NIAGARA FALLS BUFFALOS START INAGURAL SEASON WITH A BANG

by Tony Fiorello

Niagara Falls mayor Robert Restaino performs a ceremonial puck drop between members of the Niagara Falls Buffalos and SOO Nordiques on Saturday, January 6. Photo taken by Lauren Heeren.

An overtime victory. A comeback made. Ferocious hits and acrobatic saves.

No this isn’t the Buffalo Sabres we’re talking about here, nor did this athletic contest feature any teams from the National Hockey League, AHL, NCAA, Canadian junior leagues or high school level. This is semi-pro.

Made up of players from varying backgrounds and differing levels of achievement, the Niagara Falls Buffalos made their debut on Saturday night at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion, defeating the SOO Nordiques 4-3 in a come-from-behind victory in overtime via a penalty shot.

It was the team’s first-ever game in the brand-new Union Hockey League, and the Buffalos’ coach and owner, Bill Koller, couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

“It’s a nice way to kick off the season,” Koller said. “We dominated play tonight, we peppered them with shots but we just couldn't get the rebounds like we wanted to, and unfortunately just couldn't capitalize in the first and second periods. But we came back in the third and finished the game strong.”

Spencer Hrynczak, who completed a hat trick with a game-winning penalty shot in overtime, agreed.

“We just battled back,” Hrynczak said. “Going into the third period, we just took ownership of the situation on the bench, kept our cool and started to put the puck in the net.”

Battle back they did. Down by three goals at the start of the third period, Hrynczak scored a pair of goals and Gianni Paladino tied things up late to send the game to a sudden-death period.

Hrynczak was then awarded a penalty shot after being roughed up by an opposing player, and took advantage by scoring the winner.

“We just got on top of them in the third. Simple as that,” defenseman Kyle Wilkins said. “If we play a full 60-minute game, there's no way the score should be that close.”

If the Buffalos’ games are to be that entertaining for the rest of the season, then Koller and his players will have done a good job of building the team. What comes next is marketing them to the Buffalo/Niagara Falls community.

That’s where Lauren Heeren, the Buffalos’ vice president and the UHL’s chief marketing officer, comes into play. She’s risen up the team’s ranks quickly due to her ability to wear multiple hats and has done a good job thus far.

“I originally started off as a marketing director,” Heeren said. “But someone had to step up and do game operations and DJ and photographer, so Bill promoted me. Our league just kind of started and it’s gained traction really quickly.

“I love hockey and my background’s in social media marketing. This is just two worlds colliding.”

Koller has also had to fill out multiple roles and has done well.

“I've been involved in hockey for the last 20 years as a player, referee and coach, and this opportunity came up. And I took it, but unfortunately the coach that we hired didn't work out. So I stepped up and took on extra roles,” Koller said. “Lauren’s helped me a ton with the off-ice operations, and now we have a good organization.

“I'm very happy that we’ve gotten this opportunity, and we have a good team. This is going be a fun season, I think we're one of the better teams in the league and we’re planning on making the semi-pro game more popular nation-wide.”

In the semi-pro world, most games are played on the weekends while players work normal jobs during the week. Players became a part of the team after open tryouts were held and word of mouth spread, and teams in the UHL are based between the Boston area and Wisconsin, and there are plans to expand to the West Coast a year from now.

Given that there are many players in the UHL with varying degrees of playing experience – some have played professionally, some collegiately and others have played Canadian junior and high school – there’s quite the melting pot of talent in the teams’ locker rooms. Nevertheless, the multiple personalities have seemed to have meshed quite well.

“We’ve got such a good dispersion of talent throughout the lineup, and we get along so well,” Wilkins said. “Most of us have only known each other for a month and a half to two months, but we're pretty much inseparable at this point.”

The UHL’s regular season has each team playing around 20 games, and the Buffalos’ next contest will be against the Northshore Nighthawks on January 27. The league’s playoff system is to be determined given that some teams will be ready to begin play a bit later than others, but if Niagara Falls’ opener was any indication, they may be able to play for the league’s inaugural championship.

“Let’s just say we plan on being there at the end of the season,” Wilkins said.