Orchard Park, a team that boasts of its own speed, was well aware of its opponent’s speed on Friday night as Niagara Wheatfield came to play at Leisure Rinks in a Division 1 match up. The Quakers’ game plan was to be ready for the Falcons’ speed, use their own speed, and do whatever they could to stop No. 16, Niagara Wheatfield forward Garrett Downie.
“They’re really fast, so I think one of the things that we emphasized was again, the pace of the game, that we wanted to match their speed, so we certainly came out aggressive,” Orchard Park coach Josh Dannecker said. “We also wanted to make sure that we took a look at 16, he’s a great player, so we wanted to make sure that we played strong defense when he was on the ice as well, so that was kind of the game plan.”
“We heard they were fast,” Orchard Park sophomore forward Ryan Niles said. “The first time we played them we beat them, but they were really fast, so we expected it’d be a good game, but we came to win, and so we pulled it out.”
Orchard Park did what it needed to do to come away with a 3-2 win, and Downie was limited to just an assist. Dannecker only wished that his team had stayed out of the penalty box a little more.
“We were solid on the ice when [Downie] was out there,” Dannecker said. “We skated pretty well. I thought Tommy [Held] played another great game for us in net, so yeah, I thought overall, it was a pretty solid game. We just gotta stay out of the box a little more. That would help.”
The first period ended in a scoreless tie as Orchard Park outshot Niagara Wheatfield just 6-5. But in the second, it was less than four minutes in when Niles gave the Quakers the first lead of the game.
“I just saw it right in front of the net, and I came across, and it happened to lay out there perfectly for me, so I grabbed it and I shot it with my backhand, and it flipped in,” Niles said. “Honestly, it felt great, and my teammates loved it and everything, and we went crazy. And it just gave us a lot of extra strength and power to get through the rest of the game and win.”
“Niles came off the bench and really just attacked the net, and he got a great backhand shot in,” said Dannecker. “That was fantastic.”
Just over two minutes later, TJ Maloney put one in the net on Orchard Park’s first power play of the game, but the goal was waved off due to goaltender interference. Dannecker was encouraged by the way the Quakers responded, and less than a minute later, Kevin Carney scored to give his team a 2-0 lead that stood.
“TJ came off the ice, and he was the guy who scored it, and he said, ‘You know what, let’s just go get another one!'” Dannecker explained. “And we go right out there and we end up getting another one. I think that’s something like attitude wise, where maybe early on in the year, I don’t know if we would have had that same positive attitude, but now that we’ve been playing and we’re getting in the groove and we’re getting rolling, I think the guys have that positive attitude, and I think it really helped them tonight.”
Carney’s goal was unassisted and came exactly seven minutes into the second.
Niagara Wheatfield cut Orchard Park’s lead in half exactly two minutes and 30 seconds later when Trey Malcolm scored, but the Quakers finished the second with the 2-1 lead intact, and captain Jeff Palczewski added to the Orchard Park lead 5:08 into the third. Daniel Kritkausky and Kevin McParlane assisted Palczewski’s goal.
“Kritkausky shot it from the point,” Palczewski said. “He shot it a little bit wide, and that’s where I was.”
Palczewski buried the puck, and his goal turned out to be the most important one.
When the Quakers took a penalty with 1:29 left in regulation, Niagara Wheatfield pulled its goalie to create a 6-on-4. With 49 seconds remaining, Orchard Park took another penalty, and it took the Falcons took just four seconds to score on the 6-on-3 as Kasey Haseley scored from Nick Peters and Garrett Downie.
“I was really nervous actually because that was a nice shot, gave them some speed and everything, but guess we pulled it out and it worked,” Niles said.
“Taking a lot of penalties and getting a 6-on-3, that’s not good odds but we were able to hold them off enough,” Dannecker said. And we gotta be smarter at the end of the games and stay out of the box, and I think we know that, and that was a mistake on our part, but fortunately Tommy [Held] and [Ryan] Riter and [Clayton] Galas, they were all playing great back there and were able to hold on.”
The late Falcons goal left Palczewski’s goal as the game winner, and it was just another example of the leadership he’s shown all season.
“It’s nice to do,” Palczewski said. “That’s like the second one or third one I did this year, so it’s nice.”
“He’s been a real leader for us in terms of scoring and in the locker room and on the ice,” Dannecker said. “And for him to kinda cap the night off, it just made it really special for him, and he’s been working so hard this year that it’s paying off for him. He’s just really doing it all for us right now, so we’re hoping some of the other guys come along and start getting the scoring going, but he’s been kinda pulling the team along, so we’ve been really happy with his play.”
Orchard Park scrimmaged McQuaid on Saturday before another Division 1 match up against Lancaster on Sunday. The Quakers currently have a four-point lead over the Legends. The game is scheduled for 5 pm at Buffalo State College.
“We got a big weekend ahead, and that’s some momentum right there,” Palczewski said.
“There’s really no easy games,” Dannecker said. “We know we’re just gonna be in another battle on Sunday night, and we’re just looking forward to those.”