Zach Farkas has seen it all. As one of three seniors on the Sweet Home team and in his third year on varsity, he’s been through a couple of tough seasons. This year, things finally seem to be working for the young Panthers, and Farkas gets to watch it all from the best seat in the house: the net.
On Monday night, Sweet Home defeated a highly offensive North Tonawanda team 3-0, but there was never any doubt in Farkas’ mind as to what he expected would happen.
“I expected to win,” Farkas said. “I expected no goals to come in. Stay focused the whole game and just shut down their chances, and that’s what we did. We shut down their chances, and then we’d go down and score a goal, so that was huge.”
The game plan, according to assistant coach Brian Turner, was to never back down.
“To kind of go toe-to-toe with them because they’re a highly offensive team,” Turner said. “They score a lot of goals, but they also give up a lot of goals, so our goal was to get the first goal and then try to build on that.”
And that’s exactly what Sweet Home did, as Nate Stawasz scored 2:23 into the first period.
“I thought that we executed our game plan exactly the way we wanted: we got the early lead and then stayed on them in the first two periods,” Turner said. “We were attacking their net, and Nathan Stawasz started us off with that first goal perfect, just taking the puck hard into the net, and he they hit him with a pad in the high slot and he buried it low, five hole.”
Scoring first was key, as Tyler Edholm explained. It set the tone for the game for the Panthers and gave them the confidence they needed.
“When we’re down one-nothing, it’s a struggle for us to come back,” Edholm said. “Once we’re up, we’re up, and we keep playing strong defense and keep putting in goals.”
It was Edholm who put in two more goals in the last three minutes of the second period. The first was a power play goal assisted by Frank Gengo, and the second was unassisted with just 46 seconds remaining in regulation. The sophomore now has four goals and four assists in six games.
“Tyler Edholm came up big for us on the next two goals with a power play goal, nice pass from the D, back door, and he was able to tap it in,” Turner said. “He was right in position where he was supposed to be, and then that last goal was just all effort. Won the battle out of the corner and then roofed it where nobody was gonna stop it, so it was pretty awesome. I’m really proud of our team.”
“The first one was a nice shot from the point from Frankie, and then I just tapped it in, and it was a good power play,” Edholm said. “The power play’s been real strong. The second one, I kind of got a lucky bounce, and it hit the goalie and came right to me. Put it far corner.”
The win was Farkas’ first shutout of the season and his sixth win, but he didn’t want to talk about his own game.
“I love it when the team’s playing like this,” Farkas said. “It doesn’t matter who’s on the ice; we’re always finding a way to score goals. Nate Stawasz doesn’t get much playing time; he scores a goal. My brother Alex Farkas doesn’t get much playing time, but he draws a penalty that leads to a goal. So everybody’s contributing. All six D are playing, every forward’s playing, and we’re winning this game as a team.”
It’s that team effort that has led to four league wins for Sweet Home and that has made this season so enjoyable for Turner to watch.
“I thought the boys played great,” Edholm said. “We’re doing a good job. All of us are playing, pretty much, and it’s a big part so that none of us get tired toward the end of the game.”
“I think this is shaping up to be a pretty special season for us, so we got a great group of guys,” Turner said. “I gotta tell ya, from coaching, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed watching the team play this much, so they’re doing an excellent job.”
North Tonawanda’s first shot of the game stood out in Farkas’ memory, but starting with that one, every save he made just resulted in more momentum for the rest of the team.
“I know the first shot on net was like a two-on-one,” Farkas said. “I made a one-timer save, which was good, and we took the momentum and went down and scored the next shot. I think that happened like three times. Three saves, and we went down and scored, so it’s huge. As long as I can stay focused, our team’s gonna rally behind me, and we’re always gonna find a way to win.”
“Zach, when he’s on his A game like that, he’s outstanding; he’s not really gonna be beat,” Turner said.
With six wins in eight games so far this season, Farkas is only one win shy of his total for each of the last two seasons. He’s watched last year’s freshmen develop into this year’s skilled and hardworking sophomores, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“The team’s really grown, so it’s a good thing to see,” Farkas said. “Especially since I’m a senior, this is my last year. I guess, save the best for last.”
Sweet Home is back to work Thursday night against Kenmore West. A win would give the Panthers five wins, which would tie them for the most in Division 4.