Hockey
Teamwork leads North back to Fed finals
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North's Mike Cusenz, left, tries to block the shot of Amherst Central's Thom Bergman during first round action in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation playoff on Feb. 13 on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink. North won 8-1. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville North is back in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation finals, and it's because the players only care about what each can do to help the team.

North coach Bob Rosen found this out prior to the Spartans' 6-3 win over Bishop-Timon St. Jude in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation quarterfinals on Friday.

"The kids were taking the name off the back of their jerseys," said Rosen. "Ryan Geary stood up and said 'the name on the front means more than the name on the back'. That's when I knew Timon was in trouble."

Rosen said his players also did not wear their jersey names in the team's 6-5 semifinal win against Kenmore West on Sunday at Buffalo State College.

"When you have kids willing to make sacrifices then in the games make the little plays, and do whatever it takes to win, it's great to be a part of," said Rosen. "Too many times you hear about kids who act as individuals. It's nice to see kids that still care about playing as a team."

Williamsville North's Ryan Geary, right, shoots past Kenmore West's Andy Page during Federation semifinal action on Sunday at Buffalo State College. North won 6-5 and will face St. Joe's on Thursday in the finals. Photo by John Rusac Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Rosen also credits assistant coaches Tim DiGiulio, Dan Mancuso, John Burns, Tim Smallwood and Brian Willison for getting the team ready to play day in and day out.

North (22-2-3) will try to use the momentum from those games to beat rival St. Joe's in the Federation finals at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday at Buffalo State College.

North is 4-1 in Federation final games with its most recent victory coming in 2005 over Frontier. The Spartans beat St. Joe's in the finals in 2000 and 2001.

"We're going to have to play our best game to beat them," said Rosen. "We're looking forward to the challenge."

Amherst Central's Kevin Denny lays a check into Williamsville North's Jake Newton. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Win or lose, North will host Section VII's Seton Catholic in a Division I New York State regional game at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, March 3, on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink.

North led Kenmore West, 3-0, four minutes into the first period after goals by Justin Kochan (Ryan Geary) on the power play, Jamie VonHendy (Kyle Agius, John Walter), and Geary, short-handed. Kochan added his second of the period from Tom Goehrig with 44 seconds left. Nick Panepinto scored for Kenmore West from Michael Vaszquez and Scott Moser.

Josh Little (Pat Mulvihill, Nick Fronczak) made it 5-1 at the 12:44 mark of the second before Kenmore West responded with goals from Jared Passman (Giovanni Venezia) and Nick Panepinto (Scott Moser).

Vasquez cut the Blue Devils' deficit to 5-4 at 10:41 of the third from goalie Patrick Browne but Geary scored from Kochan and Nick Angelo at the 6:35 mark to give the Spartans back a two-goal cushion. Kenmore West's Anthony Farah scored from Andy Page and Passman with four seconds remaining.

"They're a good hockey team," said Rosen of Kenmore West. "We really jumped on them early but knew the game was not over until the final whistle blew. They're a team that works hard, has a lot of desire, and comes and compete for the whole game."

Kenmore West outshot North, 34-28.

Timon didn't have a chance against North. The Spartans led the Tigers, 5-1, after two periods. Four different lines scored as North outshot Timon, 44-27.

Geary started the scoring with an unassisted power-play goal at the 6:53 mark of the first. North tacked on four second period goals - Kochan (Angelo, Geary) on the power play, Geary, Mulvihill (Kochan, Angelo) on the power play, and Goehrig (Mulvihill). Geary scored an empty-net goal late in the third.

Josh Piegay (Michael Cassidy, Michael Carrig), John Garvin (Vince Judge) and Carrig (Cassidy) on the power play scored for Timon.

"We transitioned the puck extremely well and had real good speed and energy in that game," said Rosen. "Our defense did a good job of getting the good pass that allowed us to transition out of our zone."

In first round action, North blew out Amherst, 8-1, on Feb. 13. Kochan scored 11 seconds in from Geary. Mulvihill (Little, Goehrig), Kochan (Mulvihill, Goehrig) on the power play and Mulvihill (Little) also scored for the Spartans in the first period.

Walter (Andrew Saint), Mike Cusenz (Kochan, Agius), Goehrig (Little, Mulvhill) and Kochan (Geary) scored the rest of the Spartans goals.

Zach Willett scored Amherst's only goal at 11:04 of the second on the power play.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com