By Janet Schultz; Photos by Janet and Randy Schultz© NYHOL
They played one to six years with the Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation. They played against players they played with on their house and travel teams. The fought hard every game, they comforted each other in bad times and celebrated the good times. They became family and their families supported each team as whether they had a player on it or not. Now it’s time for a group of Seniors to move on to continue their education and possible ice hockey. We wish them well and celebrated their accomplishments, big and small.
A single senior with Clarence/Amherst/Sweethome, Sara Ablove will graduate from Clarence High School. The forward played She joined CASH as a freshman.
Frontier/Franklinville/Lake Shore/Orchard Park graduated four players this season including Forward Mya Dalton, Forward Lauren Draszkiewicz, Goaltender Kerrigan McCarthy and Forward Emily Patton.
Dalton has been with FFLOP for three years and will attend the University of Buffalo for a career in Nursing. She remembers FFLOP’s dance parties in the locker room before games. She is the daughter of Kevin and Robin. Mya had 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points this season.
Draszkiewicz, (Louuu) is a lifetime member of the FFLOP team, having joined them as a seventh grader. After graduating from Frontier High School she will be attending St. Bonaventure studying Physics Engineering and playing D1 Lacrosse. Her favorite memory are the friends she has made playing hockey over the years. She is the daughter of Rich and Jill and has a brother, Jake. As a forward she had one goal and one assist this season.
Always making saves for FFLOP, Goaltender McCarthy came to the team as an eighth grader. The daughter of Tom and Lisa will be attending Lineman School in the fall after graduating from Orchard Park High School.. She loved playing along side her best friends over the past five years. As a Goalie, McCarthy stood out with 530.73 minutes in goal this season; two shutouts and a .910 save percentage and 2.29 goals against average. She is credited with 9 wins and 5 losses.
Forward Emily Patton will graduate from Frontier High School and head to Daemen University this fall in their Accelerated Physician Assistants Program. Her favorite memory is scoring the overtime winning goal against Monsignor Martin. Her parent are Dave and Jen. Patton had 10 goals and 4 assists this season.
Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca/Holland are saying goodbye to Liliann Drzazgowski of West Seneca High School; Hailey Cooper, Eden High School, Hanna Barrett, Eden High School and Alexandra (Lexie) Hodil, West Seneca West High School
Barrett has played five years with HHEW, along side her sisters. The Forward will attend college to study Speech Therapy. Barrett’s favorite memory is winning against Kengi last season. She also plays field hockey and lacrosse. Barrett had 3 goals and 5 assists this season.
Cooper, daughter of Coach Eric Cooper, has also played five years for HHEWS and her favorite memory is better Monsignor Martin in the playoffs, even though HHEWS was seeded last. She plans to attend Gannon College for Occupational Therapy. Cooper has been named to All WNY Team in 2023; All WNY Field Hockey First Team in 2023 and also plays softball. The Defender accumulated six assists this season.
Hodil played left wing for HHEWS for the past two years. She will be attending Cansius College in Physical Education and then plans to attend the Police Academy. Her best hockey memory is getting kicked out of a game and then listening to the opposing parents scream at her! She had 2 goals and one assist this season.
Lili Drzazgowski will graduate from West Seneca West High School and then go on to college to play hockey and study sports management. She played for HHEWS for three years as a forward scoring 3 goals and 2 assists this season. Her best memory is defeating KenGi last season. Drzazgowski won the Coaches Award for HHEWS as the player who goes above and beyond for the team both on and off ice. She is a member of the National Honor Society, serves as vice president of Student Council and is a member of the National Spanish Honor Society. She also plays varsity Flag Football.
KenGiPort seniors include Juliet Chadima, Sam Horne and Mylie Philbrick.
Chadima has been with KenGiPort for five years and her favorite memory is taking the bus to the States. She plans to attend Emery Riddle College and play D2 Lacrosse. Chadima is a forward graduating from Grand Island High School. She had a goal and 4 assists this season; but was also the person helping set up her teammates for their scoring chances.
Sam Horne will be remembered for her goaltending that helped get KenGiPort back to the States this season. She is a four-year member of the team and plans to attend Potsdam to major in elementary education and hopes to play softball and possibly hockey after graduating from Kenmore West. Her favorite member is winning KenGiPort’s first sectional title in 2022 and staying overnight with the team. Her parents are DJ and Tracy and she has a sister, McKenna. Horne played 903.53 minutes between the pipes with a .915 save% and 1.59 GAA.
Philbrick only played two years with KenGiPort and plans to attend Hilbert College or Niagara University in Sports Management and Marketing. She may play ice hockey. Her favorite part was the team’s focus and hard work while having a good group of teammates that made it all fun. Her parents are Guy, Stacey and sister Laynie. Philbrick had four assists this season.
Snow and schedules postponed Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew/Alden’s graduation ceremony until later this season for Seniors Amelia Homac and Carly Irzycki.
