Kenmore West hockey upsets Sweet Home in Fed quarters
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home will have to wait another year to win the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation title.

Defending Federation champion Kenmore West dominated the Panthers from the opening faceoff en route to a convincing 5-0 shutout last Friday on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink.

"We played probably our worst game and they probably played their best game of the year," said Sweet Home coach Dave Gerspach. "Every person except (goalie) Derek (Mohney) didn't play well. If it wasn't for him, it would have been 10-0 easy."

Mohney finished with 34 saves.

Scott Moser put Ken West on the scoreboard only 22 seconds into the game from Nick Panepinto and Michael Vasquez. Second period goals from Panepinto (Anthony Farah, Pat Fisher) and Farah (Panepinto, Vasquez, on the power play) increased the Blue Devils' lead to 3-0. Gerspach said his team had a five on three advantage later in the second but did not have one shot on goalie Patrick Browne.

Gerspach said his team could have easily scored on the first two shifts of the third period but could not score.

Vasquez (Moser, Panepinto) put the game away 2½ minutes into the period. Farah rounded out the scoring with an unassisted goal.

Sweet Home had beaten Kenmore West, 6-3, a week earlier.

The Panthers' season is not over. Sweet Home (17-3-4), ranked second in New York State Division II, hosts a regional game with a Section IX team at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 3.

"The Ken West game was a learning experience," said Gerspach. "As much as we would have liked to win the Fed tournament, our No. 1 goal is to win a state championship."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com