AMHERST — A typically hot Niagara-Wheatfield power play unit was as cold as the 20-degree temperature outside the Amherst Recreational Center Saturday, and it cost the Falcons plenty in a 3-1 loss to Williamsville North in a matchup of state-ranked Federation hockey clubs.
The Falcons went 0 for 8 on the power play, squandering a number of good opportunities, including a 5-on-3 situation five minutes into the game.
“If our power play was on it would’ve been a different game, but their goalie (Parker Gahagen) played very well. I thought he was the difference,” Wheatfield coach Rick Wrazin said.
“I think we have the best power play in the league but today we were hitting (Gahagen) in the chest, we were shooting the puck wide a little bit. We controlled the puck well on the power play, we just didn’t put the puck in the net,” Wrazin added.
Penalties led to N-W’s demise in an earlier season meeting with North, which resulted in a 5-3 victory for the Spartans, who are ranked second in Division I in the latest New York State Sportswriters Association poll. Wheatfield is No. 7.
“They had trouble keeping up with the pace of us, so they slowed things down. We came out real hard and then we kind of fell into their game with the penalties,” Wrazin said.
Many of Wheatfield’s chances Saturday were turned away by Gahagen, who made 20 saves on the afternoon and did a solid job of preventing second-chance shots by yielding few rebounds.
“(Wheatfield’s) power play is good with Bryan (Komasara) on the point and Parker did a good job of controlling his rebounds,” said Spartans coach Bob Rosen.
Wheatfield controlled much of the play in the first period but just couldn’t convert any chances, and the frame ended with both teams registering eight shots on net but no goals.
“We took some undisciplined penalties and we were lucky that Niagara-Wheatfield didn’t score,” Rosen said of the opening frame.
North struck first with a goal by sophomore Jake Rosen just over two minutes into the second period. Rosen planted his skates just to the right of N-W goalie Vinny Merante and banged home a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Matt Clifford.
The Falcons netted the equalizer with 5:12 left in the period, when Junior Perez, situated behind the Spartans net, found Keith Hasely cutting to the front of the goal and fired a pass, which Hasely ripped past Gahagen.
But 47 seconds later, Scott Sims netted the game-winner, a back-breaking goal that stalled the momentum the Falcons had just gotten. Darrin Trebes tallied North’s third goal, 59 seconds into the third period. That’s when the game really seemed to change toward North’s favor.
“That’s always a big momentum shift the second time that happens,” Wrazin said. “That was just a breakdown coming back into our zone.”
“That was probably pretty key,” Rosen said. “That was a big momentum change for both teams.”
St. Joe’s 7, NT 3
The Marauders improved to 14-8-2 by keeping NT goalie Dan Brick busy. St. Joe’s outshot the Lumberjacks 46-13 on the afternoon. Connor Stockman got the win in goal for Joe’s, which received scoring from throughout its lineup. Goal scorers included Rob Finn, Sean McCarthy, Kyle Kelschenbach and Connor Hagner.
Niagara Falls 4, III-Ithaca 3
Patrick Summers, Dave Kok, Wills Cushman and Derek Mort each scored to lift the Falls to the nonleague road win. Christian Rybarczyk got the win in goal for NFHS (4-11-1 overall), which faces off against Oswego today in another nonleaguer.
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JOED VIERA/CONTRIBUTOR
FED HOCKEY: Spartans ice Wheatfield, 3-1
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