Sweet Home, East hockey stuck in log jam for top public school spot in Fed's Division II
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Ryan Marko, standing, fights off Williamsville East's Dan Tyx during the Panthers' 3-2 win last Tuesday on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink. Later in the week, Marko recorded his 150th career point. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

As the regular season winds down, the Division II state qualifying spot in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation is still up in the air.

And Sweet Home and Williamsville East are two of the top three schools vying for it.

The Panthers are tied with Kenmore East with 15 state qualifying points. East is right on both teams' tails with 14 points.

Sweet Home does hold a tiebreaker over East after winning, 3-2, last Tuesday afternoon on the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink.

Like the teams' last meeting, a 4-4 tie on Jan. 10, the game went back and forth.

Sweet Home took a 1-0 lead after Chris Covel scored on a two-on-one from Dominic Puntillo at 8:32 of the first. East answered twice in 30 seconds in the second period from Eric Bogart (Eric Esposito, Joey Cantafio) at 9:55 and Esposito (Cantafio) at 9:25.

Williamsville East's Colin Lucey, left, blasts a shot in the way of Sweet Home's Chris Covel. Covel is one of the top scorers in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Sweet Home's Jimmy Cardinale tied the game from Covel on the power play at 7:03 of the third. Sweet Home had a five-on-three advantage. Torrillo said his team tried to clear the puck but it hit the referee's skate and stayed in the East zone.

"The kids did a great job of killing off back-to-back penalties," said East coach Mike Torrillo. "The puck took a bad bounce."

Covel scored the game-winning goal with 1:40 remaining on a top corner shot off a beautiful pass from Ryan Gutt. Ryan Marko also assisted. Covel is tied for eighth in the league in scoring with 22 points (13 goals, nine assists).

"Chris has really thrived," said Sweet Home coach Dave Gerspach. "When he gets his chances, he's been able to score on a consistent basis."

Gerspach and Torrillo said both teams' goalies, Rob Castiglia for Sweet Home and Matt Bradley for East, played well. East outshot Sweet Home, 30-21.

"I loved our effort against Sweet Home," said Torrillo. "We have got to score more goals. I give Sweet Home credit. They had three really good chances and they scored on all of them."

Sweet Home and East played other games later in the week that affected their state qualifying bids.

On Thursday, the Panthers blanked Amherst, 6-0, on the Olympic Rink while East shut out Niagara Falls, 4-0, on the Feature Rink. Sweet Home closed out its week of games with a 2-2 tie against Williamsville South on Saturday on the Olympic Rink.

Sweet Home scored three times in the first period and another three in the second to put away the Tigers.

Mike Campise opened a five-point scoring night at 4:25 of the first on the power play from Covel and Marko. Campise also assisted on four other Sweet Home goals, setting up with Pat McMahon, Cardinale, at 3:54 of the first, and Marko, on a short-handed breakaway, at 2:38.

In the second, Campise fed McMahon a breakaway pass which led to a Panther goal and with 25 seconds remaining, assisted on a Marko power-play tally. Puntillo also assisted on Marko's goal.

Gutt opened the scoring in the second period on a two-on-one pass from Marko.

Rob Castiglia and Tom Sciortino combined for 26 saves and the shutout. Sweet Home had 36 shots on net.

For a while against Niagara Falls, it looked like East once again was having problems scoring goals. The Flames took a 1-0 lead into the third period but Torrillo said his players hit a goal post and a cross bar.

In the third, East defenseman Kyle Murray scored his first two goals of the season and Eric Esposito sandwiched in an unassisted tally. Murray's first goal came at 14:30 from Bogart and Justin Floss; his second came at 3:11 on the power play on a tip in from Colin Lucey and Bogart.

Mike DeStephano scored at 12:01 of the first from Cantafio and Dan Tyx.

East goalie Jay Hall made 21 saves to record the shutout.

"We controlled the game," said Torrillo. "We got goals from four different lines. The only time we didn't control the game was when we got in penalty trouble in the second period. We were getting a lot of scoring chances but not scoring. The defense played great and our goaltending was strong."

East plays Williamsville South at 7 p.m. on Wednesday on the Olympic Rink and St. Francis at 3:30 p.m. on Monday on the NHL Rink No. 2.

"I'm not disappointed with the way we have been playing," said Torrillo. "The trouble has been getting the puck to the net and not finishing. If we concentrate on the little things, hopefully the bounces will start to go our way."

Sweet Home lost out on a huge opportunity to move ahead of Kenmore East in the small school standings by tying South.

"We've played good hockey all week and sometimes in hockey, the better team doesn't always win the game," said Gerspach.

The Billies played Sweet Home tough, going ahead 1-0 at 13:38 of the first period by Brian Stachura (Daren Powers, Jon Sherman). Gerspach said Stachura took a weak wrist shot that Castiglia thought he had made a glove save on but instead went into the top corner of the net.

Marko tied the game from Covel on a give-and-go play later in the first that he put into the top corner of the net.

Gerspach said Sweet Home took four penalties in the first period which he said made it hard for his team to get going.

Sweet Home outshot South, 10-4, in the second period but only scored one goal, a power play opportunity by Rich Beaudet from Covel and Marko. The assist gave Marko 150 career points (69 goals, 81 assists). He is fourth in the league in scoring with 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists).

"When he gets the puck, everyone on the ice goes to him," said Gerspach. "He's like a magnet."

South tied the game at 3:39 of the second when Mike Mangone beat Castiglia in the five-hole from Stachura and Sherman. Sherman made a nice pass off the boards to spring Stachura and Mangone on a two-on-one.

Sherman was moved from forward to defense about six weeks ago and has thrived.

"Jon has done whatever he can for the team," said South coach Sean Green. "It shows what kind of teammate he is and really exemplifies the complete team effort we have been getting."

In the third period, Gerspach felt his team, unofficially, had at least 15 shots and a couple of great scoring opportunities, including Covel hitting a goal post and Marko getting stopped by a tremendous pad save by South netminder Brian D'Angelo.

"Brian played exceptional," said Green. "He does whatever he can to stop the puck."

Sweet Home outshot South, 20-17.

Green said the tie shows that his team has grown up.

"They're not rookies anymore," said Green. "They all have 20 games under their belts and they feel confident that they can play in the Federation. They've bought into our system."

Williamsville South and Sweet Home close out their regular seasons with two games this week. Besides South's game with East on Wednesday, they play St. Francis at 3 p.m. on Saturday on the Olympic Rink.

Sweet Home faces Kenmore East at 5 p.m. on Saturday on the Olympic Rink and St. Francis at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State Sports Arena and at 9 p.m. on Tuesday on the Feature Rink.

"If we want to go to states, we have to win these games," said Gerspach. "If we don't win, we're not the best team so we shouldn't go."