, Goepfert scored his eighth goal of the year off an assist by Double to pull Butler even again.
Smith and Seneca Valley goalie Scott Van Horn made big saves early in the overtime period before Tang's 15th goal of the campaign decided the issue. Van Horn has a goals-against average of 2.36 and improved his record to 6-1.
Other Seneca Valley seniors are Bill Paterson, Scott Ruggerio and Richard Schutte.
"We only had two seniors last year and took a step in the right direction,"Schall said. "Having eight has helped take our play to another level."
A number of Seneca Valley's seniors hope to play hockey in college. Matt Jarrett is looking at Washington &Jefferson and West Virginia, Tang plans to golf at W&J and Dowd is headed to Indiana (Pa.). Schutte, Raymus and Paterson might play in college as well.
Seneca Valley outshot Butler, 33-24, Friday.
The Tornado host Baldwin at 9 p.m. Monday at the Ice Connection while the Raiders travel to Penn-Trafford Thursday.
