After four months of hard work and determination, the Central Valley hockey team, with Freedom athletes being represented, is approaching the end of the regular season. Going into February, the team already saw improvement from last year’s full-season record of 6-12. With the end of the season approaching, the team needed to go out bigger than ever.

Before February began, the Central Valley Warriors faced against the Bishop Canevin Crusaders on home ice at Brady’s Run. The Crusaders were leading with a score of 4-3. All of a sudden, with 10 minutes left to go in the game, senior Riley Adams tied the game, helping the Warriors achieve their victory with a final score of 5-4.

The team then traveled to McDowell on Feb. 5, traveling further than they have ever traveled before. The team ended up defeating the McDowell Trojans with a score of 7-5.

The next game took place on home ice on Feb. 14, facing against the Carrick Raiders. It was a special night at Brady’s Run, as it was the CV hockey team’s senior night. Freedom seniors Riley Adams and Sam Romutis, along with the other senior players on the team, were recognized for their hockey accomplishments and their future goals.

However, despite the seniors wanting to have a good hockey night, the CV hockey team still fell short to success that night. The Carrick Raiders defeated the CV Warriors with a final score of 4-1, an outcome that the home team didn’t wanted to see.

“We didn’t play our best game, and it sucks because we really wanted to win this one,” Romutis said.

The last game of the season took place on Feb. 19 against the Connellsville hockey team. With high hopes for the end of the season, the CV hockey team still fell short to a victory, losing with a score of 8-3. The team was missing 3 defensemen that night, while the team only posted up 11 shots on goal, compared to Connellsville with 41 shots on goal.

Even with the team not having a good end of the season, it still beat any other season that the hockey team had. The Warriors’ final record for the season was 8-10-2, which is better than other season records in the past.

“This is one of the best years Central Valley hockey has seen. We had a lot of fun together and we are looking forward to playoffs,” Romutis said. “We know we can make a big splash this postseason. We’re not done yet, so we have a lot of positives that we can take out of this season.”

With the regular season over, Central Valley placed 6 out of 11 other teams in the division, putting themselves into the playoffs. The team, along with the Freedom athletes playing with them, have high hopes and will not let anything get in their way as they strive to win the championship.