Home Girls/Womens WNYGVIH: Moving Into Position; Coach Logs 275th Game

WNYGVIH: Moving Into Position; Coach Logs 275th Game

January 21, 2025

WNYGVIH December 13-17 Recap

By Janet Schultz, NYHOL; Photos by Janet Schultz©

The biggest news this week was that Head Coach Rick Hopkins of Williamsville coached his 275th game against NiCo on January 14. Hopkins is the only HC the Williamsville team has had and was the one instrumental in forming the WNYGVIH Federation. NYHOL congratulations Rick!

Weather made its debut with the League this week. LIDA played Niagara County at Riverworks in the cold and snow (the drive was worse than the arena); St. Mary’s hosted Monsignor Martin in Cheektowaga and the Webster vs Williamsville game, scheduled for Riverworks was postponed due to driving conditions east of Erie County, as was the CASH at HEWS game.

St. Mary’s skated to a 6-0 victory over Monsignor Martin, a look at what could occur in the Private School Championship later this season. Scoring for the Lancers were Delaney Dee, credited with the game-winner; a HatTrick for Avery Szczesek and a goal each for Lauren Gilano and Meghan Donnelly. Betsy Accurso stopped 11 shots for the Shut-Out Win. In goal stopping 39 of 45 was Monsignor Martin’s Kate Kelley.

Over at Riverworks it was a 9-6 victory for LIDA over Niagara County. The players kept moving as the snow fell lightly and the wind also gave everyone there a “chill.” Emily Lysiak had a Hat Trick; Lucia Lawrence, Caitlin Sinclair, Hailey Muff (2 including the game-winner), Claire Whiteford and Leah Dowling all added to the victory. Niagara County’s Abby Zimmerman had a Hat Trick with the other three goals coming from Natalee Lawrence, Madelyn Martin and Ashley Mainstone. Goaltending was a major factor in this game with Iris Schimenti stopping 18 of 24 for the W and Lila Jones stopping 27 of 36 for NiCo. Oh, did you notice that the scoreboard “froze” up late in the second and into the third. Interestingly at one point the score was 30-3 according the the scoreboard. Good thing we were watching!

Williamsville got in two goals to NICo’s six in the first period Tuesday night. Then it was all NiCo in the second, adding 5 more goals. With no scoring in the third, it was a 11-2 victory for NiCo. Scoring were Zimmerman (4), Latini (4), Lawrence, Mainstone, and Olivia Terranova. Jaylin Beaver stopped 9 of 11 SOG. For Williamsville it was Genevieve Illos from Quinn Wolf and Allison Besancon from Illos for the two goals. Anna Bacon was in goal for 26 minutes stopping 17 of 28 and Olivia Lookman finished out the game stopping 6 of 6.

LIDA headed to Holiday to play FFLOP in a make-up game from December 5. LIDA finished the night with a 3-2 victory with Lysiak, Whiteford and Hauser scoring. Hauser with the game-winner. Peyton Forcucci and Lila Bell had goals for FFLOP. Schimenti stopped 29 of 31 sog and Rachael Fix stopped 24 of 27 sog.

It was a home team victory at Paddock Ice Arena with KenGiPort coming away with a 5-1 victory over St. Mary’s of Lancaster. Isabella Bourgeault had two goals, Isabella Jayme scoring first on the powerplay and Savanna Shaft getting the game-winner in the second period. MacKenzie Kumrow added to the scoring. St. Mary’s lone goal came off the stick of Donnelly, assisted by Gilano. For KenGiPort it was Ella Johnston in goal stopping 27 of 28 and for St. Mary’s Accurso stopped 30/35. Another historical note…the WNYGVIH Federation had their first “Embellishment” penalty. It was in the third period on Alaina Roland.

Thursday nights contests included a LIDA 8-1 win over Williamsville; FFLOP 6-2 over HEWS and CASH beating Monsignor Martin 5-1. The HEWS/FFLOP game was a make-up from December 12.

NYHOL headed to Northtowns, a TV game on WNY Athletics, where LIDA went up 1-0 in the first period on a goal by Brynn Cafferty, unassisted. Second period saw lots of goal action when LIDA scored six goals making it 7-0 as they went into the third period. Williamsville’s Addison Stachura scored on the Powerplay, assisted by Anna Meyer and Besancon to end the game 8-1. Scoring for LIDA were Dowling (2) with the game-winner, Whiteford, Lysiak(2), Hauser and Emily Rodriguez. Schimenti stopped 20/21 for the W. In goal for Williamsville it was Bacon for 21 minutes, stopping 19 of 24 sog and Lookman in for 24 minutes stopping 33 of 36 sog.

CASH took control of the game at North Buffalo with Celia Watson having the game-winning goal, the first goal of the night and a Hat Trick. Mila Dominik added another, as did Gabriella Lindell. Ella Celej stopped 9 of 10 for the W. Monsignor Martin’s Ellie Black made sure it wasn’t a shutout when she scored, assisted by Avery McDonald and Lena Hurley. In goal making saves was Kelley stopping 28 of 33.

FFLOP’s Gabby Sojda had the game-winner, plus one more, in a 6-2 win over HEWS. Adding to the scoreboard were Maya Griffin (2), P. Forcucci and Kayli Tefft. Fix stopped 19 of 21 for the win. For HEWS it was Sophia Sokolowski scoring, assisted by Ellie Grabowski and Phillips an unassisted goal in the loss. Ella Buczynski was in net for HEWS, stopping 33 of 39.

KenGiPort sits at the top of the standings as we head into another week of play. They are 8-2 with 24 points. However, St. Mary’s and FFLOP are sitting with 21.5 and 21 points, respectively, waiting to make a move. LIDA, HEWS and CASH follow with Niagara County, Williamsville and Monsignor Martin rounding out the list.

FFLOP’s Maya Griffin is leading the scoreboard with 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points. She is being chased by NiCo’s Sam Latini (15/12) and Abby Zimmerman (16/10) and her teammate Gabby Sojda (14/12).

When looking at goaltending Monsignor Martin’s Kate Kelley stands out with her 505 minutes of play and making 473 saves on 522 shots for a .906 save percentage. While it doesn’t put her on top, it shows her endurance in the net. Other goalies to watch are St. Mary’s Betsy Accurso, FFLOPs Rachael Fix, LIDA’s Iris Schimenti and HHEWS Ella Buczynski, all with over 400 minutes between the pipes and making some great saves.

However sitting at the top of the Goaltending Stat Sheet is KenGiPort’s Jillian Hager with 45 minutes of play, 3 shots, 3 saves for a perfect 1.00 save percentage. With over a .900 save percentage are Goalies Ella Celej (CASH), Ella Johnston (KenGiPort) and Fix.

Jayme, Bourgeault, Zimmerman, Latini and Griffin are all on the All-Time Leaderboard for the Federation.

Another exciting year in girl’s high school hockey is winding down. Come out to a game, admission is free. Follow along on www.nyhockeyonline (we have Facebook Twitter and Instagram) as well as www.wnygirlshockey.com.

Photo Gallery is from the Niagara County/LIDA game at Riverworks and the CASH vs LIDA game at Northtowns. NYHOL photographed two more games this week and we will be adding them shortly.