Carter Hoehn fires game-winning goal in OT to send Seneca Valley hockey to Penguins Cup final
NEVILLE TWP — Carter Hoehn halted a pass from Andrew Malichky and kept it on his stick for a moment. The Seneca Valley defenseman briefly weighed his options, then fired off a shot and hoped.
“I caught the puck just looking around for anything, looking for a pass, rebound, where to shoot,” Hoehn said. “I decided to throw it low and pray to God.”
The offering zipped past an Upper St. Clair defender sliding on his knees in an effort to get in front of it. It wound up in Owen Laurent’s net, sealing a 3-2 Raiders victory 3:22 into overtime Monday night at Robert Morris University’s Island Sports Center.
The goal sends the first-seeded Raiders to the Penguins Cup Class AAA final at 6:15 p.m. March 17 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. There, they’ll face the winner of the opposite semifinal between No. 3 North Allegheny and No. 7 South Fayette, which was held Monday night after publication.
“It worked out for me this time,” Hoehn said. “It’s just pure excitement, shock. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt in my life. I was just so thankful.”
“Just relief,” Seneca Valley coach Tyler Messica said. “It was a stressful game, really. It was tight, back and forth. I just had a feeling. ... That was the message going into overtime was, ‘No shot on net is going to be bad.’”
John Sroka III’s goal with 6:07 remaining in regulation — his second of the night — put the Raiders (17-5) up 2-1. The Panthers’ Nevin Shegan Siniawski leveled the scoreboard 1:43 later.
“We always say don’t get too high, too low,” Messica said. “That’s the best part about this group is, no matter what happens, they just work hard and go over the boards the next shift. That’s just been the mentality all year long.”
“Just bounce back,” Hoehn said. “We’re not worried. We’ve done it before multiple times. It’s something we’ve done at least four times already. I have all the confidence in the world in these boys. We came back.”
The game-winner was Hoehn’s third goal of the season. He had another overtime goal earlier in the season during a 3-2 home win over Peters Township on Oct. 17.
“He’s been our best defenseman all year,” Messica said of Hoehn. “Power play, penalty kill, we trust him in all situations. When that puck got on his stick, I knew something good was going to come out of it.”
The Raiders and Upper St. Clair (11-11) had played two close games during the regular season.
“That’s exactly what we knew it would be like,” Messica said. “They play really good structure D. ... We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. Every game we’ve played with them this year has been one goal, and we knew tonight wasn’t going to be any different.”
Christopher Nichols made 20 saves on 22 shots on goal for Seneca Valley.
