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Scintillating seniors

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Dunkirk-Fredonia senior Dawson Rafan celebrates after scoring a goal during the first period of the Steelers’ WNYHSCHL game against the Olean Eagles on Saturday at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

Three seniors accounted for five of the Dunkirk-Fredonia six goals Saturday against Western New York High School Club Hockey League White Division foe Olean, as the Steelers (11-4-2) earned a 6-0 win over the Eagles (4-11-2) on Senior Day at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

“What a great memory for them for their Senior Day,” Dunkirk-Fredonia head coach Jay Bishop said. “The biggest thrill for me is to be able to have win on behalf of the seniors for Senior Day.”

Dawson Rafan, one of nine seniors honored before the game, got the Steelers going early, as he took a pass from Chris Michalski from behind the net and beat Eagles’ goalie Zak McMurray just 1:51 into the opening period. Nick Pchelka also earned a helper on the goal.

“Dawson has really come back with a vengeance this year,” Bishop said. “And I just couldn’t be happier for him. It was just a great pass to him and he was able to find the back of the net. It was a great way to start the first period.”

Then, after missing an opportunity on the power play with 11:11 left in the opening frame, senior Chris Buchanan did not let another chance with the man-advantage go by, as he beat McMurray over his right shoulder with 2:19 remaining on an assist from Mike Meredith.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Dunkirk-Fredonia’s Taylor Mattoon takes a shot past Olean defender Gavin Michalski on Saturday during their WNYHSCHL game at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

“I think that was very important,” Bishop said of jumping out to the early lead. “That was our goal at the beginning of the game to get on them quick, stay on them, be relentless, beat them to loose pucks and put pucks in the net. And I think it’s very discouraging for a team when you can score early and can start piling it on. And we were able to do that.”

Taking a 2-0 lead into the second period, it looked like the Steelers were going to make quick work of the Eagles, but things got a little chippy over the game’s next 17 minutes, as the teams combined for 14 penalties, including 10-minute misconducts to the Steelers’ Cole Tippens and Carter D’Agostino.

“I think our kids need to learn how not to retaliate,” Bishop said. “It’s a tough lesson to learn, because these are young kids with a lot of testosterone flowing, so it’s hard for them to skate away some times, but they’ve got to do what’s good for the team and not what’s good for them. But in the third period I think they learned that lesson and stayed out of the box.”

Despite the contemptuous play in the second period, the Steelers continued to dominate, as they outshot the Eagles, 18-7, getting another power-play goal from Meredith with 4:06 left to push their lead to 3-0. Zach Rybak and Buchanan earned the assists.

“Mike Meredith had a great game and so did Ryan Thompson,” Bishop said. “Mike had a beautiful shot and I was really happy with the way we peppered the goalie with shots, because that was the key to our success.”

Dunkirk-Fredonia regained its focus during the intermission and came out and played a clean third period, getting a goal from D’Agostino with 11:15 remaining in regulation on an assist from Rybak while Buchanan scored his second of the game unassisted with 8:39 left in the third period.

Buchanan then put the frosting on the cake with seven ticks left on the clock on an assist from Meredith, capturing his hat trick and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.

“Chris Buchanan had a (hat trick), which I thought was awesome,” Bishop said. “But more importantly, I thought every kid on our team contributed (Saturday) and once we got out of that penalty trouble we had in the second period, we came out in the third and had a renewed focus and the kids just brought the win home.”

The Steelers executed their game plan to perfection Saturday, shutting the Eagles down on defense and outshooting them 44-14 while also taking advantage of Olean’s depleted bench, as it dressed just 12 skaters and two goalies.

“I think the kids played awesome (Saturday),” Bishop said. “We had a game plan that really focused on team defense and defensive zone coverage. And we knew they had a very good goalie, so we wanted to get shots on goal and we did that. I think we outshot them, 10-1. So I think the kids just played fantastic.

“I had heard that they had had one injury,” Bishop added of the Eagles’ short roster Saturday night. “But I didn’t realize they were down so much. When teams are down like that, you just want to make sure that they skate longer than you do, so we tried to get pucks deep and make them go chase them. So we were fortunate to have a much deeper bench.”

Besides Rafan, Meredith, Buchanan, Thompson, Tippens and Chris Michalski, Christian Michalski, Taylor Mattoon and Austin Lewis also played their last regular season home game at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

Up next for the Steelers is the regular season finale against White Division leader Iroquois/Alden (16-0-1) next Saturday at 8 p.m. in Depew. After that matchup, Dunkirk-Fredonia will likely start the playoffs on the road at Olean, where they will begin a second-round best-of-three series.

“Two weeks from now I think this is going to be the team we face in the second round of the playoffs,” Bishop said, noting that because of his team’s second-place finish the Steelers will receive a bye in the first round. “And I couldn’t be happier. I learned a lot about Olean (Saturday) that I can use in practice and hopefully we can keep this going.”

NOTES: Meredith’s goal was his team-leading 27th while his two assists gave him a team-high 40 points… Buchanan’s hat trick pushed his season total to 14 while his assist gave him 25 points on the year… Novelli’s 14 saves helped him improve his record between the pipes to 11-2-2. “He made great saves, got the shutout and I couldn’t be happier for Nick,” Bishop said.

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