Lancaster's Ferrentino ends South, East hockey seasons
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Leo Schultz celebrates as Williamsville South takes an early lead over Lancaster on Feb. 13. That goal, by Greg Reed, was not enough as Lancaster won, 2-1, eliminating the Billies from the Federation playoffs. Photo by David F. Sherman Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Lancaster's Nick Ferrentino played spoiler last week in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation playoffs.

Ferrentino scored game-winning goals for the Redskins to defeat Williamsville South, 2-1, on Feb. 13 and Williamsville East, 1-0, in overtime on Saturday. Both games were played on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Olympic Rink.

Ferrentino's game winner against South came with 1:35 remaining in the third period. He used a Billies defenseman as a screen and took a shot that skidded over South goalie's Thomas Tysowsky's glove. Tysowsky finished with 30 saves. South had 29 shots on goal.

South took a 1-0 lead with 4:26 remaining in the first period when, after persistent forechecking, Greg Reed one-timed in a rebound from the high slot. Dustin Jones and Leo Schultz assisted.

Lancaster's Ryan Rogalski tied it up from PJ Brown and Jordan Mc- Graw at 7:43 of the second when South was caught in a line change.

South finished with only three league wins but coach Sean Green liked how his team closed out the season.

"We finished great," he said. "We tied (Williamsville) North (4-4), beat St. Francis (3-2), and played an exciting game against Lancaster, one of section's state qualifying teams… We progressively got better as the season went on."

"We had a lot of young guys who got a lot of playing time," he added. "Hopefully, that helps us out in the next couple of years."

After not qualifying for the Division II state playoffs for the first time in several years, East refocused its goals and at the top was a Federation title.

But Ferrentino and Lancaster got the bounce at the end to eliminate the Flames, scoring at 2:30 of overtime from Joe Karl.

"We had four or five great scoring chances and in the last three or four minutes, played in their end," said East coach Mike Torrillo. "But their goalie (Paul Dudish) made some big saves so did ours (Matt Bradley)."

"You hate to see anybody lose when there's a game like that and for our seniors, it's even tougher," he added. "I told the kids I'm proud of the way they played. They did exactly what we wanted them to do. The last bounce just didn't go our way."

East opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over Frontier. The game was to be played on Feb. 13 but wintry weather moved the game to Thursday.

Dan Tyx scored his first goal of the season from Eric Charlton and Jon Toole 11 minutes into the first period. After some bad breaks led to Frontier first period goals from Marc Zoyhofski and Nick White (Mark Jacobik), East's Anthony Clair made a nice move on goalie Shawn Starkweather on a penalty shot to tie it at 2-2 in the second.

The Flames dominated play in the third period and were rewarded for its effort with goals by Charlton (Clair, Andrew Ross) and Kyle Smith.

East finished 16-7-3 overall.

"We were right there with the two best teams in the Federation (losing to North 2-1 and beating St. Joe's 5-3)," said Torrillo. "A bounce here or there and I think we're still playing."