Spartans split hockey games in Shenendehowa
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North had never lost a hockey game against Shenendehowa. That is, until last Friday.

The Spartans, 6-0 all-time against Shenendehowa, blew two two-goal leads as Shenendehowa won 5-4 as part of the Shenendehowa Classic in Albany.

North led 2-0 after the first period and 4-2 after the second period.

"I'm happy with the way we competed in the first two periods," said North coach Bob Rosen. "But if we score four goals, we have to win the game. It's a learning experience. We have to learn how to win games. If we can do that, we'll be successful this year. If we don't, we're going to have our work cut out for us."

North got first period goals 15 seconds apart from senior forward Josh Little (Chris Marsack, Nick Angelo) and junior forward Cam Sroda (Steve Pizzuto) at 11:08 and 11:23, respectively, to go up 2-0 after the first period.

Shenendehowa answered with goals at the 51-second and 4:13 mark of the second but North came back later in the second from Angelo (Marsack, Mark Smith) and Smith (Angelo) at 7:32 and 11:36, respectively, to take a 4-2 advantage.

Shenendehowa scored three times in the third period to put away the Spartans. Adam Hitchko tied the game at 9:36. Jesse Elliott got the game-winner at 9:51.

Rosen said his team, which had traveled four and a half hours to get to the location of the game, ran out of gas a little bit and made some defensive errors in their own zone.

Shenendehowa outshot North, 31-22. The Spartans only had one power play the entire game and it lasted for only 32 seconds.

"It was the first time they had ever beaten us," said Rosen. "If you saw how they celebrated, it showed that everyone wants to beat us. We keep telling the kids this and they saw it first hand. They have to be thankful of the tradition of winning that has been handed down to them but now have to live up to it."

Twelve hours later, North took the ice against Troy LaSalle and won 3-2.

The Spartans trailed 2-0 in the second before Angelo and junior Marc Kadish assisted each other on goals 11 seconds apart.

Kadish scored the game-winner on a rebound on the power play at 4:30 of the third from senior defender Kyle Agius and Little.

Rosen said his team played short-handed a lot in the third but still limited Troy LaSalle to four shots.

"Hopefully, we learned something from the night before," said Rosen.

North outshot Troy LaSalle, 25-19.

Branden Komm played both games in net for North.

Rosen hopes his team learned from the trip how everyone must put forth 45 minutes to win a hockey game.

"If everyone takes care of their job, we'll be successful," said Rosen.

North (6-1) faces Frontier at 7 p.m. on Thursday on the Pepsi Center Olympic Rink, Lancaster at 3 p.m. on Saturday on the Pepsi Center Feature Rink and Canisius at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State Sports Arena.

Sweet Home

The Panthers' only hockey game that was played last week was one they would like to forget.

St. Joe's defeated Sweet Home, 5-0, last Thursday on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink.

James Farrell scored twice for the Mauraders, who were ahead 5-0 going into the third period.

"They were just a very good team," said Sweet Home coach Dave Gerspach. "They have a ton of speed and (Sweet Home goalie) Rob (Castiglia) had a couple of breakdowns."

St. Joe's scored four seconds into the game.

Sweet Home's other game last week, on Sunday against Williamsville East, was postponed because of snow. No makeup date has been announced.

The Panthers (2-3-1) look to rebound with games against Bishop Timon-St. Jude at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Pepsi Center Feature Rink and at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Niagara University's Dwyer Arena.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com