East hockey comes up short in tournaments
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Splitting hockey games in two different tournaments in six days wasn’t exactly what Williamsville East head coach Mike Torrillo envisioned but that’s what happened to the Flames over the holiday break.

East took second place at the Batavia Tournament held Dec.

22-23 then took third at the Greece Tournament held Dec. 27-28.

A decrease in goal scoring, combined with hot goalie play from the opposition, was East’s downfall, especially against Batavia. East outshot Batavia, 42-8, in the finals, but couldn’t beat MVP goalie Mike Battaglia enough in a 3-2 loss.

East outshot Batavia, 16-0, in the first period and was only ahead 1-0 on a goal by Eric Charlton from Jon Toole.

“That was the first time I’ve ever seen zero shots in a period,” said Torrillo.

Batavia scored the next three goals, two coming in the second period. Pat Finnell scored from Doug Zalenski and Tim Walton 28 seconds in and Zalenski added a tally from Finnell at 9:42. Erik Pokornowski made it 3-1 early in the third after another Batavia player slid into East goalie Jay Hall and left a wide open net.

The Flames’ Chris Fabozzi scored late from Jamie Turchiarelli and Kyle Smith. Smith and Andrew Ross made the all-tournament team.

East advanced to the finals after beating Syracuse’s New Hartford, 4-1.

New Hartford scored an early first period goal but the Flames finally capitalized on its chances in the third. Fabozzi scored from Smith five minutes in. Four minutes later, Smith made it 2-0 from Fabozzi and Spencer Barrett. Barrett, unassisted, and Jordan Karnath from Mike Terryberry, also tallied for the Flames, in the period.

East outshot New Hartford, 29-24, although Torrillo said his team held New Hartford to many shots from outside the blue line.

East came out flat in the Greece Tournament, losing 4-1 to Greece, but bounced back with a convincing 3-0 shutout over Irondequoit in the consolation.

“We controlled the game from the first period on,” said Torrillo of his team’s play against Irondequoit.

Toole broke a scoreless game against Irondequoit 14 seconds into the second from an Anthony Clair pass. On East’s next shift, Eric Bogart put the Flames ahead, 2-0, from Mike DeStefano and Colin Lucey. Fabozzi closed out the scoring 1:23 later on the power play from Barrett and Smith.

“We finally put the puck in the net,” said Torrillo. “We had been in a scoring drought. We’ve been averaging seven goals a game. Now we’re fighting for three or four. Plus our defense played a lot better and Hall made the saves when we needed him to.” Charlton scored from Ross in the second against Greece.

Fabozzi made the all-tournament team.

East got back to Federation play with a 4-0 shutout over Kenmore East on Saturday.

The Flames scored three first period goals. Fabozzi started it off two minutes in from Barrett and Smith. Barrett answered 1:30 later from Fabozzi. With four minutes left in the period, Eric Charlton scored on the power play from Clair. Clair added a second period goal from Ross and Toole.

Hall recorded his second shutout ad East outshot Kenmore East, 36-15.

“It was one of our best all-around efforts offensively and defensively,” said Torrillo.

East (9-3-1, 6-1) returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday against Williamsville South on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com