HS HOCKEY: Falcons out to 3-1 start after winless season.
- By Dave Ricci scoreboard@gnnewspaper.com
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Niagara Wheatfield players celebrate a goal in Thursday night's win over West Seneca West at Cornerstone CFCU Arena in Lockport.
- Paul Battson
The Niagara Wheatfield bench watches play during Thursday's win over West Seneca West at Cornerstone CFCU Arena in Lockport.
- Paul Battson
The talent is still there.
More importantly, the hunger is back.
As Niagara Wheatfield boys hockey navigates the waters of this COVID-shortened season, the Falcons are also trying to leave behind the scars of 2019-20.
Last year was a difficult one for the Falcons, as they went 0-15-3.
It was a blow to a proud program with a history of success that includes seven Section VI Large School championships and a second-place state finish in 2018.
It was a season that, quite frankly, still has the folks at NW scratching their heads. But at the same time, the coaches want to make sure the kids understand last year was an anomaly and one bad year does not wipe out all past success.
While some teams might feel it best to just forget a winless season, the Falcons are trying to be better than that. They aren't dwelling on the past but instead they are hoping to learn from it.
"Honestly, as a coach, it should have been my job to figure it out and we never really have," Falcons head coach Rick Wrazin said. "I think sometimes maybe having as successful of a past as we've had, we kinda think maybe some guys just thought it's just gonna happen. And on our end (as coaches), maybe got a little lax and complacent because again, maybe some of the guys thought 'It's Niagara Wheatfield. We just win. That's what we do.'"
Perhaps the most maddening part is the losses were not the result of a lack of skill. The Falcons still had an abundance of talented players.
What was missing were the intangibles.
"As much as that (desperation) wasn't there I give that team a lot of credit. They never just quit and sold out," said Wrazin. "I really think that if we had won a game in the first quarter of the season it would have changed a lot of things. But it was like we'd get a lead but then give up an untimely goal and give it back. ... I think a little confidence may have changed all that, but we were never able to turn the corner and get that confidence."
Wheatfield will be looking to core returnees like senior forwards and co-captains Anthony Delisanti and Kevin Doyle as well as alternate captains in junior defenseman Collin Durnatto and senior forward Conner Kaluzny.
Junior Gavin Cerrillo, who scored the game-winner as the Falcons snapped their slump early this season against Kenmore West, will also be key.
Wrazin said those boys are accountable and are looking to atone for the struggles of last year.
"You always gotta remember the past. You just can't forget it," Delisanti said. "It's basically starting fresh (but) remembering the past and building off it. Just basically being better every day."
The Falcons dropped their season opener to Grand Island but showed character by rebounding with a win over Kenmore West (2-1), a 10-1 thumping of North Tonawanda and a 6-2 win over West Seneca West on Wednesday to give them a 3-1 record in Division III of the WNY Varsity Ice Hockey Federation.
Wrazin felt that getting those early wins as a whole instilled the dash of confidence the team wasn't quite able to capture last year.
Even the loss to GI ,which included two empty netters, could have had a different ending if a bounce or two went N-W's way.
One of the biggest pluses for the Falcon is the return of Delisanti, who was lost midway through last season when he sustained a broken fibula in a game against Timon.
For Delisanti, the injury was nowhere near a painful as the empty feeling of not being able to help him teammates the rest of the way. That's serving as extra motivation to give the team every thing he has.
"That was pretty tough sitting out last year, not even being able to go out and help the team at the end of the year was really tough," he said. "This year (I'm) taking it personal. I gotta make it better than I found it. Just lead by example every day and work hard."
Delasanti tallied five goals in the win over NT and while it was nice to light the lamp, he hopes what rubbed off on his teammates wasn't the goals themselves but the hard work he put in to help create scoring chances.
"Stats mean nothing to me," said Delisanti, who's also perhaps the best amateur golfer in the state. "I measure my game by how hard I work and what kind of leader I was that game. Goals and assists, yeah, they're great. They help us win, but working hard is what I play for. That's what I try to help my team see. If I'm working hard then maybe they'll follow me."
Senior Ryan Milleville will also be on the blue line and junior Evan Kopp is between the pipes. Wrazin said there is definitely a hunger to succeed burning within everyone.
"Those guys, coming off of last year, it's kinda like they're saying, 'Not again, we're not doing this,'" Wrazin said. "They've been good leaders. I think, to their credit, they have learned from the past. And they are making sure the guys coming in know that if something bad happens you don't hang your head, you just keep pumping and eventually things are gonna get fixed."
