Kenmore East scores last-minute, breakaway goal to top West

Sports

Related Photos

Patrick DePuy/For the News PUCK WORK: Kenmore East's Trevor Pray (11) skates in his own zone in the Bulldogs' dramatic 3-2 victory on Thursday night at the Northtown Center. --

December 21, 2012

Kenmore East scores last-minute, breakaway goal to top West

By Nick Veronica The Tonawanda News The Tonawanda News Fri Dec 21, 2012, 02:00 AM EST

AMHERST — Kenmore East defenseman Zach Jakes fed a perfect breakaway pass to Ryan Wigdorski with a minute left in a tie game against rival Kenmore West, and Wigdorski used a head fake and a stick-side shot to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 win Thursday night at the Northtown Center at Amherst.

Mike Diliberto had an assist on East’s first goal and scored the second to lead the Bulldogs (3-1-1 Federation), who have never lost to the Blue Devils since coach Kyle Pray left West for East in 2007.

“Territorially, we outplayed them all night. We just weren’t finishing,” said Pray, whose Bulldogs held a 36-13 advantage in shots. “So what a perfect time for him to finish.”

When Wigdorski got the pass with no defenders between him and the net, he went to his bread-and-butter breakaway move.

“It’s pretty much the same move every time. When I got back in the locker room my teammates were like, ‘We knew what move you were doing,’” Wigdorski said with a grin. “Fake the shot, deke over right then shoot to the left, up high. The goalie’s going down and the pad is not going to save it. … I saw the opening, defenseman hit me on the tape with the puck and I sealed the deal.”

Kenmore West goalie Sean Guetti was the star for his team, keeping the Blue Devils in the game with 19 saves in the first two periods and giving them a shot to win it in the third with 14 more.

West (1-3 Federation) finally came through for Guetti midway through the third period after an offensive flurry produced a point shot and a rebound goal for Matt Metz that tied the game at two.

“(Guetti) was phenomenal,” West coach Tim Knight said. “He played a really good game. He made all the saves we could have expected him to make. He made the first save, the second save, the third save. Rebounds you can’t help but he gave us a chance to win.”

Kenmore East goalie Trevor Taggart got beat early but was solid the rest of the way, anchoring the Bulldogs with 11 saves.

West got on the board first less than three minutes into the game when Stephen Hermann tapped in a loose puck after Jeff Becker’s shot trickled past Taggart.

East answered at the end of a power play late in the first period. Diliberto made a nice move around his man on a rush and had his shot stopped by Guetti, but Tony Amoia crashed the net and finished the rebound. Jeff White also picked up an assist on the play.

East scored again four and a half minutes into the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Brett Wigdorski’s point shot was knocked out of the air but fell right on the stick of Diliberto, who scored from the circle.

East had a power play with four minutes left in the game after West had tied it, but the man-advantage didn’t produce a shot on goal. East’s power play went 1 for 3 on the night while West’s was 0 for 2.

Then Wigdorski’s breakaway goal with 58.2 seconds left gave the senior one last play to remember against Kenmore West.

“It was a great goal. It’s my last home rival game and it meant a lot to me and my team,” Wigdorski said. “This is going to mean a lot in school (on Friday).”

Text Only

Sports

LeMars punch ticket to states After coming within a set of going to states in last year's sectional tournament, North Tonawanda's John-Michael and Andrew LeMar had one mission in mind on Wednesday afternoon: redemption.
May 23, 2013 1 Photo
NT girl's track team set for NFL meet The North Tonawanda girl's 4x4 relay team is really good. So good, in fact, that Lady Jacks coach Sean Kibrick has a loaded deck when it comes to the 4x4 relay team -- six girls that are ready to blaze around the track whenever any one of their names are called.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Palladino's passion runs through THS softball A walk down the halls of Tonawanda High School leads to a staircase that goes down to an illuminated basement, where batting cages are full of players taking practice swings.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
LeMar's win NFL doubles championship After completing perfect seasons in singles competition for the North Tonawanda tennis team, Andrew and John-Michael LeMar joined forces on Friday in search of their third straight Niagara Frontier doubles championship.
May 18, 2013 1 Photo
NT's Brosius leading way in late-season surge by Jacks It's been a long and, at times, trying year for the North Tonawanda baseball team. The Lumberjacks have only managed three Niagara Frontier League wins and despite good stretches, the team just never seemed to put it all together.
May 18, 2013 1 Photo
LeMar brothers ready for NFL tourney North Tonawanda's tennis sensations -- John-Michael and Andrew LeMar -- have a bit of a reputation around the Niagara Frontier League.
May 17, 2013 2 Photos
Gibson's walk-off caps Ken East win over West
May 17, 2013 1 Photo
Tonawanda wins on Warthling walk off Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday night at Veteran's Park, the Tonawanda baseball team had erased a 5-1 Gowanda lead and were in position to stage a come-from-behind victory.
May 16, 2013 1 Photo
Donhauser pitches no-hitter for Ken West Shelby Donhauser never expected she'd end her high school softball career as a Kenmore West Blue Devil, but that made the feeling all the more surreal on Senior Night.
May 15, 2013
Lowery doubles up to lead Jacks to victory
May 14, 2013 1 Photo
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Kenmore East scores last-minute, breakaway goal to top West

Site Map

Contact Us