It all started with a simple idea in July.

I was looking for something different to do during the hockey season. I was entering my eight-year covering the Federation, but I felt like it was getting old.

How many stories can you do on the same subject – but different kids?

So, I went to Wegmans and approached my friend Pat Fisher. I ran this crazy idea by him of covering the ins and outs of the Timon hockey team during the entire season.

I never thought he would go for it. In fact, I thought he might say that I would have to go and ask the powers that be over at Timon.

But, to my surprise, he thought it was a great idea. He jumped right on board and told me if I needed anything just to let him know.
A couple months, and a wedding, went by before I needed to talk to Fisher again. I was in contact with him at the end of September and earlier October to finalize what I was going to do, what it entailed.

During St. Joe’s week for football is when Timon had their first tryouts. I remember going to the rink in a light coat, because we had one of those warm falls. I remember going up to see Fisher and coach Schieber and Gardner.

I was a little worried because I didn’t know how I would be accepted. Having a reporter in the locker room when stuff is going down doesn’t sit well with people all the time.

But, the coaching staff welcomed me with open arms.

I was in the coach’s room when they made the decisions on whom to send down and keep up. I was there when they called the kids in to talk to them on what they wanted to do.

If there is one thing I can’t relate enough is that Fisher and his staff are great when it came to communication.

They always talked to the kids from day one to see where their heads where at. It was nice to see.

I was there for the dance talk. When kids had to make a decision on whether to go to the Mt. Mercy dance or St. Francis hockey game.

I was there for the suspensions. I was there for the nine-game losing streak in January when it seemed the poor boys couldn’t catch a break.

I was there for every practice. And I do mean every practice. Monday nights at 8:30 p.m. and Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

If you ever watch practice then you know it’s a chore right there.

The coaches got to meet my wife. And every time I saw them they asked me how her pregnancy was going.

Usually, I talked to Gardner about the pregnancy if I had any questions, because I knew he just went through it.

Instead of a job, it became more of a family.

Fisher let me on the bench and sometimes, because of work conflicts, I was helping Schieber.

I remember when the boys defeated Nichols in the beginning of February. It was just Schieber and I and I felt so happy for the boys when they won that game in overtime to break their streak.

I took the losses hard – not as hard as the boys. But, that sense of family was there and I never wanted to see them fail.

It was a great learning experience and one that I would do again, maybe.

I learned a lot from four months with one school. I learned that I never want to be a coach, inside joke. I learned that a lot of people don’t like South Buffalo and Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School.

It’s funny because I have covered the league for eight years. I started when Frank Panek was still president and his son, Chris, was coaching.

But, I was around all the schools then – so I didn’t see it, until this year.

I saw the disdain other programs have for this school. And how much they would like to see them fail.

They all like Pat and the coaches, but when it comes to the school and them winning they would rather see them fail.

Pat asked me after the final game of the year if I had anything to add since I was with them for four months.

All I had to add was pride. Have some pride that you go to Timon. Have pride that you are from South Buffalo. Get the pride back in the school and get the hockey and football programs back up to speed.

Play with the chip on your shoulder – because you are from South Buffalo and people have a tendency to talk not to highly of you.

It’s all about the name on the front and colors that you wear. Pat talked about it all year; you will never get these days back. High School is an innocent time in a person’s life. You don’t have to worry about the real world yet.

I was taught a lot about people. I was so fast to rip a player if they didn’t want to go out for a certain sport or rip a player if they didn’t play well.

While I still will rip a kid if he doesn’t play well – I will take into consideration some other things that might be going on.

I will say this year was the best experience when it came to meeting the new parents. I have dealt with hockey parents for a while now, god help me, and I never understood why they are like they are.

But, this year, the parents were very nice. I met a lot of them at the annual function and they made my wife and I feel welcomed.
I also talked to them during the year at practice or at games and they were always nice.

How can I forgot the players. Being inside the locker room for four months you really get to know the kids. Some are quite, some will joke around all the time.

