Orchard Park is the team to beat now. The Quakers were ecstatic as a 2-0 win over Niagara Wheatfield Sunday night improved their record to 2-0 to start the season.
“We’re ahead of everyone now,” defenseman TJ Maloney said. “It’s awesome. I love it. Now everyone’s looking at us. We’re not looking back anymore.”
Maloney scored the first goal of the game, which was the game winner as Maloney and his fellow defensemen held Niagara Wheatfield to just 14 shots.
“Man-to-man down low,” Maloney described the defense. “It was unbelievable today. Yesterday we were getting beat in the corners left and right and then today, our defense, it was great. It was awesome today. Our man-to-man was deadly today.”
After Saturday’s physical 2-1 comeback win against Williamsville North, Sunday’s game was all about the speed Orchard Park boasts of. The Falcons are a fast team as well, and Orchard Park coach Josh Dannecker expected the high-speed game he saw.
“I think they’ve got a lot of team speed, and we’ve been focusing on that all year,” Dannecker said. “So we thought that it would be kind of a faster paced game, a little bit less physical than North, but definitely the speed picked up, and I think that’s what we saw tonight.”
The difference was that the Quakers came out even stronger on Sunday than they had on Saturday. And the defense that allowed over 30 shots on goal on Saturday allowed just 14 on Sunday. Tom Held made all 14 saves to record the shutout.
“I think we brought some momentum,” Dannecker said. “I think coming off a big win like we had yesterday, the guys were flying high today and feeling good about themselves, and I think they carried that into today’s game.”
“Yesterday, our first two periods were definitely slow,” Maloney said after Sunday’s game. “Our D-zone coverage yesterday in the first two periods was terrible. First two periods today, it was great right from the first faceoff, and that changed the game big time because yesterday, it was a close game the whole time, we had good D-zone coverage today, and then we scored right off the bat, so that was great.”
And it was Maloney who scored on the power play just 4:44 into the first period to give his team a quick 1-0 lead.
“We won the faceoff in the zone, and then Jeff [Palczewski] came over the top of the circle and he kind of set a pick and he got hit hard,” Maloney said. “And I saw that happen and I just went right around and shot it, and if it wasn’t for Jeff coming across the circle, I would have never had that opening. And we finally won a faceoff in the zone on a power play, which was great.”
That gave the Quakers the start they needed, and they never looked back. Palczewski scored later in the first, assisted by Michael Strachan, and the rest of the game was a tight and fast defensive battle.
“It was great because right from that power play after that goal, we were fast,” Maloney said. “And I know leading into that power play we were fast too, but if we get an early start, there’s no stopping us. We got probably the fastest guys in the league, and down low they’re gonna beat everyone, so right from there we were on top, and no looking back from there.”
Late in the game, Niagara Wheatfield had a few good scoring opportunities, but Held held them scoreless.
“I got a breakaway or two, just open lane shots, and I just was there to make the saves,” Held said.
And he was excited to record the shutout and be able to help his team out as his teammates helped him.
“I didn’t get as many shots as I did yesterday, but a shutout’s a shutout,” Held said. “Zero goals against. I can’t thank my D enough. They saved me a few times.”
“He was great,” Dannecker said. “Niagara Wheatfield had a couple of great chances. They had a breakaway there in the third, and they had some opportunities, and Held came up really huge for us, so we’re getting great goaltending. The D was better tonight than they were against Williamsville, limiting the shots, keeping stuff to the outside, so I thought a better performance overall.”
Held carried momentum in from Saturday’s game, and he’s excited to pick up more to carry forward.
“It was just all momentum from yesterday,” Held said. “I wasn’t really tired at all, and I’m looking forward to playing again. I guess you could say I’m on a hot streak, but that won’t really make me look back at all.”
And now the Quakers are 2-0 and in first place as they look ahead to Friday’s game against Lancaster.
“It just feels great that we’re in first place, and I’m playing a pretty big role on the team, and that I’m contributing to our first-place effort,” Held said.
“It’s great,” Dannecker said. “It’s what the guys have been working for. I know Coach [Steve] Ferrentino and I were talking to the guys, we were like, ‘You wanna take advantage of this first weekend,’ to kind of put ourselves in a good position, and I think we did that.”