Photos and Story by Janet Schultz, NYHOL
Monsignor Martin took the Federation Cup last night after defeating St. Mary’s of Lancaster in the final regular season matchup in the Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation schedule. Both teams now move on to the first-ever WNYGVIH Private School Championship tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 8) at Cornerstone Arena in Lockport. Puck drops at 8 p.m. for that game.
In Section VI playoffs, Kenmore/Grand Island will face Williamsville, just as they did two years ago. Vying for that Sectional Championship that will take them to the New York State Girls Varsity Ice Hockey finals. The Championship will begin at 6 p.m. tonight at Cornerstone Arena.
To make it this far Williamsville had to face Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park. Both of these teams have had Sectional and Federation Championships and both have had a taste of the State Championships, and both have brought the State trophy home.
FLOP scored first in the first period when Jocelyn Smaczniak scoring on the powerplay, assisted by Emily Patton, and the first period ends 1-0 in favor of FLOP.
Williamsville’s Vanessa Willick was on the move in the second and dropped in two goals, one unassisted and one assisted by Allison Besancon. FLOP wasn’t letting it go and Taylor Joyce scored, assisted by Smaczniak. The score is tied at 2 as they go to the third period.
If anyone was wondering where Aizah-Roze Thompson was, well she gave you the answer in the third by scoring an unassisted goal and then the empty netter giving Williamsville a 4-2 lead which stayed till the buzzer went off. Williamsville Goalie Katherine Kelley takes the win with making 17 saves on 19 shots and FLOP’s goaltender, Kerrigan McCarthy stopped 20 of 23 shots.
With a full house, you knew the Niagara County vs Kenmore/Grand Island game was going to be one to remember. Niagara County was in last place four years ago and moved to third seed in the semi-finals this season.
The Lady Warriors opened the first period with the first goal, an unassisted by Abby Zimmerman. However that was the end of scoring for the Niagara County team. It was KGI after the first period with two goals in the second and three in the third for a 5-1 victory. Scoring for KGI was Madison Flory with a hattrick, including the game winner; Isabelle Bourgeault with a goal and an assist; Isabella Jayme, Alexa Denning and Juliet Chadima with assists. Carolyn Bourgeault stopped 19 of 20 shots and Niagara County’s Mariela Mulready stopped 12 of 16 and was relieved by Kennedy Ruest in the third who stopped 5 of 6.
NYHOL has no stats as of this writing for the St. Marys vs MonMar game.
Tickets are required for the Championship Games this evening and must be purchased in advance. Please go to Fan.com and there is a form.
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