Follow the systems. Cycle the puck. Listen to the coach.
Niagara Wheatfield implemented these simple practices in Thursday’s game against Timon, and the result was a 4-3 win for the Falcons. Two of those Timon goals came when the Falcons strayed away from following the defensive systems that had worked for them all game long, but they came back strong.
“We knew that they’d come in and they were gonna work hard,” Niagara Wheatfield assistant coach Joe Urban said. “They’re a hardworking team. They’re physical. We knew they gave a very good goalie, and they rally around the goalie. They drop in, they make it tough to get good shots, so we just wanted to control the puck, try and cycle in the zone, and get them moving in and out, and get good shots when we had the lakes open up. So that was pretty much our plan. We were really happy with the passing tonight. We’ve had trouble getting things going offensively, and it’s the first time in a long time where we actually looked like we had some flow.”
“We knew they were gonna battle us hard,” said sophomore forward Chris Tobey, who scored the game-winning goal on Thursday. “They always do, and we just wanted to play our game, get back to our game. I thought we cycled really well. We haven’t done that all year. I just thought we played really good offensively.”
“We were just trying to play harder and play the system more than we have been in our past games,” said Garrett Downie.
The first period was relatively even, with both teams playing strong defense. The period ended scoreless, but there were still things that gave the Niagara Wheatfield coaches confidence that things would start to go their way soon.
“We traded some chances, but we were happy that we didn’t give up anything too good to them, and we were really happy with the quality of chances we were getting,” Urban said. “We felt if we kept that up, we would start getting some goals to go in.”
The Falcons didn’t have to wait long; Matt Pawlak gave Niagara Wheatfield the lead just 1:28 into the second, and the goal came as a result of Pawlak following Urban’s instructions.
“To get the first one was big for us tonight,” Urban said. “Matt Pawlak’s a first-year player; I think that’s his second goal of the year. He had a chance earlier and he buried it low, and I said, ‘When you’re in close, try and throw it up high,’ and he had a beautiful goal.”
Timon’s Jake Giacobello tied the game later in the second, but Garrett Downie gave his team the lead once more less than two minutes later. Alex Bauer took a shot, and Downie jammed in the rebound.
“It was from Bauer working hard in front,” Downie said. “It was just laying there and I poked it in.”
Downie scored again exactly seven minutes into the third, and Tobey added to the lead just a minute and four seconds later. Like Pawlak, Tobey followed his coaches’ instructions and was in the right place to redirect Cameron Ruhland’s shot into the net for a 4-1 lead.
“I didn’t even feel it hit me,” Tobey said. “I just went to the front of the net like we’re supposed to, and apparently it went in off of me, so feels pretty good.”
It was Tobey’s goal that stood as the game winner when all was said and done, and it gave him some assurance that he’s back on the right track after some recent frustration.
“It feels pretty good,” Tobey said. “I’ve been trying to do too much; it feels good to be back to my normal self playing my normal game.”
And scoring the two goals so close together was a boost for the whole team.
“It really helped our momentum, brought us up,” Tobey said. “The guys on the bench were pretty excited. We were having a good time. We just wanted to continue that and continue going forward the rest of the season.”
Flannan Gould scored for Timon just 16 seconds after Tobey’s goal, and Joe Steszewski scored less than three minutes later to cut Niagara Wheatfield’s lead to just one goal.
“We kinda collapsed and didn’t really focus on what was going on,” Downie said.
“I think it was just a mental breakdown of some of the guys weren’t playing our D-zone coverage correctly and just leaving guys open,” said Tobey. “They got good opportunities, and the goalie was unable to save them.”
“We need to keep playing the system,” Urban said. “In the third when we were up 4-1, I think some of the guys started to get away from the system and didn’t want to do the things that it takes in the D zone: spot-to-spot, being physical, taking the body, and we let them back in the game. So we can’t stop playing the system; that’s the main thing.”
The Falcons quickly righted themselves and finished strong to earn their fourth league win of the season. Goaltender Dom Tallarico finished with 18 saves for the win.
As the Falcons move forward, Downie said they’ll remember “how hard we worked and our cycling and our sticking to the system.”
“This is our turning point,” Tobey said. “This is where we start winning, where we start playing our games like last year.”