hockey

Information from Holly Eschberger:

The Firland Flyers, a Mite Level travel hockey team out of Batavia, NY, took to the road last weekend to play in the 2014 Mullins Mite Madness Tournament in Amherst, Mass., on the uMass campus! The Firland Flyers, the only NY team in the tournament, faced teams from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont and took 3rd place overall. Earlier this year, The Firland Flyers took 1st place at the Lakeshore Tournament in Greece and placed 3rd in their division at The Pepsi Tournament in Buffalo.

The 2013/2014 season was the inaugural year for The Flyers and the 2014 Mullins Mite Madness Tourney was their last outing as a team. Some of the players will move on to play at the Squirt level; others will continue to play as Mites.

The Flyers team is led by Coach Kevin Hamilton, Coach Fred Hamilton, Coach Dan Hudson and Assistant Coaches Jeff Whitcombe, Ryan Whitcombe and Joe Eschberger, managed by Bob Johnson.

The Firland Flyers Team is made up of 7- and 8-year-olds from Alexander, Batavia, Le Roy, Oakfield and Pavilion. Congratulations to Bronx Buchholz, Mason Cook, Chase Cummings, Joe DiRisio, Will Eschberger, Cooper Hamilton, Ryan Hamilton, Noah Hudson, Alex Johnson, Jameson Motyka, Greg Narburgh, Brennan Pederson, Mac Wormley and Noah Whitcombe on a successful, memorable and FUN season!

The 2014 Men's League champions are the Blues. The Blues doused the Flames 2-1, the winning goal coming 38 seconds left in regulation on a goal by Brandon Pisano. The Blues championship last year put the tournament cup in the hands of Charlie O'Geen (center), one of the league founders, for the first time in 36 years.

The T.F. Brown's Squirt III Batavia Ramparts Hockey Team garnered silver medals at the Empire State Winter Games held Olympic Center in Lake Placid this weekend.

Batavia was the #1 seed going into the final rounds after winning their first three games. They lost the gold medal round to the Rye Rangers.

Pictured are Head Coach Jeff Bower, Assistant Coach Brian Frieday and players Drew Bower, Vincent DiRizio, Matthew Frieday, Levi Grimm, Zachary Howard, Austin Hunt, Collin Kratz, Chase Pangrazio, Dominic Peracciny, Connor Peterson, Eric Pfalzer, Sean Pies, Jace Rademacker, and Max Tenney.

Photo and information submitted by Robert Grimm.

The T.F. Brown's Batavia Ramparts Squirt III Hockey Team is participating in the Empire State Winter Games, being held Feb. 6 through 9 in Lake Placid. The team posed for a picture prior to lining up for the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Center. They will play four games with a chance to win gold, silver or bronze medals. The Ramparts are the Western Region representative in this invitational tournament.

Information and photo submitted by Robert Grimm.

The month of January has been a nightmare for the Notre Dame Hockey Team, but yesterday afternoon it may have woken up as the players defeated Batavia/Alexander, 2-1.

The Fighting Irish came into the contest just 1-4 this month, and had lost four straight by a combined score of 28 to 4. But, the win against crosstown rival Batavia/Alexander is a step in the right direction.

“We’ve been struggling recently,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Marc Staley. “We had two good practices getting prepared for this. We felt that we had hit rock bottom and the good thing about rock bottom is that you’re done falling. We thought we would come out and play a good game tonight.”

Notre Dame came out fast in the first period, controlling play for the majority of the period before Spencer Misiak pounced on a loose puck and put it by Blue Devil goaltender James Cryer 7:25 into the game.

“We wanted to focus on puck possession,” Staley said. “I thought we did a great job of that in the first period. We wanted to wear their defense down. The more we kept the puck down low, the more we can keep it out off of the stick of guys like Rich Francis.”

Just like the Irish did to start the game, Batavia/Alexander came out fast in the second period and their leading scorer, Francis, was able to get loose.

Francis picked up a nice pass from Julien Schimley and deked out goaltender Tyler Stroud for his 10th goal of the season.

“I think we had a little letdown in the second period,” Staley said. “But we also had three penalties called against us in the period, so that took a little steam out of us. We got focused again after the second period and righted the ship.”

