Seneca Valley Raiders

Serra Catholic 6 Quaker Valley 4 ROSTRAVER – Serra Catholic is off to a 9-1-0 start and has handled the Class A competition with relative ease with the exception of the 6-2 loss to defending Penguins Cup champions Bishop McCort back on December 5th. The Eagles are very accustomed to big games at Class A because they have been involved in the majority of them for the past five years. For head coach Tom Mooney this will be a good opportunity to see how far this team has come since the beginning of the season and more importantly pick up a win over a QV team which figures to trying to claim the # 1 seed in the playoffs beginning in March, especially with a rematch set for February 13th at the Airport, which could be a huge game if Serra could knock off the undefeated Quakers. Quaker Valley is currently ranked # 1 in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 Statewide poll and is undefeated on the season with a win over Bishop McCort under its belt. Head coach Kevin Quinn’s squad is one of three teams in Western Pennsylvania that are a cut above the competition in the weak 12-team Class A Division in Western Pa. In fact, some of the QV faithful are very positive thinkers and made it out to the PA Hockey Scholastic Showcase to get a look at defending Pennsylvania Class A Champions Penncrest, currently ranked # 1 in Eastern Pennsylvania and # 2 in the state of Pennsylvania. The Quakers will definitely be a part of the process and a win over Serra will go a long way in capturing the # 1 seed in the playoffs since Serra looks to be the only team that can unseed them due to the weak Class A competition and the rarity of important games at this level. Early in the opening period at 11:01, Quaker Valley found themselves on the opposite end of a 5 on 3 disadvantage and at 10:44, the Eagles cashed in as Josh Werner scored into a wide open net behind Zac Zinger, who made the initial save, but had no chance on the rebound. With another 1:44 left on the 2nd power play, the Quakers could not afford to dig a 2-0 hole and they were successful in killing the Serra man advantage. At 4:42 of the first, Serra took a 2-0 lead as Bryan Hickey beat Zac Zinger cleanly from in close. Quaker Valley would get their first opportunity on the power play with 23 seconds left in the first and it didn’t take long as George Jackson found a loose puck on the doorstep and converted a rebound with 5 ticks left to cut the Serra lead to 2-1 at the end of one. At 13:48 of the second, the Eagles reclaimed the two goal lead as Aaron Nolte set up Steven Gruhalla, who made no mistake beating Zinger. Serra came right back at 13:07 as Josh Werner picked up his 2nd goal of the evening coming right down the slot and extending the Eagle lead to 4-1. At 7:56 of the second period, Furman South unleashed a wrist shot which beat Jeff Smaracheck to get the Quakers back in the game at 4-2. Serra came right back at 6:13 as Aaron Nolte unleashed a wrist which I don’t think Zac Zinger ever saw giving the Eagles a 5-2 lead. The Quakers went back on the power play at 5:27 and converted as Mikail Lemieux danced through the slot and beat the Serra Catholic goaltender with a wrist shot to cut the margin to 5-3. The Quakers went back on the power play with less than a minute to go and would carry over to the third period. On to the third and the Eagles killed off the remainder of the penalty. With 11:08 remaining, Qv would get another chance to cut the lead with a power play. With 9:23 Jeff Smaracheck made a great save on Colin South, who appeared to have a wide open net. With 8:45, QV got another power play but could not score. And yet another power play with 5:27 to go and a 5 on 3 with 4:56 to play. As Serra appeared to kill off the disadvantage, Furman South made a terrific play and a better shot as with 3:05 to play South buried a wrist shot high over the stick hand side of Jeff Smaracheck, who made several nice saves during the 5 on 3 and the lead was now slim 5-4. Quaker Valley brought the kitchen sink in the final minutes but the Eagle defense and Smaracheck stiffened and held the Quakers out and when Steve Gruhalla scored into the empty net with 10 seconds left, QV would have their first loss of the season 6-4. Serra now can control their own destiny by winning out including a February 12th matchup with Bishop McCort and a rematch the very next night against Quaker Valley.