Tom Parshall felt the weight of South Buffalo on his shoulders on Saturday evening as he stood tall in the Timon net and faced shot after shot from Canisius in the last six minutes of regulation. Timon had lost to Canisius 6-0 earlier in the season, but the Tigers were ready for more on Saturday.
And no one was more ready than Parshall.
“Timon represents all of South Buffalo, and everyone hates Canisius in South Buffalo, I’m not gonna lie to you,” Parshall said. “So it was a lot of pressure from all of South Buffalo the last six minutes, really. I was really feeling it.”
Timon had taken a 2-1 lead with almost exactly six minutes left, and it was up to Parshall to finish it off. Sean Goodspeed added an empty net goal as the buzzer sounded to come away with a 3-1 win over the hated rival. Parshall finished with 28 saves.
“We had a big tradition,” Timon forward Noah Kane said. “For about 70 years, they’ve been our rivals. Last game, we were missing a few guys. They beat us six-nothing. We knew they were gonna come out and start slow maybe, so we wanted to get that fast start and get a lead on them early.”
The first period ended scoreless, but right as the buzzer sounded, Canisius took a penalty for elbowing, and Timon started the second period with a man advantage. Kane scored on the power play just 53 seconds into the second to give Timon a 1-0 lead.
“Power play,” Kane said. “Goalie didn’t see it. Matt Myers, big screen in front. It was great to get the first one.”
It took Canisius just 1:01 to tie the score when Kevin Bennett scored. And for the rest of the second and most of the third, the score remained tied.
Jake Giacobello was one of the missing players for Timon in this season’s first meeting with Canisius. The physical goal scorer came into Saturday’s game with eight goals and 13 assists and was certainly missed in the 6-0 loss earlier in the year.
Giacobello wanted to make up for the earlier loss, but the rivalry wasn’t quite as intense for him. Some familiarity with the Crusaders was helpful for Giacobello.
“I know a lot of kids on their team,” he explained. “A lot of friendships, so everyone was ready to go and knew what to expect from each other.”
And with 5:59 left on the clock, Giacobello scored the go-ahead goal that stood as the game winner when time ran out. Pat Faliero assisted the goal.
“I was just circling the zone,” Giacobello explained. “I saw my winger, Patty, find it, and he just threw it over to me, and I threw it top shelf.”
The game was nowhere near a 6-0 blowout, of course, and Kane realized that some luck was on the Tigers’ side as well as a strong game from everyone.
“I thought we played well,” Kane said. “We blocked a lot of shots. They had a lot of opportunities. They could have scored a few. We got some lucky bounces. Parshall played pretty well in net. Could have went either way, but the boys pulled it together at the end, and we got the win.”
Goodspeed took his time with the puck in the Crusaders’ end as time ran out and finally deposited it in the empty net with a second to spare. Timon had beat Canisius, and the Tigers could hardly believe it.
“I still can’t accept it, to be honest with you,” Parshall said a few minutes after the game ended. “It feels too good to be true.”
“It was great,” Giacobello said. “Unbelievable feeling. Finally get one on them. They beat us six-zero — I didn’t play in that game. But it was a big win. Now we have to play them in the playoffs, I believe, and it’ll be good for us.”
Timon had just three games remaining in the regular season after Saturday’s win. After a 4-2 loss to Kenmore East on Monday night, Timon is scheduled to play Williamsville East on Thursday and Kenmore East again Sunday.
And then, Giacobello was correct: Timon will face off against Canisius in the private school semifinals on Feb. 22 at 8:30 pm at Niagara University.
“We’re ready to go,” Giacobello said. “Starting to pick up momentum right at the end of the season, and that’s what we want to do.”