Yet another holiday weekend but this time, since it's only New Year's, we have a few (4 to be exact) games on the schedule; I am just going to feature them all:
Westhill @ Lyman Hall @ 11:15am
-Pretty even match up for two struggling teams in DII. Westhill is 0-3 but has only played against division one opponents and Lyman Hall is 1-4 with all four losses coming against other DII teams (which are pretty good teams to their credit) and their only win being over an 0-4 DIII team.
Newtown @ Watertown/Pomperaug @ 12pm @ Webster Bank Arena (formerly Harbor Yard) in Bridgeport
-I definitely want to see how W-P rebounds from their 1-4 loss to Notre Dame-Fairfield on Thursday and if they can stop this three-game losing streak that the 2011 DIII champs are on. Newtown lost 3-4 to ND-F in their opener but has gone 2-1 since with a win over Wilton and the loss being only 1-3 to Trumbull, who beat W-P 5-2 on opening night. The signs point to Newtown but anything can happen in this SWC-2 clash.
Trumbull @ Branford @ 2pm @ Webster Bank Arena (formerly Harbor Yard) in Bridgeport
-Speaking of the cream of the crop in DII thus far this season, Trumbull takes their 4-1 record to the second game of the night Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport as they take on another very good team in DII this year, Brandord. These two games in Bridgeport are part of the push to increase the role Webster Bank Arena plays in the CIAC playoffs, coinciding with the feeling of some in the state that the semifinals and/or finals should be played in Bridgeport instead of New Haven. The argument is mainly two-fold: a much nicer venue and a larger venue that therefore accommodates more fans. Personally, I think New Haven is the best location because of its location in terms of the length playoff teams will have to travel. Nonetheless, this "showcase" Saturday is exciting for the sport and I hope it is a great success. If you attend, share your thoughts in the comments on any post; please & thank you.
South Windsor @ Tri-Town @ 240pm
-Time for the other big name in the CCC-North, South Windsor, to play some conference games and get some spotlight. Tri-Town won't go down easy, especially not at home, so hopefully the Bobcats come ready to play if they want to secure a victory on the road Saturday afternoon.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Results (12/29 and 12/30)
Thursday
Maine Invitational games:
St. Joseph 4 @ North Yarmouth Academy (ME) 2
-box score:
Goals
1st period: SJ - Christian Keator (Matt Julian) 3:00; NYA - Cailean Lane (Parker Horland) 6:17; SJ - Christian Keator 14:05. 2nd period: SJ - MAtt Julian (Christian Keator) 0:52; NYA - Bradley Potter 2:29. 3rd period: SJ - Christian Keator 3:16.
Saves: SJ - Ron Johnson 28; NYA - Jeremy Sylvain 44.
Shots: SJ - 48; NYA - 30.
Wethersfield 7 @ Westbrook, ME 0
Xaveir 3 @ Lewiston, ME 1
-box score:
Goals
1st period: X - Will Stanton (Andrew Meoli) 9:37. 2nd period: X - Will Stanton (Kade McCartin, Andrew Meoli) 6:05. 3rd period: X - Andrew Meoli (John Burkinshaw, Dave Brennan) 12:29; L - Desmond Gagne (Patrick DeBlois) 14:58.
Saves: X - Shane Baldwin 23; L - Brian Wigant 22.
Shots: X - 25; L - 24.
Ridgefield 9 @ Bangor, ME 0
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury 8 @ Westbrook, ME 0
Mount Saint Charles Tournament in Rhode Island:
Fairfield Prep 2 @ St. Joseph (Buffalo, NY) 3
-box score for the Jesuits second loss of the season and another CT that blew a lead against an out-of-state team:
Goals
1st period: FP - Matt Rikman (Brian Taccone, Dean Lockery) 4:57; Will Brophy (Conor Peterson) 9:29. 2nd period: SJ - Eric Paradowski (Matt Berke) 4:20; Will Mangione (Tyler Mills) 13:52. 3rd period: SJ - Dimitrios Gogos (John Schmitt) 3:57.
Saves: FP - Riley Wikman 25; SJ - Marc Mallare 20.
Shots: FP - 22; SJ - 28.
Watertown/Pomperaug 1 @ Notre Dame-Fairfield 4
-box score:
Goals
1st period: ND - CJ Litwin (Frank Sullivan, Matt Khorassani) 4:46. 2nd period: WP - Phil Lequellec (Kevin Murphy) 2:52; ND - CJ Litwin (Peter Petrino) 7:40. 3rd period: ND - Christian La Croix (Frank Zumbo) 10:34; Garrett Gintoli (Christian La Croix, Frank Sullivan) 14:01.
Saves: WP - Carl Laresa 33; ND - Scott Kline 27.
Shots: WP - 28; ND - 37
Friday
West Haven Christmas Tournament
3rd place game: Amity 2 @ West Haven 8
-The Blue Devils rebounded and in a major way (Austin Hansen had 5 goals and an assist), box score:
Goals
1st period: WH - Austin Hansen (Josh Robinchuaud, Adam Mink) 2:34; Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 9:55. 2nd period: WH - Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano, Josh Robinchuaud) 3:03; Kyle Leyerzapf 3:31; Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 4:02; A - Ryan Hauseer (Joe Bianchi) 9:00; WH - Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 12:34; Mike Troiano (Adam Mink) 13:58. 3rd period: A - Adam Shea (Nyjahwahn Walker, Brett McNeil) 2:09; WH - Brandon Cangiano (Josh Robinchuaud, Austin Hansen) 4:12.
Saves: A - Nick Nuzzolo 28, Shane Gallagher 2; WH - Forrest Scholl 19, Mike Savino 5.
Shots: A - 26; WH - 35.
Championship: North Haven 2 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 7
-Colby Cretella scored twice and recorded an assist to keep the Green Knights perfect at 6-0 and win the West Haven Championship. Mike Andreucci and John Johnson scored the Indian's two goals
Xavier 9 @ Biddeford, ME 1
-The Falcons, not expected to do much this year, are no 5-1-1 and right up there with the best of them in DI; rankings to come on Sunday night. Box score:
Goals
1st period: B - Nate Cellaeau (Matt Jerone) 3:57; X - Jack Gethings (Dan Dupont) 5:15; Dakota Caron (Dan Dupont) 8:14. 2nd period: X - Nick Turner (Jack Gethings, Kade McCartin) 6:21; Bryan Stanton (Dan Dupont) 7:30; Ryan McLellan 8:57; Jack Gethings (Dan Dupont, Nick Turner) 10:19; John Burkinshaw 14:20. 3rd period: X - Sean Johnson (Kade McCartin) 5:55; Dylan Beaudoin (Hunter Wilcox) 9:10.
Simsbury 2 @ Westfield, MA 6
Glastonbury 4 @ Fermi/Enfield 0
-This game was pretty even through two periods with neither team scoring a goal but about 4 minutes into the third Glastonbury's Drew Mozzer scored on a controversial wrap-around goal. Mozzer scored again with 4:21 left and then Ethan Holdaway scored the last two for the Tomahawks. Glastonbury's Chase Gabor had 25 to record his first shutout of the year in goal.
Hamden 5 @ New Canaan 3
-A little closer than I expect for the Green Dragons but nonetheless they stayed undefeated (3-0); box score:
Goals
1st period: H - Bill Reilly (Ted Kennedy, Tim Lee) 0:50; Tim Lee (Ted Kennedy) 4:32. 2nd period: NC - Dylan Hart (Jake Granito) 4:07; H - Eric Sullivan (Jeremy Germain) 9:12; NC - Chip Glover (Jake Granito) 14:05. 3rd period: H - Ted Kennedy (Sean Casbarro, Zak Masotta) 3:06; Tyler Carangelo 5:18; NC - Ryan McMahon (Spencer Manchuck) 10:18.
Maine Invitational games:
St. Joseph 4 @ North Yarmouth Academy (ME) 2
-box score:
Goals
1st period: SJ - Christian Keator (Matt Julian) 3:00; NYA - Cailean Lane (Parker Horland) 6:17; SJ - Christian Keator 14:05. 2nd period: SJ - MAtt Julian (Christian Keator) 0:52; NYA - Bradley Potter 2:29. 3rd period: SJ - Christian Keator 3:16.
Saves: SJ - Ron Johnson 28; NYA - Jeremy Sylvain 44.
Shots: SJ - 48; NYA - 30.
Wethersfield 7 @ Westbrook, ME 0
Xaveir 3 @ Lewiston, ME 1
-box score:
Goals
1st period: X - Will Stanton (Andrew Meoli) 9:37. 2nd period: X - Will Stanton (Kade McCartin, Andrew Meoli) 6:05. 3rd period: X - Andrew Meoli (John Burkinshaw, Dave Brennan) 12:29; L - Desmond Gagne (Patrick DeBlois) 14:58.
Saves: X - Shane Baldwin 23; L - Brian Wigant 22.
Shots: X - 25; L - 24.
Ridgefield 9 @ Bangor, ME 0
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury 8 @ Westbrook, ME 0
Mount Saint Charles Tournament in Rhode Island:
Fairfield Prep 2 @ St. Joseph (Buffalo, NY) 3
-box score for the Jesuits second loss of the season and another CT that blew a lead against an out-of-state team:
Goals
1st period: FP - Matt Rikman (Brian Taccone, Dean Lockery) 4:57; Will Brophy (Conor Peterson) 9:29. 2nd period: SJ - Eric Paradowski (Matt Berke) 4:20; Will Mangione (Tyler Mills) 13:52. 3rd period: SJ - Dimitrios Gogos (John Schmitt) 3:57.
Saves: FP - Riley Wikman 25; SJ - Marc Mallare 20.
Shots: FP - 22; SJ - 28.
Watertown/Pomperaug 1 @ Notre Dame-Fairfield 4
-box score:
Goals
1st period: ND - CJ Litwin (Frank Sullivan, Matt Khorassani) 4:46. 2nd period: WP - Phil Lequellec (Kevin Murphy) 2:52; ND - CJ Litwin (Peter Petrino) 7:40. 3rd period: ND - Christian La Croix (Frank Zumbo) 10:34; Garrett Gintoli (Christian La Croix, Frank Sullivan) 14:01.
Saves: WP - Carl Laresa 33; ND - Scott Kline 27.
Shots: WP - 28; ND - 37
Friday
West Haven Christmas Tournament
3rd place game: Amity 2 @ West Haven 8
-The Blue Devils rebounded and in a major way (Austin Hansen had 5 goals and an assist), box score:
Goals
1st period: WH - Austin Hansen (Josh Robinchuaud, Adam Mink) 2:34; Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 9:55. 2nd period: WH - Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano, Josh Robinchuaud) 3:03; Kyle Leyerzapf 3:31; Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 4:02; A - Ryan Hauseer (Joe Bianchi) 9:00; WH - Austin Hansen (Mike Troiano) 12:34; Mike Troiano (Adam Mink) 13:58. 3rd period: A - Adam Shea (Nyjahwahn Walker, Brett McNeil) 2:09; WH - Brandon Cangiano (Josh Robinchuaud, Austin Hansen) 4:12.
Saves: A - Nick Nuzzolo 28, Shane Gallagher 2; WH - Forrest Scholl 19, Mike Savino 5.
Shots: A - 26; WH - 35.
Championship: North Haven 2 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 7
-Colby Cretella scored twice and recorded an assist to keep the Green Knights perfect at 6-0 and win the West Haven Championship. Mike Andreucci and John Johnson scored the Indian's two goals
Xavier 9 @ Biddeford, ME 1
-The Falcons, not expected to do much this year, are no 5-1-1 and right up there with the best of them in DI; rankings to come on Sunday night. Box score:
Goals
1st period: B - Nate Cellaeau (Matt Jerone) 3:57; X - Jack Gethings (Dan Dupont) 5:15; Dakota Caron (Dan Dupont) 8:14. 2nd period: X - Nick Turner (Jack Gethings, Kade McCartin) 6:21; Bryan Stanton (Dan Dupont) 7:30; Ryan McLellan 8:57; Jack Gethings (Dan Dupont, Nick Turner) 10:19; John Burkinshaw 14:20. 3rd period: X - Sean Johnson (Kade McCartin) 5:55; Dylan Beaudoin (Hunter Wilcox) 9:10.
Simsbury 2 @ Westfield, MA 6
Glastonbury 4 @ Fermi/Enfield 0
-This game was pretty even through two periods with neither team scoring a goal but about 4 minutes into the third Glastonbury's Drew Mozzer scored on a controversial wrap-around goal. Mozzer scored again with 4:21 left and then Ethan Holdaway scored the last two for the Tomahawks. Glastonbury's Chase Gabor had 25 to record his first shutout of the year in goal.
Hamden 5 @ New Canaan 3
-A little closer than I expect for the Green Dragons but nonetheless they stayed undefeated (3-0); box score:
Goals
1st period: H - Bill Reilly (Ted Kennedy, Tim Lee) 0:50; Tim Lee (Ted Kennedy) 4:32. 2nd period: NC - Dylan Hart (Jake Granito) 4:07; H - Eric Sullivan (Jeremy Germain) 9:12; NC - Chip Glover (Jake Granito) 14:05. 3rd period: H - Ted Kennedy (Sean Casbarro, Zak Masotta) 3:06; Tyler Carangelo 5:18; NC - Ryan McMahon (Spencer Manchuck) 10:18.
