Falcons looking for some respect after latest playoff win

AMHERST - It’s kind of mystifying, really, if you think about.

The Frontier Falcons went to the Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation finals last year, before losing to Williamsville North.

This season, they won their division, earned a number three seed for the playoffs and went 14-3-2 (8-3-1) in the regular season.

Yet, when it came to the playoffs, many thought Orchard Park was going to pull the upset.

So much for respect.

“There is no question about it. The other division thinks they are better than our division,” stated Frontier coach Bob Klimowicz. “We are 2-3 against that division. We lost to [Williamsville] North in overtime. We lost to Niagara-Wheatfield 2-1 and lost to St. Joe’s 3-2 and all of those could have gone either way. These guys are competitors. They work their tales off. I told them at the beginning of the game they [Orchard Park] wanted this matchup. And let’s show it to them that it’s not a good matchup. Nobody is giving us respect.”

Cooper Soto made 22 saves and Bob Piotrowicz and Phil Stamer scored goals and the Frontier Falcons defeated Orchard Park, 2-0, in the quarterfinals of the Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation playoffs.

“In our last game against Lancaster it was 2-1 and he [Soto] made some big saved,” said Klimowicz. “He is a talented goalie and we have given him the reigns. And, that’s what you need is the big stops. That’s what gets you to winning the championship. You need the goalie to come up big when the game is 1-0, 2-0. He came up big for us.”

Orchard Park, playing a trapping style of game, took it to the Falcons early and at times frustrated them into turnovers – which the Quakers could not capitalize on.

In fact, it was the Falcons who would draw first blood, 14:25 in the first period, as Piotrowicz took a nice pass from behind net and fired the shot past goaltender Charles Kritkausky.

“We were kind of expecting that [the trap],” stated Klimowicz. “We needed to get the puck in deep against their defense. We felt if we could get the puck in deep then we could out work them and that was the key thing. We did a nice job.”

The game would stay 1-0 until late in the third period when Stamer pounced on a turnover in the Orchard park zone and fired the shot past Kritkausky.

A very good, hard-hitting, hockey game turned ugly with 30 seconds remaining in the contest as a fight broke out.

Orchard Park’s Joe Mesi went after Piotrowicz and ripped his helmet off before landing some shots to the face of Piotrowicz.

Credit goes to Piotrowicz as he did not fight back and did not receive a suspension. He did, however, receive a cut above his eye and a black eye.

Klimowicz was pleased with how his team kept its cool during the fight.

“Obviously, if anybody was watching the situation they new that Frontier was not being the aggressor, Orchard Park was,” explained Klimowicz. “I already said to my team that I was extremely proud of those guys.”

Next up for the Falcons will be number two seed Niagara-Wheatfield at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Northtowns Center in Amherst.

In an earlier meeting this season, Frontier lost to Niagara-Wheatfield, 2-1.