But getting to know the Michael Crowley, Dan Schieber, Dan Fulton, Oscar, Nellie, Sam, Langer, Timmy, Griff, Zach, Spedo, Sully, Jeff, Zap, Thoms, Downes, Trey, Justin, Jack, Q and Harrington has been a pleasure.

And how can I forgot my coaching staff. I have known Pat since my freshman year in high school. I worked with Pat when he was with the Sabres and now with Timon. Pat is a great guy and he cares about these kids. Of course he wanted to win more, what coach doesn’t, but he also wants to teach them life lessons – something Mr. P taught him when he was playing.

It’s always fun talking to Carl when he would show up on a Monday night to work with the goalies. Coach Schieber, as I always call him, is a great guy as well. He would always be the first one at practice and him and I would always talk about non-hockey stuff. Normally, about how my wife was feeling and things of that nature.

And then there is Andy. He would always tease me about when he would make my column.

Here is your chance big boy.

Andy was and is a character on the bench and in practice and in the locker room. He always has that grin on his face like he is up to something. He always kept the bench loose and always made me laugh when I was on the bench.

Andy is a great asset to the Timon team, along with all the other coaches.

While another hockey season comes to an end it is just the beginning for yours truly.

I will be off to cover lacrosse this year. We will be holding an All-Metro Lacrosse banquet at the end of the season to honor the top 11 players in the area.

My wife and I will be expecting our first child in a couple of weeks. A little boy. I will have to write about that when it happens. If I had it my way he would be heading to Timon tomorrow.

Thank you to everybody who has read this over the past three months. We have seen the numbers and the numbers look great for a high school column.

Also, thank you for the comments from the parents, instate alumni and of course my out of state alumni.

It was always a pleasure to read and respond back.

If all goes well, maybe we will do this again next year. It would be easier on the family and by then my son would be like eight months and ready for some hockey action.

Take Care

Matt

by Matthew Ondesko, Associate Editor

“He is someone who had the courage and the will to stand behind the Federation and get this thing off the ground,” - Timon coach Pat Fisher.

When you think of the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation the first person that comes to mind is Frank Panek.

Panek was the one that got league up and going 20 years ago and for the first 14 years was the president.

“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years, especially after spending the first 14 years as the first president of the Federation,” stated Panek. “It feels like we just started yesterday.”

Panek’s accomplishments in the game of hockey have not gone unnoticed as he was inducted into the New York State High School Hockey Hall of Fame and most recently into the Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School Hall of Fame.

“I was very pleasantly surprised,” stated Panek. “I never expected anything like that from the state or from Timon. All the years of coaching, it’s just a nice pleasant surprise. I am really honored and humbled by it all.”

Some joke that Panek started the Federation just so Timon could actually win a title. But, 20 years and 24 teams later, many believe he is the reason why the league has prospered to where it is today.

Starting with the original eight, the Federation was the first of its kind to have Catholic and Public schools in the same league. The eight teams then played for one league title. It just happened that Timon and St. Joe’s played for the championship – with Timon winning in overtime.

But, the league has since grown from eight to 24 and is now considered the premier high school league in the area, with teams from the Large, Small and Catholic schools competing for state titles.

“Frank is a very humble guy, and I am sure he won’t admit this, but to stand back and look at this league now with 24 teams - when it started with eight 20 years ago - is remarkable,” stated Fisher. “And, really, this area should thank him for that.”

Hockey is in the blood of Panek still to this day. While he may not be coaching anymore, Frank is still around the rink watching his beloved Timon fight it out with the best teams from the area day in and day out.

“Even though he is not coaching, it is still in his blood,” stated Fisher, who played for him on the 1990 team. “We still talk almost everyday about the team and how the team is doing. I can’t think of a person that is more deserving of this honor.”

In his 17 years behind the bench at Timon, Panek had a 235-166-24 record. But, it was the one win in 1990 that he will always be known for.

