East hockey wins South tournament
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Eric Bogart lays out Glens Falls' Jan Saunders during the Flames' 3-0 win on Saturday in the final of the Williamsville South Holiday Boosters Tournament. The game was played on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink. Bogart was named tournament MVP. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville East bounced back from a 6-2 loss to Lancaster last Thursday on the Amherst Pepsi Center Olympic Rink with back-to-back wins in the Williamsville South Holiday Boosters Tournament.

The Flames beat Clarence, 4-2, on Friday night on the Pepsi Center Feature Rink, and completely dominated Glens Falls, 3-0, in Saturday's final, also on the Feature Rink.

"I think winning the tournament was good for our confidence," said East coach Mike Torrillo. "We haven't been playing poorly. We've just had some trouble scoring. Everyone on the team has believed in themselves."

Tournament MVP Eric Bogart had a hat trick against Clarence. The senior forward's first two goals came unassisted at 11:46 and 10:50 of the first period. His second goal was on the power play. Bogart completed his hat trick from senior forward Colin Lucey and senior defender Dan Tyx at 8:34 of the third.

Junior forward Mike DeStephano pounced in a rebound at 2:40 left in the second period from junior defenseman Max Fogel and Lucey.

Jackson Marnalse and J.J. Doherty scored goals for Clarence.

Senior goalie Matt Bradley finished with 23 saves as East outshot the Red Devils, 25-23.

"Overall, we played a lot better than we did in the Lancaster game," said Torrillo. "We made fewer mistakes and seem to be coming together as a team."

East took the play to Glens Falls, scoring once in the first period and twice in the second.

Senior forward Gary Styn scored his first career varsity goal on an assist from junior forward Simon Fedak, his first varsity assist, with 28 seconds left in the first period. Styn was named to the all-tournament team.

DeStephano made it 2-0 from senior forward Justin Floss at 7:52 of the second, and senior forward Matt Kweller banged home a rebound in front of the Glens Falls' net from senior forward Jon Gambocorta at 4:03.

East outshot Glens Falls, 10-6, in the third period, but could not score. They outshot Glens Falls, 28-19 overall.

Senior goalie Jay Hall recorded the shutout.

"It was a total team effort," said Torrillo. "We played 20 kids. Everyone got 11 or 12 shifts."

East trailed Lancaster, 3-1, at the end of the second period with a goal by Lucey (Floss) and made it 3-2 early in the third from senior Tyler Durinka (Mike Esposito), but Lancaster answered with goals by Joe Karl, Jarrett McGraw and Ryan Rogalski to seal the Redskins' victory.

Rogalski and Karl each finished with two goals each. Anthony Draves also scored for Lancaster. The Redskins outshot East, 27-17.

In all three games, Torrillo lauded the work of his penalty killers, Eric Esposito, Joey Cantafio, Styn and Kweller at forward and Fogel, Austin Barnett and Kyle Murray on defense.

East was supposed to play Sweet Home last Sunday at Buffalo State Sports Arena, but it was postponed because of the weather. No makeup date has been announced.

East (4-2-1) plays Frontier at 6 p.m. on Friday in Batavia in the opening round of the Batavia Tournament. The winner plays New Hartford or Batavia on Saturday.

Host team Williamsville South lost to Glens Falls, 4-2, on Friday and Clarence, 2-0, on Saturday. Trevor Clark and Garin Smith scored for the Billies against Glens Falls.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com