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April 2020 www.nyhockeyjournal.com 27 HIGH SCHOOLS HIGH SCHOOLS B OB ROSEN reached a milsetone. But he would have traded it all in a heartbeat if it meant his boys could have finished the journey of the 2019-20 season. Lost in the nightmare of the NYSPHSAA championship tournament being wiped out due to the COVID-19 outbreak is the fact that Wil- liamsville North coach Bob Rosen collected his 500th career win. Just the fourth coach in state history to reach the 500 win club, he earned the milestone on March 1 when the Spar- tans defeated Orchard Park, 5-1, to claim the Section VI Large School title. "It was very special for it to come in a game that meant a lot," Rosen said. "At some point in time it would have come, but to have it come under those circumstances with this group of guys was really special." Having won five state championships during his 30-year career, Rosen is the only head coach the Spartans have ever had. Coming to Will- North after a stint in college coaching, Rosen thought North would be a temporary stop. The program and the kids have become his life's work. "It's hard to believe that it's been 30 years," he said. "When I left Canisius College I thought I would coach high school for a couple years and look for another college job. One (season) has led to another. It's been a great run. I've had great as- sistant coaches and great people in the program." Class act from Victor's Armstong Victor senior Steven Armstrong was the au- thor of the feel-good moment of the postseason. Moments after Victor beat rival Fairport, 5-4, in overtime to win the Section V Class A title, Armstrong noticed emotionally devastated Fairport goalie Dylan Ghameni sitting on the team bench. Armstrong skated over to the Fair- port bench to console Ghameni. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. "I just saw him looking at us as we were tak- ing a picture of our whole team and saw the tears running down his face," Armstrong said. "I decided to go over there. I couldn't let him sit there alone, by himself. I just went over there and told him he played a great game, one of the best games I ever saw a goalie play there." Victor coach Mike Ferreri said he was be- yond proud of the gesture of sportsmanship Armstrong showed. "It's really special. It makes you feel good when you see those types of things," Ferreri said. "You don't see that very often in high school sports. To see that, it touches your heart. It also make me realize the type of kids we've been able to have in our program and how spe- cial they are. It's very powerful." Pavone made a difference That's a wrap for the guru of Section VI girls hockey. As the 10th season of the Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation came to a close, Bill Pavone announced that he was step- ping away from his full-time involvement with the league. From day one, Pavone has been on the front lines of the battle to help create a girls varsity hockey league. "To me this has been the absolute best thing I've ever been involved with," Pavone said, "be- cause it was such a fight." What drove him was his desire to see his daughter Laura, and her friends, have a chance to wear their school colors on the ice. It was Pa- vone who, back in 2007, collected the necessary data from USA Hockey to show the numbers were there to support a league. Pavone spear- headed the public outcry at board meeting after board meeting at the various school districts. Perhaps the best illustration of how much this league and these girls meant to Pavone was that even after Laura graduated, he kept active, from promoting results via social media and running the league website to serving as a PR contact with the media. Pavone's business situation will no longer af- ford him the time to be at every game, but with a friendly smile, he joked that he will still be around from time to time. "It's like the mafia," Pavone laughed. "You're in for life." — DAVE RICCI WILL-NORTH COACH ROSEN HAS 500 REASONS TO BE THANKFUL jor searched for the right words to ease his boys' minds, but it proved to be a Herculean task. "I remember skating around during that practice I didn't even know what to do," Major said. "I remember going up to my coaches more than once saying, 'I don't even know what to do here.' We were kind of in limbo." Though they didn't get a chance to finish the ride on the ice as planned, the Lakers stuck to their plan of a blue/gold scrimmage followed by a team dinner. As it turns out, that was their last official gathering as a team this season. Thankfully, Major said, it provided a much-needed sense of closure for everyone. "It was probably the best thing we ever did," Major said. "Now, looking back, that was a special time where we could sit and have dinner on a Friday night before all this really hit. It was a good, cathartic ending where we could all just sit and talk and tell stories about this year." "Everyone said their favor- ite memory from the season," Heintz added. "It was good clo- sure for the season." Major and his coaching staff did their best to help the boys keep every thing in perspective. "The goal was to repeat," Ma- jor said. "I know that winning is not everything, but when you get that close and you feel pretty good about your chances going into the final four … al- though we had to we had to play a very good Webster-Thomas team, we felt we were primed to make history." feedback@nyhockeyjournal�com Andrew Miller (Rosen); Alan Schwartz/GreenLightPhoto.com 'Everybody was kind of there for each other. We talked about celebrating the journey and all the successes that the team has had throughout the season.' — Mike Ferreri, Victor High School boys varsity coach Webster Thomas goalie Connelly Springer went 14-2-2 this season with a 1.61 GAA. HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK WNY Federation hockey chairman Mark DiFilippo, right, presents the game MVP award to Bob Rosen after the coach's 500th victory.