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Top Games (12/29 and 12/30)
Thursday
5 more Maine Invitational games:
St. Joseph @ North Yarmouth Academy (ME) @ 8am
Wethersfield @ Portland, ME @ 10am
Xaveir @ Lewiston, ME @ 12pm
Ridgefield @ Bangor, ME @ 12pm
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury @ Westbrook, ME @ 4pm
More of the Mount Saint Charles Tournament in Rhode Island:
Fairfield Prep @ St. Joseph (Buffalo, NY)
Watertown/Pomperaug @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6pm
-Interesting game to watch because W-P was last year's DIII champion and has been tearing up DII so far this year so now we get to see how they do against a DI squad. However, ND-F has yet to win a game against a DI squad so if W-P emerges victorious, it won't mean as much. ND-F would get a quality W if they get the job done at home.
Friday
Finals of West Haven Christmas Tournament (all at Bennett Rink in West Haven)
Amity @ West Haven @ 5pm - 3rd place game
-Amity is a good team so the Westies better not sleep on them or they will end up getting upset again just like they did against North Haven.
North Haven @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 730pm - Championship
-North Haven is looking like a top team in DI this year and a win against the Green Knights would put them right there at the top. ND-WH has yet to lose a game (5-0) and a win over the Indians here would be huge.
Last day of Maine:
Xavier @ Biddeford, ME @ 10am
-Ridgefield beat this team 11-0.
Another out-of-state game: Simsbury @ Westfield, MA @ 7pm
Glastonbury @ Fermi/Enfield @ 240pm
-Another CCC-North match up for Glastonbury except against a better team here. Fermi/Enfield has a good shot to win this one so spectators should get to see some really good hockey here.
Hamden @ New Canaan @ 4pm
-Not as big of a game as last year but still important as Hamden is 2-0 and very talented this year and New Canaan (2-2) is on a two-game win streak but I still fully expect Hamden to win this one comfortably.
other game to watch: Stamford @ Northwest Catholic @ 545pm
5 more Maine Invitational games:
St. Joseph @ North Yarmouth Academy (ME) @ 8am
Wethersfield @ Portland, ME @ 10am
Xaveir @ Lewiston, ME @ 12pm
Ridgefield @ Bangor, ME @ 12pm
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury @ Westbrook, ME @ 4pm
More of the Mount Saint Charles Tournament in Rhode Island:
Fairfield Prep @ St. Joseph (Buffalo, NY)
Watertown/Pomperaug @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6pm
-Interesting game to watch because W-P was last year's DIII champion and has been tearing up DII so far this year so now we get to see how they do against a DI squad. However, ND-F has yet to win a game against a DI squad so if W-P emerges victorious, it won't mean as much. ND-F would get a quality W if they get the job done at home.
Friday
Finals of West Haven Christmas Tournament (all at Bennett Rink in West Haven)
Amity @ West Haven @ 5pm - 3rd place game
-Amity is a good team so the Westies better not sleep on them or they will end up getting upset again just like they did against North Haven.
North Haven @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 730pm - Championship
-North Haven is looking like a top team in DI this year and a win against the Green Knights would put them right there at the top. ND-WH has yet to lose a game (5-0) and a win over the Indians here would be huge.
Last day of Maine:
Xavier @ Biddeford, ME @ 10am
-Ridgefield beat this team 11-0.
Another out-of-state game: Simsbury @ Westfield, MA @ 7pm
Glastonbury @ Fermi/Enfield @ 240pm
-Another CCC-North match up for Glastonbury except against a better team here. Fermi/Enfield has a good shot to win this one so spectators should get to see some really good hockey here.
Hamden @ New Canaan @ 4pm
-Not as big of a game as last year but still important as Hamden is 2-0 and very talented this year and New Canaan (2-2) is on a two-game win streak but I still fully expect Hamden to win this one comfortably.
other game to watch: Stamford @ Northwest Catholic @ 545pm
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Wins and Losses (12/28)
8 Maine Invitational games:
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury 6 @ Yarmouth, ME 0
Wethersfield 4 @ Portland, ME 2
Newington/Berlin 4 @ Kennett, NH 1
Guilford 10 @ Westbrook, ME 0
South Windsor 7 @ Kennebunk, ME 0
St. Joseph 4 @ DeMatha Catholic, MD 2
Ridgefield 11 @ Biddeford, ME 0
Xavier 3 @ Greely, ME 3
-The two teams had a shootout and Xavier would have lost 3-4 but the CIAC does not count shootouts so I believe this counts as a tie for Xavier's record and point total for the state tournament.
Mount St. Charles Tournament in RI:
Fairfield Prep 5 @ Springfield Cathedral, MA 0
-good rebound, box score:
Goals
2nd period: FP - Ken Kochiss (A.J. Unker, David White) 8:55. 3rd period: FP - A.J. Unker (Tom Worsfold, David White) 0:38, A.J. Unker (Tom Worsfold, Connor Henry)7:58, David White (Connor Henry, A.J. Unker) 8:50, David White (A.J. Unker, Nick Bargiello) 10:40.
Saves: FP - Riley Wikman (21); SC - John Liquori (9), Corey Russell (4).
Shots: FP - 18; SC - 21.
West Haven Christmas Tournament
North Haven 5 @ West Haven 4
-big upset for North Haven here to move both teams to 3-1; box score:
Goals
1st period: WH - Austin Hansen (Adam Mink, Mike Troiano) 6:09; NH - Tyler DeMartin (Mike Andreucci) 7:59, Tyler DeMartin (Anthony, Tonealo) 14:18. 2nd period: NH - Ken Broccolli (Jimmy Piscitelli) 1:51; WH - Kyle Leyerzapf (Mike Troiano) 7:56; NH - Karl Anderson (Andy Babbidge) 10:38. 3rd period: NH - Andy Babbidge (Vin Fasulo, Karl Anderson) 5:54; WH - Austin Hansen (Adam Mink, Mike Troiano) 7:54, Jim Morrissey (Kyle Leyerzapf) 14:02.
Saves: NH - Mike Amarone (24); WH - Justin Shepherd (16).
Shots: NH - 21; WH - 28.
Amity 2 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 7
-box score:
Goals
1st period: A - Joe Bianchi 1:30; ND-WH - Eric Austin (Matt Dumas, Alex Esposito) 12:21. 2nd period: ND-WH - Bill Vizzo (Greg Zullo, Colby Cretella) 5:03; A - Joe Bianchi 13:50; ND-WH - Alex Espositio 14:11. 3rd period: ND-WH - Bill Vizzo (Greg Zullo) 1:20, Eric Austin (Anthony Iovene, Matt Dumas) 7:13, Anthony Iovene (Matt Dumas) 9:49, Colby Cretella (Bill Vizzo, James Davins) 12:35.
Saves: A - Nick Nuzzolo (22); ND-WH - Paul Sliwinski (16).
Shots: A - 18, ND-WH - 29.
Glastonbury 11 @ Conard 4
DII game to watch: Daniel Hand 4 @ Wilton 1
Windsor/Farmington/Avon 5 @ Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown 0
-Tyler Bailey had 27 saves and five different players scored for Windsor/Farmington/Avon.
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury 6 @ Yarmouth, ME 0
Wethersfield 4 @ Portland, ME 2
Newington/Berlin 4 @ Kennett, NH 1
Guilford 10 @ Westbrook, ME 0
South Windsor 7 @ Kennebunk, ME 0
St. Joseph 4 @ DeMatha Catholic, MD 2
Ridgefield 11 @ Biddeford, ME 0
Xavier 3 @ Greely, ME 3
-The two teams had a shootout and Xavier would have lost 3-4 but the CIAC does not count shootouts so I believe this counts as a tie for Xavier's record and point total for the state tournament.
Mount St. Charles Tournament in RI:
Fairfield Prep 5 @ Springfield Cathedral, MA 0
-good rebound, box score:
Goals
2nd period: FP - Ken Kochiss (A.J. Unker, David White) 8:55. 3rd period: FP - A.J. Unker (Tom Worsfold, David White) 0:38, A.J. Unker (Tom Worsfold, Connor Henry)7:58, David White (Connor Henry, A.J. Unker) 8:50, David White (A.J. Unker, Nick Bargiello) 10:40.
Saves: FP - Riley Wikman (21); SC - John Liquori (9), Corey Russell (4).
Shots: FP - 18; SC - 21.
West Haven Christmas Tournament
North Haven 5 @ West Haven 4
-big upset for North Haven here to move both teams to 3-1; box score:
Goals
1st period: WH - Austin Hansen (Adam Mink, Mike Troiano) 6:09; NH - Tyler DeMartin (Mike Andreucci) 7:59, Tyler DeMartin (Anthony, Tonealo) 14:18. 2nd period: NH - Ken Broccolli (Jimmy Piscitelli) 1:51; WH - Kyle Leyerzapf (Mike Troiano) 7:56; NH - Karl Anderson (Andy Babbidge) 10:38. 3rd period: NH - Andy Babbidge (Vin Fasulo, Karl Anderson) 5:54; WH - Austin Hansen (Adam Mink, Mike Troiano) 7:54, Jim Morrissey (Kyle Leyerzapf) 14:02.
Saves: NH - Mike Amarone (24); WH - Justin Shepherd (16).
Shots: NH - 21; WH - 28.
Amity 2 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 7
-box score:
Goals
1st period: A - Joe Bianchi 1:30; ND-WH - Eric Austin (Matt Dumas, Alex Esposito) 12:21. 2nd period: ND-WH - Bill Vizzo (Greg Zullo, Colby Cretella) 5:03; A - Joe Bianchi 13:50; ND-WH - Alex Espositio 14:11. 3rd period: ND-WH - Bill Vizzo (Greg Zullo) 1:20, Eric Austin (Anthony Iovene, Matt Dumas) 7:13, Anthony Iovene (Matt Dumas) 9:49, Colby Cretella (Bill Vizzo, James Davins) 12:35.
Saves: A - Nick Nuzzolo (22); ND-WH - Paul Sliwinski (16).
Shots: A - 18, ND-WH - 29.
Glastonbury 11 @ Conard 4
DII game to watch: Daniel Hand 4 @ Wilton 1
Windsor/Farmington/Avon 5 @ Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown 0
-Tyler Bailey had 27 saves and five different players scored for Windsor/Farmington/Avon.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Top Games (12/28)
8 Maine Invitational games:
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury @ Yarmouth, ME @ 8am (already 6-0 final)
Wethersfield @ schedule does not specify @ 10am
Newington/Berlin @ Kennett, NH @ 10am (already 4-1 final)
Guilford @ Westbrook, ME @ 12pm
South Windsor @ Kennebunk, ME @ 2pm
St. Joseph @ DeMatha Catholic, MD @ 6pm
Ridgefield @ Biddeford, ME @ 8pm
Xavier @ Greely, ME @ 8pm
Mount St. Charles Tournament in RI:
Fairfield Prep @ Springfield Cathedral, MA @ 2pm
North Haven @ West Haven @ 5pm
-Good test for undefeated West Haven.
Amity @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 730pm
-Much like the game above it, this is a good test for undefeated ND-WH and both these teams share home ice: Bennett Rink.
Glastonbury @ Conard @ 730pm
-This is a game that the Thomahawks need to take care of business in the CCC-North against the inconsistent Conard Chieftains with the talent to pull an upset. I expect Glastonbury to win but it may still be worth watching.
DII game to watch: Daniel Hand (2-0-1) @ Wilton (0-2) @ 720pm
-Wilton is much better than their 0-2 record and Daniel Hand is very good in DII again this year. A win is important for both teams in this game but look for Wilton to be playing with a bit more intensity coming off their 2-4 loss to Milford co-op on Monday and Daniel Hand hasn't played since last Wednesday when they lost 3-4 in OT to Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe.
Windsor/Farmington/Avon @ Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown @ 8pm
-The new Avon co-op is 1-1 with a win over a DIII team and a 3-4 OT loss to last year's DIII champion now in DII, Watertown/Pomperaug so this game against a good DIII team this year, Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown, should be worth watching
Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury @ Yarmouth, ME @ 8am (already 6-0 final)
Wethersfield @ schedule does not specify @ 10am
Newington/Berlin @ Kennett, NH @ 10am (already 4-1 final)
Guilford @ Westbrook, ME @ 12pm
South Windsor @ Kennebunk, ME @ 2pm
St. Joseph @ DeMatha Catholic, MD @ 6pm
Ridgefield @ Biddeford, ME @ 8pm
Xavier @ Greely, ME @ 8pm
Mount St. Charles Tournament in RI:
Fairfield Prep @ Springfield Cathedral, MA @ 2pm
North Haven @ West Haven @ 5pm
-Good test for undefeated West Haven.
Amity @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 730pm
-Much like the game above it, this is a good test for undefeated ND-WH and both these teams share home ice: Bennett Rink.
Glastonbury @ Conard @ 730pm
-This is a game that the Thomahawks need to take care of business in the CCC-North against the inconsistent Conard Chieftains with the talent to pull an upset. I expect Glastonbury to win but it may still be worth watching.
DII game to watch: Daniel Hand (2-0-1) @ Wilton (0-2) @ 720pm
-Wilton is much better than their 0-2 record and Daniel Hand is very good in DII again this year. A win is important for both teams in this game but look for Wilton to be playing with a bit more intensity coming off their 2-4 loss to Milford co-op on Monday and Daniel Hand hasn't played since last Wednesday when they lost 3-4 in OT to Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe.
