WNYGVIH: Regular season recap for February 2-6
It’s there, the playoffs and championships. Another great season for WNYGVIH is coming to an end.
CASH have captured the 2026 Federation Championship, but the League Champions have yet to be determined and it’s anyone’s game.
The quarterfinals will be played on Tuesday, February 10 at the Buffalo State College Ice Arena.
The first is #7 NICO vs. #2 LIDA. NICO has had a tough year with a record of 0-14-2. However, one of their players has managed to land a spot on the WNYGVIH All Time Scoring Leader Board. Sam Latini has moved up to eighth overall with 76 goals and 61 assists for 137 points in 99 games.
LIDA secured the No. 2 spot with an 11-4-1 record and 34.5 points.
NICO and LIDA will face each other at 4 p.m
It’s #6 Williamsville vs. #3 HEWS at 6 p.m. Williamsville comes in with a 2-14-0 record and HEWS with an 11-5-0 record.
In the last match at 8 p.m., KenGiPort will compete against FOP. KGIP’s Teagan Willats also secured a spot on the All-Time Scoring Leader List with 35 goals and 58 assists for 93 points in 115 games.
The semi-finals will be held on Thursday, February 12, with #4 playing #1 CASH at 6:00 PM and Seeds 3 and 4 at 8:00 PM.
The Private School Championship, featuring St. Mary’s of Lancaster facing Monsignor Martin, is at 6:00 PM on Monday, February 16, and the Section VI Championship is at 8:00 PM.
A look back at the past week, which was packed with regular and make-up games and a few Senior Nights.
Monday: LIDA via KenGiPort 4-1; St. Mary’s over NICO 9-1; HEWS defeated Williamsville 6-0.
It was Senior Night for HEWS and we congratulate Kylie Wegrzynowski, Brynn Holland, Sophia Phillips, Kelsey Barrett and Meghan Waskielewicz and wish them the best.
MacKenzie Benker had the game winner unassisted. Then goals were added by Phillips, Holland, Barrett.
Assisting were Holland, Allie Schmirl, Barrett and Waskielewicz. Ella Buczynski stopped 14 shots for the shutout win. In goal for Williamsville, Anna Bacon stopped 39 of 45.
LIDA secured their #2 spot with a 4-1 win over KenGiPort with two goals from Leah Dowling and additional goals from Brynn Cafferty and Caitlin Sinclair. Assists went to Lucia Lawrence, Sinclair, Dowling and Cafferty. Iris Schimenti stopped 18 of 19 for the W. Savanna Shaft had the lone goal for Kengiport, assisted by MacKenzie Kumrow and Kiley Burke. Hadley Dahlgren was netminder for KenGiPort, stopping 32 of 35.
Sam Latini had the lone goal for NICO in the loss to St. Mary’s. Lila Jones faced 42 shots and stopped all but 9. Scoring for St. Mary’s were Avery Szczesek, Shea Hall, Gabe Lowell, Meghan Donnelly, Olivia Salamone, Brynn Karan, Sophia Quinn and Morgan Gorman. Assists came from Donnelly, Lauren Gilano, Salamone, Szczesek and Alaina Roland.
NICO celebrated Senior Night on Tuesday with congratulations to Latini, Myla Chopyak and Sam Draper.
NICO’s Latini scored the team’s only goal and netminder Lila Jones gave up 24 shots on goal.
For KenGiPort it was Willats, Kumrow, Krawczyk, Avery Brach, Maddie Jagow and Isabella Shaft, assisted by Savannah Shaft, Maddie Jagow, Alera Ostertag, Willats, Isabella Shaft, Krawczyk and Kirsten Billman. In the net, Ella Johnston stopped 5 of 6 shots.
Two St. Mary’s players scored the goals for the team to make it a 5-1 win over LIDA. Szczesek had a hat trick and Donnelly scored two for the five-goal win. They were joined by Alaina Roland, Dylaney Dee and Captain Gabe Lowell. Donnelly also recorded two assists. In goal, Betsy Accurso stopped 39 of 40 shots.
For LIDA it was Cafferty, Dowling on Sinclair on target with Schimenti stopping 33 of 38 shots.
FOP’s Hannah Favata had the match winner in a 4-1 win. Sabrina Basamania scored the first goal, assisted by Peyton Forcucci and Favata. Peyton assisted on Favata’s goal. Then it was the Forcucci sisters for the third goal, a power play scored by Peyton and assisted by Brooke. Kayli Tefft scored an empty-netter while Keira Keaton kept MonMar at bay, stopping 14 of 15 shots. For MonMar it was Avery McDonald who scored unassisted and in goal Grace Elliott conceded 35 shots.
