Williamsville South began its season Thursday night with a home game against West Seneca East without two key players or much knowledge of the opponent. The Billies didn’t make things easier on themselves by taking six penalties, but they overcame everything in their way to win 2-1.
“First game of a new season, you never know what to expect,” Williamsville South coach Sean Green said. “As the season unfolds, you get to see [other teams’] characteristics, who their goal scorers are, how they do things, and kind of scoreboard watch, so we really had no expectations, had no idea until we saw them. Our motto is we worry about our team first. If we play our game and we do the things that we think that we can do, everything else should fall into place.”
“I expected a hard fought game from both sides, and we just got to come out on the positive side of things,” said Alex Fix, who scored the game-winning goal for Williamsville South 9:04 into the second period.
“I think we knew it was gonna be a hard game coming in and we had a short bench so we knew it was gonna be tough, but we battled it out,” said Jeff Browne, who opened the scoring 9:53 into the first. “It was a good game.”
It was on the second period that most of the action took place. The Billies took a penalty just 38 seconds into the period, a four-minute major to Travis Porterfield for a check from behind. The Trojans tied the game worth a power play goal by Dominic Khoury and assisted by Eli Boccolucci and Ryan Krzykowski.
The four-minute major was just part of the 8:30 minutes the Billies spent killing penalties in the second period, including a penalty at the end of the second that lasted seconds into the third. But they killed all but the first one and scored with 5:56 remaining to regain the lead.
“We got into a little bit of a habit of getting multiple penalties a game, and I think if we stop doing that and we take advantage of our power plays, that we could be successful this year,” Fix said.
“I think we really work on that, and we really gotta work on not taking penalties,” added Browne. “It’s gonna be a big part of our game for now to work on it, so we’re gonna try to get rid of that in our game.”
Green addressed it after the game in the locker room as well.
“We just talked about it,” he said. “They came in bunches, right in that second period … Untimely penalties, we have to correct that. Things like that happen. We actually had two good officials that let us play, so they were penalties and hopefully we correct that.”
Both Browne’s and Fix’s goals came on scrambles in front of the net. Fix was just doing what he’d always been taught to do.
“Just went to the net hard like every coach has ever told me and just pick up the garbage,” Fix said. “They all count the same on the board.”
“Al’s goal was a good goal,” Browne said. “It was a grinding goal, and that’s what we’re looking for, that’s what we need out there, and my goal was just rebound off the pad, try to put it in. All you could do, same thing, just grind out there.”
While the team certainly missed Mason Cool and Jake Fuzak in the lineup Thursday night, both were being honored for accomplishments outside of hockey that Green thinks will only increase their leadership ability as part of the Billies hockey team. Cool was being honored as an All-State musician, while Fuzak, who is committed to play football at the University at Buffalo next year, was the recipient of the Trench Trophy, given to the best high school lineman in Western New York.
“Before practice the other day, the kids all congratulated them, and what a great honor for them to be a part of that,” Green said. “Hopefully the success they have in football and in music, they bring that as leadership to our team. And we don’t care if it’s sports, academics, music, or what else at such a high level that they’re playing at; that can only help everybody else in terms of what they can do for us.”
With or without Fuzak and Cool, with or without penalties, Williamsville South came out victorious in the first league game of the season. And that in itself was an accomplishment to be excited about, but the Billies are already looking to what’s next.
“It’s awesome,” Green said. “It’s been a few years since we won the first game, so the guys are really excited about that … No rest for the weary, so to speak. We come back on Monday against West Seneca West.”
“It feels good to get the first one of the season, and I think if the boys keep working hard we can get many more this year,” Fix said.
“Yeah, it’s great to win the first game, and hopefully we can keep going and keep it working for the boys,” Browne said.