Windsor/Farmington/Avon @ Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown @ 8pm
-The new Avon co-op is 1-1 with a win over a DIII team and a 3-4 OT loss to last year's DIII champion now in DII, Watertown/Pomperaug so this game against a good DIII team this year, Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown, should be worth watching
Boys' Hockey: Monday and Tuesday's Review (12/26 and 12/27)
I apologize for absence but after Christmas weekend, I got my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday. However, I'm back now and here is everything I missed from the past two days:
Monday
-The Maine games started and Guilford got a 9-2 win over Portland (9 points because they are out-of-state, regardless of how good they are). In another game against an out-of-state team, Xavier choked in a major way and lost 3-5 to Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School rival St. John's from Shrewsbury, MA; X was up 1-0 after first, 2-0 after second and 3-1 in the middle of the third when St. John's just turned it on and scored two quick goals (span of 90 seconds) to start a run of four unanswered. Milford Co-op improved to 4-0 with a 4-2 win over Wilton on only 13 shots (Goals: M-Craig Wargo 2, Zach White, T.J. Olsson; W - Matt Kobya 2. Assists: M - Will Vitelli 2, Wargo, Ben Lavallee, White; W - Matt Meissner, Alex Pagliaro. Saves: M - Matt White (27); W - Nick Wells (9). Shots: M - 13, W - 29).
Tuesday
-More Maine games worth six points (like beating a DI team in CT) and Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury beat Cape Elizabeth 6-1, and then in games worth 9 points Newington/Berlin beat Portland 9-0 and South Windsor beat York 6-3. Fairfield Prep lost their first game when they went to Rhode Island and faced off against the undefeated RI powerhouse Bishop Hendricken but lost 3-1 (Goals: FP-Connor Henry; BH-Rob Bueher, Ryan Amalfitano, Gabe Mitchell. Assists: BH-Bueher, Mitchell, Andy Fera, Liam Watkinson. Saves: FP-Chris Gutierrez (12), Matt Beck (11); BH-Bill Palmer (24). Shots: FP-25, BH-26.). New Canaan improved to 2-2 with a 3-2 OT win over Notre Dame-Fairfield (Goals: 2nd period: ND-F - Garrett Gintoli (Frank Zumbo, Christian La Croix) 1:07, Sal Sereno (Dave Canfarotta) 5:27; NC - Jack Stanton (Jake Granito) 6:05; 3rd period: NC - Peter Reinhardt 8:00; OT: NC - Tyler Manchuck (Spencer Manchuck) 1:46. Saves: ND-F - Mike Samulenas (29); NC - Chris Koennecke (22). Shots: ND-F - 24; NC - 32.) and Tri-Town took care of business 5-2 against Greenwich (now 2-1, only loss was 3-4 in OT to East Haven). The only remaining undefeated teams are: DI - ND-WH (4-0), West Haven (3-0), Hamden (2-0); DII - Milford Co-op (4-0); DIII - Joel Barlow (2-0).
Monday
-The Maine games started and Guilford got a 9-2 win over Portland (9 points because they are out-of-state, regardless of how good they are). In another game against an out-of-state team, Xavier choked in a major way and lost 3-5 to Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School rival St. John's from Shrewsbury, MA; X was up 1-0 after first, 2-0 after second and 3-1 in the middle of the third when St. John's just turned it on and scored two quick goals (span of 90 seconds) to start a run of four unanswered. Milford Co-op improved to 4-0 with a 4-2 win over Wilton on only 13 shots (Goals: M-Craig Wargo 2, Zach White, T.J. Olsson; W - Matt Kobya 2. Assists: M - Will Vitelli 2, Wargo, Ben Lavallee, White; W - Matt Meissner, Alex Pagliaro. Saves: M - Matt White (27); W - Nick Wells (9). Shots: M - 13, W - 29).
Tuesday
-More Maine games worth six points (like beating a DI team in CT) and Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury beat Cape Elizabeth 6-1, and then in games worth 9 points Newington/Berlin beat Portland 9-0 and South Windsor beat York 6-3. Fairfield Prep lost their first game when they went to Rhode Island and faced off against the undefeated RI powerhouse Bishop Hendricken but lost 3-1 (Goals: FP-Connor Henry; BH-Rob Bueher, Ryan Amalfitano, Gabe Mitchell. Assists: BH-Bueher, Mitchell, Andy Fera, Liam Watkinson. Saves: FP-Chris Gutierrez (12), Matt Beck (11); BH-Bill Palmer (24). Shots: FP-25, BH-26.). New Canaan improved to 2-2 with a 3-2 OT win over Notre Dame-Fairfield (Goals: 2nd period: ND-F - Garrett Gintoli (Frank Zumbo, Christian La Croix) 1:07, Sal Sereno (Dave Canfarotta) 5:27; NC - Jack Stanton (Jake Granito) 6:05; 3rd period: NC - Peter Reinhardt 8:00; OT: NC - Tyler Manchuck (Spencer Manchuck) 1:46. Saves: ND-F - Mike Samulenas (29); NC - Chris Koennecke (22). Shots: ND-F - 24; NC - 32.) and Tri-Town took care of business 5-2 against Greenwich (now 2-1, only loss was 3-4 in OT to East Haven). The only remaining undefeated teams are: DI - ND-WH (4-0), West Haven (3-0), Hamden (2-0); DII - Milford Co-op (4-0); DIII - Joel Barlow (2-0).
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Results (12/22 and 12/23)
Thursday
Hamden @ Amity - postponed yet again, to Fri 12/23 at 230pm
Cheshire 2 @ Guilford 3
-This game did not disappoint as fans got to see a very close and evenly played match-up, much like their meetings last year. In fact, no one scored in the entire first period. However, 4:26 into the second period, Guilford's Jack Fitzgerald ended that by taking a pass from Billy Ring and beating Cheshire's goalie to the lower right corner of the net. Trace Lange answered for the Rams five minutes later but less than two minutes after that, Fitzgerald put his team back on top. Jack got a backhand past Romano, cleaning up the rebound of a shot by Derek Nelson. With 1:27 left in the period, Ben Klanica redirected a shot from Lange to even things up going into the intermission. The third period was much like the first with neither team being able to come through with a goal...until 1:48 left when Nelson just ripped a slap shot from the right circle and it blew by Cheshire's Scott Romano. Guilford can, in part, thank Xavier for the win as the Flacons' win against Cheshire on Wednesday must have knocked Tyler Carbone out of the starting job in goal. Cheshire also has themselves to blame again as they had chances to score again late like in their game against Xavier, specifically Spence Hackett this time, just missing a tip-in goal. Joseph D'Errico also finished with an assist for Cheshire while Matt Horton assisted on all three of Guilford's goals and Billy Ring picked one up on the game-winner as well. Shots were 22-18 in favor of Guilford giving Romano 19 saves and Guilford's Chad Faulkner-Filosa 16.
Fairfield Prep 7 @ Notre Dame-Fairfield 2
-David White had a huge game for the Jesuits recording a hat trick and two assists while Christian La Croix had a goal and assist for the Lancers. Matt Brophy and AJ Unker assisted on each of White's goals, finishing with three assists each and then Connor Henry had two goals of his own, the first coming 1:18 into the game. Dean Lockery and Will Brophy had the other two goals for Prep and Nick Bargiello and Andrew Hatton also finished with assists. For Notre Dame-Fairfield, Dave Canfarotta had the other goal (to make the game 1-1 4:24 into the first) while Brendan Walsh and Greg Ferris had assists. Prep played well the whole game, scoring twice in the first, three times in the second and twice more in the third period while ND-Fairfield only scored one goal in each the first and second period. The Jesuits out-shot the Lancers by a tally of 42-25, giving Scott Kline 23 saves and Mike Samulenas 12 for ND-F and Riley Wikman 23 for Prep.
Tri-Town 3 @ East Haven 4 OT
-Another thriller at DiLingo Rink on Thursday, the Easties came through with a late comeback and overtime win against Tri-Town. Tri-Town struck first and they struck early with Zack Palmer and Billy Chevalier assisting a Cullen Roberts goal ninety-five seconds into the game. East Haven put up a goose egg for the period. The Yellow Jackets did, however, tie it up in the second 7:41 in when Tristain Goodwin scored with Rich DeCarlo and Mike Falanga picking up assists on the goal. However, Zack Palme answered for Tri-Town just a little over three minutes later with an unassisted goal. 2:38 into the third period Mitch Cobb put his team up by two goals (Luke Carmier and Billy Chevalier assisted on the effort) but sixteen seconds later Rich DeCarlo, assisted by Matt Longobardi, let everyone know East Haven was still in the game. The two teams battled for ten minutes until Brian Flanagan and Mike Flanaga set up Tristian Goodwin on the equalizer with 2:07 left to play. The game went into overtime and after five minutes and fifty-one seconds, Stephen Marsico got his name on the scoring sheet along with Frank Latalla setting up Rich DeCarlo's game-winner. Zak Bouve (East Haven) and Mitch DiResta (Tri-Town) each had 31 saves making shot 35-34 in favor of the Easties.
Friday
Notre Dame-West Haven 4 @ Darien 1
Hamden 7 @ Amity 2
Staples/Weston/Shelton 3 @ Watertown/Pomperaug 2
Fermi/Enfield 1 @ South Windsor Windsor 5
Hamden @ Amity - postponed yet again, to Fri 12/23 at 230pm
Cheshire 2 @ Guilford 3
-This game did not disappoint as fans got to see a very close and evenly played match-up, much like their meetings last year. In fact, no one scored in the entire first period. However, 4:26 into the second period, Guilford's Jack Fitzgerald ended that by taking a pass from Billy Ring and beating Cheshire's goalie to the lower right corner of the net. Trace Lange answered for the Rams five minutes later but less than two minutes after that, Fitzgerald put his team back on top. Jack got a backhand past Romano, cleaning up the rebound of a shot by Derek Nelson. With 1:27 left in the period, Ben Klanica redirected a shot from Lange to even things up going into the intermission. The third period was much like the first with neither team being able to come through with a goal...until 1:48 left when Nelson just ripped a slap shot from the right circle and it blew by Cheshire's Scott Romano. Guilford can, in part, thank Xavier for the win as the Flacons' win against Cheshire on Wednesday must have knocked Tyler Carbone out of the starting job in goal. Cheshire also has themselves to blame again as they had chances to score again late like in their game against Xavier, specifically Spence Hackett this time, just missing a tip-in goal. Joseph D'Errico also finished with an assist for Cheshire while Matt Horton assisted on all three of Guilford's goals and Billy Ring picked one up on the game-winner as well. Shots were 22-18 in favor of Guilford giving Romano 19 saves and Guilford's Chad Faulkner-Filosa 16.
Fairfield Prep 7 @ Notre Dame-Fairfield 2
-David White had a huge game for the Jesuits recording a hat trick and two assists while Christian La Croix had a goal and assist for the Lancers. Matt Brophy and AJ Unker assisted on each of White's goals, finishing with three assists each and then Connor Henry had two goals of his own, the first coming 1:18 into the game. Dean Lockery and Will Brophy had the other two goals for Prep and Nick Bargiello and Andrew Hatton also finished with assists. For Notre Dame-Fairfield, Dave Canfarotta had the other goal (to make the game 1-1 4:24 into the first) while Brendan Walsh and Greg Ferris had assists. Prep played well the whole game, scoring twice in the first, three times in the second and twice more in the third period while ND-Fairfield only scored one goal in each the first and second period. The Jesuits out-shot the Lancers by a tally of 42-25, giving Scott Kline 23 saves and Mike Samulenas 12 for ND-F and Riley Wikman 23 for Prep.
Tri-Town 3 @ East Haven 4 OT
-Another thriller at DiLingo Rink on Thursday, the Easties came through with a late comeback and overtime win against Tri-Town. Tri-Town struck first and they struck early with Zack Palmer and Billy Chevalier assisting a Cullen Roberts goal ninety-five seconds into the game. East Haven put up a goose egg for the period. The Yellow Jackets did, however, tie it up in the second 7:41 in when Tristain Goodwin scored with Rich DeCarlo and Mike Falanga picking up assists on the goal. However, Zack Palme answered for Tri-Town just a little over three minutes later with an unassisted goal. 2:38 into the third period Mitch Cobb put his team up by two goals (Luke Carmier and Billy Chevalier assisted on the effort) but sixteen seconds later Rich DeCarlo, assisted by Matt Longobardi, let everyone know East Haven was still in the game. The two teams battled for ten minutes until Brian Flanagan and Mike Flanaga set up Tristian Goodwin on the equalizer with 2:07 left to play. The game went into overtime and after five minutes and fifty-one seconds, Stephen Marsico got his name on the scoring sheet along with Frank Latalla setting up Rich DeCarlo's game-winner. Zak Bouve (East Haven) and Mitch DiResta (Tri-Town) each had 31 saves making shot 35-34 in favor of the Easties.
Friday
Notre Dame-West Haven 4 @ Darien 1
Hamden 7 @ Amity 2
Staples/Weston/Shelton 3 @ Watertown/Pomperaug 2
Fermi/Enfield 1 @ South Windsor Windsor 5
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Top Games (12/22 and 12/23)
Thursday
Hamden @ Amity @ 515pm
-Postponed from yesterday, but all the same things apply (expect it being the top game in the SCC area): This is only Amity's second game of the season but it is their final tune-up before next week's trip to Maine for some good hockey. This only Hamden's second game as well but their first one was an 2-0 win against FCIAC powerhouse Darien. This is also Hamden's last game before a 9 day break. On paper the Green Dragons are probably the better team but Amity still has a lot of talent. You can't count any team out of a game, especially one in the SCC, played at Bennett Rink, involving the two-time champion ('09 and '10) against a team that usually pulls at least one upset every year and has the talent to do so yet again this year.
