East overcomes to beat South, Batavia
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The theme for the Williamsville East Federation hockey team last week was overcoming adversity.

The Flames (6-3-1) overcame consecutive penalties in the second period against Williamsville South last Thursday on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink to post a 5-1 victory. On Saturday, East came back from a 3-2 deficit against Batavia to win, 4-3, in overtime, to take third at the Batavia Tournament.

East led South 2-0 after the first period on goals by senior forward Mike Esposito (Matt Kweller, Jon Gambocorta) and senior defender Dan Tyx (Joey Cantafio) but took three consecutive penalties in the second. South took advantage on one of its power play opportunities when senior Dustin Ditallio (Austin White, Daren Powers) scored at 8:17. South outshot East, 10-4, in the second.

East coach Mike Torrillo said goalie Matt Bradley (17 saves) made some big stops in the second to keep his team in the game.

The Flames came on in the third, scoring three times and outshooting the Billies, 13-5. Cantafio opened the scoring in the third period at 9:41 from senior Eric Bogart. Senior Colin Lucey made the score 3-1 at 5:15 from Mike DeStephano and Bogart. Forty seconds later, senior forward Gary Styn scored from junior forward Simon Fedak.

"They had opportunities and they cashed in on them," said South coach Sean Green.

East had a 2-1 lead against Batavia after the second period, but Batavia scored twice a minute apart in the third to give them a 3-2 lead. Torrillo pulled goalie Steve Bukolt late in the third and with 13 seconds left, 6-foot-4, 304-pound senior Tyler Durinka scored on the power play from Lucey and sophomore forward Eric Esposito.

Bogart scored the game-winner at 5:59 of overtime. Bogart outworked a Batavia player down low and put in a rebound. DeStephano and Durinka assisted.

Cantafio gave East a 1-0 advantage at 2:51 of the first period from Bogart and Eric Esposito. Batavia's Doug Zanski (Tim Laron) tied the game at 1:01 with a short-handed goal. Styn (James Faran, Fedak) put East ahead, 2-1, at 3:21 of the second.

Bukolt made 16 saves in his first action of the season. East fired 24 shots on Batavia.

East opened the Batavia Tournament with an exciting 4-3 loss with Frontier.

The Flames led Frontier, 2-1, going into the second period but like the South game, took three penalties in a row, which led to a power-play goal by Frontier's Nick Battista (Nick White). Just as a power play ended, Chris Gonser (White) put Frontier ahead, 3-2, 38 seconds into the third. East tied the score a minute later by DeStephano (Austin Barnett, Lucey), but Gonser (Mark Smerka) scored again at 6:49.

Torrillo said his team had five or six good scoring chances late but couldn't score.

Kweller (Gambocorta) scored at 2:32 of the first. Lucey scored unassisted about seven minutes later on the power play on an end-to-end rush.

East senior goalie Jay Hall made 15 saves.

Overall, Torrillo was pleased with how his team played in the Batavia Tournament.

"The seniors stepped up, the defense played solid and the goaltending was solid," said Torrillo. "I thought at the beginning of the season we would be playing in a lot one-goal games. Hopefully, we can keep coming out on the good side of them."

Torrillo also lauded the play of defensemen sophomore Billy Gaffney and senior Matt Foster, who saw action for the first time this week.

East plays two big small-school Federation league games this week. They face Bishop Timon St. Jude at 7 p.m. on the Pepsi Center Olympic Rink and at 1 p.m. Saturday against Kenmore East.

South's other game last week was a 5-1 loss to Kenmore East on Sunday at Buffalo State College. The Bulldogs led 2-0 after two periods before Leo Schultz (Austin White) scored for South in the third. Kenmore East scored twice in a minute and added a late goal.

South (0-11) will have three chances this week to win its first game of the season. The Billies face Niagara Falls at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Pepsi Center Olympic Rink, Kenmore West at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Niagara University's Dwyer Arena and Kenmore East at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State Sports Arena.

"They've never given up," said Green. "We've played well in spurts and haven't been rewarded with a win. We need to put it together for three periods. I give the kids credit. They're not getting down on themselves."