Photos and story by Janet Schultz©
It will be Kenmore/Grand Island/Lockport facing off with Niagara County on Monday evening at Cornerstone Arena in Lockport in the Section VI Championship at 8 p.m. At 6 p.m. Monsignor Martin will go for the Private School Championship against St. Mary’s of Lancaster.
With the addition of St. Mary’s of Lancaster, there are now two private school teams which eliminates a double playoff as we have done in the past. St. Mary’s finished 8th and Monsignor Martin 7th in League play. St. Marys with a 2-12-0 plus one OT loss and one OT win. Monsignor Martin had a 2-11-1 and 2 OT loss record.
These teams opened the season for the League and ended with St. Mary’s beating MMAA 4-3 in overtime. MMAA came back later in the season and beat St. Mary’s 2-0. So this will be a great, action-filled game. Puck drops at 6 p.m. at Cornerstone Arena.
KENGIL beat NiCo each time they met this season. First a 6-0 shutout and then a 6-2 over Niagara County. KENGIL sits with three players ins the top five scoring positions in the league and with the #2 goalie in Carolyn Bourgeault. They also have the #3 goaltender with Jordan Hofschneider. Niagara County has some scoring power also in Sam Latini and Abby Zimmerman who sit just below Madison Flory, Isabella Bourgeault and Isabella Jayme. NiCo’s goaltender is in fourth place in goaltenders and just below Hofschneider. So this game is a definite must see. Both hoping for a win that takes them to the NYS Championship in Utica.
The road to the finals was paved Thursday evening at Northtowns Arena.
First up KENGIL took on Williamsville and came away with a 4-1 win with Madison Flory shooting in the winning goal on a powerplay in the third period. Kiley Turnbull opened the scoring in the first period for KENGIL with 1:48 left and ending that period 1-0. Flory opened the scoring in the second, assisted by Turnbull and then secured the win with an unassisted goal in the second. Williamsville’s Molly Martin scored on the powerplay, assisted by Allison Besancon and the seconded ended 3-1. A play that will keep Anna Meyer awake was the puck being hit by Megan Pinzel, shorthanded that just slide right by the Williamsville goalie. The game ends 4-1. Bourgeault faced 18 shots and Meyer stopped 32/36.
Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca/Holland took the ice against Niagara County in the final game of the night. HEWSH took command of the first when Riley Andzel put in an unassisted goal at 6:59. Period ends 1-0 in favor of HEWSH. No goals in the second and it looked like it might end that way when Niagara County’s Madison Mallone scored and tied the game 1-1. Then the fun began, no scoring in the first or second overtime and the WNYGVIH Federation heads to Overtime #3 and ends with the longest game in the Federation history. But before it ends there is a penalty shot called and then at 5:57 of OT#3 Mara Beiter scores and the game ends 2-1 in favor of Niagara County.
More history this season with Riley Andzel (HEWSH) having played her 72nd varsity game, scoring 60 goals and 22 assists for 82 points, 26g/10 this season. Goaltender Ella Buczynski (HEWSH) is an 8th grader and on top of the goaltending list after playing a league leading record of 824.20 minutes (almost 18 complete games), facing 361 SOG, stopping 327 of them and having a .906 save percentage; 1.86 gaa and a 12-5-1 record.
Goaltenders are the highlight this season and one in particular. A volunteer goaltender left her normal position to play between the pipes for Williamsville. Anna Meyer miss only one game due to illness and in her first season ever in goal had a 10-6-1 record with two shutouts. NYHOL has a feature story on Meyer at www.nyhockeyonline.com under Girls/Womens hockey tab.
Championships Monday, February 13 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Cornerstone Arena, 1 Grigg Lewis Way, Lockport, NY. (Just of Main Street at the Corner of Market and Griff Lewis Way; parking across from the arena). There is a admission charge for the series. $7.00 online – $10 at the gate. Tickets online are mobile only, shown on your phone, no printing. Use this link GOFAN.com