Cheshire @ Guilford @ 530
-The game that is the SCC area game of the day easily goes to this rematch of last year's DII championship. Lots of new faces but also some of the same on both sides make revenge a serious factor for Guilford and establishing supremacy one for Cheshire. The Rams would love to prove to the Indians why they are the ones who were moved up to DI this year. This game is actually not a divisional match-up, technically, since Cheshire is in SCC-I now, with an outright champion based on record, and Guilford is still in SCC-II that has a four team tournament at the end of the year to determine their champion. Despite the advantage for Guilford of being at home, I think Cheshire bounces back from their loss to Xavier on Wednesday night and wins this game. Should be close and some good hockey though.
Fairfield Prep @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6
-Featuring this game because it falls on a Thursday and is therefore one of the better games of the day. Look for ND-Fairfield to hang around in this one for a while but it will be a good test for Fairfield Prep to play a quality game in order to keep pace in DI with the other teams that improved to 3-0 yesterday. There are no days off in the SCC-I, especially if you look at Prep's schedule; the Jesuits almost certainly have the hardest schedule in that state.
Tri-Town @ East Haven @ 730
-East Haven is having a good year thus far at 2-0-1 with both wins over DI teams (Conard and Cheshire) but the tie with DII Stamford. Tri-Town is currently 1-0 with a commanding 9-1 win over DII Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks in their first game this Saturday. Now they will have to see how they do against another DI team, and a good one at that. East Haven on the other hand has a lot of doubt floating around their program as all three games on their schedule thus far should have been wins for them. There are high expectations for the Yellow Jackets to at least finish in the top half of DI one and that means beating Tri-Town as well. This game is wide open though really as either team looks to be capable of coming out on top, although I do think East Haven still will.
Friday
Notre Dame-West Haven @ Darien @ 150pm
-Two of the elite teams in the state face off at Darien Ice Rink on Friday afternoon. This is about just as big as Fairfield Prep vs Ridgefield as these teams are tops in the SCC and FCIAC respectively. ND-WH is 3-0 right now so a win here would make them the first team in DI to reach 4-0, halfway to clinching a playoff spot. Darien needs the win badly because, despite the talent they have this year, their record is 1-2 due to a 0-2 loss at Hamden and 5-6 loss in OT at West Haven, two of the other top team in the SCC. Although it may seem like ND-WH is the favorite in this one, they only beat New Canaan 3-0 and Darien beat New Canaan 6-1 so at the end of the day, either team can win; don't forget, Darien is the home team.
Hamden @ Amity @ 230 - rescheduled again, originally from 12/21
-see above
Staples/Weston/Shelton @ Watertown/Pomperaug @ 5
-Thursday we had the rematch of the DII championship and now on Friday we have the rematch of the DIII championship. S-W-S is currently 2-0 thus far and W-P is 2-1 and those results don't really indicate anything about who is better this year. Both teams excelled last year in DIII and were bumped up to DII this year so a win is worth 4 points to both teams. W-P won last year's match-up in the championship and honestly it is just as wide open who will win this year.
Fermi/Enfield @ South Windsor @ 645
-This game is so much bigger for Fermi/Enfield than it is for South Windsor. If they can beat South Windsor, a top program in the CCC-North lately which is expected to do well again this year, it would be huge. South Windsor has the opportunity to just pick up a a quality DI, conference win and show the new Fermi/Enfield co-op who is still boss. This looks to be a big game in the CCC area on Friday night.
Hamden @ Amity @ 515pm
-Postponed from yesterday, but all the same things apply (expect it being the top game in the SCC area): This is only Amity's second game of the season but it is their final tune-up before next week's trip to Maine for some good hockey. This only Hamden's second game as well but their first one was an 2-0 win against FCIAC powerhouse Darien. This is also Hamden's last game before a 9 day break. On paper the Green Dragons are probably the better team but Amity still has a lot of talent. You can't count any team out of a game, especially one in the SCC, played at Bennett Rink, involving the two-time champion ('09 and '10) against a team that usually pulls at least one upset every year and has the talent to do so yet again this year.
Cheshire @ Guilford @ 530
-The game that is the SCC area game of the day easily goes to this rematch of last year's DII championship. Lots of new faces but also some of the same on both sides make revenge a serious factor for Guilford and establishing supremacy one for Cheshire. The Rams would love to prove to the Indians why they are the ones who were moved up to DI this year. This game is actually not a divisional match-up, technically, since Cheshire is in SCC-I now, with an outright champion based on record, and Guilford is still in SCC-II that has a four team tournament at the end of the year to determine their champion. Despite the advantage for Guilford of being at home, I think Cheshire bounces back from their loss to Xavier on Wednesday night and wins this game. Should be close and some good hockey though.
Fairfield Prep @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6
-Featuring this game because it falls on a Thursday and is therefore one of the better games of the day. Look for ND-Fairfield to hang around in this one for a while but it will be a good test for Fairfield Prep to play a quality game in order to keep pace in DI with the other teams that improved to 3-0 yesterday. There are no days off in the SCC-I, especially if you look at Prep's schedule; the Jesuits almost certainly have the hardest schedule in that state.
Tri-Town @ East Haven @ 730
-East Haven is having a good year thus far at 2-0-1 with both wins over DI teams (Conard and Cheshire) but the tie with DII Stamford. Tri-Town is currently 1-0 with a commanding 9-1 win over DII Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks in their first game this Saturday. Now they will have to see how they do against another DI team, and a good one at that. East Haven on the other hand has a lot of doubt floating around their program as all three games on their schedule thus far should have been wins for them. There are high expectations for the Yellow Jackets to at least finish in the top half of DI one and that means beating Tri-Town as well. This game is wide open though really as either team looks to be capable of coming out on top, although I do think East Haven still will.
Friday
Notre Dame-West Haven @ Darien @ 150pm
-Two of the elite teams in the state face off at Darien Ice Rink on Friday afternoon. This is about just as big as Fairfield Prep vs Ridgefield as these teams are tops in the SCC and FCIAC respectively. ND-WH is 3-0 right now so a win here would make them the first team in DI to reach 4-0, halfway to clinching a playoff spot. Darien needs the win badly because, despite the talent they have this year, their record is 1-2 due to a 0-2 loss at Hamden and 5-6 loss in OT at West Haven, two of the other top team in the SCC. Although it may seem like ND-WH is the favorite in this one, they only beat New Canaan 3-0 and Darien beat New Canaan 6-1 so at the end of the day, either team can win; don't forget, Darien is the home team.
Hamden @ Amity @ 230 - rescheduled again, originally from 12/21
-see above
Staples/Weston/Shelton @ Watertown/Pomperaug @ 5
-Thursday we had the rematch of the DII championship and now on Friday we have the rematch of the DIII championship. S-W-S is currently 2-0 thus far and W-P is 2-1 and those results don't really indicate anything about who is better this year. Both teams excelled last year in DIII and were bumped up to DII this year so a win is worth 4 points to both teams. W-P won last year's match-up in the championship and honestly it is just as wide open who will win this year.
Fermi/Enfield @ South Windsor @ 645
-This game is so much bigger for Fermi/Enfield than it is for South Windsor. If they can beat South Windsor, a top program in the CCC-North lately which is expected to do well again this year, it would be huge. South Windsor has the opportunity to just pick up a a quality DI, conference win and show the new Fermi/Enfield co-op who is still boss. This looks to be a big game in the CCC area on Friday night.
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Wins and Losses (12/21)
Xavier 4 @ Cheshire 2
-Xavier was simply the better team in this one. The Falcons kept their offensive momentum going and played superb defense, minus a few errors. Cheshire kept the game close for two periods though but Xavier was technically in control throughout, always leading or being tied. In the first period the only scoring was Xavier's Jack Gethings with Bryan Stanton picking up an assist; Gethings has now scored in each of Xavier's three games (and wins) this season. Next, in the second period, Cheshire managed to light the lamp via Tyler Violano, unassisted. Both goals in the first two periods were converted on the only power-play opportunities for each team. However, early in the third Colin Beaudoin scored for Xavier assisted by senior Dakota Carron, both Cheshire natives. The Rams answered though in a personal way as well when Tom Dupont (cousin of Xavier Jr D Dan Dupont) scored unassisted. With about five minutes left to play, Andrew Meoli came through for the Falcons by just finishing a textbook play with Will Stanton, an encouraging sign for the Falcons offense. Cheshire's Walter Cashore should have tied things up at 3 with a slap shot from about twenty feet out but hit the crossbar and that miss became a moot point when Bryan Stanton stole the pick right in front of Cheshire's net and sneaked (snuck is actually grammatically wrong) one by Tyler Carbone to seal the game. Xavier emerges 3-0 and wins the rivalry game as these two teams share home ice and compete in the same conference. Cheshire will look to get back to .500 with a rematch of last year's DII championship game at Guilford tomorrow.
Watertown/Pomperaug 4 @ Windsor/Farmington/Avon 3 OT
-Again, I think you can see why I featured this one. I see positives for both teams coming out of this one though. Obviously, W-P got the win, and six points since it was over a DI team. Windsor/Farmington/Avon stayed with and almost beat a very good team in W-P. However, W-P is not even the best team in DII right now (lost 2-5 to Trumbull) and at the end of the day the Avon co-op lost to them so it gives more backing to my questioning of their DI status this year. After this game (and a 6-1 win over a DIII team), DII seems a fitting place for them.
Hamden @ Amity - postponed to Thursday 12/22 at 5:15pm (West Haven game before was delayed because of traffic and that threw off this game's time too much)
others notes: Staples/Weston/Shelton moved to 2-0 by beating a DII team (Lyman Hall); Notre Dame-West Haven beat Simsbury 4-0 to improve to 3-0 just like Xavier and West Haven kept pace too with a 6-2 win over Trinity Catholic...all three teams are 3-0 with every win over a DI opponent (18 points total); Brandord scored 10 goals in a 10-4 win over Stamford; Trumbull remained undefeated (3-0) by beating Immaculate/New Fairfield and Daniel Hand lost 3-4 in OT to Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe; Greenwich picked up their first W, 4-1 over Westhill.
-Xavier was simply the better team in this one. The Falcons kept their offensive momentum going and played superb defense, minus a few errors. Cheshire kept the game close for two periods though but Xavier was technically in control throughout, always leading or being tied. In the first period the only scoring was Xavier's Jack Gethings with Bryan Stanton picking up an assist; Gethings has now scored in each of Xavier's three games (and wins) this season. Next, in the second period, Cheshire managed to light the lamp via Tyler Violano, unassisted. Both goals in the first two periods were converted on the only power-play opportunities for each team. However, early in the third Colin Beaudoin scored for Xavier assisted by senior Dakota Carron, both Cheshire natives. The Rams answered though in a personal way as well when Tom Dupont (cousin of Xavier Jr D Dan Dupont) scored unassisted. With about five minutes left to play, Andrew Meoli came through for the Falcons by just finishing a textbook play with Will Stanton, an encouraging sign for the Falcons offense. Cheshire's Walter Cashore should have tied things up at 3 with a slap shot from about twenty feet out but hit the crossbar and that miss became a moot point when Bryan Stanton stole the pick right in front of Cheshire's net and sneaked (snuck is actually grammatically wrong) one by Tyler Carbone to seal the game. Xavier emerges 3-0 and wins the rivalry game as these two teams share home ice and compete in the same conference. Cheshire will look to get back to .500 with a rematch of last year's DII championship game at Guilford tomorrow.
Watertown/Pomperaug 4 @ Windsor/Farmington/Avon 3 OT
-Again, I think you can see why I featured this one. I see positives for both teams coming out of this one though. Obviously, W-P got the win, and six points since it was over a DI team. Windsor/Farmington/Avon stayed with and almost beat a very good team in W-P. However, W-P is not even the best team in DII right now (lost 2-5 to Trumbull) and at the end of the day the Avon co-op lost to them so it gives more backing to my questioning of their DI status this year. After this game (and a 6-1 win over a DIII team), DII seems a fitting place for them.
Hamden @ Amity - postponed to Thursday 12/22 at 5:15pm (West Haven game before was delayed because of traffic and that threw off this game's time too much)
others notes: Staples/Weston/Shelton moved to 2-0 by beating a DII team (Lyman Hall); Notre Dame-West Haven beat Simsbury 4-0 to improve to 3-0 just like Xavier and West Haven kept pace too with a 6-2 win over Trinity Catholic...all three teams are 3-0 with every win over a DI opponent (18 points total); Brandord scored 10 goals in a 10-4 win over Stamford; Trumbull remained undefeated (3-0) by beating Immaculate/New Fairfield and Daniel Hand lost 3-4 in OT to Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe; Greenwich picked up their first W, 4-1 over Westhill.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Top Games (12/21)
Xavier @ Cheshire @ 530pm
-Home ice for both these teams in a bitter SCC rivalry; expect a large and loud crowd. Xavier is one of the few remaining unbeaten teams in DI and I'm sure Cheshire would like to make a statement by ending that. The Rams are coming off a 2-4 loss to East Haven on Saturday so they should play with little chip on their shoulder whereas Xavier is coming off a 4-2 win over Notre Dame-Fairfield, in which they finally found some offense, so they will be trying to keep the offense coming. I'd say Cheshire wins in terms of offense and goal tending but Xavier has the edge on defense and with coaching but both teams could easily outplay the other in each of those areas and switch. At the end of the day, I think this one will come down to desire; i.e. who wants it more? SCC area game of the evening.
