North hockey rebounds
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North's bid to appear in the New York State Division I playoffs appeared to be on life support when they lost to Kenmore West, 5-1, in the last game of the regular season.

But after a 7-1 victory over the Blue Devils in a Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation large school quarterfinal playoff game on Friday on the Amherst Pepsi Center Feature Rink, it's safe to say the Spartans' state playoff hopes are definitely alive.

North led, 3-1, after two periods before scoring four times in the third.

"The kids played hard," said North coach Bob Rosen. "They only had two lines and four defensemen for that game so we made sure we hit them every opportunity that we got. I think that wore them down."

Kenmore West's Mike McCrossan (Christian Panepinto) scored the first goal of the game at 4:45 of the first. North's Josh Liddle (Nick Angelo) answered 3:20 later. Cam Sroda (Nick Fronczak) scored on the power play at 1:55 to give North a 2-1 lead after the first period.

Kyle Agius (Marc Kadish) scored the only goal of the second period when the puck went off a Kenmore West defenseman.

In the third, Spartan goals were scored by Kadish (Liddle, Fronczak) on the power play, Grant Rickan, Phil VanDette, short-handed, and Chris Marsack (Matt Austin, Matt Battista).

North outshot Kenmore West, 44-23. Branden Komm made 21 saves.

North (16-6-2) plays second-seed Lancaster (18-5-2) at 9 p.m. on Wednesday in a semifinal game. The teams split games this season. North won 4-1 and Lancaster won 3-0.

"We have to capitalize on our scoring opportunities," said Rosen. "We have to get in the traffic areas and create chances."