Rosen earns milestone win
Williamsville North coach Bob Rosen, renowned for his business-minded approach to coaching and developing players, captured his 400th career victory in the Spartans’ 3-1 win over Lancaster in a Federation boys hockey game.Rosen, who has coached at North since the first season of the Federation in 1990-91, has more wins than any active high school hockey coach in New York State. The only coaches with more — Bill Plante (Salmon River) 553, Stan Moore (Massena) 522 and John Orlando (Suffern) 456 — are retired.
“A lot of great years and a lot of great kids over the years I’ve been able to coach and be around,” Rosen said. “Not just hockey players but people. Twenty-four years removed, some of those kids are in their 40s and have their own families and it’s pretty special.”
His teams have won four New York State Public Schools titles, the most recent in 2011. He has built a hockey powerhouse producing over 30 college and professional players, which includes a handful that were selected by the NHL.
The 52-year-old Rosen doesn’t have plans to slow down anytime soon.
“I’m going to keep going as long as I can,” he said. “I still love the game and I get a great thrill out of going to the rink and watching game film and everything about the game. I’m fortunate to have great assistants. I want to do it as long as I can.”
In Federation girls hockey, Kaitlin Drew-Mead scored twice while Rachel Lenard added a goal and an assist for Monsignor Martin in a 4-2 victory over Amherst/Sweet Home. ... Olivia Smith scored the winner for Kenmore in a 2-1 win over Williamsville.
O’Hara wins, Walton hurt
Top ranked Cardinal O’Hara went up big early on against No. 7 Hamburg and everything looked fine until the Hawks’ Jontay Walton suffered an ankle injury.The Bulldogs rallied but the Hawks were still able to pull off a 62-57 victory on Thursday.
Keyonte Edwards scored 19 points for O’Hara while Kelsey MCarthy added 14 and Cori Dickson 10.
“We were able to perserve,” O’Hara coach Dan McDermott said. “Hamburg is a good, talented team and they were about to come back on us but we were able to hang on.”
O’Hara went on an 11-1 run to start the game and led, 23-10, after the first quarter when Walton suffered her injury. The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 10 by halftime.
There is now concern about the status of Walton as her availability is in question for when the Hawks head to Erie, Pa., for the Martin Luther King Basketball Showcase, where they will play Franklin, Pa., on Saturday and Erie’s McDowell on Sunday.
Campion set mark
Elsewhere, Jamestown’s Anne Campion added another individual honor to her collection when she became the program’s career leader in three-pointers in the Red Raiders’ 61-42 victory over Orchard Park in ECIC I girls basketball.The record comes a week after Campion, a junior, scored her 1000th career point and she’s now 28 three-pointers shy from breaking the school record for both boys and girls basketball. She had 11 points Thursday.
“She’s been around for a long time and she sets a great example for some of the younger girls coming up in the program,” Jamestown coach Tim Anderson said. “She’s someone who puts in the work and that reflects on how she plays on the floor. She’s a good verbal leader and sets a good example on how to play as well.”
Chrisanna Green led Jamestown with 23 points.
In ECIC IV play, Holland handed Tonawanda its first league loss by surprising the Warriors, 62-50. Sophomore Olivia Schmidt scored a game-high 32 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 11 for 15 from the free-throw line. She also added seven steals and five assists for the Dutchmen.
JFK and Lackawanna were knotted at 39 when Bears captain Jaclyn Smith hit a 15-footer with 4 seconds left to propel JFK to the 41-39 victory over the Steelers. Smith finished with 19 points.