BY RANDY SCHULTZ –
BUFFALO, NY — Three boys high school hockey teams repeated as champions of their respective divisions on Monday, Feb. 27th at KeyBank Center as part of the Super Sunday ’23 championship weekend. The trio were all part of the Section VI Boys Federation Hockey championships.
In the first game of the afternoon Starpoint High School defeated Niagara County rival, Niagara Wheatfield, 8-3 to win the small school, Division II title. In the middle contest Nichols downed St. Francis, 4-1, to win the Niagara Cup for the second year in-a-row.
In the final game Orchard Park broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period and went on to beat Clarence, 4-1 to win the large school, Division I crown.
STARPOINT VS. NIAGARA WHEATFIELD
Starpoint scored three unanswered goals in the second period to break a first period, 1-1, tie and never looked back. The Spartans were led by Jacob Cyrek and Alec Kirk, each scoring two goals for the winners.
Also scoring for the victors were Gavin Russell, Frankie Cardarella, Justin Bull and Mike Merrfield.
Anthony LaGreca scored two goals for the Falcons. Carson Kaluzny added a lone goal for N-W.
NICHOLS VS. ST. FRANCIS
Brady Hill scored the game’s first goal in the first period to give St. Francis an early 1-0 lead, which held up until mid-way through the second period. That’s when Nichols scored two very quick goals, the first by Jake Caffrey and the second by McLean Agrette.
Nichols never looked back, scoring two more goals in the third period by Griffin Johnston and Drury Schmidt. Alex Glofka played an outstanding game in goal for Nichols.
ORCHARD PARK VS. CLARENCE
First period goals by Orchard Park’s Jonah Reashor and Clarence’s Daniel Sherry stood up for until early in the third period. Ironically, it was the first goals of the season for each of the players.
Then in the third period Presley Schiltz, Logan Ward and Carter Zakrzewski scored for the Quakers and secured their win over Clarence.
Brayden Heam played an outstanding game in goal for OP, while Ben Shoemaker was solid in goal for Clarence.
All three teams will go on to State competition beginning next weekend.
(Photos by Janet Schultz Photography/NY Hockey OnLine; for a complete Gallery go to https://janetschultz.smugmug.com You can purchase photos at that site.)