The Irish would strike again on what would be the game-winner as Kevin Moscicki blasted a shot from the point that got through less than two minutes into the third period.

The Notre Dame defense did the rest of the work as Stroud stood tall in goal, making 19 saves on the night.

“Moscicki did a great job just getting it through to the net,” Staley said. “This game against Batavia is always that way. It’s one bounce or another and it ended up bouncing our way tonight.”

Cryer faced a barrage of shots all night, stopping 32 of 34 shots on the night for Batavia/Alexander (4-9-0).

“A win is always important,” Staley said. “We needed a win at this time of the year just to lift the spirits in the locker room.”

Notre Dame improves to 5-9-1.

Through 36 years in the league, the entire history of the league, Charlie O'Geen has never held the Batavia Men's Hockey League Championship Cup.

Today he did.

His son, Brian, a teammate, along with other teammates on the Genesee Orthopedic Blues, carried the cup to him after their 4-3 over the Max Pies Jets.

O'Geen is layed up in a hospital in Buffalo.

"I so wish he could be here," Brian said. "I was in tears last night  because I was afraid this was going to happen and he wasn’t going to be here."

The Blues jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Jets fought back, but could never notch that final goal to tie it up.

"We got on them early," said Jeff Rauter, standing in for O'Geen as team captain. "We played a little physical. They like to play physical, so it makes the game go faster. They've got some good players on the team and we just contained them."

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The Batavia Ramparts Squirt III hockey this week won the 2012-2013 Western New York amateur hockey league championship.

Photo submitted by Robert Grimm.

Twenty-four boys and girls ages 4-9 came out for a 'Try Hockey' event today at Falleti Ice Arena. The free event gave kids a chance to skate around, hit pucks with sticks and learn a little about the game.

Above, four-year-old Matthew Kosiorek.

Claire Pfalzer describes her husband Andrew as "hockey crazy." For the past six years, he's had his own ice rink next to their home on Sliker Road in Pembroke.

Last year, it was cold enough to use the rink for only five or six days all winter.

This year's cold snap was well timed to allow the Pfalzers to invite all of their friends over for a daylong skate on Andrew's birthday. Andrew even has lights installed above the rink so the sun going down doesn't mean the end of hockey.

To purchase prints: These photos along with some others from the ice rink today (along with other Saturday photos) are in this gallery (click here).

Alexander High School has never had a hockey team, but starting this season, players there will get to play varsity level hockey for the first time.

Batavia HS is facing a shortage of varsity level players this year, so Alexander and Batavia will come together to form the Batavia/Alexander Ice Devils.

Batavia Athletic Director Mike Bromley said when school officials realized there would be a shortage of players this year, the school held a meeting with the parents of hockey players and the parents took the initiative to get the puck rolling on a possible merger with Alexander.

Once the idea was raised, things came together pretty quickly, Bromley said.

"Several students (in Alexander) expressed an interest," Bromley said. "We expect that anywhere from five to 10 students may try out."

The problem the Ice Devils faced, Bromley said, is that several seniors graduated after last season and then three varsity players elected to play in another, more advanced, hockey league.

That left Batavia not only with fewer players but also with a team of mostly ninth- and 10th-graders.

"There's a lot of hitting in hockey," Bromley said. "Hockey can be just as tough physically as football, but where you play only one game a week in football, with hockey sometimes you play two or three games a week, and trying to play ninth- and 10th-graders out there could be tough."

For Alexander, the opportunity is welcome by administrators, parents and players alike, said Athletic Director Ben Whitmore.

"All of these kids play together in youth leagues and they always dreamed of playing high school hockey, so to be able to give them that chance is very exciting," Whitmore said.

The Pellegrino Auto Sales White Lightning are the 2012 Batavia Men's Hockey League champions after beating the Alabama Hotel Ducks this morning, 6-3.

Goalie Scott Fauth was the game's MVP.

To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

Genesee County will be well represented in the 8th Annual Scotty Bowman Showcase, a hockey tournament sponsored by the Buffalo Sabres, with five local players making the junior and senior squads.

Named to the teams are three players from Notre Dame High School-- Zach Blew, Tyler Kessler and Brett Perfitt -- and two from Batavia HS -- Tom Grammatico and Josh Marr.

