WNYGVIH Recap

Christmas Break Make-ups

An early-in-season snow storm sent several Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey (WNYGVIH) games into the “to be rescheduled” category. Three of those games were made up during the holiday recess.

First up was Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew/Alden taking on Frontier/Franklinville/Lancaster/Orchard Park on Monday, December 30 at Leisure Rinks, a new venue for all. This was the first of the “Christmas Ties” as Bill Pavone labeled them.

For LIDA it was Mia Hauser, Caitlin Sinclair and Leah Dowling scoring with assists coming from Emily Rodriguez, Claire Whiteford, Dowing and Brynn Cafferty. Iris Schimenti was in goal stopping 26 of 29 SOG. For FFLOP it was Hannah Favata, Peyton Forcucci and Sophia Quinn scoring, assisted by Maya Griffin on the second and third goal. Forcucci’s was unassisted. In goal Rachael Fix stopped 26 of 29 and the game ended a 3-3 tie after a five minute overtime.

On Thursday is was another “Christmas Tie,” but this one ended 0-0 after a five minute overtime. It Was Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca taking on Monsignor Martin in a game with no goals and no penalties until the overtime period. MonMar took two penalties in the extra period, leaving HHEWS with a two-player advantage. However, even with the advantage could not get the puck past MonMar goalie Kate Kelley. MonMar’s Kelley stopped 47 shots and HEWS’s Buczynski stopped 14.

Friday night Clarence/Amherst/Sweet Home took on St. Mary’s of Lancaster at the Northtown Center and the home team walked away with a 2-0 shutout. Georgia Mangan dropped in the first goal in the first period, assisted by Alexandria Reed and Polina Stremiakova. There was no scoring in the second but in the third, Celia Watson’s empty netter secured a 2-0 victory. CASH’s Ella Celej stopped 26/28 and St. Mary’s Betsy Accurso stopped 28.

Webster (Sec V) came to visit FFLOP in a Section V vs Section VI non-league game on Monday night at Hamburg. It was a 6-1 victory for FFLOP with goals from Kayli Tefft, Olivia Waterman (the game winner), Jocelyn Smaczniak, Gabby Sojda (2 including an unassisted) and Hannah Favata, unassisted. Adding to the points with assists were Campbell Rutz, Favata, Adeline Weber, Sojda, Susanna Hollander and Waterman. In goal for FFLOP Rachael Fix stopped 12 of 13.

Maddie Meyer scored the lone goal, unassisted, for Webster and Goalie Mia Wambach stopped 17 of 23.

Mark you calendars as we have a busy first full week of 2025 ice hockey:

Monday, January 6: FINAL SCORES

St. Mary’s of Lancaster 7, Niagara County 4

(Donnelly 2 goals and an assist, Accurso 28 saves for STM)

HEWS 5, LIDA 3

(Sokolowski 2 goals, Buczynski 21 saves)

Tuesday, January 7

St. Mary’s at Williamsville, 4:30 p.m.

FFLOP at Niagara County, 4:45 p.m.

MonMar at HEWS, 7:30 p.m.

LIDA at KenGIPort, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, January 8

No Games

Thursday, January 9

CASH at FFLOP, 4:40 p.m.

KenGiPort at MonMar, 4:40 p.m.

Niagara County at Williamsville, 4:30 p.m.

No admission for WNYGVIH games at any venue.