In order for a team win a playoff game, it must overcome adversity at times.

When third-seeded Niagara-Wheatfield took on sixth-seeded Frontier in the Section VI Large Schools boys Federation hockey quarterfinals Saturday (Feb. 20) at Northtown Center at Amherst, N-W managed to do just that.

Niagara-Wheatfield played without head coach Rick Wrazin, who was serving a one-game suspension for his ejection from the regular-season finale against Williamsville North a week prior.

The Falcons seemed unfazed, however, as the four-time defending sectional champions stuck to the system that has guided them over the years. They controlled the pace of the game and scored some tough, gritty goals — including three third-period tallies — en route to a 5-1 victory against a game Frontier squad.

“We just stuck to the system,” Niagara-Wheatfield assistant coach Joe Urban said. “We were getting chances. We knew the goals we were going to get were going to be gritty goals. But we knew that if kept doing what we were doing, we were going to break through and it happened in the third period. We had 10 different guys on the score sheet and that’s the first time that’s happened all year.”

The first period was evenly played as Niagara-Wheatfield struck first when Nick Breier jammed home a Ryan Metzler rebound in traffic. Frontier responded just 43 seconds later as Jake Watkins wired a shot into the top of the net to end the first period tied, 1-1.

The Falcons regained the lead as Joe Torcasio scored the only goal of the second period on the power play, but Frontier was still hanging in the game.

Frontier’s Logan Warner couldn’t capitalize on a shorthanded breakaway attempt moments into the third period, as he nearly got the neutralizer.

The Falcons missed on two breakaways from two of their best players, while two of Niagara-Wheatfield’s best players — Garrett Downie and Chris Tobey — scored 15 seconds apart to put the game out of reach.

“The score wasn’t indicative of the game,” Frontier coach Bob Klimowicz said. “It was a one-goal game. My two best players missed breakaways. That’s 3-2 right there and we’re in the lead. There were a couple of goals at the end where they got a couple of bounces, but that could have gone either way. It was a 5-1 game but I look at it as more of a one-goal game.”

Not only did those breakaways hurt Frontier on the scoreboard, but whenever a goaltender can make a save on a play like that, it is a confidence-booster and can cause the game to take a drastic swing.

That’s exactly what happened as Niagara-Wheatfield goalie Dominick Tallarico made some gigantic saves throughout the game and it appeared that he was gaining more confidence with each save that he made.

“I thought I played pretty well,” Tallarico said. “I saw a lot of things. I can thank my defense for a lot of that. It just feels nice to have those guys in front of you and to be able to play as well as I did.”

Niagara-Wheatfield controlled the puck, which limited scoring opportunities, and Tallarico shut down many of the opportunities that Frontier mustered. N-W really began to take control after play was stopped with 9:41 to go in the game because one of the officials broke his skate blade.

Play resumed when his skate was repaired and the higher-seeded Falcons began to cycle the puck, which resulted in a goal with 6:01 to play. Michael Lotempio picked up the puck in the corner and threw it front of the net from behind the goal line and Downie was there to slam it in.

Niagara-Wheatfield scored another goal just moments later as Tobey buried a Nick Peters rebound. N-W’s Cam Ruhland scored on the power play late in the game.

“It’s a huge momentum switch,” Klimowicz said. “We come out in the third period, they have the power play to start and our goaltender (Ryan Kaska) made a huge save. That’s a big boost for our team, but there were times where they were really putting the pressure on and we were running around in our own zone. That’s where we got into trouble.”

Tallarico made 23 saves while Torcasio tallied two points for Niagara-Wheatfield (10-10-1), which advanced to the semifinals, where it played second-seeded Orchard Park Wednesday (Feb. 24) at Northtown Center.

Kaska made 30 saves for Frontier.