WNYGVIH February 10-15, 2025
by Janet Schultz
Hard to believe that it’s playoff time already and the season comes to an end in another week. As always, no one can predict what team will advance to the Regionals. That question won’t be answered until after Monday night and then off to Section V to play for the State position.
Monday night’s Quarterfinals pitted #7 Williamsville against #2 Franklinville/Frontier/LakeShore/Orchard Park; #7 Niagara County vs #3 Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew/Alden and #5 Clarence/Amherst/SweetHome against #4 Hamburg/Holland/Eden/West Seneca. #1 Kenmore/Grand Island/Lockport had the Bye.
FFLOP opened the scoring four minutes into the game and then struck five more times with Williamsville’s Gen Illos getting their single goal at 3:50 of the first period, assisted by Scarlet Canna and Jaylee Kochan. First period ended 6-1 FFLOP and stayed that way through the second period. FFLOP added three more in the third, including one with 47.4 seconds left in the game and ended with a 9-1 victory. Rachael Fix took the “W” stopping 13 of 14 SOG and for Williamsville Anna Bacon stopped 7 of 12 and Olivia Lookman came in to stop 20/24. FFLOP moves on to the semi-finals.
Scoring for FFLOP were Gabby Sojda (2), Hannah Favata (2 including the game-winner), Chloe Gearhart, Maya Griffin (2 including an unassisted), Kayli Tefft and Olivia Waterman. Assisting were Griffin, Lilah Cudney, Jocelyn Smaczniak, Gearhart, Waterman, Campbell Rutz, Susanna Hollander, Sophia Quinn, and Peyton Forcucci.
With a 4 point night, Maya Griffin moved to 8th overall in Scoring for the WNYGVIH Federation with 52 points.
NICO faced LIDA in game two with LIDA victorious. Emily Lysiak opened the scoring for LIDA with just 39.5 seconds left in the first period. Just over 2 minutes into the second Caitlin Sinclair dropped one in and that stayed with LIDA leading 2-0 after two. NICO’s Molly Martin scored the first goal on a powerplay, assisted by Abbey Zimmerman, in the third period to stop a possible shutout. LIDA’s Leah Dowling answered back with an unassisted goal with 1:18 left and then scored an empty-netter with 19 seconds left to seal the victory 4-1. Iris Schimenti stopped 16/17 SOG for the “W” and Lilia Jones stopped 10/13 for NiCo. LIDA moves on.
The third Cashew Bowl (CASH vs HEWS) of the season and it was a HEWS victory. HEWS Sophia Phillips, assisted by Brynn Holland, scored the only goal of the night at 5:33 of the first period. It was up and down the ice for the rest of the night with the outcome 1-0 HEWS. Ella Buczynski stopped 11 of 11 for her fifth shutout of the season. In goal for CASH, Ella Celej stopped 26 of 27.
After a day off, the Semi’s had HEWS facing KenGiPort and LIDA facing off with FFLOP.
Holland opened scoring for HEWS, assisted by Morgan Cooper and the first comes to a 1-0 end in favor of HEWS. Alexa Denning scored for KenGiPort minutes into the second period, with Phillips answering back with an unassisted goal two minutes later. Second period ends 2-1 HEWS. Once again Phillips found the back of the net and then added two more in the third, one an empty-netter, for a 5-2 win and a four point night for herself. KenGiPort’s Isabella Burt scored, assisted by Isabella Jayme and Isabella Bourgeault. Buczynski stopped 25 of 27 for the W and for KenGiPort, Ella Johnston stopped 17 of 21. HEWS moves to the Championship round.
Next up LIDA faces FFLOP with that game ending in a 5-1 victory for FFLOP.
First period found FFLOP’s Waterman, P. Forcucci and Gearhart scoring, assists by Smaczniak, Gearhart, Sojda and Favata. P. Forcucci’s being the game-winner. In the second period, FFLOP’s Cudney scored, assisted by Sojda and Rutz. LIDA answered that goal with one by Leah Dowling, assisted by Lucia Lawrence. Second period ends 4-1. The final goal of the night was scored by Kayli Tefft, assisted by Brooklyn Forcucci and Smaczniak. In goal Fix stops 17 of 18 and for LIDA Schimenti stops 21 of 26. Game ends 5-1 FFLOP and they move to the Champions round.
On to the Championships. Yes, two.
First up on Monday, February 17 is the Private School Championship pitting St. Mary’s of Lancaster against Monsignor Martin. St. Mary’s ended in sixth place in the League with a 6-6-3-1-0 record (Wins, loss, ties, overtime win, overtime loss) and Monsignor Martin was in the basement with 14 losses and 2 ties.
The top scoring for St. Mary’s came from Avery Szczesek (16g/3a), Meghan Donnelly (5/11) and Lauren Gilano (6/7). With two goaltenders St. Mary’s has stopping power in the net with Betsy Accurso and Avery Hall. Accurso played 608.43 minutes stopping 314 of 351 shots. Hall played just 172.23 minutes but stopped 104 of 114.
For Monsignor Martin their power is in Goaltender Kate Kelley who has faced 439 SOG and stopped 389 in 730 minutes of play. Their scoring comes from Addison Cherry, Ellie Black and Gabby Kazmark.
The Section VI Championship will find HHEWS facing FFLOP.
HEWS has fire power in Sophia Phillips with 18 goals and 13 assists this season followed by Brynn Holland, 11/9 and Clare Sokolowski, 6/5. Ella Buczynski has protected the net for the entire season, playing 823 minutes and stopping 395 of 426 shots on goal. They do have a back up in Madelyn Wojcik, but she has played in no games this season.
FFLOP is no stranger to the championship round and has also won a State Title. They have goal scoring in Maya Griffin, who has had 26 goals and 26 assists putting her in second place in All-Time Scoring in the League. Adding more goals to their record are Gabby Sojda with 23/26, Peyton Forcucci 12/17 and Jocelyn Smaczniak with 4 goals but 23 assists. Their goaltender has also been a key in their victories. Rachael Fix has played 862.12 minutes and stopped 330 of 359. FFLOP also has a back-up goalie in Keira Keaton, but she has not played in a single game this season. This game will be a nail-biter.
Tickets are needed for these games, which will be played at Buffalo State’s Ice Arena at 6 p.m. for Private and 8 p.m. for Section VI. There is a fee of $7 Presale and $10 at the Gate. Your ticket will be on your phone! You can stay for all games. https://www.section6.e1b.org/Page/1436?fbclid=IwY2xjawId4v9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZwCHLWIB1sUlLSGOElOXl34j7lZxbB8eDk1aW3ZVPwS4whomm1lRTRQ0Q_aem_BoQ8Vcdpc1Csy6zURaYR_A#calendar175/20250212/month
Note that this is not the end-all for a State Seed. The winner of the HEWS/FFLOP game must play Webster in Section V to determine who goes on to represent Section V and VI at the States. The Far West Regional will be played Wednesday, February 19 at 7 p.m. at the Webster Arena.
The Winner of that game will move to the NYSPHSAA Championships in Utica on February 21 and 22.
The semi’s are Friday at 4 p.m. with the winner of Section 5 playing winner of Section 6 and at 6 p.m. its Section 2 Adirondack playing winner of Section 7 and Section 10.
The Championship is scheduled for Noon on Saturday, February 22.
Tickets are also required for the States at the Utica Nexus Center. Visit NYSPHSAA Ticketing FAQ page or contact [email protected].
