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Sweet Home defeats rival to advance into first regional
Sweet Home defeated Williamsville East, 3-2, on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink, to advance to a Division II regional game for the first time in school history. Sweet Home will play a Section IX team at 7:45 p.m., Saturday, March 3, at the Pepsi Center. "It's an unbelievable feeling," said Gerspach. "Everything I've gone through with this program over the last five years - one win, three wins, losing by ten or 20 goals, and to say 'hey, we're the only undefeated team in the Fed, we swept through our division and are going to states', is great." "I never thought this would ever happen," added junior Ryan Marko, who scored two goals. "My freshman year, we were lucky to win two games."
Sweet Home, like in almost every game this season, was led by Marko. He opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 10 seconds left in the first period. Marko stole the puck from an East defenseman who was pinching and beat East goalie Jay Hall (22 saves) in the five-hole. The goal was Marko's 100th point of his career and the fourth straight game he scored short-handed. "I saw the puck get passed and I put my head down and went as fast as I could to get to it," said Marko. "I wasn't thinking about 100 career points, I was thinking goal." Marko added the game-winning goal from linemate Alex Esposito with 2:51 remaining in the third. It was the same exact play that won the Panthers' earlier meeting this season over the Flames, 4-2. "He saw me over his shoulder and knew I was going to be there," said Marko. "I was right there on the tap and it was in the back of the net." "He's the best player in the league," said Gerspach. "Again, four games in a row, a short-handed goal. He knows when to go get it. No one's going to catch him. We would have liked him to get that empty-netter in the third but we'll take the two and the 'W.'" East tied it at 1-1 at the 7:07 mark of the second when a Sweet Home defenseman fell and Jon Toole fired a shot that beat Panther goalie Derek Mohney (19 saves) on the blocker side. Kyle Smith scored past Mohney in the five-hole with eight seconds left in regulation. "I told my kids we have nothing to be ashamed of," said East coach Mike Torrillo. "The third period could have been the best period we played all long. We were in their zone for about 13 minutes but their goalie made four huge saves. What could we do about it? I respect the fact that we didn't quit." James Cardinale scored from Esposito on a delayed East penalty in the second period. Sweet Home and East finished out the week with ties to Bishop Timon-St. Jude. On Saturday, East and Timon skated to a 1-1 tie on the Feature Rink. Sweet Home gave up its first Federation point in a 4-4 tie with Timon on Sunday at Buffalo State College. Sweet Home built a 4-1 lead in the second period before Timon answered with three power-play goals, the game-tying tally coming from the stick of Mike Mc- Carthy from John Garvin and Michael Cassidy in a scrum in front of Mohney with four seconds left in the third. The same trio hooked up with six seconds remaining in the second on the power play. Cassidy made it 4-3 from Vince Judge and Steve Zappia at 3:56 of the third. Mike Miranda put Timon ahead, 1-0, before the Panthers scored four straight, two coming from Esposito on the power play. Cardinale scored two more Sweet Home goals, his first from Ryan Gutt, his second unassisted on the power play. Paul Campise (two assists) and Dan Martino (assist) also contributed for the Panthers. Mohney made 32 saves and stopped five breakaways. Sweet Home only had 25 shots on net. East tied Timon at 11:56 of the third when Toole scored from Smith but had many chances earlier to open it up. The Flames outshot Timon, 14-4, in the first period, and 28-18 overall, but could not score. Garvin put Timon ahead, 1-0, at 9:39 of the second on the power play from Cassidy and Judge. The Flames' defense was solid, holding Timon to eight shots in the first two periods and killing off 10 of 11 penalties. "I can't ask the kids to play better defensively," said Torrillo. "In the last six or seven games, we're getting shots in the 30's and holding teams under 20 and not scoring. Hopefully, we'll get the bounces one of these days." East (10-4-3, 8-2-2) plays Williamsville North at 1 p.m. Saturday on the Feature Rink. Torrillo said a Federation title is his team's goal now. "Our first goal was to make regionals," said Torrillo. "Even though that didn't happen, we still have a lot to play for. This is a strong senior team and are not going to quit." Sweet Home's other game was a 9-1 win over Amherst on Saturday on the Olympic Rink. Eight different Panthers scored in the victory. Marko had a goal and five assists. He has 46 goals and 61 assists for his career. Esposito had two goals that gave him 50 for his career. He has 52 goals and 38 assists as of this writing. Justin Reich, Martino, Matt Stewart, Christian Gannon, Daryn Cavalier, and JV call-up Pat McMahon also scored for Sweet Home, who led 6-1 after two periods. Paul Campise and Cardinale had two assists each. Reich, Mike Campise, Anthony Manzella, and Corey Sykes were each credited with an assist. Sweet Home outshot Amherst, 43-16. David Moore scored from Matt Allwes for Amherst's only goal. Goalie Rob Castiglia picked up his first Federation win. Sweet Home (14-2-1, 11-0-1) plays Section V's Churchville-Chili at 8 p.m. Friday at the Feature Rink. They return to Fed action at 3 p.m. Saturday against Orchard Park on the Olympic Rink. e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com |
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