Panek was behind the bench when Timon won the inaugural Federation title, a 3-2 overtime win over rival St. Joe’s at Memorial Auditorium.

As the league celebrates its 20th anniversary, memories of that great achievement are starting to come up again.

“It was a typical Timon, South Buffalo team –hardworking,” explained Panek. “We didn’t have all the talent in the world, but they worked like heck. We did have a really good goalie, which kept us in games. We just had a lot of hardworking kids.”

Hard work is what Frank Panek instilled in his players for 17 years. His hard work is what got the Federation off and running and his hard work is what landed him into the hall of fame.

Congratulations Frank Panek, you deserve every accolade that comes your way.

A five-goal second period was all Canisius would need as they cruised to an 8-1 victory over Bishop Timon-St. Jude Monday night in the semifinals of the Federation Catholic playoffs.

Canisius got on the board first with 23 seconds remaining in the first period. Timon’s Justin LaRusch won the draw back to the corner boards. Joe Mitchell of Canisius picked up the loose puck and then fired a quick shot that beat Dan Fulton.

The goal seemed to take the life out of Timon as they came out flat in the first five minutes of the second.

That’s when Canisius would go on to score three goals in the first four minutes of the period to put the game away.

Timon showed a little life in the third as Mike Griffin broke the shutout by beating Dylan Arnold with a nice shot to the glove side.

Griffin could have had a couple more goals as he hit the post and crossbar in the third as well.

Despite letting in eight goals, Fulton kept his boys in the game – especially in the first period. Timon came out flat in the first and Fulton was there to save their bacon on a number of occasions.

If it wasn’t for Fulton, the game might have gotten out of hand earlier.

Canisius now moves on to the Catholic final where they will face St. Francis at 8 p.m. Sunday at HSBC Arena.

St. Francis 4, St. Joe’s 1

Look who crashed the party.

With rumors swirling around that St. Francis will be kicked out of the league after the season, the Red Raiders made a strong statement that they belong by beating St. Joe’s to advance to their first title game since the 1998-99 season.

That season, St. Francis won the title with a 9-0 win over Timon.

The Red Raiders broke open a close game with two goals in the second period, and then hung on for the win.

Curran McNamara played well in net for St. Francis.

During the regular season, Canisius won the only meeting between the two clubs.

News and notes:

This will not be my last column of the season. I will have one more next Monday after the emotions of the year settle down.

I could have easily wrote one today, but it would have been too emotional – and sometimes that is not a good thing.

Look for a story celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1990 team in this weekend of the South Buffalo Metro Source.

We dug up the old photo and interviewed some of the players.

Hope you had a chance to read the story on Frank Panek in the playoff guide. If not, let me know and I will post it on the Web site as well.

No one believes they have a chance at anything. They don’t believe the kids from South Buffalo have any chance at beating Canisius High School.

People have already anointed Canisius as the Catholic Federation and State champion.

People and the media did that back in 1980 with the Russians – saying they would win gold. No one was ever going to beat Russia – especially a bunch of college kids from the United States.

Thirty years later we all know how that turned out. The USA not only beat the big bad Russians, but they beat Finland to win gold.

Twenty years ago, no one gave a group of kids from South Buffalo a chance to win the Federation title in the leagues first year. As I have been told by many of the guys from that team, they didn’t have a very good year – so everybody counted them out.

Then Pat McMahon scored in overtime to give Timon a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over St. Joe’s to win the title.

People in the community still talk about how special that team was. I was talking to Doug Matteson, a kid I grew up with in South Buffalo, and he was talking about the game like it was yesterday. I know Pat McMahon, who reads this column all the time, still remembers the speech Pat Fisher gave his teammates before the final.

Those are memories that the 1990 team will remember for ever.

Twenty years later a group of kids from South Buffalo are trying to turn the trick again. They had a rough year – only registering five wins. They came close against St. Joe’s and St. Francis. And even put up four goals against Canisius in one loss.

They are trying to make their own memories. And what better way to make a memory then by beating the best team in the state.

