Knights Squirt Minor 'AAA' close season with victory

The Amherst Knights Squirt Minor "AAA" hockey team ended their season with a solid 3-1 victory on Saturday over a powerful West Seneca Wings team at the Amherst Pepsi Center.

The strong showing was testimony to the progressive improvement the Knights demonstrated throughout the year.

The Amherst defense of John Hazelet, Chris Winiecki, Ellis Smith, Owen Green and Dylan Lock used solid positional play to keep the dangerous West Seneca forwards from penetrating the deep center slot for much of the game. Still, the West Seneca team remained tenacious and ultimately generated a few high quality scoring chances. In these instances, Amherst goaltenders Mark O'Malley and Max Battistoni, splitting duties, were up to the task, making the tough saves to bolster team and game confidence.

The Amherst line of Danny Tyczynski-Danny Brodzik-MJ Bronsky demonstrated some tenacity of its own. Bronsky and Brodzik forced the play in the deep offensive corners, gained puck control and applied sustained pressure to generate multiple scoring opportunities. Dante Todaro, centering for Alex Dimitroff and Matthew Ruggiero, broke out of their zone cleanly on a number of odd man rushes. Ruggiero was workman-like in front of the net, using his strength to force the play to the crease.

Dimitroff, breaking free, just missed on some close-in setups off Todaro's stick. Luke Eberhard, playing on a line with Mitchell Spring and Matthew Steffan, skated hard throughout the game. Eberhard was in close battling in the center slot, then back-checked hard to help the Knights defense thwart some quick breakout rushes by the Wings forwards.

Amherst opened the scoring first when Steffan broke in free and hit the back of the net with a well-placed low stick-side wrister to give his team a 1-0 lead. Tyczynski laced a picture perfect pass through center ice traffic that launched Todaro on a clean breakaway.

Todaro used a right to left deke to score and open a 2-0 lead for the Knights. Amherst took a comfortable 3-0 lead when Spring made a nifty left to right move through the slot and let go a wrist shot. A hustling Steffan followed the play in and pounded home the rebound to score his second goal of the game.

West Seneca applied some strong pressure and scored to get within 3-1.

Late in the game, with Amherst still leading 3-1 and in penalty trouble, West Seneca pulled their goaltender. The Wings stormed the net but Amherst never stopped skating and held on for the victory.

The Knights' coaching staff consists of head coach Jim Steffan and assistants, Joe Todaro and Tom Hazelet.