Sometimes, a player inspires and leads a team far enough to win a Section VI championship. Two years ago, James Stenzel did that for Niagara Wheatfield. It was the Falcons’ fourth-straight section title.

Last year, with Stenzel gone, Niagara Wheatfield fell to Williamsville North in the Section VI finals after finishing the regular season 7-8-1.

The coaching staff struggled to find answers throughout the season as to why the Falcons weren’t the dominating team they were accustomed to being. On Monday, head coach Rick Wrazin finally had one answer.

“Last year a lot of guys put too much pressure on themselves for different reasons,” Wrazin said. “One of the big ones might be that we lost James Stenzel, and everybody thought that they needed to pick up for him. And I think really what we need to do when we lose somebody like that, is have everybody play their game.”

Chris Tobey, a junior forward in his third year on the varsity team, agreed with Wrazin, but he also thought the Falcons could have worked harder last season, something else that’s been consistent with their reputation over the years.

“I think I tried to do a little too much, and I just need to play my game, and then things should be better from there,” Tobey said. “I thought we could have worked harder. We started off a little slow. We didn’t have the season we wanted, but in the playoffs I think we played better, and it just didn’t go our way in the final game.”

“We would have liked to have a better ending,” said goalie Dom Tallarico, who’s also been on the team since his freshman year. “We had a good playoff run and nobody probably thought we were gonna get that far, and we really worked hard in the last game. It just didn’t go our way, but this season we’re hoping to change that … I had kind of a down season last season, and I wanna pick that up.”

The last game, the loss to Williamsville North, was lost by just a goal. North found the back of the net just once; the Falcons were unable to do the same. But the way the Falcons played in that game, as well as the previous two playoff games, showed improvement over much of the regular season.

“We were pretty young,” Wrazin said. “We had our ups and downs, but we got it together at the end of the season, and it was good to see the young guys come through at the end. We didn’t score as much as we should — we had some pretty offensive kids. But the good thing is a lot of them have grown and gotten stronger. I think last year that was a factor — just being younger and smaller.”

This year, Niagara Wheatfield has more size, more experience, and a strong work ethic.

“I think it’s gonna be a good year,” Tobey said. “Everyone wants to win a state championship, and everyone has good work ethic on this team, so I think things will be alright in the end.”

Tallarico and Tobey both expect to have a leadership role on this year’s team, both on and off the ice.

“We are really experienced,” said Tallarico. “Just to kinda show guys how we want this team to work and how you gotta put in the work and hopefully get something out of it at the end.”

“Just show how work ethic should be and maybe help guys out if they need help with a drill or something, and just hard work,” said Tobey

“It goes too with off ice, showing how you carry yourself off the ice and on the ice,” Tallarico added.

Wrazin expects Tallarico to once again be solid in net. Although Tallarico felt he didn’t play his best last season, Wrazin saw glimpses of dominance and hopes for more of that this year.

“Tallarico, you saw it in the playoffs,” Wrazin said. “When he’s focused and on his game, he’s tough to beat. So we look for consistency and him to be strong on the back end for us. And he’s always been a bit of a leader on the team, so we expect more of the same.”

Tobey was one of those players that Wrazin felt tried to do too much in Stenzel’s absence, but he thinks Tobey has put that in the past, and Wrazin expects this to be a better season.

“Chris struggled a little bit last year,” Wrazin said. “I think he put a little too much pressure on himself and was trying to do too much, but I think right now he’s in a much better place.”

Tobey wants to be a player that his teammates can model their own game after.

“I hope people can look at the way I play and see that I’m working hard and winning battles and stuff like that, and good positioning and stuff,” Tobey said. “They can look at that and do it for themselves.”

As a whole, Wrazin expects the team’s biggest strength to be balance. The Falcons lost a few key players to graduation last year, but Wrazin likes what they’ve brought back.

“I think we’re actually pretty solid all the way through,” Wrazin said. “I think maybe balance will be our biggest strength because I think we’re gonna have some offense, I think we’ll be solid on defense and good at moving pucks, and our goaltending is strong. I think the best thing we have going for us is a well-balanced team.”

Tobey and Tallarico like how close-knit this year’s team is.

“Everyone on this team is really close,” said Tobey. “No one would let each other down, everyone will stick together, and I think that’s really gonna help us.”

“Keeping the family aspect of it, and not quitting on anyone here because we do have a lot of seniors, and it’ll be really tough to see it go away,” said Tallarico.

Wrazin doesn’t expect an easy year, but he’s confident in the abilities of the team he’s leading into the new season.

“It looks like we have good team speed,” he said. “We found our offense at the end last year, and we expect to be an offensive team. We should be able to be a puck possession team, so I think offensively things look good, and I think defensively, we are gonna be pretty solid on the back end too.

“It’s gonna be a tough league this year. It looks like everybody’s gotten better, so everyone’s got their work cut out for them, but I think we’re in a good spot.”