South hockey picks up emotional tie with East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Kevin Winnert celebrates his third period goal that gave Williamsville South a 4-3 lead over Williamsville East on Jan. 4. Behind Winnert is East goalie Matt Bradley. The teams tied, 4-4. Photo by David F. Sherman

Williamsville South hockey almost pulled off a huge upset over its biggest rival last Thursday on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink.

Trailing Williamsville East, 3-1, the Billies scored three third period goals in a span of five minutes to take a 4-3 lead. However, the Flames' Spencer Barrett tied the game from Kyle Smith with 5:20 left and South goalie Thomas Tysowsky (30 saves, 13 in first period) and the Billies' defense held on for a 4-4 tie.

"It was a huge emotional effort," said South coach Sean Green. "At the time, they were ranked No. 1 in the state (East is now ranked second) so for us to be in a 4-3 lead and hold on for a 4-4 tie was uplifting."

"I give them credit," added East coach Mike Torrillo. "They could have easily rolled over and said the heck with it but they didn't. They played tough and scored when they had chances. We had our chances and we didn't score and he (Thomas) made some big saves."

"We got to score more when we get 34 shots," Torrillo added. "Give their goalie and defense credit but shame on our offense."

It looked like it was going to be a good night for South when Adam Oehmler scored on the Billies' first shot of the game 34 seconds in from Greg Reed. But East responded when Chris Fabozzi scored from Eric Bogart at 10:34. The Flames added two goals in the second. Jon Toole tipped in a Jamie Turchiarelli shot and Mike DeStefano followed later on a nice passing play from Bogart and Jordan Karnath.

Before the third period, Green told his team to throw every shot on net and it paid off. Kevin Winnert scored at 13:30 from Matt Kwarta and Joel Zangara. A minute and 15 seconds later, Reed threw a puck on East goalie Matt Bradley (eight saves) which hit his stick and went between his legs. Winnert gave South the lead on the power play from Leo Schultz at 7:49.

East and South faced St. Francis recently. East concluded its week with a dominating 4-0 shutout on the Feature Rink on Saturday. South fell, 3-1, on Dec. 30.

Eric Charlton led the Flames with two goals and two assists. He scored the only goal of the first period on a nice breakaway pass from Anthony Clair. His second came on a nice passing play in the second from Clair and Toole. Charlton and Toole set up a Clair wraparound goal and a Fabozzi goal with Smith in the third.

Torrillo said the Charleton-Clair-Toole line has been having its chances but were finally able to bury its chances.

Jay Hall made 14 saves as East peppered 27 shots.

St. Francis' Bill Mackey scored the game-winning goal over South at 1:41 of the third. South outshot St. Francis, 11-5, in the third, but could not bury its chances.

Kwarta scored unassisted for the only goal of the first. Jamie Vona and Derek MacNeil (Mackey, Ryan Wagner) gave St. Francis a 2-1 lead.

"The bottom line is they buried a couple of their chances," said Green. "We were trying to throw everything at the net to generate opportunities but their goalie (Adrian Balogh) made some nice saves. He had three point blank breakaways."

East and South each return to the ice with one game this weekend. The Flames (10-3-2, 7-1-1) play Amherst at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Feature Rink. South plays Bishop-Timon St. Jude at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State College. e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com