Log in to your account.
Sports
WNY Varsity Hockey Federation: Williamsville North headed back to finals
Tuesday February 21, 2012 | By:Charles Roberts, Sports Reporter
Twitter
email
comments(0)
- The Spartans' Scott Sims weaves through the Lancaster defense.
The Spartans' Scott Sims weaves through the Lancaster defense.
AMHERST - With three goals and two assists, Scott Sims guided the Williamsville North Spartans to an 8-2 victory Monday evening, topping the Lancaster Redskins in the large school semifinal playoffs.
The Spartans advance to the league championship game – Feb. 26 at First Niagara Center – for the sixth straight year. For the third time in four years, the opponent is the Niagara-Wheatfield Falcons.
“Fresh faces always come in, but we played them earlier this year and the past two years in the finals,” said Sims, at the time knowing the Spartans would face either Niagara-Wheatfield or the Frontier Falcons. “So we know what they will do and their tendencies and how they play. We’ll watch a ton of film on them and really gear up with a week of practice and we’ll be ready.”
The Spartans beat Frontier in last year’s league championship, before eventually capturing the New York State title.
“You just want to get back and have the opportunity to get into a game like this,” said Spartans coach Bob Rosen. “You build up for it all year. We talk about doing the little things and tonight, the boys did the little things you need to win hockey games.”
Sims opened the game’s scoring with a short-handed goal at 4:30 in the first period. Less than four minutes into the second period, he setup Jeff McAndrews, who finished a two-on-one situation by scoring on a low wrist shot, giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead.
“Everything went right for us,” said Sims, whose five-point night made him the Spartans’ all-time leading postseason scorer (19). “The past couple weeks, we had real good practices and started really clicking as a team.”
The Redskins’ Manny Manns fired a shot through heavy traffic and into the back of the net, narrowing the Spartans’ lead to 2-1 at 5:45 in the second period. The Spartans responded with four unanswered goals from the sticks of Brad Ferrell (who scored again late in the third period), Adam Hepp, and two more from Sims.
Justin Doelman scored the Redskins’ second goal. Spartans forward Lunney capped off the game’s scoring, late in the third period.
……
Reach freelance sportswriter at CharlesHRoberts@yahoo.com
The Spartans advance to the league championship game – Feb. 26 at First Niagara Center – for the sixth straight year. For the third time in four years, the opponent is the Niagara-Wheatfield Falcons.
“Fresh faces always come in, but we played them earlier this year and the past two years in the finals,” said Sims, at the time knowing the Spartans would face either Niagara-Wheatfield or the Frontier Falcons. “So we know what they will do and their tendencies and how they play. We’ll watch a ton of film on them and really gear up with a week of practice and we’ll be ready.”
The Spartans beat Frontier in last year’s league championship, before eventually capturing the New York State title.
“You just want to get back and have the opportunity to get into a game like this,” said Spartans coach Bob Rosen. “You build up for it all year. We talk about doing the little things and tonight, the boys did the little things you need to win hockey games.”
Sims opened the game’s scoring with a short-handed goal at 4:30 in the first period. Less than four minutes into the second period, he setup Jeff McAndrews, who finished a two-on-one situation by scoring on a low wrist shot, giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead.
“Everything went right for us,” said Sims, whose five-point night made him the Spartans’ all-time leading postseason scorer (19). “The past couple weeks, we had real good practices and started really clicking as a team.”
The Redskins’ Manny Manns fired a shot through heavy traffic and into the back of the net, narrowing the Spartans’ lead to 2-1 at 5:45 in the second period. The Spartans responded with four unanswered goals from the sticks of Brad Ferrell (who scored again late in the third period), Adam Hepp, and two more from Sims.
Justin Doelman scored the Redskins’ second goal. Spartans forward Lunney capped off the game’s scoring, late in the third period.
……
Reach freelance sportswriter at CharlesHRoberts@yahoo.com
more stories
Caitlyn Hotchkiss continues to succeed in athletics
Caitlyn Hotchkiss, a 2011 graduate of Springville-Griffith Institute, was a...
ADD A COMMENTBe the first to Comment
