Indians rally in third to win Regional Final

West Seneca West was on the brink of elimination Saturday against Canandaigua in the NYSPHSAA hockey small school regional. Trailing 1-0 and down a man to start the third period, the Indians rallied to defeat the Braves 2-1 after some late game heroics and a bit of luck from the “Hockey Gods.”

Just after killing off a four-minute major, goaltender Noah Sobczyk was nailed by an opposing player from behind, leaving the junior goaltender down on the ice and thriving in pain. WSW did not have another goalie dressed, as their back up was out of town and they had nobody else eligible to fill the void. After a few tense moments, Sobczyk was able to hop back up on his skates and resume playing.

The officials assessed offsetting penalties for interference, which didn’t sit well with the WSW bench. Instead of sulking and looking for retribution, the Indians used the dirty play as motivation. “Assistant coach Vastola was in our ears telling us not to get caught up in anything,” captain Parker Leemer said. “We knew we had to just keep playing hard and we did that.”

Leemer came through shortly after watching his goaltender go down. He roofed a shot past goaltender Noah Schwartz, a Bowman Cup participant last spring. The goal tied the game and reenergized the Indians faithful.

Shortly after Leemer tied the score, WSW forward Matt Myers did what good players do in big spots. Myers followed through on his forecheck and was battling with a Canandaigua player along the boards deep inside Braves territory and was able to block a clearing attempt. Myers took control of the puck and fed a pass to teammate Tyler Dunning. Dunning then faked a pass to linemate Kyle Haettich pulled the puck back and then slipped a shot past Schwartz to put WSW on top 2-1.

Sobczyk was huge late in the game making three stops in the closing minutes to help preserve the win.

The victory punched the Indians ticket to the final four next weekend at HarborCenter. They will face the John Jay Indians from Section I on Saturday at 2:15pm.

“There were some tense moments when Noah went down,” coach Kevin Rozo said after the team won. “We would have had to play with six guys and no goalie the rest of the way.”

Sobczyk finished with 21 saves, nine in the third period. “I definitely was worried at first but after a few minutes I felt ok,” Sobczyk said. “All that matters is that we won.”