When Niagara Falls scored three goals in a minute and 19 seconds in the first period against defensively strong Sweet Home, some thought the game might be over.
But Sweet Home came back to tie it.
When Niagara Falls led 5-3 with three minutes and 15 seconds left in regulation, again it looked as though the game might be over.
But Sweet Home came back.
The underdog Panthers, who rely on defense and just a few goals per game, came back twice to take Monday afternoon’s game 6-5. Tyler Edholm scored three, captain Jeff Czyz added one, Joseph Torrillo scored his first goal of the season, and Frank Gengo’s first varsity goal couldn’t have come at a better time. Literally, Gengo’s game winner came with just 29 seconds remaining in regulation, and Gengo himself couldn’t quite describe the feeling.
“There’s no better feeling than getting the game winner with less than a minute remaining in the game,” he said. “It was my first career goal for this team, and it just popped out, lucky bounce, and I just fired it towards the net and it went in. It was just — I can’t explain the feeling really.”
The Panthers were optimistic going into Monday’s game, but they knew it wouldn’t be easy.
“We knew that they were a good team,” Torrillo said. “But we knew that we had a shot against them, and we just had to play physical and get pucks on net, crash hard, and we did, and we got some goals.”
Torrillo’s breakout game included a goal, an assist, and the level of physical play his team needed.
“Joe had a really good game,” Czyz said. “He started playing more physical, started winning some battles, and he got a goal too out of it. He played really good.”
“I thought I did good, but not really me; it’s our whole team,” Torrillo said. “Tyler with three goals, our defense getting shots on net, Zach Farkas playing amazing — it was just a great team win.”
When Michael Laurrie, Cody Bielec, and Alex Hailey scored one after another in the first period, Sweet Home called a timeout. In past games, Sweet Home coaches Dave Gerspach and Brian Turner would tell their team to play strong defense and score three goals, and they’d be okay. Monday, of course, was different.
“We called that timeout and told them that team’s first line is incredible; they have a great couple of players and tons of speed,” Turner said. “But as a team, we felt that each line we matched up with, we could play with them, and we would come back if we just kept with them.”
“They said that we weren’t worried,” Edholm said. “We’ve been down before; we can come back; there’s a lot of time left because it was only five minutes into the game. So we had to rally together and we had to be stronger on faceoffs and just be better as a team.”
Edholm’s first goal of the game came less than four minutes later. Torrillo’s came less than four minutes into the second, and Edholm’s second of the game tied the score at three just past the halfway point of the period. Suddenly, the Panthers were back in the game.
“Not getting a goal all year, team’s been bugging me about it,” Torrillo said. “But just came in on a two-on-one, just threw it on net, and it went in.”
Dylan Mort scored for Niagara Falls with a minute and five seconds left in the second, and Hailey’s second of the day gave the Wolverines a 5-3 lead late in the third. But at the 12:14 mark of the third, Niagara Falls took a double minor penalty, and that was all Sweet Home needed to tie the game; the Panthers scored on both parts of the double minor.
“When we dropped down 5-3, took the winds out of our sails a little bit, but then once we got on a power play, we knew we had a good chance at scoring,” Turner said. “Get the first one. They take another penalty, we get that second goal, now it’s 5-5. And now we’re flying. All the momentum’s on our side.”
Edholm’s third of the game came first, followed by Czyz’s goal.
“It was great,” Edholm said. “It was fun because I got the first, third, and fourth goal, and it was great for the team that we rallied back. We never went down, but we’ve never faced that much adversity before, and it was the best feeling we’ve felt in a long time.”
Recording a hat trick was special, of course, as well.
“Every time I went down the bench to give high fives, the boys were screaming, and it was so much fun,” Edholm said. “It was the best I’ve felt all year.”
“It was such a good feeling,” Czyz said of tying the game with 1:26 left in regulation. “It was a nice play by Joe Torrillo. He took the shot from the corner, and evidently it went right on my stick, and I just tapped it in. It was such a good feeling.”
With 58.5 seconds left in regulation, Niagara Falls took another penalty, and the Panthers had another power play. They knew just what to do. It was Gengo, the hero of the day, who scored with 26 seconds left to give Sweet Home a 6-5 lead.
It was fitting that senior goalie and captain Zach Farkas made a glove save right as the buzzer sounded to end the game. His teammates rushed to the net to celebrate.
“It was surreal,” Edholm said of the celebration. “I can’t even remember most of it. It was so much fun.”
“I can’t explain it,” Gengo said. “I’m so happy for the team, and we put together the win.”
“It was such a good feeling that we got the win, especially from a team higher up in the division like that,” said Czyz. “It just felt really good.”
“It was a crazy feeling,” Torrillo said. “It was going down by two with two minutes left. Some people were down, but we all knew that we had a shot, and when they got those penalties, just throwing shots on net, and when we scored, everyone was going crazy. It was just a great feeling.”
Turner said once already this season that this year’s team is the most fun team to watch in a while. Monday’s game took the cake.
“Probably the most exciting game we’ve played all year, with the outcome that we wanted, so it was awesome,” Turner said. “The character the guys displayed by never giving up and just going forward and pushing forward, and they could have easily, being down three-nothing, shrugged their shoulders, and said, ‘That’s it; that’s game,’ but they didn’t. They dug deep, played harder, and managed to just come back slowly, and then at the end, quickly. So it’s awesome for these guys to be a part of a game like that, and we couldn’t be prouder as coaches.”