Niagara Falls & Wheatfield Courier / Friday, February 13, 2015
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Local sports Tallarico, Niagara-Wheatfield shut out Williamsville North at Dwyer By Nick Sabato SPORTS REPORTER
When Niagara-Wheatfield met Williamsville North back on Dec. 21, it resulted in a 1-0 Falcons victory. So when the Falcons met the stingiest defensive hockey team in Division I, they knew it’d be another tight struggle. That’s exactly what happened, as NiagaraWheatfield once again gutted out another 1-0 game to defeat the Spartans on Tuesday night (Feb. 10) at Niagara University’s Dwyer
Arena. “We knew it was going to be tight,” Niagara-Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin said. “The last game was 1-0. They don’t get scored on a lot. They are a good defensive team. They always bring their best. We know that when we play them that they are always going to give us a game.Any time we play them it can go either way. I told the boys before the game that they were here to play so we better dig down and find it because it was going to be a battle.” Just like the first game, the Falcons got on the board early as Matt Canada found Alex Bauer for a first period goal that turned out to be the game-winner. The remainder of the game was truly a defensive battle as both goaltenders were magnificent between the pipes. Nick Stafford stopped 40
of 41 shots for Williamsville North, while Domenic Tallarico stopped all 26 WillNorth shots, including 13 in a penalty-riddled second period, to pick up his third shutout of the season. Tallarico didn’t do it alone, however, as he got significant help from his defensive corps on a penalty kill unit that included James Stenzel, Kasey Haseley, Joseph Torcasio and Canada. “He’s a great goaltender,” Wrazin said. “We are fortunate to have him and Casey Wall. They are both very strong goalies and that’s helped us throughout the year. On our penalty kill, we did a nice job of keeping things to the outside to let him see the puck. With those guys, if we let them see the puck we expect that they are going to stop it. He did a nice job of stopping pucks, but our kill really stepped
up and we did a good job of clearing the zone and getting a little pressure in their end.” Niagara-Wheatfield (14-41 overall) now has three points on Orchard Park for the top seed in the large school division for the sectional playoffs with one more regular season contest against Bishop Timon on Sunday (Feb. 15) at HarborCenter. Orchard Park would need to win both of its remaining regular season games and have the Falcons lose to or tie Timon to overtake them in the standings. Will-North is guaranteed no lower than the third seed, but could move into the second slot if it can win its last two remaining games, including a matchup with Orchard Park. The Spartans would also need the Quakers to lose out. Twitter: @SabatoNick
The NiagaraWheatfield Falcons (14-4-1 overall) now have three points on Orchard Park for the top seed in the large school division for the sectional playoffs with one more regular season contest against Bishop Timon on Sunday (Feb. 15) at the HarborCenter.
Chemistry continues grow for strong line “Hockey” from page 6 including at least one point in nine of 11 games. The trio ranks in the top three on the team in scoring and has combined for a total of 58 points. Their chemistry continues to grow. “We got into a zone,” Becker said. “We fore-check hard and we seem to know where each other are at the right time.” While the Becker-DownieLogar line has put up the biggest point total, Niagara-
Wheatfield has been able to roll three lines consistently with great production. The line of Chris Churakos, Nick Peters and Chris Tobey has been just as effective as the line of Domenic Sensese, Alex Bauer and Ryan Metzler. “Our second and third lines are pretty much dead even,” said Wrazin. “That line has actually been coming around. Dom Senese and Alex Bauer have been really getting to-
gether and Ryan Metzler has played real strongly.” Even though they are winners of the last three sectional championships, Niagara-Wheatfield still knows that there are no guarantees as they head into playoff action. That starts this weekend with a 6 p.m. matchup against Bishop Timon at the HarborCenter on Sunday (Feb. 15), which gives them the opportunity to lock up the top seed without leaving it
up to chance. If they don’t defeat the Tigers, which they did 6-3 on Feb. 8, Orchard Park has the potential to overtake the Falcons by winning its remaining two contests. But, winning the regular season finale is the first step for the Falcons in sending a message that they’re willing to play hard every night to get back to the championship podium on March 2. “We always tell them that
anybody can beat anybody, and this year it has been more like that than ever,” Wrazin said. “If you look back at the schedule, there are some surprise games where teams beat other teams that they weren’t supposed to. It doesn’t matter who we play, we have to show up. I think if we are playing well we are going to be right there with anybody, but we have to bring our A game every night.” Twitter: @SabatoNick
Lockport is on a roll “Hoops” from page 6 Karen Catalano said. “Carissa was finding her, and Kat was making great catches to possess the basketball, even on plays that we didn’t score, andAlyssa was dominant on the boards tonight. I thought Kathryn and Brooke [Camarra] had great chemistry tonight, too.” With Dry playing limited minutes, they needed to find a way to replace her team-leading average of 15 points per game, and the Lady Lions were able to get that by committee. Krchniak did most of her damage offensively in the first half by scoring seven of her 11 points in the first 16 minutes, while Brooke Camarra scored nine points on the night. DiTullio had a tremendous night overall night. She was instrumental in breaking the Wolverines’full-court pressure and was consistently able to find teammates for open baskets. The sophomore finished with six points, seven assists and four steals on the night. “I think we knew what we had coming in,” said Catalano. “What we had was depth and versatility. Bit-by-bit and stepby-step it’s starting to show off for us.” Wagner posted her third straight double-double, grabbing 11 of her season-high 19 boards in the second half to help dominate the game. Lockport (11-4) now sets its sights on Kenmore West on Friday, with the winner of the game ending up in the driver’s seat in the NFL with just one game coming afterward. The Lady Lions fell to the Blue Devils in the first meeting 46-34 on Jan. 16 but have won seven in a row since then.
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Niagara Falls & Wheatfield Courier / Friday, February 13, 2015