West Seneca Girls Hockey Competes At Nationals This Week!

Twelve teams across the country make it to Nationals in the Girls 12 and Under Tier II Division.  The West Seneca Wings are one of them.  The team heads off this week to compete for a national title in Texas.

The Wings won the State Championship earlier this month, beating Clifton Park by a score of 3-2.  (Clifton Park was at the time the number three team in the country.)  The victory earned the girls a ticket to the USA Hockey Tournament which begins tomorrow (Wednesday).

Wings Coach Rocco Dellaneve acknowledges they never expected to be heading to Nationals this week.  The victory at States was a bit of a surprise since the Wings were clearly looked at as the underdogs.  Since winning though, Dellaneve has done his homework on some of the teams they will be playing at Nationals, but adds it's not all about hockey.  His Motto is "work hard, have fun."  The girls do work hard.  The team is made up 18 girls, more than half of them are under 11-years-old.  Their record this season so far is 52-18-7.

The Wings trip to Nationals has created quite a stir.  The cost of a trip to Nationals can run in the thousands of dollars, all raised over just a few weeks with various fundraisers and enormous community support.  Amazing, since girls hockey teams only began hitting the ice in Western New York over the last decade.  Just look what these young ladies have accomplished!

Good Luck Wings!!!