Watertown/Pomperaug @ Windsor/Farmington/Avon @ 730 (at the ISCC in Simsbury)
-The reason to keep an eye on this game is that it will be a good test for and prove a lot about each of these teams. W/P is a top team in DII whereas Windsor/Farmington/Avon is co-op of talented players that landed in DI. Not your typical DI-DII matchup by any means. Should be some good hockey as both these teams are coming off big wins (9-1 and 6-1 respectively). CCC area game of the day.
Hamden @ Amity @ 815
-This is only Amity's second game of the season but it is their final tune-up before next week's trip to Maine for some good hockey. This only Hamden's second game as well but their first one was an 2-0 win against FCIAC powerhouse Darien. This is also Hamden's last game before a 10 day break. On paper the Green Dragons are probably the better team but Amity still has a lot of talent. You can't count any team out of a game, especially one in the SCC, played at Bennett Rink, involving the two-time champion ('09 and '10) against a team that usually pulls at least one upset every year and has the talent to do so yet again this year. SCC area game of the nighttime.
-Home ice for both these teams in a bitter SCC rivalry; expect a large and loud crowd. Xavier is one of the few remaining unbeaten teams in DI and I'm sure Cheshire would like to make a statement by ending that. The Rams are coming off a 2-4 loss to East Haven on Saturday so they should play with little chip on their shoulder whereas Xavier is coming off a 4-2 win over Notre Dame-Fairfield, in which they finally found some offense, so they will be trying to keep the offense coming. I'd say Cheshire wins in terms of offense and goal tending but Xavier has the edge on defense and with coaching but both teams could easily outplay the other in each of those areas and switch. At the end of the day, I think this one will come down to desire; i.e. who wants it more? SCC area game of the evening.
Watertown/Pomperaug @ Windsor/Farmington/Avon @ 730 (at the ISCC in Simsbury)
-The reason to keep an eye on this game is that it will be a good test for and prove a lot about each of these teams. W/P is a top team in DII whereas Windsor/Farmington/Avon is co-op of talented players that landed in DI. Not your typical DI-DII matchup by any means. Should be some good hockey as both these teams are coming off big wins (9-1 and 6-1 respectively). CCC area game of the day.
Hamden @ Amity @ 815
-This is only Amity's second game of the season but it is their final tune-up before next week's trip to Maine for some good hockey. This only Hamden's second game as well but their first one was an 2-0 win against FCIAC powerhouse Darien. This is also Hamden's last game before a 10 day break. On paper the Green Dragons are probably the better team but Amity still has a lot of talent. You can't count any team out of a game, especially one in the SCC, played at Bennett Rink, involving the two-time champion ('09 and '10) against a team that usually pulls at least one upset every year and has the talent to do so yet again this year. SCC area game of the nighttime.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Monday and Tuesday's Results (12/19 and 12/20)
Monday
New Canaan 1 @ Darien 6
-An official sign that the tides have turned in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
New Canaan 0 1 0 - 1
Darien 2 2 2 - 6
Goals: NC -- Jake Granito. D -- Grayson Horan, Owen Koorbusch, Brendan Hathaway, Nick Bruno, Alec Foresta 2.
Assists: NC -- Henry Stanton. D -- Robert Julenbock, Bruno 2, Thomas Watters 2, Foresta, John Knowlton, Hathaway.
Goalies: NC -- Chris Koennecke (16 saves). D -- Max Rothston (19 saves)
Conard 4 @ East Haven 8
-box score:
Conard 3 0 1 — 4
East Haven 3 2 3 — 8
Scoring: 1st period—Con: Dan Kycia (Dom Sullivan, Jack Wilson) 12.25; EH: Matt Barcomb (Rich DeCarlo, Stephen Marsico) 11.30; Con: Jack Wilson (Dan Kycia) 9.25; EH: Stephen Marsico (Matt Longobardi) 7.48; Con: Dan Kycia (Casey Calvo, Zack Powers) 6.12; 2nd period—EH: Stephen Marsico 13.00; Stephen Marsico 6.53; 3rd period—EH: Jordan Avena (Rich DeCarlo, Tristain Goodwin) 12.14; Stephen Marsico (Matt Longobardi) 10.23; Con: John Palermo (Dom Sullivan) 8.31; EH: Matt Barcomb (Mike Flanaga) 3.52.
Shots—Con: 29; EH: 32.
Saves—EH: Zak Bouve 25; Con: Charlie Fisher 24 .
Tuesday
Wilton 2 @ Newtown 3
-There is a reason I featured this game just like there is a reason Newtown moved up to DII this year, they are good. This game can partially be credited to Newtown coming off a game with Trumbull this weekend and being 0-2 that had them on their A game while this was Wilton's first game of the year. It is always hard to have both your offense and defense clicking and playing like one unit in the first real game of the season but at the end of the day it cost Wilton a loss. The Warriors now have 6 days untill they host Milford co-op at home and Newtown has a whole week before their next game: DIII Rockville/Manchester/Stafford.
Fermi/Enfield 6 @ Conard 3
-I was in attendance for this one and this game was pretty sloppy but had some periods of good hockey. The refs at Conard were the same as always: awful. However, Fermi/Enfield jumped out to an early lead in this one and maintained that momentum the entire game. Avery Boissy scored for E/F off a Brendan Lemire pass and then Adam Macsata got one of his own, set up by Jason Despard and Matt Boulette. Fermi/Enfield would have had another goal if the refs did not blow a puck dead that merely hit off Conard' goalie gently but they assumed he had it and it was going to be a faceoff. In reality, the ricochet was right in front of the goal line and an E/F player was right there to put it home. Why the refs blew the while so early, even if it was possessed by Charlie Fisher, Conard's goalie, is a mystery. The zebras also blew some pretty obvious offside calls among other things. At the end of the first, the Chieftains finally scored off all the offense they were generating all period. Captian #24 (either Zachary Wieber or Georgiy Tsyganok I think) had a shot one-on-one with the goalie in front of the net that he should have converted but then Dan Kycia got the job done a few minutes lster off a pass from #24. In the second, Nick Haggerty tied things up for Conard but E/F responded, specifically Avery Boissy again (may have been assisted, didn't catch the number) and then Nick Ferracci set up Adam Macsata's second. In the third, Cam Korona scored a tremendous unassisted goal, during which he looked like a juggernaut, to put his team up by three goals. Dominic Sullivan tried responding for Conard with his own unassisted goal but after a few minutes of back and forth, Cam Korona became the the third player on his team to score two goals with the feed from Avery Boissy and Brendan Lemire. No one scored in the last few minutes of the game and again I featured a game where the seeming "underdog" won but that possibility was exactly why I featured it. Conard doesn't play again until after Christmas, next Wednesday at Glastonbury and Fermi/Enfield travels to South Windsor on Friday, both of which are very important CCC-North games.
New Canaan 1 @ Darien 6
-An official sign that the tides have turned in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
New Canaan 0 1 0 - 1
Darien 2 2 2 - 6
Goals: NC -- Jake Granito. D -- Grayson Horan, Owen Koorbusch, Brendan Hathaway, Nick Bruno, Alec Foresta 2.
Assists: NC -- Henry Stanton. D -- Robert Julenbock, Bruno 2, Thomas Watters 2, Foresta, John Knowlton, Hathaway.
Goalies: NC -- Chris Koennecke (16 saves). D -- Max Rothston (19 saves)
Conard 4 @ East Haven 8
-box score:
Conard 3 0 1 — 4
East Haven 3 2 3 — 8
Scoring: 1st period—Con: Dan Kycia (Dom Sullivan, Jack Wilson) 12.25; EH: Matt Barcomb (Rich DeCarlo, Stephen Marsico) 11.30; Con: Jack Wilson (Dan Kycia) 9.25; EH: Stephen Marsico (Matt Longobardi) 7.48; Con: Dan Kycia (Casey Calvo, Zack Powers) 6.12; 2nd period—EH: Stephen Marsico 13.00; Stephen Marsico 6.53; 3rd period—EH: Jordan Avena (Rich DeCarlo, Tristain Goodwin) 12.14; Stephen Marsico (Matt Longobardi) 10.23; Con: John Palermo (Dom Sullivan) 8.31; EH: Matt Barcomb (Mike Flanaga) 3.52.
Shots—Con: 29; EH: 32.
Saves—EH: Zak Bouve 25; Con: Charlie Fisher 24 .
Tuesday
Wilton 2 @ Newtown 3
-There is a reason I featured this game just like there is a reason Newtown moved up to DII this year, they are good. This game can partially be credited to Newtown coming off a game with Trumbull this weekend and being 0-2 that had them on their A game while this was Wilton's first game of the year. It is always hard to have both your offense and defense clicking and playing like one unit in the first real game of the season but at the end of the day it cost Wilton a loss. The Warriors now have 6 days untill they host Milford co-op at home and Newtown has a whole week before their next game: DIII Rockville/Manchester/Stafford.
Fermi/Enfield 6 @ Conard 3
-I was in attendance for this one and this game was pretty sloppy but had some periods of good hockey. The refs at Conard were the same as always: awful. However, Fermi/Enfield jumped out to an early lead in this one and maintained that momentum the entire game. Avery Boissy scored for E/F off a Brendan Lemire pass and then Adam Macsata got one of his own, set up by Jason Despard and Matt Boulette. Fermi/Enfield would have had another goal if the refs did not blow a puck dead that merely hit off Conard' goalie gently but they assumed he had it and it was going to be a faceoff. In reality, the ricochet was right in front of the goal line and an E/F player was right there to put it home. Why the refs blew the while so early, even if it was possessed by Charlie Fisher, Conard's goalie, is a mystery. The zebras also blew some pretty obvious offside calls among other things. At the end of the first, the Chieftains finally scored off all the offense they were generating all period. Captian #24 (either Zachary Wieber or Georgiy Tsyganok I think) had a shot one-on-one with the goalie in front of the net that he should have converted but then Dan Kycia got the job done a few minutes lster off a pass from #24. In the second, Nick Haggerty tied things up for Conard but E/F responded, specifically Avery Boissy again (may have been assisted, didn't catch the number) and then Nick Ferracci set up Adam Macsata's second. In the third, Cam Korona scored a tremendous unassisted goal, during which he looked like a juggernaut, to put his team up by three goals. Dominic Sullivan tried responding for Conard with his own unassisted goal but after a few minutes of back and forth, Cam Korona became the the third player on his team to score two goals with the feed from Avery Boissy and Brendan Lemire. No one scored in the last few minutes of the game and again I featured a game where the seeming "underdog" won but that possibility was exactly why I featured it. Conard doesn't play again until after Christmas, next Wednesday at Glastonbury and Fermi/Enfield travels to South Windsor on Friday, both of which are very important CCC-North games.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Monday and Tuesday's Top Games (12-19 and 12/20)
Monday
New Canaan @ Darien @ 4pm
-Neither team has a win but these are still two of the top teams in the FCIAC and Darien is a top ten team in the state in my opinion. I would say Darien is the slight favorite in this game, plus they are at home, but both teams will be playing hard, looking for that first W. If you are in the area, you could catch some good hockey at Darien Ice Rink.
Conard @ East Haven @ 730
-If we use Cheshire as the benchmark then East Haven should win this game handily; Conard lost 3-7 to them and East Haven beat them 4-2. However, one should never overlook Conard. Also, East Haven can make a statement with a big win here as they have the talent and schedule to finish with a very good record and make a serious push in DI this year.
Tuesday
Wilton @ Newtown @ 740pm
-This should actually be a really good game. Newtown just moved up to DII this year and is really looking to make a statement with the talent they have. Also, they are 0-2 after losses to ND-Fairfield and Trumbull so that should provide some extra motivation. Wilton is looking to have a very good year in DII again this year; preseason they look like one of the favorites to win the championship. Tuesday will be the Warriors first game of the season and now they have to go back up the talk on the ice. Danbury Ice Arena will be hosting this one, stop if you have the time.
Fermi/Enfield @ Conard @ 8
-A very interesting game in West Hartford, for a Tuesday. The new co-op, Fermi-Enfield sits at 1-1 right now with a 5-1 win over Westhill Saturday and a 2-3 loss last Wednesday to Trnity Catholic in their opener. Conard is 1-2 with 3-7 and 4-8 losses to Cheshire and East Haven respectively but their one win is 5-3 over Trinity Catholic. Those results, coupled with the fact that Conard is coming the East Haven loss just last night but returns home for this game, would make the Chieftains seem like the favorites in this one. However, I don't think they can overlook Fermi/Enfield in this one or it will be a very long 8 days before their next game.
New Canaan @ Darien @ 4pm
-Neither team has a win but these are still two of the top teams in the FCIAC and Darien is a top ten team in the state in my opinion. I would say Darien is the slight favorite in this game, plus they are at home, but both teams will be playing hard, looking for that first W. If you are in the area, you could catch some good hockey at Darien Ice Rink.
Conard @ East Haven @ 730
-If we use Cheshire as the benchmark then East Haven should win this game handily; Conard lost 3-7 to them and East Haven beat them 4-2. However, one should never overlook Conard. Also, East Haven can make a statement with a big win here as they have the talent and schedule to finish with a very good record and make a serious push in DI this year.
Tuesday
Wilton @ Newtown @ 740pm
-This should actually be a really good game. Newtown just moved up to DII this year and is really looking to make a statement with the talent they have. Also, they are 0-2 after losses to ND-Fairfield and Trumbull so that should provide some extra motivation. Wilton is looking to have a very good year in DII again this year; preseason they look like one of the favorites to win the championship. Tuesday will be the Warriors first game of the season and now they have to go back up the talk on the ice. Danbury Ice Arena will be hosting this one, stop if you have the time.
