BY JONATHAN SKUZA
The Victor Blue Devil’s (17-6-1) season came to an end Saturday afternoon as they fell 4-2 to Section VI’s Williamsville East (19-3-1) in the NYSPHSAA Division II quarterfinals.
The. Blue Devils got out to an early lead when Simon Kowal picked up where he left off in the Class B championship game and found the back of the net 30 seconds into the contest.
Nathan Sucher answered for Williamsville East shortly after early in the first period.
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Victor faced early adversity as they had to kill off a five minute major in the first. The Blue Devils successfully killed off the major before the first frame expired.
The start of the second period saw a more conservative start for both teams. Around the halfway mark of the period, Williamsville East received a questionable icing call. They used the icing call to their advantage as they won the face-off and drove down the length of the ice when Brody MacDonell shot the puck of Victor’s goaltender and Gavin Ward buried the rebound to give the Flames the lead.
MacDonell would add on to the Williamsville East lead early in the third period after he was wide open in slot and received a pass from behind the net.
Kowal would pull Victor within one with his second of the game after he found a loose puck in front of the net in a pile of players. The senior forward scored five goals in his last two contests and tied a career high of 22 tallies.
Ward would add an empty netter to seal the victory for the Flames with just over 90 seconds remaining in the contest.
Victor finished the season with 17 victories and their first sectional title since 2022 and first Class B title since 2016 when they repeated as champions (Victor participated in Class A from 2017-23).
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