Western New York Amateur Hockey League

The Western Region men’s scholastic ice hockey team reclaimed what they rightfully believe is theirs — a shiny gold medal.

Forwards Matthew Pietrzykowski, Tim Kielich and Nicholas DiRienzo, as well as defenseman Kyle Mackey, all represented St. Francis at the Games, while Alex Iafallo, a smooth-skating forward from Eden, and Chad Kujawa, a defenseman from Lake View, also provided a great spark for the Western squad, which finished the tournament at 4-1.

Western clinched the gold with a decisive 7-1 win over Hudson Valley on July 25 at the Amherst Ice Rink. Fittingly, it was Iafallo who closed the game’s scoring late in the third period with a nifty shot over the goaltender’s catching glove on a 2-on-1 rush. Kujawa, who plays in the Little Caesar’s Amateur Hockey League, added two assists, while DiRienzo of West Seneca also reached the score sheet with one helper.

“It’s really something great, because we all wanted it so bad,” said Kujawa. “We knew we hadn’t been ready to play yesterday (in the team’s lone loss, 6-3 to Adirondack) and said ‘we’ve got to win the next two.’ We came ready to play today. We knew we had to just play as a team.”

Kujawa said that overall team camaraderie was a big strength for Western. “There’s a lot of kids from the area on the team, which is a good thing,” he noted. “It’s good to know the other guys’ style of play.”

First-year Games head coach Terry Miller said Saturday morning’s loss to Adirondack helped his team re-focus on the task at hand — re-capturing the gold after Western wasn’t able to medal in 2008 following eight straight top finishes in the tournament.

“We found it hard to get going that game, and it was really the bump in the road for us,” Miller said. “Everybody accepted it and we did what we needed to do today.”

Against NYC, Pietrzykowski, an East Bethany resident, and Kielich of East Aurora each scored, while Mackey, a Derby resident, added an assist. Iafallo, who took on the role of playmaker all game long and earned an assist, said he feeds off creating offense for teammates.

“That’s really what I like to do,” said, Iafallo, who also plays for the Buffalo Regals 18-and-under team. “It’s good to get others involved...It also helps knowing a lot of guys from the Southtowns, and the area in general, on the team. We’re a tight group. It’s a great experience being here.” Iafallo's sister won Gold with the Womens team a very special feat for the two siblings.

Against Long Island, Mackey assisted on the go-ahead goal in the third period, which came courtesy of Josh Kielich, who is the cousin of Tim. Iafallo iced the game with a late empty net goal and added an assist. In Saturday morning’s loss to Adirondack, Iafallo earned an assist, while that evening, Western bounced back to defeat Central, 3-1, behind Kielich scoring what turned out to be the game-winning goal early in the third and Mackey adding an assist.

Miller said Friday he strategically planned to keep players from the same area together on lines to maintain familiarity and create chemistry.

“A lot of the kids know each other, with several being from St. Francis and surrounding schools,” Miller said. “Iaffalo really fills a playmaking role for us and has a great sense of what’s going on around him and what to do with the puck...As a team, we said all along that we’re not here to just medal, but to get the gold.”

Kielich said he enjoyed Western’s team togetherness while dorming for the Games, and having several familiar St. Francis players around. Pietrzykowski agreed that having several Red Raiders in the locker room made the transition into the players’ first-ever Games that much easier.

“It was great, having most of the guys know one another,” said Kielich. “But we all knew that this was really about one thing, the most important thing, which was getting gold.”