Pee Wee Red Sabres shatter Stars

The Pee Wee Red Sabres were ready to play hockey with the Stars on Sunday at the Amherst Pepsi Center in a game that featured great goaltending at both ends of the ice and three full periods of exciting hockey action. The Red Sabres won 6-4.

The Red Sabres scored first when Matt Berke put an off angle shot past Stars starting goaltender Kevin Doughert, just 3:34 into the game while short-handed.

Three minutes later, Berke scored again on an end-to-end rush, making the score 2-0. Then with 1:38 remaining in the first period, Robert Paslaqua scored the third goal for the Red Sabres on a two-man advantage power play. Assists were awarded to both Matt and Jacob Berke on the goal.

The second period started like the first with a short-handed goal by the Red Sabres. At 56 seconds of the second period, Trevor Browning scored on a rebound from a shot by Missy Mallon on a play started by Jacob Berke.

The Red Sabres scored another short-handed goal at 3:45 of the second period when Eric Fiegel scored with assists by Jacob Berke and Zach Pinti.

With 1:37 remaining in the second period, Zach Johnson, on the power play, put the Stars on the scoreboard making it 5-1. Ryan Shanahan was awarded the assist on the Stars' first goal.

The third period featured spectacular goaltending by Tim Andrews for the Stars and Mike Heyden for the Red Sabres with both demonstrating quick gloves and smart positioning.

It wasn't until 6:17 of the third period that another goal was scored. The Stars' Johnson scored his second of the game for the Stars with an assist by Brandon Cefalu. Two minutes later, Matt Berke completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal.

With the score 6-2 and less than three minutes remaining, the Stars would not give up. With 2:07 remaining, James Bailey, assisted by Richard Schwartz and Shane McQuaid scored to make it 6-3.

The game might have been out of reach for the Stars but Johnson wanted a hat trick and earned it with just 1:35 left on the clock as he slipped past the Red Sabres defensemen and scored unassisted.

For the Red Sabres, James Pitman, Paul Blasio, Tom Garrity, Mark Lesinski, Ryan Rego, Ryan Maghran and Michael Hourigan were all major contributors to the win.

For the Stars, Scott Baum, Andrew Bond, John Huyler, Tom Krasinski, Dan Lumadue and Michael Rizzo played their best and never gave up.

Pee Wee Red Sabres come from behind

to defeat Bruins

The Amherst Pee Wee Red Sabres hockey team overcame a three-goal first period deficit to beat the Bruins, 6-3, on Dec. 30.

The Bruins' first goal came at 7:29 of the first period when Andrew Pawenski scored with an assist to Matt Aichinger. The Bruins' Dylan Cottrell made the score 2-0 a minute later. Assists for the goal were awarded to Andrew Weinberg and Charles Carlino.

Cottrell scored again with 2:28 remaining in the first period to give the Bruins a convincing three-goal lead.

Between periods, the Red Sabre coaches reminded their players that they had overcome three-goal deficits in the past and were told that they could do it again.

The Red Sabres comeback started just 2:36 into the second period when Ryan Rego scored a goal assisted by Jacob Berke. Just one minute later, the Red Sabres cut the lead to one when Zach Pinti scored. Assists were given to Ryan Maghran and Eric Fiegel. Then with 2:54 remaining in the second period and the Bruins on the power play, Matt Berke took the puck end to end and tied the game.

The momentum had turned in the favor of the Red Sabres, and they weren't about to stop. They had found a way to beat the Bruins goaltender, Shane Pettis, after being shut out in the first period. At the same time, the Red Sabres goaltender Mike Heyden had become unbeatable.

The Red Sabres took the lead for good 1:47 into the third period when Matt Berke scored again, assisted by James Pitman. Mark Lesinski added to the lead with a hard shot from the point at 3:29 of the third. The Red Sabres scored the final goal of the game at 5:15 of the third period when Trevor Browning scored with an assist awarded to Michael Hourigan.

Also contributing to the Red Sabres victory were Missy Mallon, Andrew Kean, and Paul Blasio. For the Bruins, Tyler Degan, Tyler Utz, and Adam Herman also had strong games.