West Seneca’s girls hockey team found itself in two different types of games on consecutive nights last week, but earned the same result — victory — each time out to improve to 13-2 overall on the season.

West Seneca certainly wouldn’t have been faulted if it came out a little weary for Thursday’s game against Lancaster after battling Kenmore to a 3-2 win the previous afternoon, but there was not even the slightest hint of a letdown as the team cruised to an 8-0 victory. Erin Gehen and Molly Sikorski each recorded a hat trick to lead West Seneca, while Bridget Bork added the other two goals.

“Probably two-thirds of the way through the first period, we were at a running clock,” coach Peter Tonsoline said. “I felt bad for Lancaster because they were missing their better goal, and probably about five kids total. But, our girls were compassionate. A girl like Nikki Kirchberger could’ve easily padded her stats like there was no tomorrow. Instead, she and the other girls passed the puck around trying to set up kids who hadn’t scored before.”

Things didn’t go nearly as well the day before, as West Seneca actually had to rally from a 2-0 second-period deficit to pick up the win. West Seneca actually held a 14-10 shots advantage through the first two periods, but Kenmore’s goalie was on her game. West Seneca also took itself out the game in the second period by committing five penalties.

“We definitely broke up our momentum by taking those penalties in the second period,” Tonsoline said. “We just needed to settle down and get back into the game, because they were playing well at that point.”

Tonsoline’s players responded to the challenge, with Gehen breaking the shutout at the 13:23 mark off passes from Kristen and Molly Sikorski. Jill Schrader knotted the score just over five minutes later on the power play, off passes from Emily O’Shei and Kirchberger, and Kristen Sikorski added the game winner just over a minute later on a shot from the point. Gehen assisted on the game winner.

For the period, West Seneca finished with a 17-4 shots advantage.

“We definitely picked up our game in the third period,” Tonsoline said. “It was nice to see that our wheels didn’t fall off when we trailed by two goals to start the third. It was good to see us persevere.”

West Seneca returned to action Tuesday against Amherst/Sweet Home, but information about that contest was not available at press time. The team closes out its week today against Kenmore, but then doesn’t play again until its regular-season finale against Williamsville on Thursday, February 16.

“We’ve got to be more consistent this time against Kenmore; we’ve got to tighten things up and just play a little bit better team hockey,” Tonsoline said. “They’ve been one of the surprises this year, especially since they lost two of their premiere players from the start of the year to their respective travel teams. We just need to keep getting that scoring from other sources.”