Lancer icers are second in the state

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, March 31, 2007

First-year Lewiston-Porter varsity club hockey coach Ken Browning was pretty sure that his Lancers could play with most of the teams in last weekend’s New York State Small School Championship at Cheektowaga’s Town Park, although he wasn’t entirely sure if his team could handle the defending state champion Cheektowaga Warriors.

It turns out that Browning’s instincts were right on, as the Lancers made it all the way to the state finals before bowing 3-1 to the defending champs.

“It was quite an amazing run,” Browning said. “The kids did things out there that I’ve never seen them do before. It’s a great accomplishment.”

The championship loss was particularly maddening as Lew-Port was nursing a 1-0 lead through two periods after Andrew Nearhoof scored from Tom Mooradian and Marc DeGiulio.

But Ryan Janasz, Steve Noworyta and Tom Leone replied for Cheektowaga in the third period to deny the Lancers their prize.

Carmen Crapsi finished with 39 saves for Lew-Port.

“I’ve never seen our kids play that well. They really took their game to another level,” Browning said. “Even they were a little surprised by how well they played. We just ran into Cheektowaga, and they just wore us down.”

The Lancers opened the tournament by going 2-1 in pool play to qualify for the playoff round.

They topped Bethpage 5-4 in the opening game as Scott Beseth scored the game-winner on a power play with 55 seconds remaining after Lew-Port had blown a 4-2 lead. DeGiulio added a goal and two assists, while Ryan Clayton had a goal and an assist and Hagop Otabachian and Mooradian also scored. Nearhoof had three assists and Matt Browning, Dan McGovern and Crapsi also had assists.

The second game was a 10-5 loss to Cheektowaga. Otabachian led the Lancers with two goals and two assists, while Tony Fuller added a goal and two assists and Danny Peters and Josh Hayes also scored. Beseth had three assists and Marco Santiago also had an assist.

The third game was a 9-2 rout over Washingtonville. Clayton and DeGiulio set the pace with two goals and an assist apiece. Beseth added two goals, while Peters had a goal and an assist and Santiago and Fuller also scored. Mooradian and Otabachian each had two assists and Nearhoof also had one assist.

That put the Lancers in the semifinals, and they responded with a wild 7-6 win over Long Beach. Clayton led the way with three goals, while Otabachian added two goals, Mooradian had a goal and four assists and Fuller also scored. Nearhoof had four assists, while DeGiulio and Beseth each had two assists and Matt Andrews also had an assist to send the Lancers to the state championship game.

“They did great,” Browning said. “As a coach, you don’t let it go to your head when you win, but it started to creep into my mind between the second and third periods of the finals that we might really be state champs. But it just wasn’t to be.”