MORGANTOWN — Last year, Nico Kourtsis looked around the locker room after the Morgantown Mohawks lost 7-2 to Burrell (Pa.) in the first round of the Pittsburgh Interscholastic Hockey League playoffs, the same round the Mohawks (a combined team with players from Morgantown, University, Bridgeport, and Albert Gallatin, Pa. high schools) had seen their season end for many years.
“I remember thinking two things,” the assistant captain and MHS senior recalled. “I thought we’d never have a chance to win the PIHL championship, but I also thought, looking at all nine juniors and solid underclassmen in that room, that if we ever were going to have a shot, 2025 would be the year.”
As it turns out, Koutsis was both right and gloriously wrong, as Morgantown roared through their regular season with a stellar 19-1 record – a 6-5 early loss to their nemesis Burrell the only blemish – and then swept to the title in March, avenging their earlier loss to the Bucs with a dominating 6-2 win, the first Open Division PIHL Championship in program history.
Head coach Rob Rockis, a Morgantown native who has been involved with the sport in town since its infancy in 1979 as a player and coach at every level from Mites to NCAA WVU Division I Club hockey, also knew that this team had a chance to make history.
“This group has been together for four years,” he recalled. “PIHL has a great program where teams can combine high schools , allowing more players to compete at the varsity level. Morgantown has represented our area for many years with this combined team, and for us to beat much more established programs in our league is a huge accomplishment, especially after the way the West Virginia State Tournament went for us.”
The Mohawks also compete in the West Virginia Hockey League that determines the W.Va. state champions, and after winning in 2023, this year’s team had high hopes for regaining the crown. But a rough start doomed the Mohawks, as they lost to in-state rival Wheeling Park, 7-4 in February. However, according to team captain and Albert Gallatin senior Geno Valenti, there was an obvious team reset that he observed – also in the locker room – immediately after the disappointing loss.
“Of course we were down,” he recalled, “But coach Rockis came in, and he had a kind of a smirk on his face. He looked around at each of us, then just said, ‘We’re not done yet.’ And everybody knew exactly what he meant. He’d always told us that winning the West Virginia state tournament was a lot easier than winning the PIHL, and that just gave everybody a goal to focus on. We just put the loss behind us and moved forward.
“As a captain,” he admitted with a grin, “I didn’t have to do much of anything. The guys just got to work, stayed focused, and we got it done. And to be up 2-0 in the finals against Burrell going into the third, and then scoring three quick goals to put it out of reach, that was just an unbelievable feeling.”
The title also qualified the Mohawks to represent the region at the USA Hockey National High School Championship tournament in Irvine and Anaheim, Calif. from March 26-30. This was the second-ever trip to nationals for the Mohawks, who traveled to Plymouth, Minn. in 2023 as West Virginia’s representative, and the team relished the opportunity to show what Morgantown hockey can do.
Despite being seeded in a tough bracket, the Mohawks came out of the 1A Winner’s bracket undefeated, with wins over (eventual National Champs) Waterloo, Iowa (6-2), Idaho Falls, Idaho (6-2), and Bishop Gorman (Nev.) (4-3) to advance to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Park City, Utah 5-1. Unfortunately, a little bit of puck-luck didn’t go their way against the Lincoln Jr. Stars from Nebraska, when a later rally couldn’t net the tying goal in a 4-3 loss.
Despite the season-ending loss, Morgantown finished with a sparkling 28-6 record including a first-ever PIHL title and a deep run at nationals, and Valenti – who hopes to play for the Mountaineers this fall – put it all into perspective.
“We beat the top 1A team in the country,” he smiled, “and we took the PIHL title, and nobody can take that away from us. It’s been such a great season, and so great to play with everyone, including the JV guys – everybody. You know, when I came to play for the Mohawks back in 8th grade for the middle school program, I was a little bit worried if they’d accept me, coming from another state. But they’ve always welcomed me completely, and I became one of the guys right away. So for me, it has been a complete honor to have played with these guys, and to have been named captain. I know we’ll always remember this year, and I’m proud of what we’ve done to represent Morgantown hockey.”
