Captains lead Orchard Park, Lancaster to semis

Orchard Parks’ Jimmy Doran and Lancaster’s Ryan Voight both showed that leadership makes a difference in the playoffs.

The two captains each scored a pair of goals as they led their respective teams to the Section VI Boys Federation Hockey semifinals.

The semifinals will take place on Tuesday at the HarborCenter as Lancaster takes on No. 1 seed Williamsville North at 6:15 p.m. while the Quakers will faceoff with No. 2 Niagara-Wheatfield at 8:30 p.m.

Orchard Park had nightmarish flashbacks to last year’s quarterfinal upset loss to Niagara Falls after Clarence scored the game’s first goal.

But they didn’t let the nightmare once again come to fruition.

OP overcame two one-goal deficits as they defeated No. 6 Clarence 3-2 in the Boys Federation Large School quarterfinals.

The first goal came just 40 seconds into the game as the Red Devils crashed the net and Dave Consentino put the rebound into the open net.

The memories of last year’s game, where the Quakers outshot Niagara Falls 51-21 but lost 3-1, crept into the back of their heads.

“When a team scores first on you it’s scary,” Doran said. “Everyone on the bench thought about last year and Niagara Falls. The leaders on the team had to step up and We did that.”

A few minutes later the Quakers answered back when Doran scored.

Later in the period, Orchard Park got a power play after a tripping penalty. However, the Clarence penalty kill pressured the Quaker defenseman at the point and came up with a 2-on-1 breakaway. The Red Devils capitalized as Cosentino found Nick Messuro, who deked out the goalie for the lead.

From then on, the Clarence controlled the play of the opening period, limiting the Quakers to only one strong chance for the nine remaining minutes.

Then Orchard Park began to look more like the No. 3 seeded team in the second period.

Liam McGowan found the back of the net to tied the game at two with nine minutes to in the period.

After Clarence received double penalties, the Quakers got a huge 5-on-3 power play. Just before the penalties expired, Doran tipped in Luke MacLeod’s shot from the point to give Orchard Park the lead heading into the third period.

“He’s just a great player,” OP coach Jeff Dannecker said of Doran. “I’ve had the pleasure of coaching him in both soccer and hockey. He just had his best game in soccer in the playoffs, so this wasn’t a huge surprise.”

The power play goal proved to be enough as the OP defense tightened up and Grant Zell stopped all nine shots faced in the third period.

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Voight’s two goals were all the Legends needed to edge out the Frontier Falcons 2-1 in the finale of the quadrable header at the Northtown Center Saturday.

“We have a lot of younger guys so I thought I needed to step up my own game,” Voight said. “I had to push the younger players not to be nervous because you can’t be nervous in the playoffs.”

Both teams had chances but no one scored until Noah Machlowski fed the puck to Voight in front of the net for the Lancaster’s first goal.

After the goal, the Legends took a penalty and gave the man-advantage with just over a minute and a half left in the period.

Frontier took shot after shot at the net before Kyle Mack slipped in a rebound chance off of Ryan Messing’s shot with 11 seconds left in the period.

The second period was much of the same as both goaltenders stood on their heads.

Lancaster took the lead back as Voight’s shot from along the boards was tipped in with a minute left in the second.

“He’s a great leader and awesome kid on and off the ice,” Lancaster coach Kevin Miller said of Voight. “When we selected a captain at the beginning of the season it was unanimous. He will do anything for the team.”

Frontier freshman netminder Jeff Pienta stood tall for his team stopping 37 shots in the loss.

Goalie Kevin King made 24 saves in the win.

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Spartans, Falcons cruise Saturday in Boys Fed Hockey Playoffs

Two teams that were expected to make deep runs in the Section VI Boys Hockey Federation Large School Playoff’s easily won ion their opening match-up’s Saturday at the Northtown Center.

The top seeded Williamsville North Spartans bested Niagara Falls 11-0 in the first game of the day. Brett Sardina scored two of his three goals in the first period while Andrew Bruno chipped in with two goals and three assists as the Spartans steamrolled the Wolverines.

Check out Matt Bove’s Tweet (WKBW)

Offensive explosion for the defending state champs @WNorthHockey in their first round matchup with Niagara Falls @WKBW @IcingTheFed @WNYAthletics @jennacallari pic.twitter.com/JhZQDyDE4F — Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) February 17, 2018

Williamsville North surrendered just three shots all game and scored twice while short-handed.

The Spartans will play Lancaster on Tuesday at the HarborCenter. Puck drop 6pm.

Niagara Wheatfield blanked Lockport 15-0 in the second Boys Hockey Federation game of the day. Nick Breier pumped in two goals in the first period to help lead the Falcons over the Lions. Like the Spartans before them, Wheatfield gave up just three shots in this game.

The Falcons will now play Orchard Park on Tuesday at 815pm down at the HarborCenter.