Hockey
North battles, wins Morrisville tourney
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North has won the Morrisville Ice Plex Tournament three out of the last four years but arguably its greatest victory in the event came on Thursday.

Trailing Section II’s Shenendehowa, 2-1, in the third period, the Spartans (12-1, 4-1) scored four unanswered goals to win the final, 5-2.

“The win was huge because they’re a good hockey team and we were down,” said North coach Bob Rosen. “As well as we played a day before, we weren’t playing as well but found a way to grind out a win. Some days when everything isn’t going your way and you’re able to fight through everything, those wins will lead to bigger things down the road.”

North, last year’s Division I New York State champion, dominated Division II state champ Clinton of Section III, 6-0, last Wednesday.

Ryan Geary scored twice in the third period against Shenendehowa. His first goal, at 5:19 short-handed from Nick Fronczak, turned out to be the game-winner. Geary added an empty-netter with 57 seconds left to play. Cam Sroda tied the game at 2-2 with his first varsity goal after Andrew Saint won a faceoff. Justin Kochan also scored from Geary in the third and tied the game at 1-1 with an unassisted second period tally.

Adam Hitchko (Steve Carruso) and Jesse Elliott (A.J. Mangino) scored for Shenendehowa, who lost to North, 5-1, in their tournament in early December.

Taylor Gahagen made 25 saves as North outshot Shenendehowa, 38-27.

North pounded Clinton, scoring five goals by the four-minute mark of the second.

John Walters (Saint), Geary (Nick Angelo), Tom Goehrig (Angelo), Kochan (Dan Conover) and Saint (Walters) scored for the Spartans. Geary added a third period goal from Pat Mulvihill.

“The kids were pretty excited,” said Rosen. “There was a lot of trash talking after we won and they won (state titles), how Clinton was the best team, small school or large school. It didn’t matter to me. But we moved the puck extremely well and they couldn’t handle our speed. We played with a lot of pride.”

All-tournament selection Brandon Komm made 25 saves for the shutout. North had 42 shots on net. Goehrig also made the all-tournament team.

Before the trip to Morrisville, North defeated Frontier, 5-2, on Dec. 23 on the Amherst Pepsi Center’s Feature Rink.

Josh Little scored his first high school hat trick. His first came on a wrist shot on the second shift of the game from Conover and Mulvihill. He tied it at 2-2 on another wrist shot from Goehrig with three minutes to go in the second. Both came from drop passes in the slot, said Rosen.

Little’s third was a one-timer on the power play with nine seconds left in the game from Goehrig and Jake Newton.

Fronczak scored the game-winner with 3:46 left in the third.

“Geary won a faceoff to the boards, Mulvihill moved it back to the point and Nick took a screen shot and scored in the upper right hand corner,” said Rosen.

Geary’s assist moved him past Kenny Joseph into second place all-time at North in league scoring (76 points, 36 goals, 40 assists).

Goehrig also scored from Conover.

Greg Zitnik (Nick Battista) and Marc Zoyhofski (Ryan Ventura, Battista) scored for Frontier.

Komm made 22 saves on 24 shots. Frontier’s Andy Williams had 32 saves.

A game write-up of North’s 6-1 win over Orchard Park on Sunday, plus the Spartans’ match-ups with Canisius at 9 p.m. Thursday on the Feature Rink and at 5 p.m. Saturday versus Frontier on the Olympic Rink, will appear in the Jan. 10 edition.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com