Timon will need some great goaltending by Dan Fulton to have any chance. I have seen it done before, actually on Saturday when Amherst beat Williamsville South in overtime. There Sean Smith of Amherst played out of his mind as he kept his team in it.

For Timon to have a chance they need to play their game. Play physical and take the play to Canisius. For the seniors this maybe the last time they will step on the ice wearing the Green and Gold, they should do something special.

For all the Timon parents who read this column, Timon will have a walk through from 3:30 to 4 p.m. at Caz on Monday. Just a walk through to get the boy’s legs moving and to go over a few things before the big game.

An early wakeup call didn’t affect Michael Crowley at the rest of his Timon teammates.

Crowley scored twice and Timon built a 3-0 leading before holding on for a 4-1 win over Nichols in the Catholic play-in game played Friday morning at Dann Memorial Rink on the campus of Nichols School.

It took Timon awhile to get their feet moving and it showed as Nichols took the play to the Tigers early in the contest. But, Nichols couldn’t get anything past Dan Fulton as the sophomore played his best game of the year making some big saves throughout the game.

Timon would finally get on the board first, late in the first, as Brian Sullivan skated over the Nichols blueline and fired a wrist shot high to the blocker side that eluded goaltender Max Rosenthal.

Timon would make it a 2-0 game early in the second when Crowley picked up the loose puck at his own blueline and quickly turned it into a 2-on-1. He then fed a wonderful pass to Zach Evancho who fired the puck in the net. The lead would go to 3-0 nothing when Justin Nelson left a great drop pass to Crowley, who then fired it past Rosenthal.

Nichols would cut the lead to 3-1 and had a golden opportunity to get back in the game with just over two-minutes remaining in regulation, but could not convert on a key 5-on-3 power play.

Timon put the game away when Crowley scored in the open net with just under a minute to go.

Next up for the Tigers is top seed Canisius at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22 at the Amherst Pepsi Center. Canisius defeated Timon 8-4 and 6-0 earlier this year.

The underdog Tigers are looking to crash the party for the second year in a row. Last season, Timon defeated St. Joe’s 3-2 in overtime to advance to the Catholic final.

Timon is kind of like the 1980 Olympic team. No one expected the United States to do anything in the Olympics and all they did was beat Russia and then Finland for the Gold Medal.

To win the Catholic title someone has to go through Canisius – why not in the semifinal. Like Herb Brooks said during his speech to his team before the Russian game. This is our time, they had their time. This is our time – now go out and take it.

We finally have a day and time for the playoff game between (4) Timon and (5) Nichols. The game will played at 9 a.m. on Friday at Nichols. The winner of the contest will then take on Canisius at 7 p.m. Monday at the Amherst (Pepsi) Center.

It was a good practice on Tuesday as the coaches broke up the offense and defense into groups. Coach Pat Fisher and Mike Schieber worked with the offense, while Andy Gardner worked with the defense.

Practice was fast and the kids look like they are ready to play. They have one more practice today before heading to Nichols on Friday.

xxxx

To answer some of the questions and comments that were given to me yesterday regarding the playoff schedule, I do agree that it was the fault of both the school and league. When they schedule came out in October, the school should have checked to see if there were going to be any conflicts.

Also, the league should not have scheduled games in the morning. I covered the games Tuesday morning, you can read more on the home page, and the crowds were small.

Hopefully, this is just a one-year trial period.

News and notes:

Friday will be the first time all year that Timon will have their entire team. Injuries throughout the season have limited the Tigers.

Should be interesting to see what the Tigers can do now that they are healthy.

Like I mentioned earlier, I was covering the Small and Large School play-in games. Hamburg beat Lewiston-Porter, 4-3, in double overtime. North Tonawanda defeated Niagara Falls, 4-3, in overtime and Kenmore West defeated Lockport, 6-2.

If you see me on the phone today while at the rink, I will be doing an Army Lacrosse preview along with a Canisius College Lacrosse preview.

