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When the final whistle sounded Saturday afternoon at RMU Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh, the outpouring from Garnet Valley’s hockey team was one of joy.
But instead of unrestrained jubilation, helmets and sticks flying this way and that, a certain surety tempered the reaction.
The Jaguars had traveled west with a goal in mind. A workmanlike 7-2 dismantling of Avonworth in the Pennsylvania Cup A Final brought satisfaction and happiness, certainly, but nothing approaching shock.
“We knew we had it in us,” captain Nolan Stott said. “Coming here on the bus, we knew we were going to be winning. We knew we would be here, and we knew we had a job to do. We knew we were definitely capable of doing it, and that’s what we did.”
His matter-of-factness belies the history of Garnet Valley’s first PA Cup, after just its second Flyers Cup win in more than three decades.
Stott and Kevin Walton scored two goals and one assist each, and Aiden Delfin and Kaden Longo tallied a goal and a helper each. Garrett Stoops made 22 saves, beaten only by a fluky deflection in the first period and a consolation tally with four minutes left and the game decided.
Garnet Valley is the ninth PA Cup champ from Delaware County, but the first since 2010, when Cardinal O’Hara won the Class AAA state clash. Haverford was the last Delco team to reach the state final, losing to Baldwin in AA in 2021 out in Pittsburgh.
Garnet Valley was playing in its first PA Cup since 1998, when it fell to Seton-LaSalle. The Jaguars continue a streak dating to 2013 of the Flyers Cup representatives monopolizing the state title in Class A. The Jaguars finished the season 23-2, their only two losses to AA Haverford.
Avonworth (19-6), in only its fourth year of full varsity, was making its first PA Cup appearance. The Antelopes won their first Penguins Cup by beating the spacy duo of Moon Township and Mars Township, teams that had finished ahead of them in their PIHL division.
But the Antelopes had no answer from the opening puck drop Saturday.
“We knew we would come out and roll through anyone we played,” Garnet Valley defenseman Dylan Orr said. “We weren’t scared. We knew the whole year that we were going to do this, and we were so ready for it.”
Garnet Valley got it started on the power play, Jake Marrow’s point shot finding a way home. Longo forced a turnover at the red line and made it 2-1 on a breakaway at 14:28 of the first. Avonworth had gotten even when a Cooper Powell point shot went off a Garnet Valley stick and past Stoops. But the Jaguars shrugged it off.
“That goal was definitely on me,” Orr said. “After that goal, we didn’t get down. We kept our foot on the gas. We knew that they couldn’t play with us. We were so much faster than them.”
“We knew if we jumped on them right away, they were going to have a hard time coming back on us,” Stott said. “We got one quick, they got one back, a fluke goal, but we knew this was our game for the taking.”
GV stamped its authority on the second period. The shots were just 11-10, but the Grade A scoring chances were far more lopsided in the Jaguars’ favor.
Walton’s one-timer from the point at 4:16 found a path through traffic.
Stott made it 4-1, showing the superior jump the Jaguars had by outskating two defensemen to collect a loose puck in the offensive zone on a delayed penalty and burying it.
Any chance of an Avonworth comeback was dashed by three GV goals in 3:20 to start the third. Delfin put the icing on the cake 1:04 in, crashing the crease to punch home a rebound off a Walton shot. When AJ Tenhuisen got hooked on a breakaway at 2:27, it took Stott five seconds to cash in on the power play, given time to dust off the puck in the slot and go top corner. Walton added his second on a breakaway to make it 7-1.
“All we were focused on was coming right out and not letting the foot off gas,” Orr said of the second-intermission ice cut. “We wanted to bury them.”
Avonworth did itself no favors by giving away six power plays. It scored on one of the kills, via Austin Dzadovky, who had five goals in the Penguins Cup final. By and large, though, the Jaguars kept the dangerous trio of Dzadovsky, Powell and Conner Ralston muted.
Garnet Valley’s run was by no means preordained. It lost two of its top three scorers from last season. The class behind them is plenty talented, but it’s also matured to become greater than the sum of its parts.
Stott saw that growth accelerate in the postseason. The Jaguars ran through three Central League playoff opponents by a 21-4 combined score. It was 22-3 in the Flyers Cup, two blowouts sandwiching a 2-1 semifinal decision over West Chester East.
So by the time the final horn sounded Saturday, any shock had worn off, it too steamrolled by the Jaguars juggernaut.
“We lost two key guys last year, and I didn’t know how it was going to affect us,” Stott said. “I didn’t know if that was going to make us go down in the standings, but it definitely didn’t. Our locker room was so great all year. There’s definitely a big change from last year, but I can’t put my finger on it. I just couldn’t be any more proud of this group and happy to do it with these guys.”
