Braden Morin’s hat trick powers Seneca Valley hockey to 1st state title in rout of Holy Ghost Prep
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Seneca Valley's Andrew Malichky (28) lifts the trophy after defeating Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Vinvi Villella (92) looks on as Christopher Nichols (40) covers the puck against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Andrew Malichky (28) controls the puck in the offensive zone against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Braden Morin (13) celebrates after scoring a goal against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Marshall Hewitt (33) takes a shot against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Jimmy Murtha (21) attempts a backhand shot against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Ethan Riffe (42) forechecks against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Marshall Hewitt (33) takes a shot against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Jimmy Murtha (21) celebrates after scoring a goal in the second period against Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
CORAOPOLIS — Holy Ghost Prep’s momentum was stopped — and Seneca Valley’s party began.
Braden Morin scored three goals — including a shorthanded tally into an empty net — and Jimmy Murtha netted two critical tallies as Seneca Valley won its first-ever hockey state championship 7-2 Saturday night at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center.
Marshall Hewitt and Ethan Riffe also scored for the Raiders (19-5), helping 2010 SV graduate and former Raider hickey player Tyler Mesisca realize a state title in his first year as head coach.
“When I played, we got to the Penguins Cup final twice and lost in overtime both games,” Mesisca said. “For me, this is a dream come true.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing for these players. I’ve been an assistant coach here for the past few years, so I knew the talent was here. These guys worked hard for this moment. They deserve to enjoy this.”
Two of the Raiders’ Penguins Cup games went into overtime, including triple OT in the title contest, and it appeared the state finale might go in the same direction.
Riffe, Morin and Hewitt found the net to give SV a 3-0 lead with 13:28 left in the second period. But the Firebirds (21-5-1) got on the board midway through the second period, when a Raider defenseman couldn’t find the puck between his skates and John Gavaghan poked the loose puck into the net. Ryan Lippy added a power-play goal with 2:56 left in the period to pull Holy Ghost Prep within 3-2.
Murtha scored his first goal with 1:22 left in the period, standing all alone in front of the net and drilling home a cross-ice pass from Owen Martin.
“Owen worked hard to get the puck to me. All I had to do was finish the job,” Murtha said.
“Huge goal ... 100% huge,” Mesisca said. “That goal took away their momentum and gave it back to us.”
SV netminder Christopher Nichols helped finish off the Firebirds when he stopped Brady Logue’s backhand shot on a partial breakaway four seconds before the second-period horn sounded.
Nichols made 24 saves on the night, a number of them from point-blank range.
“Chris has been doing that for us all year,” Hewitt said. “We believe he’s the best goalie in the PIHL.”
Nichols stopped another Logue shot from the top of the crease less than a minute into the third period. Logue had 19 goals during the season and scored eight times in his team’s three Flyers Cup games, but could not beat Nichols on this night.
Murtha poked home a rebound with 15:56 left in the game. The Pioneers pulled starting goalie Jack Unger at that point. Unger had a 1.80 goals against average this season and allowed only three goals in the Flyers Cup playoffs.
“Jimmy’s late goal in the second was big,” Morin said. “After that, we wanted to come out and dominate the third period. We knew they would come out hard. We had to come out harder.”
Morin scored the Raiders’ final two goals, the last one finding an empty net while SV was killing a penalty. Holy Ghost Prep decided to go for a 6-on-4 advantage while trailing by four goals.
“They had nothing to lose at that point, but, yeah, I was surprised they did that,” Mesisca said.
“That was a fun way to end it,” Morin said. “We definitely didn’t want another overtime game. That last one wore us out.”
The Raiders had won only one other Penguins Cup title before this season, that coming in 2019. Holy Ghost Prep was trying to win its first state title since 2015.
“Hats off to them,” Firebirds coach John Ritchie said. “They are a defensive-minded team and made it hard for us to get much going offensively.
“We’re used to getting big leads early and adjusting from there. They flipped that on us tonight. Seneca Valley played a great game. They took it to us. They deserve it.”
SV had a 30-26 edge in shots on goal. Both teams were 1 for 3 on the power play.
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