Photos and story By Janet Schultz, NYHOL;
Looking ahead to the new year, Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew/Alden will put up a good fight to stay in first place in both the League and Section. With two private schools participating, St. Mary’s of Lancaster and Monsignor Martin, there are two sets of statistics. The soldiers are part of the league, but not part of Section VI.
St. Mary’s of Lancaster are second in the League; followed by Hamburg/Elma/West Seneca; Clarence/Amherst/Sweethome; Kenmore/Grand Island/Lockport; Frontier/Orchard Park (no one from Lakeshore this season); Williamsville; Niagara County and Monsignor Martin.
In Section VI, HEWS, CASH, KengiPort, FOP, Williamsville and NiCo LIDA follow.
Leading the league is KengiPort’s Teagan Willates with 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points. Right behind her is LIDA’s Leah Dowling with 7 goals and 7 assists. Sabrina Basamania (FOP) is third with 3 goals and 7 assists. Tied for fourth place with 9 points each is Emily Lysiak (LIDA) 4 goals/5 assists; Brynn Gafferty (LIDA), 5 goals/4 assists; Caitlin Sinclair (LIDA) 2 goals/7 assists; Avery Szczesek (St. Marys of Lancaster) 7 goals/2 assists and Madelyn Jagow (KengiPort) 3 goals/6 assists. (All statistics are as of December 18, 2025)
CASH’s Ella Celej has made key saves for CASH and has a 4-2 record and one shutout, putting her at the top of the Goalie stats. She has played 269.42 minutes with a .932 save percentage and 1.84 gaa on 151 saves on 162 shots.
Monsignor Martin’s Kate Kelley has played 185 minutes with 157 shots and 144 saves for a .917 save percentage and 3.16 gaa.
Ella Buczynski has taken 105 shots on 115 attempts for HEWS, giving her a .913 save percentage after 222.67 minutes between the pipes. She has a 3-2-0 record with one shutout.
LIDA’s Anna Maki appeared in net for 45 minutes, but made 10 of 11 shots for a .909 save percentage and 1.00 gaa in a win.
Eighth-grader Sophia Hathaway has logged 134.55 minutes for Williamsville, stopping 121 of 134 shots for a .903 save percentage and .435 gaa.
Betsy Accurso has registered the most minutes between the pipes with 270 minutes. In that tie, she has won five games, lost one and had one shutout. She has an .895 save percentage and 1.67 gaa. She also has the most wins as a goalkeeper.
Celej, Buczynski, Accurso and Schimenti each had one shutout this season.
NICO’s Sam Latini is ninth on the All Time Scoring Leader List with 87 goals and 58 assists in 87 games played. She is currently the only active player on that list. However, on this season’s radar are Willats, Smaczniak, Lysiak, Phillips and Peyton Forcucci.
The League always has something that causes games to be postponed. This year it was illness, weather and a leaky roof.
The December 11 NICO at CASH contest has been rescheduled for December 22 at 3:30 PM in Northtown.
LIDA will play NICO at Riverworks on December 29 at 3pm to make up for the postponed December 18 match.
The LIDA vs FOP match on December 11 was postponed until December 31 at 9am at Leisure Rinks.
The December 4 match featuring NICO vs. FLOP has been rescheduled for January 13 at 4:00 PM at Dwyer Arena.
St. Mary’s has postponed a game with NICO in early December, which will be played at Northtown Aena on Monday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
Other postponed and not yet rescheduled matches are Monseigneur Martin at LIDA at Holiday from December 16 and HEWS at Monseigneur Martin from December 18 (leaking roof).
In other WNYGVIH news and notes:
This year’s Nut Bowl went to HEWS with a 3-0 win over CASH. (CASHEWS) Kylie Wegrzynowski with the winning goal on the power play.
The 16th season started with an 8-6 victory for Williamsville over NICO. Williamsville’s Genevieve Illos and NICO’s Sam Latini both had hat tricks plus one goal in that game.
Hat tricks so far this year: Leah Dowling (LIDA), Avery Szczesek (St. Marys of Lancaster), Kiley Breeze (CASH), Brynn Cafferty (LIDA), Mia Hauser (LIDA), Erin Krawczyk (KenGiPort).
KengiPort’s Erin Krawczyk had all four goals in the 4-1 win over Williamsville. In that game, Williamsville’s Illos scored 30 seconds into the game for Williamsville’s only goal of the night.
We would like to congratulate CASH’s Jenny Wild on her commitment to SUNY Plattsburgh and former LIDA player Caydon Kowalow’s commitment to Northeastern University.
Please note: all statistics are as of December 20, 2025. There are still a few games to be played in the year 2025. All teams return to the ice the week of January 5.
Monday, January 5: Williamsville at St.Marys of Lancaster; NICO at HEWS.
Tuesday January 6: CASH at NICO; HEWS at LIDA; MaMar at KenGiPort
Wednesday January 7: FOP on Monday
Thursday, January 8: Williamsville at FOP; St. Marys at CASH and NICO on Mondays
For the full schedule, visit https://wnygirlshockey.com
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