The rivalry between Niagara Wheatfield and Williamsville North was only fueled by last year’s Section VI championship game, which the Falcons won 5-4. On Saturday night, the Spartans wanted a chance at redemption, and after a 4-1 win, that’s exactly what they had.
“We really wanted to get this win because obviously they beat us last year at First Niagara, so it’s always a big rivalry against this team,” Williamsville North forward Jared Cummins said. “And to finally get a victory against this team and beat them four-to-one, it was a great team effort.”
“We knew it was a tough game going in, so we were all really prepared for it,” said Daniel Mosher. “Big win over Joe’s really got us pumped up for this game, so we all worked really hard and got some big goals in that game, which helped us out.”
Matt Terrance, who scored the game-winning goal for North on Saturday night, was more prepared than ever after spending his summer as teammates with some of the Falcons players.
“I’ve had some pretty good games against Niagara Wheatfield,” Terrance said. “I played with a couple of those kids over the summer, and it’s good to know their tendencies and kind of get out there and just know what they’re not as good at. And I knew the boys were gonna be fired up coming out.”
Terrance assisted the first goal of the game as sophomore Andrew Bruno scored his first varsity goal. Without the experience of the past few years, Terrance felt that the goal helped Bruno to take part in the rivalry. That, along with Thursday’s win over St. Joe’s, gave the Spartans even more motivation through the rest of the game.
“I was playing with a couple younger kids, and I don’t think they really understand how large the game is, and I think it was good for them — Bruno, obviously, getting his first goal,” Terrance said. “And I think we just came out with a winning mentality, and we just came off a win against Joe’s, who we hadn’t beaten in five years, and it was good for us just to get out there and win. We got the ball rolling right now, and we’re playing well.”
“I just heard that we haven’t won against them in the past three years, so I just went out there, tried to help with what I could do, and just score a goal against them,” Bruno said. “My linemates chipped it up, and Terrance just passed it over, and I just put it in, easy. I was sick out there — I had to take a couple shifts off, but my linemates helped.”
The goal came with 6:30 left in the first period, and Terrance followed with a power play goal just more than a minute and a half later. The goal, Terrance said, was a result of good coaching by assistant coach Greg Brown.
“We just came off a goal off Bruno, and I knew that was a big goal for him,” Terrance said. “And we just came out on the power play, and we practice the power play at least 10 minutes of practice. We really put in some good work. And my coach, Greg Brown, always tells me, after we get that shot off, back out, turn, and look for the puck, and you gotta make a quick play on the rebound. It’s something we’ve been practicing. The game-winning goal is nice, but when it comes in the first period, you gotta really give it to your goalie. Just something that kind of happened, but it’s just good practice by our coaching and teaching us how to make that play there because without that coaching by Greg, I really don’t think I would have made that play.”
Niagara Wheatfield got one back on a goal by Garrett Downie just 39 seconds into the second period, but the rest of the period saw no goals as the Spartans outshot the Falcons 9-6.
Shortly into the third, Williamsville North added to its lead. Daniel Mosher was the goal scorer, with Cummins and Adam Batz picking up the assists.
“We did a really good job getting it in the zone, and Jared and Adam did a really good job in the corners getting the puck and took it to the net,” Mosher said. “I just looked for that open puck and crashed the net and got a lucky bounce.”
Cummins scored later in the third for his second goal in as many games after scoring the game winner in the Spartans’ win over St. Joe’s on Thursday. He gave credit to Dom Tallarico, the Falcons’ goalie, but Cummins did what he needed to do to put the puck in the net.
“It was a great play by Batz to really throw the puck at the goal,” Cummins said. “Goalie for NW played really well today, but he gave up that rebound, and I was able to pull it to my backhand and stuff it in.”
The Spartans don’t have any more league games for a while, but as they look to the break and a tournament in Albany, Cummins, like Terrance, is very pleased with the way their team is playing.
“It was a great win,” Cummins said. “We’re off for nine days, so it’s good to have a win going into that long stretch, and we’re really just happy with where we are right now as a team.”