The second time was just as sweet. Anthony Valeriote’s goal with 2:50 remaining in regulation gave Holy Ghost Prep a 3-2 win over La Salle Tuesday night at Hatfield Ice and it second straight Class AAA Flyers Cup title
The result sets up a state championship game rematch between the Firebirds (20-4) and defending state champion Seneca Valley, which defeated Peters Township 5-4 Tuesday night in the Penguins Cup Class AAA final.
The title game is set for a 5:00 start Saturday at Ice Line.
Valeriote’s winning goal came on a deflection. Working behind the La Salle net, the senior tried to play the puck in front. His pass was deflected and caromed into the net off the back of Explorer goaltender Anthony Foster.
“I took it literally on the boards behind the net,” Valeriote said. “I was looking for a pass in front and it got redirected and hit him. I was like ‘All right, I’ll take it.’”
Valeriote noted the Firebirds handled the pressure that accompanied being the top-Class AAA team all season long.
“All year we’ve been the guys on top,” he said. “Everyone has been looking up at us and to finish it off and show that we are really the top team, it’s so special.”
The Firebirds were in control of the game early on. Jake Smaron found the back of the La Salle net from close range just 1:18 into the opening period.
Holy Ghost Prep went on to control the flow of the first frame, outshooting the Explorers 12-2. At the other end of the ice, the Firebirds’ defense corps neutralized the Explorers’ offensive chances.
La Salle goaltender Anthony Foster kept his team in the game by making 10 saves in the opening 17 minutes, several them on quality chances.
Foster continued his high-quality work early in the second frame in the second frame by denying Valeriote on a partial breakaway not quite four minutes into the period after Valeriote left the penalty box after serving a holding penalty.
Momentum gradually shifted LaSalle’s way after that and the Explorers (8-14) eventually scored the second period’s only goal. River Carangi beat Firebird netminder Matt Salita with 7:15 left in the period. By period’s end the shot differential was just 17-14 in the Firebirds’ favor, and most of the capacity crowd on hand was expecting a dramatic finale.
They got one. Nate Romer gave the Firebirds the lead with 6:45 left in regulation but Patrick Lunsford tied the game for the second time 58 seconds letter to set up what became a memorable finish.
Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie saluted the effort of both teams.
“It wasn’t as clean as we would have liked it to be,” he said, “but we knew we were going to get a really good opponent a really good game plan.
“After that first period, they brought it to us.”
A La Salle team that dealt with a sizeable helping of adversity over the course of the season left everything it had on the ice.
“I’m very proud of them,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “We worked our tails off this year to get to this point.
“When the APAC semifinals were going on, we were the only team practicing that day. We worked our butts off that day.
“We believed we could get here. We were probably the only ones that believed we could get here an I’m so proud of the effort that they gave. We grew tremendously as a team this year.”
• Chase Louge was named the winner of the Bobby Clarke Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
He said the Firebirds got contributions from up and down the lineup.
“We have a lot of depth and we got it going today,” he said. We just managed to stay on then, we kept going.”
La Salle 0 1 1—2
Holy Ghost Prep 1 0 2—3
First-period goals: Jake Smaron (HGP) from Chase Logue, 1:18
Second-period goals: River Carangi (L) from Nolan Hirshka, 9:45
Third-period goals: Nate Romer (HGP) from Lucas Gonzalez, 10:15; Patrick Lunsford (L) unassisted, 13:22; Anthony Valeriote, 14:10 unassisted, (pp)
Shots: La Salle 20, Holy Ghost Prep 34 Saves: Anthony Foster (L) 31, Matt Salita (HGP) 18
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