Strong second periods help West Seneca West and Williamsville East advance to finals

The Williamsville East Flames and West Seneca West Indians knocked off the Hamburg Bulldogs and Sweet Home Panthers, respectively, Tuesday in the WNY Varsity Hockey Federation semifinal matchups at the Northtowns Center at Amherst. As such, the Flames and Indians will meet Feb. 25 in the small-school championship – a 6 p.m. faceoff at First Niagara Center.

The No. 2-seed Flames scored three unassisted goals in the second period – two in less than 40 seconds – in a 4-0 victory over the No. 3-seed Bulldogs.

Senior forward Austin Bianchi led all scorers with two points – a goal at 10:55 in the second period and an assist on the fourth Flames goal, which came from the stick of forward Chris Winiecki. Forward Jason Cohen and defenseman Matt Aichinger accounted for the second and third goal, respectively.

Flames goaltender Adam Dentico made 29 saves in the effort. In the other end of the rink, Zachary Sortisio stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced.

“From our goalie to our defense to our forwards, I thought this was our best game of the year,” said Flames head coach Mike Torrillo. “Adam’s save in the third period, when we had a 3-1 lead, and they had a five-on-three was huge. We know he’s capable of it. People say goals are momentum, but I think saves are at times, too.”

“It was all tied up after one [period], and we had our chances on offense,” said Bulldogs head coach John McFall. “But their goaltender is an All-State caliber goalie in my eyes. He is without a doubt the top guy in our league, if not everywhere else. I know if I had a vote, I’d give it. …All things considered, I am very proud of where my team has gone.”

The No. 1-seed Indians, meanwhile, overcame an early 1-0 deficit, en route to a 3-1 victory over the No. 5-seed Panthers.

Panthers forward Randy DiNitale opened the game’s scoring with a blast from the slot at 5:43 in the first period. However, the Indians responded two minutes later, when forward Brandon Bork scored the first of his two goals – both of which were assisted by line-mates Pan Ciancio and Jamie Tobias.

Adam Tobias chipped in the second Indians goal – an unassisted shot through heavy traffic at the 7:11 mark in the second period.

Bork’s second goal came in the form of a low wrist shot that slid between the pads of Panthers goaltender James Poreda – who made 38 saves on the night – at 13:23 in the second period.

Dalton Kruger made 20 saves for the Indians.

“Our mindset from the get-go was to get up first, which didn’t happen,” said Indians head coach Kevin Rozo. “So we had to battle a little adversity, but once we got that tying goal, I think we got going. I’ve got three dangerous lines that can really push and really dictate the tempo and that’s what I think they did.”

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Freelance sportswriter Charles Roberts covers the WNY Varsity Hockey Federation for MetroWNY.com. Reach him at ChRobert3@aol.com or on Twitter: @cHartleyRoberts.