WNY Varsity Hockey Federation: Sweet Home upsets Amherst, advances to semifinals

AMHERST - Despite giving up a two-goal third-period lead, the No. 9-seed Sweet Home Panthers overcame the No. 3-seed Amherst Tigers in the small-school,  quarterfinal playoffs Saturday in the Northtowns Center at Amherst.

The Tigers’ T.J. Kaszubski dished the puck from behind the net to Joseph Kersten, who snapped it past Panthers goaltender Peter Brooks, tying the game at three with just nine seconds remaining, forcing overtime.

After more than 10 minutes of back-and-forth play, Randy DiNatale buried a loose rebound at the 3:27 mark of the second overtime period, closing out a dramatic 4-3 Sweet Home victory.

“I was pretty frustrated, we were up 3-1,” DiNitale said. “I thought we were going down for a minute, but we stuck together and came back in overtime.”

Amherst’s Tyler Larwood gave the Tigers a 1-0 first-period lead, but the Panthers responded with three unanswered goals. Mike Biggane and Ricky Sacco each scored a second-period goal for the Panthers; five minutes into the third period, a Connor Beaudet backhand shot gave Sweet Home a 3-1 lead.

Larwood – who also picked up a point on Amherst’s game-tying goal – beat Brooks, blocker-side, at 8:15 in the third period to bring the Tigers within one.

“We thought we were the better team even though we were the low seed,” said Panthers coach Dave Gerspach. “I think it showed. We were up 3-1 and gave up a couple late goals, but the kids kept working; the kids worked their butts off and we are exhausted.”

Brooks, who put aside several would-be goals, finished with 31 saves for the Panthers.

“We couldn’t put one in early in the first on the power play and he made some good saves,” said Tigers coach Mark Mobus of Brooks. “He’s one of the reasons why they are moving on.”

The Panthers advance to take on New York State’s top-ranked small school, the Kenmore East Bulldogs in the semifinals, held Feb. 21 in the Northtowns Center at Amherst.

In other action:

Kenmore East scored three times in the first and twice more in the second and third periods as they defeated Hamburg, 7-0, in quarterfinal action.

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Reach freelance sportswriter Charles Roberts at CharlesHRoberts@yahoo.com.