It’s no secret that Niagara Wheatfield had an inconsistent start to the 2015-16 season. For a team that finished last season as the Section VI champion, the Falcons were unaccustomed to this season’s difficulties and struggled to find answers.
Slowly, the players bought into the systems set in place by the coaches and learned to play as a team. There were positive signs scattered throughout the season, and on Friday night against Kenmore East, everything seemed to finally come together.
The Falcons expected a tough game from a typically high-scoring Kenmore East team, but with what Niagara Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin said was the best defensive zone coverage he’d seen all season, the Bulldogs were held to just 17 shots. With 25 shots and three goals of their own, the Falcons came away with a 3-2 win with just two games left to play.
“We know they’re a good team,” Wrazin said. “We know they’re a high-scoring team. They have some kids that have 30 points or a little under. We’ve been working a lot on cleaning up our play in our own end, getting pucks out faster on our breakout, so those were things we knew would be important against them. We kept them under 20 shots, which we were very happy about. Knowing that they’re offensive, we expected a good hard forecheck. We expected them to do a good job at possessing the puck and breaking us down, and they did that at times, but I think it was definitely our best defensive zone game of the year.”
It was also senior night for Niagara Wheatfield and two of the Falcons’ seniors, Kasey Haseley and Garrett Downie, had an extra bit of familiarity with the Bulldogs. Several members of each team play travel hockey together for the Wheatfield Blades.
“We knew they were a really good team,” Haseley said. “I have a lot of friends on that team. A lot of them are from my travel team, so I knew what to expect coming in, but we knew they were a really good team, high scoring, so try to keep the shots down, and it was a good win … They’re amazing players, and I’m friends with a lot of them, so it feels good.”
“They were gonna be a hard aggressive forward attacking team,” Downie said. “We had to play more D-zone coverage and get the puck out and get it deep on them.”
Sophomore Chris Tobey expected the same.
“We knew they were gonna be hard, and we knew they were gonna battle,” he said. “They’re a very good team, and we just knew they were gonna bring their A game, and we had to get this win. It was very big for us, and we just went out there and played our game like we normally do and got the win.”
The Falcons came out fast, and it was Tobey’s goal just 54 seconds into the first period that gave them the first lead of the game. The goal was a result of the team following the systems.
“We do our face off drills in practice all the time; we run plays,” Tobey explained. “And we just ran one and I got open in front of the net. They left me open, and Nick Peters passed it out to me, and quick one-timer into the net. Felt very good to get an early lead, momentum on our side.”
Downie added to tie lead just past the halfway point of the first period, and the Falcons led 2-0.
“I was wide open in front of the net and [Alex] Bauer had a nice feed out front with his head up, and I just had an open shot five hole, and I put it in,” Downie said.
Kenmore East’s Anthony Tulipane cut the lead in half just over two minutes later with his first of two goals on his birthday, but Niagara Wheatfield’s defense came back strong. And with 2:24 left in the second period, Haseley scored to give the Falcons a more comfortable 3-1 lead right as a Kenmore East penalty expired.
“[Cameron] Ruhland was screening in front, and we were moving the puck well,” Haseley said. “We got a lot of shots on the power play, and luckily the goalie didn’t see it and it went in, so it was nice.”
Tulipane’s second of the game with 19 seconds left wasn’t enough, and the Falcons came away with their seventh win of the season.
“It’s the first time all year we’ve [followed the systems] for three periods,” Wrazin said. “We had our breakdowns, but we had our forecheck working, we had our D-zone play working. Couple things in the neutral zone we could clean up, but overall yeah, it’s the best we’ve done with it. It was a really good team win.”
For the players, the win brought relief, confidence, and memories of last season.
“It feels nice, honestly, just the win,” Haseley said. “We’ve been so kind of inconsistent this season, and I feel like we’re rolling now, so this helped a lot.”
“It really reminded me of last year a lot, how we played,” Tobey said. “We played really hard. That was NW hockey. That’s how we play, and we gotta continue that for the rest of the year if we want to be successful … We really needed that, and it brought a lot of energy and positivity to the guys in the room, and everyone’s very pumped up for the rest of the season.”
Haseley mentioned a few players’ contributions in the win as well as acknowledged Alex Bauer as the heart-and-soul leader of the team, but he and Downie both were excited to see an all-around team win.
“Obviously Garrett’s always big for us,” Haseley said. “Ruhland in front of the net. Bauer, of course. Bauer’s always got the biggest heart on the team, and really everyone. That’s a big team win for us.”
“We played more as a team than we have in the past, and we all bought into the system, and just fed each other really well and played our D-zone coverage and our offensive zone,” Downie said.
Niagara Wheatfield has just two regular season games remaining. On Thursday, the Falcons are scheduled to play Clarence. On Saturday, they’ll finish up their schedule with a game against rival Williamsville North, last year’s Section VI runner-up.
“I think we got a little more confidence, so I’m excited for the future,” Haseley said. “I think we’re ready.”