Fermi/Enfield @ Conard @ 8
-A very interesting game in West Hartford, for a Tuesday. The new co-op, Fermi-Enfield sits at 1-1 right now with a 5-1 win over Westhill Saturday and a 2-3 loss last Wednesday to Trnity Catholic in their opener. Conard is 1-2 with 3-7 and 4-8 losses to Cheshire and East Haven respectively but their one win is 5-3 over Trinity Catholic. Those results, coupled with the fact that Conard is coming the East Haven loss just last night but returns home for this game, would make the Chieftains seem like the favorites in this one. However, I don't think they can overlook Fermi/Enfield in this one or it will be a very long 8 days before their next game.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Saturday's Scores (12/17)
Big games mean big news so here we go:
South Windsor 2 @ Fairfield Prep 6
-A tale of three quarters in Bridgeport ended with some encouragement and disappointment for both teams. South Windsor didn't exactly come ready to play in the first two periods, only managing to score twice in the third period. However, they only lost by four this time to Prep in the regular, unlike 0-7 last year, which they improved to only lose 1-4 to Prep in the DI semifinals. Prep scored one minute and forty-four seconds into the game when Sean Henry scored off a pass from Patrick Henry. The next two goals were David White feeding Matt Brophy and then Brophy feeding White with 45.3 seconds left in the first period. The Jesuits got right back to work in the second with Brophy and Henry feeding teammate Tim Edmonds five minutes and nineteen seconds into the period. Next, AJ Unker got in on the action, assisting Tom Worsfold's goal and Brophy scored his second goal of the game with 56 seconds left in the second, with Worsfold and Nick Bargiello assisting him. Prep played a poor third period, giving many scoring chances to the Bobcats, but they only managed to convert on two. Mike Piccini scored a Joe Bonazelli pass 2:34 in and Dorian LaBox helped Dave Ouellette cut the deficit to 4 at the 8:41 remaining mark but SW couldn't manage to score any power play goals or get many more quality shots after that. Riley Wikman finished with 20 saves for Prep while Chris Marchi had 21 saves and Ryan Serksnas added 8 for SW. The Bobcats have almost a week off to get ready for the new co-op, Fermi/Enfiled coming to South Windsor next Friday. Prep doesn't play again 'till Thursday at Notre Dame-Fairfield.
Darien 5 @ West Haven 6 OT
-The other big game of the night went down at Bennett Rink in West Haven on Saturday. I'm going to start at the very beginning and give the game to you in chronological order. The Blue Wave were the first ones to score, when Brendan Hathaway put in the rebound of a shot by Mike Casey and then a minute later Jack Knowlton made it 2-0 by putting a great move on a West Haven defensemen behind the net before beating the goalie with a backhand into the upper left corner. Twenty-four seconds into the second period, Darien scored one again when Nick Bruno picked up a loose puck and put it in the back of the net, George Gregory was credited with an assist. West Haven finally scored three minutes later on a power-play goal by Adam Mink courtesy of a nice two-way pass play involving Mike Troiano and Josh Robinchaud. However, only 69 seconds later, Jack Knowlton, assisted by Hank Glick, scored his second goal of the game and put his team up 4-1 in the second period. Again, the tides turned quickly as Mink and set up Troiano with a perfect pass up the ice (Austin Hansen also received an assist) and then just over a minute later Jim Morrissey beat Darien's goalie unassisted. However, Darien regained the momentum before going into the locker room when Knowlton returned the favor and assisted Gregory at about the 10:30 mark. It has always been said that the great players emerge when it matters most and the third period was all about Mike Troiano. About halfway through the period, shortly after West Haven failed to score even with a 5-on-3, he literally took over as he possessed a loose puck, used three different moves to beat Darien's defense and then score. one minute and twenty-three seconds later, Blue Devil defenseman Kyle Leyerzapf fed Troiano on the break and then Mike beat Darien's goalie with the backhand. Regulation ended in a tie and the stalemate continued in OT until Austin Hansen drew a hooking penalty on Gregory. On the power-play, Robinchaud and Hansen set up a slap shot by Leyerzapf that completed the comeback with 2:52 left to spare. Darien's Max Rothston played well and finished with 24 saves but Justin Shepherd in goal for the Wesites deserves a lot of credit as he held the Blue Wave scoreless in the third period and denied a number of quality shots by Darien's top forwards in OT to give his team a shot. He finished with 24 saves as well with the shots being 30-29 in favor of the home team.
East Haven 4 @ Cheshire 2
-The Yellow Jackets weren't about to fall to 0-1-1. 4-2 at Cheshire is a good win and puts them right back up there as another team no one can overlook on their schedule. Cheshire, on the other hand, now sits as a team between Conard and East Haven, not a bad place to be for your first year in DI. That is not to say that they will stay at that level the whole season but when since they didn't get the job done at home against East Haven they are just inviting the doubt. It could only have been just one bad game, like how the Stamford may have been just one bad game for the Easties, but the same thing applies for both teams: you can't have a bad game in DI. This year, more than any other in my opinion, is so competitive day in and day out across the division. Last year, I talked about parity amongst the top of the division but this year there is a good competitive balance and each game is important for each team. More so than last year, there are no givens, especially this early in the season, and that means a lot of exciting hockey is ahead.
St. Joseph 5 @ Guilford 2
-Speaking of which, I thought this game would be simple math that Guilford won last year and lost less talent than St. Joseph did so they should win this game. Well, I was wrong and would just refer you to the underlined text above this game.
North Haven 4 @ Simsbury 1
-North Haven improves to 1-1 while Simsbury falls to 0-2. North Haven will host a DIII team next Friday and should improve to 2-1 while things just get harder for Simsbury as they host the other Notre Dame, this one from West Haven, on Wednesday.
Glastonbury 2 @ Ridgefield 5
-Wow, Ridgefield is very good this year coming away with the three goal win at the Winter Garden Ice Arena. For a game with an 8:50pm start time, I always wonder how much of a factor that is. For example, if this game was played at 1pm would it have been any closer since it would have been more central in the players' day. One has to remember that these kids are still high school-ers, in terms of having school work and social lives. Nonetheless, the Tigers got a big win Saturday night and would be my #2 team in the state (with Glastonbury at #4, Prep at #1, ND-WH at #2 and WH at #5). You can see why a poll/ranking this early would be kind of frivolous since Glastonbury is 1-1 and Darien is 0-2 but both are much better than a lot of 1-1 teams right now. I will publish my first rankings on New Year's though as I think that will be far enough into the season.
other games to note: ND-WH won 6-1 over Greenwich improving to a 2-0 record, Xavier pulled out a 4-2 win over ND-Fairfield to move to 2-0 as well, Conard beat Trinity Catholic 5-3 and both Tri-Town and Watertown/Pomperaug scored 9 goals in their wins tonight.
DII games:
Trumbull 3 @ Newtown 1
-Trumbull improves to 2-0 and is tied atop DII with Daniel Hand after Hand beat Stamford 4-2 at home today as well.
Wethersfield 0 @ Newington/Berlin 4
East Catholic 2 @ Northwest Catholic 3
-Upset that is really proving NWC's potential for this year. East faces
DIII games:
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown 1 @ Hall/Southington 4
-Hall/Southington's win puts both teams at 1-1 on the season.
Joel Barlow 2 @ Masuk 1
-All the scoring was done in the first period and you can see why these two teams are in DIII as the teams only combined for 34 shots (17 each); Thierry Jean had 16 saves for Joel Barlow while Masuk's Tom Swift recorded 15. For Masuk, Shane Dushay scored on a Charlie Cristo assist whereas Justin MacDougall and Michael Mattson scored for Barlow with Tim Eng and Patrick Mimms picking up assists. Pat Callahan assisted on both goals for the Falcons.
South Windsor 2 @ Fairfield Prep 6
-A tale of three quarters in Bridgeport ended with some encouragement and disappointment for both teams. South Windsor didn't exactly come ready to play in the first two periods, only managing to score twice in the third period. However, they only lost by four this time to Prep in the regular, unlike 0-7 last year, which they improved to only lose 1-4 to Prep in the DI semifinals. Prep scored one minute and forty-four seconds into the game when Sean Henry scored off a pass from Patrick Henry. The next two goals were David White feeding Matt Brophy and then Brophy feeding White with 45.3 seconds left in the first period. The Jesuits got right back to work in the second with Brophy and Henry feeding teammate Tim Edmonds five minutes and nineteen seconds into the period. Next, AJ Unker got in on the action, assisting Tom Worsfold's goal and Brophy scored his second goal of the game with 56 seconds left in the second, with Worsfold and Nick Bargiello assisting him. Prep played a poor third period, giving many scoring chances to the Bobcats, but they only managed to convert on two. Mike Piccini scored a Joe Bonazelli pass 2:34 in and Dorian LaBox helped Dave Ouellette cut the deficit to 4 at the 8:41 remaining mark but SW couldn't manage to score any power play goals or get many more quality shots after that. Riley Wikman finished with 20 saves for Prep while Chris Marchi had 21 saves and Ryan Serksnas added 8 for SW. The Bobcats have almost a week off to get ready for the new co-op, Fermi/Enfiled coming to South Windsor next Friday. Prep doesn't play again 'till Thursday at Notre Dame-Fairfield.
Darien 5 @ West Haven 6 OT
-The other big game of the night went down at Bennett Rink in West Haven on Saturday. I'm going to start at the very beginning and give the game to you in chronological order. The Blue Wave were the first ones to score, when Brendan Hathaway put in the rebound of a shot by Mike Casey and then a minute later Jack Knowlton made it 2-0 by putting a great move on a West Haven defensemen behind the net before beating the goalie with a backhand into the upper left corner. Twenty-four seconds into the second period, Darien scored one again when Nick Bruno picked up a loose puck and put it in the back of the net, George Gregory was credited with an assist. West Haven finally scored three minutes later on a power-play goal by Adam Mink courtesy of a nice two-way pass play involving Mike Troiano and Josh Robinchaud. However, only 69 seconds later, Jack Knowlton, assisted by Hank Glick, scored his second goal of the game and put his team up 4-1 in the second period. Again, the tides turned quickly as Mink and set up Troiano with a perfect pass up the ice (Austin Hansen also received an assist) and then just over a minute later Jim Morrissey beat Darien's goalie unassisted. However, Darien regained the momentum before going into the locker room when Knowlton returned the favor and assisted Gregory at about the 10:30 mark. It has always been said that the great players emerge when it matters most and the third period was all about Mike Troiano. About halfway through the period, shortly after West Haven failed to score even with a 5-on-3, he literally took over as he possessed a loose puck, used three different moves to beat Darien's defense and then score. one minute and twenty-three seconds later, Blue Devil defenseman Kyle Leyerzapf fed Troiano on the break and then Mike beat Darien's goalie with the backhand. Regulation ended in a tie and the stalemate continued in OT until Austin Hansen drew a hooking penalty on Gregory. On the power-play, Robinchaud and Hansen set up a slap shot by Leyerzapf that completed the comeback with 2:52 left to spare. Darien's Max Rothston played well and finished with 24 saves but Justin Shepherd in goal for the Wesites deserves a lot of credit as he held the Blue Wave scoreless in the third period and denied a number of quality shots by Darien's top forwards in OT to give his team a shot. He finished with 24 saves as well with the shots being 30-29 in favor of the home team.
East Haven 4 @ Cheshire 2
-The Yellow Jackets weren't about to fall to 0-1-1. 4-2 at Cheshire is a good win and puts them right back up there as another team no one can overlook on their schedule. Cheshire, on the other hand, now sits as a team between Conard and East Haven, not a bad place to be for your first year in DI. That is not to say that they will stay at that level the whole season but when since they didn't get the job done at home against East Haven they are just inviting the doubt. It could only have been just one bad game, like how the Stamford may have been just one bad game for the Easties, but the same thing applies for both teams: you can't have a bad game in DI. This year, more than any other in my opinion, is so competitive day in and day out across the division. Last year, I talked about parity amongst the top of the division but this year there is a good competitive balance and each game is important for each team. More so than last year, there are no givens, especially this early in the season, and that means a lot of exciting hockey is ahead.
St. Joseph 5 @ Guilford 2
-Speaking of which, I thought this game would be simple math that Guilford won last year and lost less talent than St. Joseph did so they should win this game. Well, I was wrong and would just refer you to the underlined text above this game.
North Haven 4 @ Simsbury 1
-North Haven improves to 1-1 while Simsbury falls to 0-2. North Haven will host a DIII team next Friday and should improve to 2-1 while things just get harder for Simsbury as they host the other Notre Dame, this one from West Haven, on Wednesday.
Glastonbury 2 @ Ridgefield 5
-Wow, Ridgefield is very good this year coming away with the three goal win at the Winter Garden Ice Arena. For a game with an 8:50pm start time, I always wonder how much of a factor that is. For example, if this game was played at 1pm would it have been any closer since it would have been more central in the players' day. One has to remember that these kids are still high school-ers, in terms of having school work and social lives. Nonetheless, the Tigers got a big win Saturday night and would be my #2 team in the state (with Glastonbury at #4, Prep at #1, ND-WH at #2 and WH at #5). You can see why a poll/ranking this early would be kind of frivolous since Glastonbury is 1-1 and Darien is 0-2 but both are much better than a lot of 1-1 teams right now. I will publish my first rankings on New Year's though as I think that will be far enough into the season.
other games to note: ND-WH won 6-1 over Greenwich improving to a 2-0 record, Xavier pulled out a 4-2 win over ND-Fairfield to move to 2-0 as well, Conard beat Trinity Catholic 5-3 and both Tri-Town and Watertown/Pomperaug scored 9 goals in their wins tonight.