The games will be played March 20 at First Niagara Center. Tickets for the event are $5.

The first game begins at 6 p.m. and pits all-star squads from Buffalo and Rochester made up of players in their junior year of high school.

The senior game is at 7:30 p.m. and the winner of that match will be awarded the Bowman Cup. Buffalo has a 6-1 advantage in the tournament.

All five Batavia-area players will be on the Rochester teams.

Scotty Bowman, a former head coach, notched more NHL wins than any coach in history. The coach will be on hand to present the Bowman Cup to the winning team.

Notre Dame Head Coach was also named a Bowman team coach.

Playing a number-two seed with a reputation for getting physical and skating fast, Notre Dame Head Coach Marc Staley had a plan: Bottle up the neutral zone and force Churchville-Chili to pass.

"We forced them to dump the puck," Staley said. "They don’t want to dump the puck and grind it out. They want to score on the rush and use their speed. We took their speed out of it."

For three periods, the eight-seeded Fighting Irish skated as a team, and when they got power play opportunities in the third period, they made the most of it, turning a 1-1 tie into a 4-2 victory and a Class B Section V crown.

Josh Johnston scored all three third-period goals, giving him seven total for the post-season, and securing the game's MVP trophy.

"We came in thinking, 'we’re not the underdogs,' " Johnston said. "Clearly, seeding-wise we were, but we just stuck together as a family and played together as hard as we could."

Three post-season wins have moved the once break-even Irish to 11-8-3 and a chance to play for a regional title.

"Nobody thought much of us three or four weeks ago, but we pulled this thing together," Staley said. "As we put one good game against another good game against another good game, these kids feel like a completely different team than they did three weeks ago. I’ve seen that transformation and it’s been very special to be a part of it."

The first goal in the game for Notre Dame came with 1:11 left in the second period on a shot by Zack Blew to tie the score at 1-1.

Johnston scored on a power play at 7:47 in the final period. Seconds after the next faceoff, Johnson scored again to make the score 3-1.

The nail in the coffin for the Saints (16-4-3) came with under two minutes left in the game, only 13 seconds after Churchville-Chili pulled into a point of a tie on a goal by Dan Kuter.

Tyler Kessler zipped a pass to Johnston who was skating just ahead of his defender giving him a one-on-one match with goalie Dylan Niewiemski.

Johnston faked to his left, and then flipped the puck from his right past the outstretched glove of Niewiemski, giving Johnston the hat trick and putting the game pretty much out of reach with time quickly winding down.

"We've been practicing that blow-out play," Staley said. "We always like to run this play right after a big emotional play because you tend to have a let down. They scored that one goal, we called that play, Kessler picks it up, hits Hosh and we go right back after them.

"Sometimes the best defense is to throw another punch," Staley added.

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The Fighting Irish won! The Notre Dame Boys Hockey Team beat Churchville this afternoon 4 to 2 to nab the Section V championship. Josh Johnston scored three goals.

The Fighting Irish just won their semi-final hockey game, played at Monroe Community College, against Irondequoit by a score of 2-1.

Mason Versage shot the game-winning goal at 5:36 in overtime.

We're expecting to have a few pictures and more information available later, hopefully tonight.

UPDATE 11:32 p.m.: Received a message from Coach Marc Staley. This is the third time in 20 years Notre Dame hockey advances to the Section V title game, which will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at RIT against Churchville-Chili.  This will be the first time in Section V hockey history that the #8 seed has made it to the finals. "Cinderella still has the slippers on!" Staley said.

UPDATE 11:52 p.m.: Photo added, Versage scores the winning goal. Photo by Bare Antolos.

(Second and fourth photos above by Bare Antolos)

The Brockport Blue Devils Ice Hockey Team came into the Section V playoffs as the number-one seed, and were stunned Saturday night in an overtime loss to number-eight seed, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

So stunned, that as Irish players skated toward the victory celebration one Brockport player gave a Notre Dame player a shove and another started yelling and gesturing toward cheering Le Roy fans.

"I think I'm about one of 30 people in the world that's not surprised by this (victory)," said Coach Marc Staley after the game. "In the playoffs, it's all about momentum and we've really been building the past three or four weeks with this team."

