Niagara-Wheatfield tops Frontier in overtime
Niagara-Wheatfield tops Frontier in overtime
2012-02-21
When Nick Matos skates up ice with the puck, defenders follow. At times, they tend to over pursue the junior standout.
The speedy forward used that to his advantage, attracting attention as he came down the right boards into the offensive zone, before slipping the puck through to open linemate Dillon Hayes, who buried the game-winner from the left circle with 25 seconds left in overtime to lift Niagara-Wheatfield to a 4-3 win over Frontier in a thrilling Western New York Federation large school semifinal Monday (Feb. 20) at Northtown Center in Amherst.
"Nick took the puck in and everyone on the ice knows him, so they may have been more concerned with the puck carrier and he found his guy," said Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin of his top offensive threat who finished a goal and two assists.
Separated by just one point in the regular season, Niagara-Wheatfield, the second-seeded team in the draw, beat No. 3 Frontier by one goal for the second time this season – the first was a 2-1 win on Jan. 8, to advance to Super Sunday (Feb. 26) at First Niagara Center and play in the league championship game at 3 p.m. against defending champion Williamsville North.
"Frontier is a great team so we knew we were in for a fight," Wrazin said. "The biggest thing for our guys is that they didn’t quit. We may not have come out and played as we wanted to, but we fought through that and hung in."
Though Wheatfield opened the scoring then held a 3-2 advantage into the third period, Wrazin believes his team was outplayed for good portions of the game. Frontier held a slim 38-33 advantage in shots on goal.
"I think we had them baffled at times," said Frontier head coach Bob Klimowicz, whose team won its first regular season division title in 12 seasons of Federation hockey. "They tried to stretch us out and we had that covered. Our speed gave them fits."
The overtime was filled with end-to-end rushes and quality scoring opportunities for both teams. Frontier opened the eight-minute extra session with a 3-on-2 break but couldn’t get a quality shot toward the net after the puck was mishandled. Later, Frontier had two shots from the point that gave Wheatfield senior goalie Alex Kammerer trouble.
Matos and Corey Becker both had golden opportunities on Frontier’s Cooper Soto in overtime, but the first shot was rocketed wide and the other opportunity was stopped by the junior goalie. The game looked like it was about to enter a second overtime when Hayes found the back of the net for the second time.
"This team is filled with unsung heros and Dillon is a lot of times the hardest worker out there," Wrazin said. "He’s a good guy to have in that spot because you know he’ll catch up to the puck and get it to the net."
After Matos put Wheatfield in the lead 1-0 three minutes into the game on a goal assisted by junior Jeff Janese, Frontier’s leading scorer, junior Bob Piotrowicz, snapped a shot into the net from the left circle to tie the game with 2:28 left in the opening period. Senior defender Jacob Sawicki picked up the first of his two assists.
Sophomore Jim Gleason gave Frontier a 2-1 lead with 6:34 remaining in the second while the team was shorthanded, finishing off a 2-on-2 rush with classmate Tyler Gaglia.
Wheatfield struck less than a minute later as Hayes redirected an innocent looking shot from defenseman Alex Bottenfield. With 1:48 left in the second, Wheatfield got a shorthanded goal of its own as Matos helped create a turnover and sent Becker nearly the length of the ice to beat Soto on a breakaway.
Frontier responded right away in the third as junior forward Gavin Evancho took a left-side feed from Piotrowicz in front and buried the puck just 34 seconds into the period. Soto, who stopped 29 shots, made a few key saves midway through the period when Wheatfield took the play from Frontier.
Klimowicz was frustrated that his team’s power play, which was effectively working at a rate of 25 percent for most of the regular season, struggled in the past five contests. Frontier was 0 for 3 on its man advantage in the game and was also held in check during a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Orchard Park four days prior.
"What came back to haunt us was the power play," Klimowicz said. "Special teams are so big in the playoffs. We didn’t generate enough offense and it bit us at the end."
Making it difficult for Frontier to find the back of the net was Kammere, who stopped 35 shots despite being unsure if he could even start until game time. The senior spent the past week with the flu and didn’t play in the team’s quarterfinal victory over Niagara Falls.
"It was a last-minute decision to start him," Wrazin said. "Even when he got here, he wanted to wait until warmups to see how he felt. But he was ready and it didn’t look like he missed a beat."
