For the first time in 10 years, the Williamsville East Flames are Section VI Class A champions.
To do so, they took down their cross-town rival Williamsville North 4-1 at the KeyBank Center on Friday night. Naturally, getting over the hump against a familiar foe brought joy to the Flames’ roster.
“It doesn't get any better than that,” coach Mike Torrillo said. “I loved the defensive effort the kids put in today. Jake (Sexton) made some big saves when we needed it and our defensemen and forwards played smart hockey today. We really didn't give up a whole lot of chances, and that's the way we want to play games.
“The goals are great, but we’ve got a little motto that we use – if they don't score, we can't lose, and when we keep teams down to one goal I like our chances.”
Sexton concurred.
“It’s huge for us,” Sexton said. “We’ve all been playing together since we were little. It's a big moment we've all been dreaming of, it’s a big deal for us.”
Will East struck first on a goal midway through the first period courtesy of Brendan Lembke, who slipped a backhand into the back of the net. That opening score was a critical part of the game according to Spartans coach Bob Rosen.
“(The Flames) getting that first goal was huge,” Rosen said. “It allowed them to play their trap and they did a nice job with that. We didn’t have the energy to move our feet tonight, we chased the game the whole night and we weren’t dictating the play. That's never a good recipe. It wasn’t our best and we just didn’t have it.”
From there, the Flames took control. A power play goal on a shot from the point by Noah Hoffman shortly into the second period gave the team some breathing room, but it didn’t last long as Ryan Pittiri also scored on a shot from the point to get Will North on the board.
However, it didn’t last. Two minutes later Brody MacDonell lit the lamp on a rebound while conveniently positioned to Spartan goaltender P.J. Diodate’s right to take back the Flames’ two-goal lead, and MacDonell added his second tally of the night on an empty-netter to seal the outcome.
MacDonell’s first goal of the outing and Lembke’s score were both emblematic of Will East’s approach to hockey – so much so that the Flames’ players have begun to refer to it as “Coach Torrillo hockey”. But Torrillo himself downplayed it, attributing it to a mindset that he likes to see his squads play with.
“I just call it Williamsville East hockey and they’re really starting to buy into it,” Torrillo said. “If you look the goals we score, we get a lot of shots on goal. Are they all quality? No, but they're at the net. If we can get pucks to the net, we get good chances and we're buying into it.
“I watched the Sabres last night and they scored two goals right on the goal line. That's kind of what we're pressing the kids on. Wayne Gretzky once said ‘You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take’, and that’s a saying that we live by.”
There was also extra motivation for the Flames to win. Senior forward Jacob Pullen had recently lost his father, and Torrillo’s players rallied around him leading up to the game – pulling a tight-knit group together even tighter.
“Any time you go through something like that, it's devastating,” Torrillo said. “Jake is one of the most popular kids on the team, and everybody's supported behind him and things like that. He got an opportunity to play today because one of our guys tore his ACL last game and he went out and did his thing. We’re happy for him, just like the rest of the guys.
“It does bring us together and it was a tough week for everybody – especially Jake. He's doing the best he can and he’s got a great friend group.”
Photo Gallery Credit Tyler Gilbert
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