DII games:
Trumbull 3 @ Newtown 1
-Trumbull improves to 2-0 and is tied atop DII with Daniel Hand after Hand beat Stamford 4-2 at home today as well.
Wethersfield 0 @ Newington/Berlin 4
East Catholic 2 @ Northwest Catholic 3
-Upset that is really proving NWC's potential for this year. East faces
DIII games:
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown 1 @ Hall/Southington 4
-Hall/Southington's win puts both teams at 1-1 on the season.
Joel Barlow 2 @ Masuk 1
-All the scoring was done in the first period and you can see why these two teams are in DIII as the teams only combined for 34 shots (17 each); Thierry Jean had 16 saves for Joel Barlow while Masuk's Tom Swift recorded 15. For Masuk, Shane Dushay scored on a Charlie Cristo assist whereas Justin MacDougall and Michael Mattson scored for Barlow with Tim Eng and Patrick Mimms picking up assists. Pat Callahan assisted on both goals for the Falcons.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Saturday's Top Games (12/17)
This early in the season, so many games on Saturday will be worth watching.
South Windsor @ Fairfield Prep @ 1pm
-South Windsor better be ready to play in this one as they travel to Bridgeport's Wonderland of Ice to take on the team that beat them up in Simsbury 7-0 last year. Expect that to fuel some serious motivation in the Bobcats as they try to catch Fairfield Prep off guard early in the season. The Jesuits will need keep building on their monumental win over Ridgefield, 3-0, on opening night. South Windsor also sits at 1-0 after their 4-1 opening win against Simsbury so someone will be coming away with their first loss. This is certainly one of the top games of the day.
Darien @ West Haven @ 1
-This may be the first or second best game on Saturday but with so many good ones, there is no need to choose. Darien dropped a tough one 0-2 to Hamden on opening night so they will be both encouraged and motivated by that game. Darien is one of the top teams in the FCIAC this year while West Haven is looking to emerge as one of the top teams in the mighty SCC this year. The Westies rolled over Greenwich 5-0 in their first game and looking to just keep winning led by a potent offense, strong defense and goalie motivated by the expectations for his team this year. Be ready for a good one today at Bennett Rink.
East Haven @ Cheshire @ 2
-Big game right here as Cheshire will look to keep the momentum going from their 7-3 win over Conard on Wednesday as they take on another decent DI team, East Haven. The Easties only managed a 5-5 tie in their first game at home against Stamford so they should be playing with some intensity looking for their first win. You would think East Haven is the favorite in this one since Cheshire just moved up to DI this year but the Yellow Jackets just tied with a still DII team and Cheshire has come out ready to play this season. I think the Rams will come away victorious this one and start earning some respect from other DI teams in the state.
St. Joseph @ Guilford @ 6
-St. Joseph may be the DI team in this game but they are the ones looking for revenge after losing to Guilford early last season. Both teams went on to reach (and subsequently lose) the championship games in their respective divisions. The Cadets lost a lot of talent from last year's squad and Guilford lost some key players too but the Indians didn't lose as much and their advantage in terms of team chemistry this early in the season should result in a W. St. Joseph dropped their opener 2-6 to powerhouse Glastonbury and this will be Guilford's first game of the season.
North Haven @ Simsbury @ 8
-This game may not be the same caliber as the others I have featured but it still has importance. Both of these teams lost their opening games but are still good teams and will need to get back on track. North Haven only lost in the final minutes 0-1 to Xavier while Simsbury lost 1-4 to a good South Windsor squad. I'd pick the Thunderbirds to come out on top but anything can happen at this point in the season, especially at Simsbury's home ice.
Glastonbruy @ Ridgefield @ 850
-On paper this certainly looks to be the best game on the day; I see Glastonbury as the #1 or 2 team in the CCC and Ridgefield is my preseason pick to win the FCIAC so two teams at the top their conference battling out is sure to be some high quality hockey. Ridgefield lost their first game 0-3 to Fairfield Prep, the reigning DI and SCC champions, despite it being a home game but they will now host Glastonbury there as well in pursuit of that first win. Glastonbury picked up a convincing 6-2 win on Wednesday over new-look St. Joseph, last year's DI runner-up. If you can, I would definitely recommend attending this game; wish I could be there.
DII games:
Trumbull @ Newtown @ 5
-The Newtown Nighthawks have just moved up to DII this year and return a solid senior class. Big-time juniors like forward Christian Blais make this team deep and versatile. Coach Paul Esposito has coached most of these players for almost ten years between high school and youth hockey. Their anchor is goalie Mike Allwein who averaged only 2.87 goals against last year. Trumbull made it to Yale last year losing in the DII semi's and return forward Michale Ahearn who scored 19 goals last year. They will also still have a solid tender but some of the new younger forwards will need to step as most of their scoring form last year, aside from Ahearn, graduated. This game right here is good early season test for both teams looking to do well in DII this year. Newtown just barely lost 3-4 at Notre Dame-Fairfield in their opener while Trumbull topped Watertown/Pomperaug 5-2 on Wednesday.
Wethersfield @ Newington/Berlin @ 730
-Really a home game for both teams at Newington Arena, the rink these players grew up on. Wethersfield has high hopes for this year and this is their first game and though they open with a DIII team, N-B is at the top of their division in terms of talent, even though they dropped their first game 2-6 to, now DII, Staples/Weston/Shelton.
East Catholic @ Northwest Catholic @ 815
-A big rivalry between the catholic schools I like to watch every year. These kids know each other and take a lot of pride in choosing the school they attend over the other one. East is the defending CCC-North Champion and Northwest is one of my favorites to win DIII so this should be a very exciting game. East is 1-0 coming off a 6-1 win over St. Bernard/Bacon/NFA (not a very good team) while Northwest is also 1-0 after a big 4-3 win over Newington/Berlin, another top DIII team.
DIII games:
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown @ Hall/Southington @ 1
-I like R-M-R to do well this year in DIII and this gives them a chance to build on their 3-1 over a middle of the pack DIII team, E.O. Smith/Tolland/Windham, on opening night. Hall/Southington suffered a tough loss 3-4 to a very good Northwest Catholic team in their opener so they will be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder still looking for their first one after coming so close on Wednesday. Both teams know should know the implications of this game as the result could end up being very decisive in DIII throughout the course of this season.
Joel Barlow @ Masuk @ 6
-Two of the teams that I think will be in top five of DIII this year are facing off in this SWC showdown at The Rinks at Shelton. Joel Barlow, leead by senior forward Mike Mattson, is 1-0 after a commanding 7-1 win over Norwalk/McMahon on Wednesday while this will be Masuk's first game. This game could also end up having major implication in the SWC-II Standings, as both teams will look to challenge Watertown-Pomperaug for the top spot this year.
South Windsor @ Fairfield Prep @ 1pm
-South Windsor better be ready to play in this one as they travel to Bridgeport's Wonderland of Ice to take on the team that beat them up in Simsbury 7-0 last year. Expect that to fuel some serious motivation in the Bobcats as they try to catch Fairfield Prep off guard early in the season. The Jesuits will need keep building on their monumental win over Ridgefield, 3-0, on opening night. South Windsor also sits at 1-0 after their 4-1 opening win against Simsbury so someone will be coming away with their first loss. This is certainly one of the top games of the day.
Darien @ West Haven @ 1
-This may be the first or second best game on Saturday but with so many good ones, there is no need to choose. Darien dropped a tough one 0-2 to Hamden on opening night so they will be both encouraged and motivated by that game. Darien is one of the top teams in the FCIAC this year while West Haven is looking to emerge as one of the top teams in the mighty SCC this year. The Westies rolled over Greenwich 5-0 in their first game and looking to just keep winning led by a potent offense, strong defense and goalie motivated by the expectations for his team this year. Be ready for a good one today at Bennett Rink.
East Haven @ Cheshire @ 2
-Big game right here as Cheshire will look to keep the momentum going from their 7-3 win over Conard on Wednesday as they take on another decent DI team, East Haven. The Easties only managed a 5-5 tie in their first game at home against Stamford so they should be playing with some intensity looking for their first win. You would think East Haven is the favorite in this one since Cheshire just moved up to DI this year but the Yellow Jackets just tied with a still DII team and Cheshire has come out ready to play this season. I think the Rams will come away victorious this one and start earning some respect from other DI teams in the state.
St. Joseph @ Guilford @ 6
-St. Joseph may be the DI team in this game but they are the ones looking for revenge after losing to Guilford early last season. Both teams went on to reach (and subsequently lose) the championship games in their respective divisions. The Cadets lost a lot of talent from last year's squad and Guilford lost some key players too but the Indians didn't lose as much and their advantage in terms of team chemistry this early in the season should result in a W. St. Joseph dropped their opener 2-6 to powerhouse Glastonbury and this will be Guilford's first game of the season.
North Haven @ Simsbury @ 8
-This game may not be the same caliber as the others I have featured but it still has importance. Both of these teams lost their opening games but are still good teams and will need to get back on track. North Haven only lost in the final minutes 0-1 to Xavier while Simsbury lost 1-4 to a good South Windsor squad. I'd pick the Thunderbirds to come out on top but anything can happen at this point in the season, especially at Simsbury's home ice.
Glastonbruy @ Ridgefield @ 850
-On paper this certainly looks to be the best game on the day; I see Glastonbury as the #1 or 2 team in the CCC and Ridgefield is my preseason pick to win the FCIAC so two teams at the top their conference battling out is sure to be some high quality hockey. Ridgefield lost their first game 0-3 to Fairfield Prep, the reigning DI and SCC champions, despite it being a home game but they will now host Glastonbury there as well in pursuit of that first win. Glastonbury picked up a convincing 6-2 win on Wednesday over new-look St. Joseph, last year's DI runner-up. If you can, I would definitely recommend attending this game; wish I could be there.
DII games:
Trumbull @ Newtown @ 5
-The Newtown Nighthawks have just moved up to DII this year and return a solid senior class. Big-time juniors like forward Christian Blais make this team deep and versatile. Coach Paul Esposito has coached most of these players for almost ten years between high school and youth hockey. Their anchor is goalie Mike Allwein who averaged only 2.87 goals against last year. Trumbull made it to Yale last year losing in the DII semi's and return forward Michale Ahearn who scored 19 goals last year. They will also still have a solid tender but some of the new younger forwards will need to step as most of their scoring form last year, aside from Ahearn, graduated. This game right here is good early season test for both teams looking to do well in DII this year. Newtown just barely lost 3-4 at Notre Dame-Fairfield in their opener while Trumbull topped Watertown/Pomperaug 5-2 on Wednesday.
Wethersfield @ Newington/Berlin @ 730
-Really a home game for both teams at Newington Arena, the rink these players grew up on. Wethersfield has high hopes for this year and this is their first game and though they open with a DIII team, N-B is at the top of their division in terms of talent, even though they dropped their first game 2-6 to, now DII, Staples/Weston/Shelton.
East Catholic @ Northwest Catholic @ 815
-A big rivalry between the catholic schools I like to watch every year. These kids know each other and take a lot of pride in choosing the school they attend over the other one. East is the defending CCC-North Champion and Northwest is one of my favorites to win DIII so this should be a very exciting game. East is 1-0 coming off a 6-1 win over St. Bernard/Bacon/NFA (not a very good team) while Northwest is also 1-0 after a big 4-3 win over Newington/Berlin, another top DIII team.
DIII games:
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown @ Hall/Southington @ 1
-I like R-M-R to do well this year in DIII and this gives them a chance to build on their 3-1 over a middle of the pack DIII team, E.O. Smith/Tolland/Windham, on opening night. Hall/Southington suffered a tough loss 3-4 to a very good Northwest Catholic team in their opener so they will be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder still looking for their first one after coming so close on Wednesday. Both teams know should know the implications of this game as the result could end up being very decisive in DIII throughout the course of this season.
Joel Barlow @ Masuk @ 6
-Two of the teams that I think will be in top five of DIII this year are facing off in this SWC showdown at The Rinks at Shelton. Joel Barlow, leead by senior forward Mike Mattson, is 1-0 after a commanding 7-1 win over Norwalk/McMahon on Wednesday while this will be Masuk's first game. This game could also end up having major implication in the SWC-II Standings, as both teams will look to challenge Watertown-Pomperaug for the top spot this year.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Results (12/15 and 12/16)
Thursday
West Haven 5 @ Greenwich 0
-Jim Morrissey scored the first goal of the game with just under six minuets left in the first period by deflecting a shot from Josh Robichuaud. West Haven outshot Greenwich 11-2 in the first period but shots were almost even in the second; West Haven ended up outshooting the Cardinals 34-12 in the game. Mike Troiano scored his first goal of the night with four minutes left in the second period off a pass from Morrissey. The third period went back to being all Blue Devils as Austin Hassen assisted a Adam Mink goal and 32 seconds later Troiano converted a breakaway, crediting Kyle Leyerzapf with the assist. Jake Lynch rounded out the scoring with 25 seconds left as Donny Froehlich and Peter Lynch picked up assists on the goal. Justin Shepher only needed 12 saves to get the shutout for West Haven while Vinny Scorese kept Greenwich in the game for at least two periods, finishing with 29 saves. Things don't get any easier for the Cardinals as they travel to West Haven for a game with Notre Dame this Saturday evening and West Haven hosts big-time opponent Darien in the afternoon game at the same rink on the same day.
I was a little wrong as ND-Fairfield barely won over Newtown 4-3 and East Haven tied with Stamford 5-5. I think that result is mostly due to Stamford exceeding my preseason expectations for them; both teams scored 5 goals!
