With the amount of times they have been there over the last decade, folks at First Niagara Center may want to build Niagara-Wheatfield its own locker room.

That’s because after disposing of Clarence 6-2 at the Northtown Center on Tuesday night (Feb. 24), the Falcons are headed back there to play in the Section VI Large School Championship in hopes of winning there fourth straight sectional title and fifth in seven years.

It had been more than a week since Niagara-Wheatfield played its last regular season game because they received a first round bye due to being the top overall seed, and they appeared well rested early in the contest as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game.

“We felt that we had to get momentum on them early,” said Niagara-Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin. “We have beaten them twice already and it’s hard to beat a team three times, especially a team that gave us two really solid games. So we thought it was really important to jump on them and get out.”

Andrew Logar got the party started less than two minutes into the game on assists from Joseph Torcasio and Matt Canada. That was followed by an Alex Bauer goal on passes from Logar and Dakota Becker two minutes later, but the story of the first period was the play of defenseman James Stenzel.

Stenzel blasted in two shots from the point in the first period, with the second one causing Clarence to change goaltenders.

This will be Stenzel’s third trip to Super Sunday but this year’s squad has a different flavor to them as opposed to previous teams.

There have been a few speed bumps over the course of the season but it is undoubtedly a hard-working group that keeps plugging away until the proper results come.

“What I see out of these guys is just a lot of hard work,” said Stenzel. “Sometimes the road gets rough and we’ve faced a lot of rough patches this year, but we kept our heads up and we got through it.”

This was the third time in four games that Stenzel has put up multiple goals. He’s been one of the most prolific offensive defensemen in all of Western New York with 14 goals and seven assists on the season.

The most noticeable thing to the naked eye is his eye-popping statistics, but the senior captain would be just as valuable to his team and would make just as big of an impact if he had four goals rather than 14.

“He brings so much more to the table,” said Wrazin. “He’s such a big, physical presence. He cleans up the front of the net in our end, he can get pucks out, and he’s so strong. He gets people irritated and they go after him, but he’s just so big and strong. He is tough in front of the net and along the walls. If he’s not scoring, he’s still a difference maker.”

Torcasio and Kasey Haseley would get the final two markers of the night for Niagara-Wheatfield, while Becker, Garrett Downie, Dom Senese, Ryan Metzler, Nick Peters, and Trey Malcolm all knotted assists on the final goals. Casey Wall added 24 saves on 26 shots in net.

It must be déjà vu as the Falcons will once again do battle with Williamsville North in the finals, but the roles have been reversed compared to last year.

In 2014, Niagara-Wheatfield lost both regular season games to the Spartans but managed to come out with the win in the championship.

This year, it was the Falcons who nipped Williamsville North twice, both by a score of 1-0, so they are hoping to prevent them from returning the favor this time around.

“They are a good, hard-working team,” said Wrazin. “They grind it out. We look for tendencies and things we can adjust. North is a very strong team, they came in second in the league. We need to be ready and it’s going to be a game.”

Niagara-Wheatfield and Williamsville North will square off on Monday (Mar. 2) at First Niagara Center. Faceoff is slated for 6:15 p.m.