The Cheektowaga Warriors Tier II 16U team has to play split seasons in order for their players to participate on their high school teams.

Yet when they got back together, one could hardly tell they had been apart as they swept through the New York state tournament with a perfect 5-0 record, scoring 19 goals and letting up five. The performance earned the Warriors a berth in the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships March 26-30 in Plano, Texas.

“Playing a split season due to high school hockey is always a juggling act,” Cheektowaga coach Scott Jacobs said. “We leave each other at the end of October and don’t get back together until the end of February, early March. Several of our players play for different high school coaches and with different philosophies and systems. It is always a challenge when we get back together. With just a few practices and one 50-minute scrimmage before states, it was up to us to regroup and reconnect quickly on systems and philosophies.”

Regroup they did, shutting out their first opponent, Plattsburgh, 4-0. This was followed by a 6-2 victory over P.A.L. Ice Hockey and then edging Center State Stampede, 3-2. After dispatching the GNY Stars 3-1 in the semifinals, the Warriors faced Center State in a rematch for the title. This time, the Warriors won 3-0.

Goalie Tyler Seketurski recorded both shutouts for the Warriors. Tyler Sayger had near equal time in net, as everyone gets to play on this team.

“We have always had a we-picked-them-we-play-them mentality, and that means we roll all three lines and our goaltenders rotate each game in net,” Jacobs said.

It works because everyone contributes. The top three lines scored seven, six, and five goals, respectively. The defensive pairings were all solid in helping their goaltenders out.

“As you can see, this was a total team effort and everyone contributed to our success during the year and in the state tournament,” Jacobs said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our accomplishments as a team and hockey family. I feel the character of a team and the respect the players display toward each other on and off the ice is what wins championships.”

The next stop for Cheektowaga is Plano.

“We truly see it as an honor to win the state tournament and look forward to the opportunity to compete in the nationals,” Jacobs said.

St. Lawrence Thunder Reform Very Late

The Tier II 18U St. Lawrence Thunder also had to come back together after the high school season ended. However, they didn’t completely regroup the team until the semifinals.

The Thunder had to play with nine skaters and one goalie in the round robin. They still managed two very impressive wins, 12-0 over Southern Tier where everybody (but the goalie) scored at least one goal, and 6-1 over Cheektowaga. The team ran out of steam in the last game, losing 6-3 to the Long Island Edge. However, St. Lawrence still advanced out of group play.

Then the reinforcements came. When Massena Central and St. Lawrence Central schools lost in their high school playoffs on Saturday, 10 more players got in their cars and drove to Amherst in time for the Sunday morning semifinal game.

There, the Thunder easily defeated the Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles, 7-3. In the finals, they faced a rematch with the Edge.

No one scored for two periods, then St. Lawrence reeled off three straight goals in the first five minutes by Lukas Arquiett, Evan Kassian and Cody Moore. Austin Cousineau put the game away after the Edge broke the shutout. Jon Stone was in net for the win.

The Thunder move on to Toyota-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 18U National Championships in Troy, Mich. on March 26-30. This time, the whole squad will travel together from the start.

Buffalo Jr. Sabres Go Two For Three

The Buffalo Jr. Sabres organization, which recently moved into the spectacular new HarberCenter facility, reaped the benefits by sending two teams to the Toyota-USA Hockey Youth Tier I National Championships in nearby Amherst, N.Y. on March 26-30.

The 14U team won its state title in Rochester while the 18U team took its championship at the same Amherst facility.

The 14U team swept through the round robin with wins over Team Westchester (4-3), Rochester Youth (14-0) and the Syracuse Nationals (6-4). In the semifinals, the Sabres defeated the Long Island Royals, 3-1. In the finals, they once again met Syracuse.

“We played Syracuse five or six times this year,” Jr. Sabres coach and former Buffalo Sabres captain Michael Peca said. “Our kids worked their tail off all year, and I’m pretty proud of them.”

Zach Rehbaum got Buffalo on the scoreboard first in the opening period, and Zachary Nazzarett made it 2-0 early in the second on a semi-breakaway while being hauled down.

Syracuse wasn’t giving up, though, as Shane Murphy scored twice to tie it up before the period ended. His first came on a delayed penalty with a one-time blast from the right slot. The second was during a five-on-three power play with a blast from the right faceoff dot beating the goalie nearside.

Buffalo’s game-winning goal at 9:42 of the third period wasn’t pretty, but they all count.

“Our D was doing a good job trying to pop in especially on the cycle,” Peca explained. “The strength of our game is the down low play below the tops of the circle. Our D found a spot, a little space on the ice. Michael Keller went to the net without the puck, went off his body and into the net. It proved to be an important goal for us.”

Peca’s son, Trevor, clinched it with an empty net tally on a soft backhander in the last minute.

“We had a lot of heartbreaking losses, but I think over the course of a long season, you’re going to grow with that,” Peca said. “I’m glad we’re not a team with just four or five losses on a season. We’ve had our taste of losing. We haven’t liked it, and we’ve learned from it. We’ve gotten better from it. Now, we’re able to go into the national championships with a little bit of a chip on our shoulders feeling really good about ourselves.”

The 18U team also swept through the round robin, smashing Perinton and Amherst Knights, 10-0 and 9-0, respectively, and edging Syracuse Nationals, 5-4. They got another shutout in the semifinals over Rochester Youth, 4-0. Then, the Sabres had to beat their crosstown rivals, the Buffalo Saints, 2-1 in the finals.

The 16U team made it to the semifinals but lost 4-2 to the Buffalo Regals. However, it was a non-Buffalo team that took the title, as Syracuse beat the Regals 2-1 in overtime in the title game.

14U Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles Advance to Nationals

The Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles were well represented at the state tournament in both the youth and girls’ divisions. The youth Tier II 14U team was the only youth team to advance to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships. Their tournament will be March 26-30 in Salt Lake City.

The Purple Eagles got there with a lot of one-goal wins. Niagara opened the tournament with a shootout win over Adirondack, 4-3. Next, the Purple Eagles edged Brewster Bulldogs, 2-1. Then, they got their only easy victory, whipping Camillus, 9-3. Niagara needed overtime in the semifinals to defeat Aviator, 4-3. The other semifinal game saw triple overtime as Brewster beat Canton, 3-2.

Niagara took the state title with a 3-1 win by outlasting Brewster. After a scoreless first period, Parker Morrow put Niagara in front. Brewster’s Matt Milone tied the game early in the third period.

But Niagara’s Anthony Angelo got the game winner with 6:44 to go. Brewster put on tremendous pressure thanks to a late power play and then by pulling their goalie, but Jason Lupp stymied them with great saves. Angelo clinched the game with an empty netter with 43 seconds left.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.