East, Sweet Home hockey advance in small school playoffs
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Not since winning a Division II New York State Championship in overtime in 2004 had Williamsville East hockey coach Mike Torrillo been this excited over a Flames' playoff victory.

East, seeded fourth in the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation small school tournament, knocked off fifth-seed St. Francis, 2-1, in double overtime in a quarterfinal game on Saturday at Buffalo State Sports Arena.

"The whole team deserves credit," said Torrillo. "The kids played awesome and put forth an outstanding effort."

East's Gary Styn scored the game-winning goal with three seconds remaining in the second overtime.

Torrillo said there was a scramble in front of the net and Styn was in the high slot to bang home the shot.

Both goals in regulation were scored in the first period. St. Francis' Matt Ganci scored from Vinny Vertalino and Nick D'Agostino. East answered one minute later when Colin Lucey tallied from Eric Bogart and Ted Tetrault.

East was outshot, 36-28, but Torrillo felt his team had more quality scoring chances.

"We missed a penalty shot and hit a couple of goal posts," said Torrillo.

Torrillo also lauded his penalty killers for killing off a major penalty for two-and-half minutes late in the third.

"Their puck positioning was outstanding," said Torrillo.

Goalie Matt Bradley recorded the win in net.

It doesn't get any easier for East. The Flames (13-7-5) meet top-seed Bishop Timon-St. Jude (16-5-3) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday on the Amherst Pepsi Feature Rink.

Sweet Home

A possible opponent for East should they make it to the Federation finals on Sunday is Sweet Home.

The Panthers, seeded third, dismantled sixth-seed Niagara Falls, 6-1, in the quarterfinals on Saturday at Buffalo State Sports Arena.

Sweet Home outshot Niagara Falls, 47-27, but Panthers coach Dave Gerspach said his team hit at least eight goal posts.

Sweet Home set the tempo right from the beginning, outshooting the Wolverines, 19-8, in the first period, and leading 4-0.

All four goals in the first period came on special teams. Pat McMahon and Jim Cardinale (Ryan Marko, Mike Campise) scored on the power play and Marko and Gutt (Marko, Dominic Puntillo) each scored shorthanded.

Gutt's short-handed goal came with three seconds remaining in the first period. Gerspach said his team won the faceoff in their own zone with 10 seconds left, Gutt outskated a couple of Wolverine players and Marko laid him a pass that he put into the open net.

In the second period, Sweet Home took five penalties and was outshot, 13-9. Niagara Falls scored its only goal of the game in the second when Andrew Pothier (Alex Blose, TJ Bullock) tallied at the 7:47 mark.

Sweet Home stayed out of the penalty box in the third period and outshot Niagara Falls, 19-6.

Chris Covel (Cardinale, Campise) and on the power play, Beaudet, (Cardinale, Marko) scored.

Goalie Rob Castiglia recorded the win.

Sweet Home (13-8-4) faces second seed Kenmore East (18-5-1) at 9 p.m. on Thursday on the Feature Rink. Kenmore East beat Sweet Home, 3-0, on Feb. 9.

"We're playing our best hockey right now," said Gerspach. "The team is maturing at the right time."

If Sweet Home wins, they would play either East or Timon at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Buffalo State Sports Arena for the small school championship and a chance to head back to the New York State playoffs.

Sweet Home closed out the regular season with a 4-3 win over St. Francis last Tuesday.

Goals were scored by Colin Cardinale, Covel and Gutt on the power play, and Adam Titanic.

With five seconds remaining in regulation, St. Francis won the faceoff and got off a great shot that Castiglia kicked saved to another player. On the rebound, Castiglia had to move to his right and made a stick save to stop the puck from going in the net as the buzzer sounded.