By Janet Schultz
The Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation coaches have named the 2024-25 WNYGVIHF All-Fed Teams.
Named to First Team were Forwards Abby Zimmerman, Bella Jayme and Izzy Bourgeault. On defense Jocelyn Smaczniak and Savanna Samplinski and in goal, Ella Celej.
They also selected Maya Griffin as Offensive Player of the Year and Jenny Wild, Defensive Player of the Year.
Clarence/Amherst/SweetHome’s Nicola Adimey was named Coach of the Year.
Zimmerman is a senior on the Niagara County Lady Warriors. She sits in third place on the year’s scoring list with 16 games played and logging 23 goals and 13 assists for 36 points.
Jayme played for Kenmore/Grand Island/Lockport and logged 18 goals and 14 assists in 18 games played.
Another KenGIL player, Bourgeault also put KenGIL on the scoreboard with 16 goals and 13 assists in 18 games.
Keeping other teams from scoring and assisting on scoring were Smaczniak, a junior who plays for Frontier/Franklinville/Lakeshore/Orchard Park and Samplinski, a senior from KenGIL. Smaczniak played in 17 games and had 5 goals and 25 assists. Samplinski had 4 goals and 17 assists on the season in 18 games.
The goaltending in the league was amazing once again this season. The Coaches selected Celej from CASH for the first team honors after she posted 689.98 minutes between the pipes, making 409 saves on 443 shots. She had two shutouts and a .923 save percentage. Celej is a goalie who keeps her eye on the puck and makes quick moves to stop the opponent.
Named to Second Team All Fed were Forwards Emily Lysiak a sophomore from Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew/Alden; Sophia Phillips, a junior from Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca and Gabby Sojda, a eighth grader from FFLOP. On Defense: Gabe Lowell, a junior from St. Mary’s of Lancaster and Morgan Cooper, sophomore from HEWS. In goal Ella Buczynski, sophomore from HEWS.
Buczynski is third on this year’s Goaltending list with 867.20 minutes played, making 417 saves on 451 shots and a .925 save percentage. She logged 5 shutouts. She plays with passion and quick moves to make saves.
Lysiak played in 19 games for LIDA and scored 21 goals with 15 assists for 36 points. Phillips, had 19 goals and 13 assists in 18 games and Sojda sits at #2 this season with 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points in 22 games.
Lowell played in 18 games and posted 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points and Cooper played in19 games with 3 goals and 9 assists.
On Third Team All Fed it was Sam Latini of NICo; Brynn Cafferty, LIDA; Avery Szczesek, St. Marys playing Forward. On defense Addison Cherry, Monsignor Martin and Layla Osinski, LIDA. In goal Monsignor Martin’s Kate Kelley.
Kelley, a force to be dealt with by each team. She played 775 minutes between the pipes, faced 825 shots and stopped 735 of them. The 825 shots is almost twice what other goaltenders this season faced. She is a junior from Sacred Heart Academy and the team’s only goalie.
On Forward Latini is a sophomore from Starpoint and placed fourth on the scoring leaderboard this season. She scored 21 goals and 15 assists in 17 games. Cafferty is a Junior at Lancaster and scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 19 games for LIDA. Sczcesek, a junior played in 17 games, scored 17 goals and 3 assists over the season.
Our players of the year, Griffin, a senior offensive player from FFLOP and Jenny Wild, a junior defender from CASH made much impact on the league for their respective teams. Griffin played in 21 games and logged 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points. Wild played 16 games, scoring 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points. Her contribution could be seen on the ice keeping the puck going to her scorers and keeping the other team at bay.
Honorable mentions went to Allison Besancon of Williamsville; Maya Adimey, CASH; Lilah Cudney, FFLOP; Brooklyn Forcucci, FFLOP; Riley Kumrow, St. Mary’s; Kelsey Barrett, HEWS; Rachel Fix, FFLOP, Ella Johnston, KenGil and Betsy Accurso, St. Mary’s.
CASH’s Nicola Adimey was named WNYGVIH 2025 Coach of the Year. Adimey began as an assistant coach with the Amherst/Sweethome team in the 2012-13 season and became Head Coach in the 2013-14 season. With a very young team this year she ended the season with a 7-6-3-1 record. Adimey was also recognized by Bee Publications as the Co-Coach of the Year with HEWS Eric Cooper.
WNYGVIH Founder and Head Coach for Williamsville, Rick Hopkins, received the Dr. James Rusin Award. The honor is given each year to someone for their dedication and promotion of the Western New York Girls Hockey Federation. Hopkins has worked tirelessly for the past 20 years to bring girls varsity ice hockey to the area and to grow it. He manages the teams, the coaching and official staffs and whatever else needs to be done. In addition he serves as the WNY Girls representative to Section VI and to NYSPHSAA.
This year’s Section VI Championship went to Frontier/Franklinville/Lakeshore/Orchard Park and the Private Championship went to St. Mary’s of Lancaster.
FFLOP went on to play Webster in the WNY Regionals. They won 4-1 and headed off to the New York State Championship in Utica. There they faced Skaneateles in the first round, losing 3-1. Maya Griffin was named one of the NYSPHSAA Sportsmen of the Year.
The WNYGVIH Federation will enter their 16th season with the 2025-26 season.
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