Homac joined the team as a ninth grader from Iroquois High School and just finished her fourth season as a defender. She also served as co-captain this season. Homac also has completed three years in LaCrosse and two years of Field Hockey. She was named Most Improved Player in Field Hockey in 2023 as the team won the Section VI title and finished as a NYS Finalist. Homac is also a member of the Volunteer Firefighters since 201 and volunteers at St. Martha’s Youth Group and officiates ice hockey. She is the daughter of Michelle and Scott Homac. Her plans are to study marketing or business in college. Homac
LIDA graduates Goaltender Carly Irzycki who has been with the team for six years. She will graduate from Depew High School and served as co-captain along side Homac this season. Irzycki also played girls varsity LaCrosse and was named a Second Team All Conference Player. She plans to continue playing Lacrosse at the DIII level with Canton University where she will be studying finance. She is the daughter of Steven and Sarah. Irzycki is third on the goaltending stat list with 718.87 minutes played; .924 save % and 1.82 GAA. She had 16 wins and 9 losses with 4 shutouts.
Monsignor Martin graduates include the Honadle twins as well as Mary Kate Christ, Rebecca Sander, and Alexandria Franke.
Christ has played two years with Monsignor Martin and also played Lacrosse at Sacred Heart Academy during her high school career. She will attend Niagara University to study sports management and is most proud of her first varsity goal against Williamsville.
Sander will graduate from Mt. St. Mary Academy where she also played golf. Her plans are to attend Geneseo University to major in Psychology and Sustainability Studies. She is proud to have been part of the team that won the Private School Championship in her freshman year.
Ryann Honadle has played for Monsignor Martin for four years and also played golf and softball for Mt. St. Mary’s Academy. She will be studying computer science at college. Ryann has served as Captain for MonMar and is proud of the team’s two-time Private School Championship. She had a goal and 6 assists this season.
Reese played for the team for three years. She plays softball and basketball for Mt. St. Mary’s Academy and will be majoring in computer engineering at college. She agrees with her teammates that winning the Private School Championship two years in a row is her favorite memory. Reese had 7 goals and 3 assists this season.
Franke played four years with MonMar. She also played golf at Mt. St.Mary’s Academy. She will attend Lebanon Valley College where she will play hockey and study exercise science with a goal to become a physical therapist. Her proudest moment is when MonMar won the Private School Championship in her freshman year. Another favorite memory is when then-Senior Cam Brownschidle came to practice late and was paired up with her for drills even though Cam could have paired with another senior. Franke had 12 goals and 2 assists this season and was awarded the Derek Cline Memorial Scholarship.
The Niagara County Lady Warriors (NICO) had five seniors this season including Marina Mansfield, Julia Hoffman, Francesca Williamson, Faith O’Connor and Madison Mallone.
Mansfield played six seasons with NICO and plans to attending Buffalo State College for forensic chemistyr. She is the daughter of Jim and Christy Mansfield. She also played Track and Field for Starpoint. The Defender/Forward is sixth on the WNYGVIH Federation Scoring list for the season with 15 goals and 9 assists in 20 games.
Hoffman played four years with the team and this season had 2 goals and 4 assists as a forward. She will graduate from Lewiston-Porter and plans to study criminal justice at a college to be named. She also played softball. Her parents are Doreen Hoffman and Daryl Hoffman.
Williamson, a defender, will graduate from Niagara-Wheatfield High School and want to pursue a career in criminal psychology. She played six years with NICO and this season received the Coaches Courage Award. While attending college she plans to continue ice hockey and also lacrosse. Her parents are Nadine and Jim Williamson. Williamson had 1 goal and 5 assists this season.
The daughter of Sean and Christine O’Connor, Faith will graduate from Starpoint Central High School and go to SUNY Niagara (formerly Niagara County Community College). She had 15 assists this season in 20 games played.
Mallone played six years for NICO and is 6th on the Season Scoring List with 16 goals and 10 assists in 8 games played. The daughter of Fred Mallone and Lori Mallone she plans to study criminal justice and play DIII hockey and lacrosse. Mallone was unable to finish the season due to injury.
St, Mary’s of Lancaster says good-bye to Senior Reece Gall who has been with the team since it’s inception three years ago. She served as Captain the past two seasons and is acknowledge by her coach as leading by example. She is an honor roll student and has chosen to attend Hood College in Maryland and play DIII ice hockey while studying health care administration. Her goal is to be the CEO of a hospital. Her parents are Nicle and Randy Gall and sister, MacKenzie. Gall was a forward and played in18 games garnering 6 goals and 4 assissts this season.
Captain Shannon Pogorzala ends her four-year high school hockey career at with Williamsville as she graduate from Williamsville East High School. The Defender played in 19 games and had two assists.
NYHOL would also like to recognize Seniors from first-year Webster who just completed their first and last season in Section V Girls Varsity Ice Hockey. Maddie Strelick, goalie from Webster Thomas; Nina Obi, forward from Webster Schroeder; Liv Lucania, defender from Schroeder and Meg Springer, forward/defenderfrom Webster Thomas.
Also recognizing Oswego Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Seniors as they visited WNY for a tournament. Graduating this season are Alyssa Carr, defense ; Anna Michalski, defense; Beatrice Rastley, forward; Zoey DeRocha, defender, and Chelsea Storms, goaltender.
