On senior night, Orchard Park simply wanted to end the regular season strong. Some redemption from an earlier loss to Canisius would have been nice, too.
Everything went according to plan, and Kevin McParlane made the most of senior night with two goals and two assists as the Quakers defeated Canisius 4-1 to finish the regular season 9-5-1-1.
“For this game — being our last game before the playoffs, being our last home game, some of the seniors, being their last time to have a regular season game at home — it was an important game for us to play well, and that’s what we focused on,” coach Josh Dannecker said. “Not really how we did during the game as far as the score, but more on our effort and how we played, and I thought we came out and did great.”
“We were just hoping to finish strong and get a nice win out of it, carry it into the playoffs,” McParlane said. “They beat us pretty bad the first game, and we were just coming out with some fire and came right after ’em and did the job.”
“We were expecting them to be tough because we played them the first game and they kinda kicked our butts,” said Eric Lyon. “They beat us like five-nothing. But we were expecting them to come out hard, but I think we played how we want to in the playoffs and we’re gonna keep rolling like that.”
“Exactly what we did,” said TJ Maloney. “Put goals up and go into the playoffs strong.”
Lyon and Maloney were part of a defense that held Canisius to just 13 shots on Sunday night. Goaltender Tom Held stopped all but one as Canisius’ David Evans scored late in the second.
“Our D-zone coverage was pretty good and Held played out of his mind,” Maloney said. “I know not a lot of shots, but probably our D-zone coverage. We picked it up from the last game.”
McParlane’s first goal came with 4:28 left in the first, and he wasted no time in the second as he added to the lead just 50 seconds in. Both goals were assisted by Ryan Riter.
“He saw me over the middle twice,” McParlane said. “The one was a tip, and the other one was a shot. He had two good passes, but it was just right time, right place.”
Lyon and captain Jeff Palczewski added to Orchard Park’s lead later in the second, and Evans’ goal for Canisius was too little, too late. McParlane assisted both Lyon’s and Palczewski’s goals to finish the game with four points and the season with 12.
“I don’t know, maybe I was having a good night of sleep or something,” McParlane said. “I was feeling it today, I guess. That’s all I got to say.”
Dannecker was as happy for the four-year varsity player as he was with the way the entire team played in its final tune-up before playoffs.
“I loved the way our defense played,” Dannecker said. “Our defense was so strong. Obviously Riter was tremendous tonight, along with TJ. They were great defensively, so I was really happy with those guys. Offensively, as far as Kevin getting it going, he’s been struggling a little bit in the season, and scored last game and now he’s on his roll, so he’s a talented player and to get some of those guys going, even talking about our defense, Eric stepping it up and getting a goal. He’s had a lot of opportunities and now we’re starting to cash in on some of those opportunities, so we’re feeling good about that.”
“Our puck movement,” added Maloney. “It was unbelievable today, and it showed up on the scoreboard, unlike other days.”
“I think we put the puck in, started working, trying not to just do it all ourselves, and put pucks to the net on the goalie a little bit, and they just went our way,” said Lyon.
The team is close this year, with team dinners the night before every game. And this year was one they described as fun. It showed in the Quakers’ final record in league play, and they got even better as the season went on.
“Being on the team for the last four years, we’ve had our ups and downs,” McParlane said. “This year has been really fun. Great way to end the regular season; now carry it on to playoffs.”
“A lot of fun,” Maloney said. “We had a rough patch in the middle, but most of all, it’s been so much fun lately.”
“Our coaches always tell us, don’t judge us on how we play at the beginning of the year; they tell us judge us in January, and I think we’re pretty much getting to how we know we can play,” said Lyon.
And a win over Canisius was the perfect way to cap off such a season; Orchard Park’s confidence is high as the Quakers prepare for playoffs.
“We really wanted that win to kind of get ourselves ready for the playoffs,” said Dannecker. “We’ve been playing really well lately, and to go into playoffs with a win is just gonna help us. And we can see, Canisius is a good team, and to be able to kinda take it to a good team like that is really gonna be helpful for the guys and their confidence.”
Orchard Park is scheduled to face Niagara Falls on Saturday in the large school quarterfinals. The Wolverines spent the season in Division 3, so the two teams haven’t faced each other this year.
“I think they have a couple guys that are pretty talented,” Dannecker said. “We’ll have to obviously play good solid defense against them, and I think if our guys play the way they’re capable of, we’ll be able to come out and give a good showing.”
“Put pucks in the net, play good defense, and just keep winning,” Lyon said.
Maloney has the team’s playoff schedule all figured out if things go as he and his teammates hope they will. His projected schedule ends with Orchard Park facing Williamsville North.
The Quakers were the only team in the Fed not to lose to Williamsville North this season, with a win and a tie to show for the two contests.
“Hopefully a lot of momentum,” Maloney said of Sunday’s win. “We’re gonna need it, going into the first round and the second round — we’re probably gonna play Niagara Wheatfield, so we need to play good, playing Niagara Wheatfield. And then we got North, probably North, in the section championships, so scoring a lot of goals and momentum, definitely.”