While a small senior class, Klimowicz wanted to recognize what has turned into one of his most dedicated groups of upperclassmen that he has had in his 12 years of coaching Frontier. They include forwards Greg Smolkovich, Jay Kosmoski and defenders Joe Schwartzott, Jacob Wesier and Sawicki.
"Nick took the puck in and everyone on the ice knows him, so they may have been more concerned with the puck carrier and he found his guy," said Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin of his top offensive threat who finished a goal and two assists.
Separated by just one point in the regular season, Niagara-Wheatfield, the second-seeded team in the draw, beat No. 3 Frontier by one goal for the second time this season – the first was a 2-1 win on Jan. 8, to advance to Super Sunday (Feb. 26) at First Niagara Center and play in the league championship game at 3 p.m. against defending champion Williamsville North.
"Frontier is a great team so we knew we were in for a fight," Wrazin said. "The biggest thing for our guys is that they didn’t quit. We may not have come out and played as we wanted to, but we fought through that and hung in."
Though Wheatfield opened the scoring then held a 3-2 advantage into the third period, Wrazin believes his team was outplayed for good portions of the game. Frontier held a slim 38-33 advantage in shots on goal.
"I think we had them baffled at times," said Frontier head coach Bob Klimowicz, whose team won its first regular season division title in 12 seasons of Federation hockey. "They tried to stretch us out and we had that covered. Our speed gave them fits."
The overtime was filled with end-to-end rushes and quality scoring opportunities for both teams. Frontier opened the eight-minute extra session with a 3-on-2 break but couldn’t get a quality shot toward the net after the puck was mishandled. Later, Frontier had two shots from the point that gave Wheatfield senior goalie Alex Kammerer trouble.
Matos and Corey Becker both had golden opportunities on Frontier’s Cooper Soto in overtime, but the first shot was rocketed wide and the other opportunity was stopped by the junior goalie. The game looked like it was about to enter a second overtime when Hayes found the back of the net for the second time.
"This team is filled with unsung heros and Dillon is a lot of times the hardest worker out there," Wrazin said. "He’s a good guy to have in that spot because you know he’ll catch up to the puck and get it to the net."
After Matos put Wheatfield in the lead 1-0 three minutes into the game on a goal assisted by junior Jeff Janese, Frontier’s leading scorer, junior Bob Piotrowicz, snapped a shot into the net from the left circle to tie the game with 2:28 left in the opening period. Senior defender Jacob Sawicki picked up the first of his two assists.
Sophomore Jim Gleason gave Frontier a 2-1 lead with 6:34 remaining in the second while the team was shorthanded, finishing off a 2-on-2 rush with classmate Tyler Gaglia.
Wheatfield struck less than a minute later as Hayes redirected an innocent looking shot from defenseman Alex Bottenfield. With 1:48 left in the second, Wheatfield got a shorthanded goal of its own as Matos helped create a turnover and sent Becker nearly the length of the ice to beat Soto on a breakaway.
Frontier responded right away in the third as junior forward Gavin Evancho took a left-side feed from Piotrowicz in front and buried the puck just 34 seconds into the period. Soto, who stopped 29 shots, made a few key saves midway through the period when Wheatfield took the play from Frontier.
Klimowicz was frustrated that his team’s power play, which was effectively working at a rate of 25 percent for most of the regular season, struggled in the past five contests. Frontier was 0 for 3 on its man advantage in the game and was also held in check during a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Orchard Park four days prior.
"What came back to haunt us was the power play," Klimowicz said. "Special teams are so big in the playoffs. We didn’t generate enough offense and it bit us at the end."
Making it difficult for Frontier to find the back of the net was Kammere, who stopped 35 shots despite being unsure if he could even start until game time. The senior spent the past week with the flu and didn’t play in the team’s quarterfinal victory over Niagara Falls.
"It was a last-minute decision to start him," Wrazin said. "Even when he got here, he wanted to wait until warmups to see how he felt. But he was ready and it didn’t look like he missed a beat."
While a small senior class, Klimowicz wanted to recognize what has turned into one of his most dedicated groups of upperclassmen that he has had in his 12 years of coaching Frontier. They include forwards Greg Smolkovich, Jay Kosmoski and defenders Joe Schwartzott, Jacob Wesier and Sawicki.
