Pa hockey championship breakdown: PIHL’s Seneca Valley vs Flyers Cup champ Holy Ghost Prep in rematch
CRANBERRY TWP — Seneca Valley has grown accustomed to playing with a target on its back.
The Raiders entered this PIHL boys hockey season as the reigning Class 3A state champions. They looked every bit the part early on, and will aim for a second straight state championship when they play Flyers Cup champion Holy Ghost Prep at 5 p.m. Saturday at Ice Line Quad Rinks in West Chester.
It will be a rematch of last year’s final, which Seneca Valley won 7-2.
“In the beginning, we pretty much pumped every team, probably made them mad,” senior John Sroka III said after his team beat Peters Township 5-4 in Tuesday night’s PIHL Class 3A Penguins Cup. “It felt like, towards the end of the season, every team bumped up like three levels and they were just all after us.”
Raiders coach Tyler Mesisca has watched his players step up time and again as they marched to a hoped-for repeat.
“These guys, they’re gamers,” Mesisca said. “They show up when it matters. They can play in any type of game, whether it’s 2-1 or 5-4 like tonight. We’re comfortable in that spot and they’ve been there.
“We rely on our experience and that kinda helped us out, I think, tonight.”
Seneca Valley had four players score double-digit goals during the regular season — Braden Morin (15), Cooper Hoehn (14), Leyton Moreau (11) and Sroka (10).
“We’ve always been a good organization, but the past three years, we’ve had such phenomenal players,” Sroka said. “We have phenomenal talent, and it definitely added up towards the end of the season, got it done.”
“We have a lot of depth up front,” Mesisca said. “We have six really good (defensemen) that are all capable of playing. They like to get up in the rush and join a lot, and, obviously, it starts on the back end and we kinda work our way up from there.”
Sroka, a shifty forward, scored once and shoveled out three assists in the Penguins Cup win. He shook a couple of Peters Township defenders with dekes that led to goals.
“It feels awesome,” Sroka said. “It feels like you gain your control of the game. As much as it riles me up, it riles the boys up.”
Sroka has 11 goals and 19 assists on the season.
Forward Chase Logue posted 33 points this season, the third most any Firebirds (20-4) skater has racked up in a single season, according to eliteprospects.com.
Logue was also named the Flyers Cup tournament’s MVP.
Sroka is well aware of what’s standing in the Raiders’ way of a second consecutive state crown.
“I expect their best game again,” Sroka said. “They have very (few) players, but they’re all talented. If we play the same way we played past years, there’s no guarantee that we can win this thing again.”
“We’ve kinda been seeing that they’ve been right up towards the top with us throughout the year, one and two,” Mesisca said. “I’m sure they’ll be looking for a little revenge from last year. ... We’re ready for it.”