Josh Johnston, who had two goals in the night, slipped passed defenders with a pass from Mason Versage and flipped the puck over the glove of Brockport's goalie Justin Keene at 1:03 into overtime to give Norte Dame (9-8-3-1) a 4-3 victory.

Brockport (16-3-2) jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Carlos Ross and Tyler Hill, but Notre Dame also scored two first-period goals, one by Johnston and the second by Versage on a penalty shot.

"This is the fifth time this season we’ve come back from a two-goal deficit, so the kids didn’t panic," Staley said. "I’m very proud of them for that. We just went about the game plan."

Brockport took the lead at 3-2 in the second period, but Notre Dame continued to skate tough and held the Blue Devils in check until Zach Blew managed to tap in a goal at 8:15 left in the third period to tie the score and set the stage for overtime.

"We played better as team and ran our systems better in the game than they did," Staley said. "That ultimately was the difference."

Being number one seed kind of worked against Brockport, Staley suggested.

"They were off for 10 days," Staley said. "They got a bye and sometimes that hurts you. You get a little flat. I think we took advantage of that layoff they had tonight."

This isn't the first time Notre Dame has entered the playoffs as the number-eight seed and still managed an upset victory.

"The last time Notre Dame was the eight seed was five years ago and we upset Canandaigua, which was the number-one seed at the time," Staley said. "We’re developing a little bit of a reputation as a giant killer."

Next up for Notre Dame, number-five seed Irondequoit, who beat the four seed, Canandaigua, on Friday, 6-4.

The hopes of a Batavia vs. Notre Dame final were dashed in Webster last night when the Blue Devils dropped their playoff game to Webster, 2-0.

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One year ago, then-Board of Education President Andy Pedro proposed a resolution creating a review committee for all city school field trips, with the hope of instating some sort of moratorium or strict criteria for all trips. Pedro was looking ahead to the dark days under a possible property tax cap, and thinking creatively on how to save money with cuts to non-mandated programs.

The resolution passed, and the committee was formed.

That committee has not met one time since. But its vision was realized Monday night, as the board voted 5-2 to deny the Batavia High School hockey team its annual trip to play in an out-of-area tournament.

“It’s got nothing to do with the hockey program, nothing personal against hockey,” Pedro said. “My opinion was no field trips, period.”

But what will make the ruling frustrating for players, parents and coaches is that the trip would not have cost the district a dime. All of the money was raised by the players and the Hockey Boosters club, to completely fund the cost of the tournament.

“If these organizations are raising this kind of money…our district is in a tough financial situation right now, and it’d be nice if that money could help alleviate the pain the district is feeling,” Pedro said.

In other words: have the sports teams at least partially pay for themselves.

Senior Board Member Patrick Burk echoed that sentiment.

“We’ve been given a directive to cut all of our interscholastic athletics, as well as clubs and activities for students, by a large amount,” Burk said. “When you’re looking at sports…in order for (them) to even be in the district next year, they may have to raise this amount of money just to save their program.”

Burk noted that imposing “pay-to-play” restrictions on high school athletes is illegal in New York. But, it’s not illegal to have a sports boosters' club raise the money to fund a program. Burk pointed to the Elba Central School District, which cut football out of its budget in the middle of the last decade. A football boosters club was able to adequately fundraise and save the program that year.

“At some point, somebody’s got to be the ‘bad guy,’” Burk told his colleagues, or all sports and other extracurriculars could suddenly disappear simply because they’re not mandated.

The two board members voting to approve the hockey team trip were Amy Barone and Steve Mountain. Mountain saw no reason to deny the kids a trip they’d worked toward throughout the year.

“To me, it’s giving the kids the opportunity to do what they want to do,” he said. “I think that they deserve the opportunity to go.” But he also expressed that he never hears much feedback from area parents, which may have skewed his decision.

Pedro says he does hear a lot of feedback from parents, who say enough is enough when it comes to fundraising.

“I had two kids who played sports all through high school, and the fundraising just gets out of control,” Pedro said. “I think (the hockey team) can accomplish what they need to accomplish by staying in our area, playing competitive teams.”

PHOTOS: inset top, Patrick Burk; inset bottom, Amy Barone, left, and Steve Mountain.