The playoffs for the rest of the tournament is as follows:

Thursday:
5 p.m. (3) Orchard Park vs. (6) Clarence
7 p.m. (1) Will-North vs. (9) North Tonawanda
9 p.m. (2) Niagara-Wheatfield vs. (7) Ken-West

Friday:
9 a.m. (4) Timon vs. (5) Nichols (At Nichols)

Saturday:
1 p.m. (4) Lancaster vs. (5) Frontier
3 p.m. (1) Ken-East vs. (8) Hamburg
5 p.m. (3) Will-East vs. (6) West Seneca West
7 p.m. (4) West Seneca East vs. (5) Sweet Home
9 p.m. (2) Will-South vs. (7) Amherst

Monday, Feb. 22 (Semifinals)
7 p.m. (1) Canisius vs. Timon/Nichols
9 p.m. (2) St. Joe’s vs. (3) St. Francis

Wednesday, Feb. 24 (Semifinals)
High Seed vs. Low seed
Second high vs. second low

Thursday, Feb. 25 (Semifinals Large)
High Seed vs. Low seed
Second high vs. second low

Sunday, Feb. 28 (Super Sunday HSBC)
4 p.m. Small School
6 p.m. Large School
8 p.m. Catholic Schools

Timon’s playoff game against Nichols as been moved to 9 a.m. on Thursday at the Amherst Center, that was the message relayed to the team at practice on Monday night.

Timon coach Pat Fisher is trying to get the game moved back to Wednesday, but at 2 or 2:30 p.m. at Caz, because Timon already as ice time there.

The reason for the change is because it is Ash Wednesday on Wednesday and the school will not let the hockey players out early because they must attend mass.

As an alumnus of Bishop Timon, and a Catholic, I understand why the school is making the boys go to church – and believe me going to mass before a big playoff game would be important anyway.

I am not putting the entire blame of this playoff game mishap on Timon. I do think Timon is at fault somewhat, because when the league schedule came out they should have contacted the league about a possible conflict – as the school doesn’t take a week break like most do this time of year.

I also blame the wonderful Federation who did not check with all the schools to see if they were off.

Because, Niagara-Wheatfield, West Seneca and Orchard Park’s off the world are off doesn’t mean everybody is.

And even if they were off, why schedule games in the morning?

Last time I looked, not everybody is a school teacher or works for a school in someway. Lot of parents have regular jobs and won’t be able to get off of work in the morning to watch their sons play in the playoffs.

Nice work league, you guys really got this one right.

But, the league lately seems to be a public schools driven league. With more and more public schools coming in, the Catholic’s are more of an after thought. In the beginning of the year, the league didn’t even have playoff dates for the Catholic semifinals – but made sure all the public school dates where set.

At the end of the year, I will write my wrap up on the league and Timon in general and everybody will see where my thoughts really are.

This isn’t about burning bridges, but trying to figure out what happened to a league that was so respected.

I have been accused of being to nice when it comes to articles and always taking the high road when it comes to teams and players – so it should be interesting.

News and notes:

You could tell the playoffs are here as practice was a little bit more intense than normal. The boys have a chip on their shoulder from the regular season and they want to prove that they are one of the better Catholic schools in the area.

Speaking of the Catholic playoffs, why even play them?

I was at Buffalo State College on Sunday covering Orchard Park and a few other schools when a few people came up to me and asked me why I was covering the Catholic playoffs.

I really didn’t understand the question until they went on to tell me that I should just write down that Canisius is going to win the Federation and state titles.

Nice to know, I told them. But, isn’t that why they play the games?

Canisius is loaded and are the most talented team in the league, but at the same time anybody can beat anybody on any given night.

Just ask St. Joe’s last year. St. Joe’s was anointed as the king of everything last year and they lost in the semifinals.

We will be at practice today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. I will be splitting my time watching the boys and watching Team USA in their first game of these Olympics.

When we get the exact day and time of the game we will report it on the site. Hopefully, I will know after practice today.