USC Hockey's Season Finale & Senior Night Friday

The Upper St. Clair hockey team is heading into the PIHL playoffs with plenty of momentum. They look to end their season on a 4-0-1 run when they take on Pine-Richland in their season finale at Ice Castle Arena Friday night at 9 p.m.

It will be a huge game for two reasons. Thanks to North Allegheny's 3-1 loss at Erie McDowell Thursday night, the Panthers have a chance to obtain a bye in the first round of the PIHL playoffs with a win over Pine-Richland.

That is not the only motivation for USC as they try to finish their season with a 13-6-1 record, Friday night is senior night. Six seniors will be honored before the game. Parker Phillips, Ben Herman, C.J. Murray, Michael Segerdahi, George Asrian and Justin Selep will be joined by their parents on the ice in a ceremony at 8:30 p.m.

Finishing the season on a high note will be the goal for Upper St. Clair, however they have quite a challenge ahead of them. Their match-up against Pine-Richland (7-11-1) should be a great tune-up because it will be a playoff-type atmosphere.  Senior night will garner a few extra fans in the seats and the game has playoff implications for Pine-Richland. They need to beat Upper St. Clair in order to join the playoff party themselves. No doubt both teams will be grinding hard for the victory.

"You have to go out and play all 45 minutes," head coach Larry Marks told Patch's Josh Taylor after on Monday.

USC will be trying to maintain that momentum into a playoff picture they are very familiar with. The past two seasons the Panthers lost in the Penguins Cup semi-finals. In fact, they've lost that semi-final game four of the past seven years. Overall, the Panthers have won the Penguins Cup four times, most recently during the 1989-1990 season.