We covered a double header with MonMar at HEWS at Northtowns Arena on Wednesday. HEWS scored two goals 21 seconds apart in the first period to take a 2-0 lead after one period. Schmirl had the game winner, assisted by Benker and Cooper. Vetter, assisted by Cooper, added the second. Without scoring in the second we advanced to Grabowski’s third and HEWS’ third goal, assisted by the Netherlands. Katelyn Larson was in net for HEWS and stopped 11 shots for the shutout victory. In the goal for MonMar, Kate Kelly gave up 45 shots.
Moved to the play area for CASH in Williamsville. This is the home ice for both teams. CASH opened the scoring in the second period after nothing in the first. Kiley Breeze scored unassisted and the second period ended 1-0 CASH. CASH added three more in the third with two more goals from Breeze and one from Lyla Kinney. Jenny Wild, Cece Watson, Maya Adimey and Kinney had assists. In goal, Ella Celej stopped 10 for the shutout win and for Williamsville, Anna Bacon stopped 28 of 32.
Webster visited FOP for a non-league match before one of our teams faced them in the Section V vs. Section VI play-off.
Webster won 4–2 with goals from Molly Meyer, assisted by Molly Smith; Smith of Brooklyn Pagano and Meyer; Jess Nappi’s game winner assisted by Pagano and Ella Buss and Buss, an empty net goal assisted by Lucy Barbato. Their goalkeeper Mia Wambach stopped 24 of 26 shots.
For FOP it was Hollander and Favata who scored, assisted by Smaczniak, Tefft and Costanzo. Fix stopped 26 of 29 shots.
Sources say Webster is a fast, aggressive and skilled team.
HEWS won in a shutout against NICO. The goalscorers included Cooper, Phillips, A.Anderson, Smardz, Sokolowski, Waszkielewicz and Schmirl. Buczynski stopped 7 of 7 shots. In goal for NICO, Jones conceded 30 shots.
CASH defeated MonMar 3-0, with Breeze scoring the game winner on the power play, assisted by Wild. Breeze also scored the final goal on the power play, assisted by Watson. The second goal of the evening was scored by Dominik, unassisted. Celej had a 19-save shutout win. In goal for MonMar, Kelley stopped 39 of 42.
In Northtown it was KenGiPort vs Williamsville, with KenGiPort coming out on top with four goals. Williamsville’s only goal scorer was Besancon, assisted by Lombardo. In goal, Bacon stopped 43 of 47 shots. For KenGiPort it was Burke with the first goal, assisted by Kumrow and Sheridan Jagow. Willats scored the game winner, assisted by Maddie Jagow. Then it was an unassisted goal from Savannah Shaft with the final goal being Ashlynn Becker, assisted by Alexa Denning and Savannah Shaft. Dahlgren gets the win with 16 saves on 17 shots.
CASH will take on Webster on Friday evening. We will post the results later as this is a non-league match.
At the end of the regular season, LIDA’s Dowling leads the scoring with 24 goals and 17 assists, good for 41 points in 16 games. She is followed by Peyton Forcucci (FOP) 18g/16a; Teagan Willats (KGIP) 16g/16a; Brynn Cafferty (LIDA) 13g/17 a and Sabrina Basamania(FOP) 10g/19 a for 29 points. Each has played 16 matches.
Ella Celej (CASH) tops the list of goalkeepers with a save percentage of 0.943 in 724.42 minutes played. She has had 4 shutouts. Ella Buczynski (HEWS) has a .919 save percentage for second while playing 579.90 minutes and recording 5 shut-outs. Grace Elliott (MONMAR) ranks third with a save percentage of .916 in 229.87 minutes played; then Hadley Dahlgren (KGIP) .913 and 337.67 minutes and Ella Johnston (KGIP) with .912 in 427.30 minutes. Dahlgren and Johnston each have 2 shutout wins.
The most minutes played in net goes to NICO’s Lila Jones with 729.95. The most shutouts with five go to Buczynski and the most shots given up by Anna Bacon (Williamsville) with 409, of which she stopped 347.
Congratulations to HEWS Kelsey Barrett on being named the Buffalo Sabers Woman Hockey Player of the Month for January. This became known during Thursday evening’s match.
We hope to see you at the playoffs and championships. We understand that entrance fees will be charged, but it is not known what that is.
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