North improves to 5-0; Sweet Home doubles up Falls
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

They're not playing their best hockey yet but Williamsville North coach Bob Rosen thinks his team is getting close.

"We're starting to play better but we have a long way to get to where we need to be," said Rosen.

The Spartans, last year's New York State Division I large school runner-up, improved to 5-0 after defeating Clarence, 5-0, on Thursday and Williamsville East, 6-2, last Saturday. Both games were played on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Olympic Rink.

Rosen felt his team played its best hockey against Clarence. North took a 1-0 lead 3:02 into the first period when junior Nick Angelo scored from senior Josh Little.

The Spartans tacked on three goals in the second period. Junior Marc Kadish got the scoring rolling 6:37 into the period on a power-play goal from Angelo and Little. Sophomore Chris Marsack made it 3-0 when he put in a goal on a backdoor pass from Angelo. Freshman Mark Maraschiello knocked in a rebound after a scramble in front of the Clarence net for another Spartan goal.

Sophomore James Nowicki finished off the scoring from Little and Marsack at 9:44 of the third.

Senior goalie Branden Komm made 25 saves as North outshot the Red Devils, 34-25.

Rosen also lauded the Jake Newton-Joey Jacobi-James Nowicki line for controlling Clarence's top line.

East scored first versus North when sophomore Eric Esposito, from sophomore Joey Cantafio, came around the corner and beat Komm with 12:50 left in the first period.

The Spartans answered with a power play goal by Kadish (Angelo, Mark Smith) in the first period and another three tallies in the second period, the last coming from Angelo (Nick Fronczak) with 55 seconds left.

Angelo also set up Marsack and Little in the second period. Matt Austin also assisted Little.

North outshot East, 10-1, in the second.

"I felt that we pretty much dominated play in the second period," said Rosen. "Besides the Clarence game, it was the best period that we played all year."

"They outhustled us," added East coach Mike Torrillo. "They seemed to want the puck more than we did. It showed us that we have to play a full 60 minutes. You can't have lapses against a good team because it will cost you."

East cut its deficit to 4-2 at 10:37 of the third on a power-play goal by Bogart (junior Mike DeStefano), and had a good chance to make it 4-3 when North took three penalties, but missed on their chances, Torrillo said.

A power-play goal from Grant Rickan (Fronczak, Nowicki), and an even strength goal by Kadish (Austin, Angelo) with 3:15 and 37 seconds remaining, sealed the North victory.

North outshot East, 27-17. Komm earned the win in net. Torrillo said East goalie Matt Bradley played well.

North will play Shenendehowa on Friday and Troy LaSalle on Saturday in the Shenendehowa Classic. North has won the event the last two years.

East (2-1-1) has a busy week, playing games Thursday through Sunday. They face Lancaster at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Pepsi Center Olympic Rink, Clarence at 7 p.m. on Friday and Glens Falls at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Williamsville South Tournament, and Sweet Home at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State College. Sweet Home beat East twice last year.

Sweet Home

Following two non-league Federation losses to Williamsville North and Kenmore West, the Panthers opened league play with a 6-3 win over Niagara Falls last Saturday on the Pepsi Center Feature Rink.

Sweet Home opened a 4-0 lead before Niagara Falls' Dave Kok and TJ Bullock tallied in 1:33 to make the score, 4-2, at the end of the second period.

Sweet Home junior Chris Covel scored from seniors Ryan Marko and Justin Reich with 2:21 left in the third. Marko capped off a hat trick with an unassisted, empty-net goal with 23 seconds remaining.

Marko opened the scoring 1:39 into the first period on the power play from Reich and junior Dominic Puntillo. He picked up his second with 49 seconds left in the first from Covel.

"We were up 4-0 and it seemed like we took the foot off the gas a little bit, and they scored and got some life," said Sweet Home coach Dave Gerspach. "We can't do that when our goaltending and defense is not as strong as they need to be right now."

Senior Jim Cardinale was great with the man down, scoring two short-handed goals. His first goal came on a two-on-one breakaway with senior Mike Campise at the eight-minute mark of the first period. Cardinale broke up a pass at the blue line, Campise shot the puck and Cardinale knocked in the rebound. His second goal came after forechecking and backhanding a shot into the roof of the Wolverine net with 11:45 left in the second period, unassisted.

"Jim doesn't usually kill penalties but he caused total havoc out there," said Gerspach. "He was blocking and skating in front of shots. They didn't even come in our zone."

AJ Catalano also scored for Niagara Falls.

Sweet Home outshot Niagara Falls, 37-19, but Gerspach said their goalie, Anthony Badolato, stopped four different breakaways in the second period.

Gerspach said his team also took four penalties in the second period, which were way too many.

Castiglia picked up the win in net for Sweet Home (2-2-1).

The Panthers face St. Joe's at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Pepsi Center Feature Rink and Williamsville East at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State College. St. Joe's was the only Federation team to beat Sweet Home last year.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com