Seneca Valley forward Jaxson Read (14) gets off a shot against North Allegheny last season. He leads the Raiders in scoring as the team has won seven of its first nine games. Eagle File Photo

There were a number of questions surrounding Seneca Valley’s hockey team entering this season. The Raiders advanced to the Class 3A Penguins Cup final last March, but that squad included a strong core of seniors.

“There was a decent amount of turnover and you don’t know exactly what to expect from a team until it starts playing games,” said SV coach Anthony Raco. “We have five freshmen this year.”

Through nine games, that youth has meshed well with the veteran players, sparking the Raiders to a 7-1-0-1 record. They promptly bounced back from losses to Baldwin and in overtime to Cathedral Prep and are averaging exactly four goals per contest.

“The important thing for us is that all four lines are scoring,” said senior winger Jaxson Read, who paces the team with nine goals and 14 points. “We’re moving the puck well and everything seems to be working right now.”

Marshall Hewitt has tallied five goals and five assists, Tyler Garvin five goals and four assists and Alec Malichky four goals and four assists. Jonathan Leishman has one goal to go with eight assists.

“We’ve had some lapses here and there, but for the most part, we’ve remained consistent through three periods,” Raco said. “Those are things we want to get across to our players, they need to have the same mentality every night and a game can be lost in one (bad) period.”

Read led last year’s team with 17 goals and is on pace to surpass that total before the regular season ends.

“He finds different ways to attack the net and he’s got a quick release,” Raco said. “That allows us to not have to worry a lot about matchups.”

J.D. Nichols is starting in net for the second year and his presence has helped the Raiders succeed despite a good deal of inexperience in front of him.

“Jack Smelscer and Stephen Longwell are our only two defensemen back from last year,” Raco said. “But (Nichols) is able to track pucks really well and doesn’t give up many rebound opportunities to opponents.”

Nichols, who is averaging 23 saves per contest, has a pretty good vantage point of the defense.

“We struggled at the beginning of the season just because guys didn’t know where they needed to be,” said Nichols. “But they’ve made a big improvement and a lot of it comes from Jack and Stephen. They’ve done a good job of communicating with the younger guys.”

SV’s loss in the final last season came against Peters Township. The Raiders played and defeated the Indians, 4-3, in mid-October.

“I always think about getting another shot in the Cup final,” Read said. “That’s the end goal, what we’re all hoping for.”

The Raiders play Bethel Park at Baierl Ice Complex Monday night.