The Depew Saints Modified House League Bantam 14U team recently competed in the Boulter Classic Hockey Tournament in Webster, just outside of Rochester. It took place from Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11. Games were played at the beautiful Webster Ice Arena and hockey fans and parents were treated to some good hockey at all levels all weekend long.

The Saints team played three tough games over a two-day span and positioned themselves nicely for a championship matchup on Sunday.

The Saints posted an impressive 2-0-1 record in their first three games, taking 11 out of 15 total points to be able to make it to the finals.

The Saints played a familiar opponent in the finals, a team who they had just played the day before; the Rochester Youth Hockey Americans. The matchup would prove to be a good one. The Saints, wearing their home black with silver and white jerseys, played against the Americans, sporting their stars-and-striped jerseys. After much fanfare and an NHL-like introduction which included a nicely sung National Anthem, the game commenced.

Depew and Rochester skated to a 0-0 in the first period with fast paced play. Rochester jumped to an early 1-0 in the 2nd period, but Depew responded with two tallies later in the period from Lenny Manns and Andrew Danzer. Depew enjoyed a 2-1 lead going into the third period with physical play on the rise. Could Depew get the third goal to pull ahead or would Rochester even the score?

Depew responded in strong fashion to the increased physical play from the Rochester team and added two more goals to their score en route to a 4-1 win. Goals in the third period were scored by Eric Kulbacki and Sam Jargiello.

With the four straight unanswered goals, the Saints house team clinched their first tournament championship this season.

The local boys included Derek Pieczynski, Trevor Gabamonte, Alex Rybak, Peter Fronckowiak, Andrew Dunning, Chris Stenzel, Kulbacki, Manns, Alex Heist, Danzer, Jargiello, Alex Mieth, James Garvey, Zack Tucker, Matthew Ress, Patrick Siembida, Braden Bova, Austin Gosciak, Matt Gram and Joe Chudy. The team is led by head coach Darryl Rybak.

The boys received individual medals and a team banner for display at the Depew Ice Pavilion Rink.