The Lancaster Legends have scored 15 goals in their past two games, the latest a 6-1 win over Timon on Sunday, and the defense and goaltending has gone right along with the high offense, as Lancaster has allowed just two goals in its past three league games.
In a non-league game on Saturday, the Legends took on Massena, the No. 2 ranked school in the state, and came away with a 4-3 win. It only boosted the soaring confidence of the Legends.
“Guys are gaining more and more confidence as the season goes on,” Lancaster coach Kevin Miller said. “And I think as the season’s going on, if they’re accumulating wins and consecutive wins, it’s really good for our team right now. And it’s not just against mediocre teams; it’s against some of the better teams in the state.”
“We just had a tournament in Massena, and we beat the second-ranked team in the state,” Goaltender Sean Lenhard said. “And I really think that helped us build up the confidence. And we’re really starting to get some goals now.”
On Sunday night against Timon, the Legends got the physical game and quick start they expected from Timon as Jake Giacobello scored his fifth goal of the season to put the Tigers up 1-0 less than halfway through the first period.
“A solid team,” Lancaster’s Shawn Kross said he expected. “Solid, big, physical shooting team. We knew that they had one good kid, 16 [Giacobello] — solid shot. He scored the first goal of the game. That’s what we expected: them to come out fast and hard on us, and that’s what we got. But we finished off strong on them; finished in the third period with a bunch of goals and shut them down.”
Jordan Hussar scored to tie the game late in the first period, and Kross scored the go-ahead goal with less than five minutes remaining in the second to give the Legends a lead they’d had to fight for. They had just six shots in the second period.
“Tip from [Lucas] Prince, and I just buried it off the goalie,” Kross said. “Nothing much, but good goal, I guess.”
It was in the third that Lancaster really poured on the goals. Connor Carrow opened the third period scoring 6:54 into the period, and Mathieu Rachiele, Nick Speyer, and Zach Fischer added to the lead before the clock ran down. Fischer’s goal came with just three seconds left.
“Timon’s always a good team, and they’ve had some good wins already this season, so we had to be ready for them,” Miller said. “And certainly it was a close game for most of the game, and fortunately we were able to find the back of the net in the third period to kind of break away, so it was good to see that with our team.”
Lancaster goalie Sean Lenhard made 19 saves in the win, but the one goal he allowed isn’t one he’ll soon forget.
“Really gonna regret that first goal,” Lenhard said. “I’ll be wanting it back for the next week. Six-zero sounds a lot better than six-one.”
Aside from the early goal, Lenhard made every save he had to make, but he said his defense made his job easy.
“Defense played great, kept the shots to the outside, let me see the puck, and we’re really clicking as a team,” Lenhard said. “Like to see it.”
Kross was easily able to point out what’s working for the Legends on offense as well. They’re having fun winning, and the fact that they are winning makes playing hockey for Lancaster even more fun.
“Our passing; all lines are playing good,” Kross said. “They’re playing good together on power plays. We split up the lines and we all play together, so that’s pretty fun. So we’re all clicking as a team; it’s a fun time.”
They’re coming together at exactly the right time, and although they know the upcoming weekend’s games won’t be easy with Canisius on Saturday and St. Joe’s Sunday, Kross already knows what the Legends need to do.
“Everybody’s starting to get hot on the team, so obviously we’re playing Canisius next,” Kross said. “They’re a solid squad; we need to come out strong on them and score quick.”
For the time being, Lancaster’s win on Sunday put them above both Niagara Wheatfield and Orchard Park in Division 1 with four league wins, three of them coming in the last three games.
“It’s gonna be really tight all the way up until the end, there’s no question about it, between all the teams,” Miller said. “They’re all good teams, and we can only control ourselves, and at this point we’ll take it day to day and weekend to weekend and see what happens by the end.”
Although the Legends understand the tight race in every division this season, it’s just another little boost for their confidence.
“That’s solid right there,” Kross said.