Friday
no games of note
West Haven 5 @ Greenwich 0
-Jim Morrissey scored the first goal of the game with just under six minuets left in the first period by deflecting a shot from Josh Robichuaud. West Haven outshot Greenwich 11-2 in the first period but shots were almost even in the second; West Haven ended up outshooting the Cardinals 34-12 in the game. Mike Troiano scored his first goal of the night with four minutes left in the second period off a pass from Morrissey. The third period went back to being all Blue Devils as Austin Hassen assisted a Adam Mink goal and 32 seconds later Troiano converted a breakaway, crediting Kyle Leyerzapf with the assist. Jake Lynch rounded out the scoring with 25 seconds left as Donny Froehlich and Peter Lynch picked up assists on the goal. Justin Shepher only needed 12 saves to get the shutout for West Haven while Vinny Scorese kept Greenwich in the game for at least two periods, finishing with 29 saves. Things don't get any easier for the Cardinals as they travel to West Haven for a game with Notre Dame this Saturday evening and West Haven hosts big-time opponent Darien in the afternoon game at the same rink on the same day.
I was a little wrong as ND-Fairfield barely won over Newtown 4-3 and East Haven tied with Stamford 5-5. I think that result is mostly due to Stamford exceeding my preseason expectations for them; both teams scored 5 goals!
Friday
no games of note
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Top Games (12/15 and 12/16)
Thursday
West Haven @ Greenwich @ 8pm
-West Haven should win this game but they are looking for a solid goalie to replace J.P. Withington to take them far this year. Greenwich has a good program and might be able to hang around in this one for a bit; should be a solid test for West Haven to get things rolling before they host Darien Saturday.
Newtown @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6 and Stamford @ East Haven @ 730 won't be bad games either but ND and East Haven should both come away with wins.
Friday
no games of note
West Haven @ Greenwich @ 8pm
-West Haven should win this game but they are looking for a solid goalie to replace J.P. Withington to take them far this year. Greenwich has a good program and might be able to hang around in this one for a bit; should be a solid test for West Haven to get things rolling before they host Darien Saturday.
Newtown @ Notre Dame-Fairfield @ 6 and Stamford @ East Haven @ 730 won't be bad games either but ND and East Haven should both come away with wins.
Friday
no games of note
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Wins and Losses (12/14)
I don't think I predicted a single game wrong. Also, a lot of shut-outs in the big time games; can partially be credited to the fact that this was the first game of the season for all these new teams.
Simsbury 1 @ South Windsor 4
-Exactly what I expected here, encouraging for Simsbury that they scored a goal though. Simsbury host North Haven on Saturday while South Windsor will play in a marquee game at Fairfield Prep on the same day.
North Haven 0 @ Xavier 1
-Some excitement in Middletown on opening night, Jack Gethings scored a powerplay top shelf goal with 3:16 left in the entire game to win the game for Xavier. Credit Bryan Stanton with the assist. Shane Baldwin had 22 saves in his shutout performance while Mike Amarone made 23 saves for North Haven. XAvier will go out to Notre Dame-Fairfield this Saturday to face what is always a solid team and North Haven goes up to Simsbury on Saturday where both teams will be looking for their first win of the season.
Darien 0 @ Hamden 2
-Another low-scoring game on opening night in which both goalies played very well. Andy Varga had 27 saves and the shutout for Hamden while Max Rothston saved 28 shots for Darien but Tyler Carangelo got one by him late in the first period off a Joe O'Connor pass. Bill Reilly also scored for Hamden with 7 seconds left in the game with Brandon Dadio and Jeremy Germain picking up assists. Darien can't feel too bad about this performance at all. Hamden has a week to work on things a bit before traveling to Amity (rink in West Haven though) next Wednesday in what could be a very good game while Darien will play at West Haven (same rink Amity uses, Bennett Rink) this upcoming Saturday, which also looks to be a good game.
New Canaan 0 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 3
-The Green Knights scored one in every period to beat the team that finished last season and FCIAC tournament undefeated. Casey Hoban scored in the first assisted by Anthony Astorino and Ryan Lynch, Greg Zullo in the second courtesy of Colby Cretella and Billy Vizzo and then Vizzo picked up his second assist of the game in the third when Cretella himself scored and Zullo also assisted on that goal. Goalie Paul Sliwinki had 17 saves and New Canaan's Chris Koennecke had 19. ND-WH host Greenwich this Saturday while New Canaan has the weekend off and travels to Darien on Monday in what should be a very good game.
St. Joseph 2 @ Glastonbury 6
-Strong performance by Glastonbury who will look to keep on rolling with this momentum at Ridgefield on Saturday. St. Joseph needs to shake off the loss before they travel out to Guilford on Saturday night, a big game on their schedule after losing to Guilford, a DII team that was undefeated for quite a while, last year.
Cheshire 7 @ Conard 3
-Cheshire making exactly the statement they had to in their opener and quieting some of the doubters. Beating Conard won't win them a DI title or even guarentee they will make the playoffs but a win of this magnitude against a mid-level DI team puts Cheshire exactly where they want to be right now during their first year in DI, 1-0. They have another game against an even better DI team, East Haven, this Saturday at home (Wesleyan's Spurrier-Snyder Rink in Middletown). Conard travels to Trinity Catholic this weekend.
Staples/Weston/Shelton 6 @ Newington/Berlin 2
-That's the kind of win a newly christened DII needs to come away with against an old colleague from DIII. After a week break, S-W-S takes on DII Lyman Hall, a decent team for DII sitting at 1-0 right now after a 5-1 win against a DIII team in their opener. N-B will again face a DII team this Saturday, big-time rival and legitimate player in DII this year, Wethersfield.
Fairfield Prep 3 @ Ridgefield 0
-The game of the day did not disappoint as fans got to see some very good hockey in the first period. Both goalies were on their game and neither team could score. Prep really stepped it up when they were down 2 men for 72 seconds but did not allow Ridgefield to score at all. In the second period is was the same old Prep we are used to, striking three times and out shooting the Tigers 13-2. Conor Peterson scored first for the Jesuits by deflecting a shot by Sean Henry from the blue line. A few minutes later Tom Worsfold scored the rebound from Connor Henry's shot and then Sean Henry scored on a breakaway with 9:03 left in the period. Nate Gliedman still had 35 saves in goal for Ridgefield while Riley Wikman only need 17 saves to secure the shutout and win for Prep. Ridgefield now plays host to Glastonbury on Saturday, a game they will need to be ready to play hard in and Prep moves from a top team in the FCIAC to a top in the CCC as South Windsor comes to the Wonderland of Ice on Saturday seeking revenge for last year's 0-7 blowout at South Windsor Arena.
12/15 add-in:
St. Joseph 1 1 0 — 2
Glastonbury 1 3 2 — 6
Scoring:
1st—SJ: Zach Usinger (Christian Keator, Matt Julian) 10:22; G: Ethan Holdaway (Drew Mozzer) 12:11; 2nd—G: Drew Mozzer (Ethan Holdaway) :22; Ethan Holdaway 1:00; SJ: Dominic DeRosa 11:53; G: Avery Clair (Drew Mozzer) 13:59; 3rd—G: Drew Mozzer (Ethan Holdaway) :16; Drew Mozzer (Conor Thompson, Ethan Holdaway) 11:07;
Shots—SJ: 28; G: 43;
Saves—SJ: Ron Johnson 37; G: Chase Gabor 26;
S-W-S 6 @ N-B 2
Newington-Berlin 0 1 1 - 2
Scoring:
1st-S-W-S: Aaron Liu (Jack Mendillo, Eric Zurmuehle) 2:59; Wyatt Fern (Matt Weisgerber, Sean Steward) 14:46; 2nd-S-W-S: Sean Steward (Aaron Liu) 5:15; Aaron Liu (Mike Lynch) 12:04; N-B: Brendon Richard (Nick Briganti, Brandon Ralph) 13:05; S-W-S: Aaron Liu (Liam O’Leary) 14:34; 3rd-S-W-S: Liam O’Leary (Tom Meyers) 4:14; N-B: Brendon Richard (Tyler Mangiasico, Mike Davies) 14:57;
Shots-S-W-S: 23; N-B: 19;
Saves-S-W-S: Riley MacDonald 17; N-B: Drew O’Leary 17
Simsbury 1 @ South Windsor 4
-Exactly what I expected here, encouraging for Simsbury that they scored a goal though. Simsbury host North Haven on Saturday while South Windsor will play in a marquee game at Fairfield Prep on the same day.
North Haven 0 @ Xavier 1
-Some excitement in Middletown on opening night, Jack Gethings scored a powerplay top shelf goal with 3:16 left in the entire game to win the game for Xavier. Credit Bryan Stanton with the assist. Shane Baldwin had 22 saves in his shutout performance while Mike Amarone made 23 saves for North Haven. XAvier will go out to Notre Dame-Fairfield this Saturday to face what is always a solid team and North Haven goes up to Simsbury on Saturday where both teams will be looking for their first win of the season.
Darien 0 @ Hamden 2
-Another low-scoring game on opening night in which both goalies played very well. Andy Varga had 27 saves and the shutout for Hamden while Max Rothston saved 28 shots for Darien but Tyler Carangelo got one by him late in the first period off a Joe O'Connor pass. Bill Reilly also scored for Hamden with 7 seconds left in the game with Brandon Dadio and Jeremy Germain picking up assists. Darien can't feel too bad about this performance at all. Hamden has a week to work on things a bit before traveling to Amity (rink in West Haven though) next Wednesday in what could be a very good game while Darien will play at West Haven (same rink Amity uses, Bennett Rink) this upcoming Saturday, which also looks to be a good game.
New Canaan 0 @ Notre Dame-West Haven 3
-The Green Knights scored one in every period to beat the team that finished last season and FCIAC tournament undefeated. Casey Hoban scored in the first assisted by Anthony Astorino and Ryan Lynch, Greg Zullo in the second courtesy of Colby Cretella and Billy Vizzo and then Vizzo picked up his second assist of the game in the third when Cretella himself scored and Zullo also assisted on that goal. Goalie Paul Sliwinki had 17 saves and New Canaan's Chris Koennecke had 19. ND-WH host Greenwich this Saturday while New Canaan has the weekend off and travels to Darien on Monday in what should be a very good game.
St. Joseph 2 @ Glastonbury 6
-Strong performance by Glastonbury who will look to keep on rolling with this momentum at Ridgefield on Saturday. St. Joseph needs to shake off the loss before they travel out to Guilford on Saturday night, a big game on their schedule after losing to Guilford, a DII team that was undefeated for quite a while, last year.
Cheshire 7 @ Conard 3
-Cheshire making exactly the statement they had to in their opener and quieting some of the doubters. Beating Conard won't win them a DI title or even guarentee they will make the playoffs but a win of this magnitude against a mid-level DI team puts Cheshire exactly where they want to be right now during their first year in DI, 1-0. They have another game against an even better DI team, East Haven, this Saturday at home (Wesleyan's Spurrier-Snyder Rink in Middletown). Conard travels to Trinity Catholic this weekend.
Staples/Weston/Shelton 6 @ Newington/Berlin 2
-That's the kind of win a newly christened DII needs to come away with against an old colleague from DIII. After a week break, S-W-S takes on DII Lyman Hall, a decent team for DII sitting at 1-0 right now after a 5-1 win against a DIII team in their opener. N-B will again face a DII team this Saturday, big-time rival and legitimate player in DII this year, Wethersfield.
Fairfield Prep 3 @ Ridgefield 0
-The game of the day did not disappoint as fans got to see some very good hockey in the first period. Both goalies were on their game and neither team could score. Prep really stepped it up when they were down 2 men for 72 seconds but did not allow Ridgefield to score at all. In the second period is was the same old Prep we are used to, striking three times and out shooting the Tigers 13-2. Conor Peterson scored first for the Jesuits by deflecting a shot by Sean Henry from the blue line. A few minutes later Tom Worsfold scored the rebound from Connor Henry's shot and then Sean Henry scored on a breakaway with 9:03 left in the period. Nate Gliedman still had 35 saves in goal for Ridgefield while Riley Wikman only need 17 saves to secure the shutout and win for Prep. Ridgefield now plays host to Glastonbury on Saturday, a game they will need to be ready to play hard in and Prep moves from a top team in the FCIAC to a top in the CCC as South Windsor comes to the Wonderland of Ice on Saturday seeking revenge for last year's 0-7 blowout at South Windsor Arena.
12/15 add-in:
St. Joseph 2 @ Glastonbury 6
Glastonbury 1 3 2 — 6
Scoring:
1st—SJ: Zach Usinger (Christian Keator, Matt Julian) 10:22; G: Ethan Holdaway (Drew Mozzer) 12:11; 2nd—G: Drew Mozzer (Ethan Holdaway) :22; Ethan Holdaway 1:00; SJ: Dominic DeRosa 11:53; G: Avery Clair (Drew Mozzer) 13:59; 3rd—G: Drew Mozzer (Ethan Holdaway) :16; Drew Mozzer (Conor Thompson, Ethan Holdaway) 11:07;
Shots—SJ: 28; G: 43;
Saves—SJ: Ron Johnson 37; G: Chase Gabor 26;
S-W-S 6 @ N-B 2
Staples-Weston-Shelton 2 3 1 - 6
Newington-Berlin 0 1 1 - 2
Scoring:
1st-S-W-S: Aaron Liu (Jack Mendillo, Eric Zurmuehle) 2:59; Wyatt Fern (Matt Weisgerber, Sean Steward) 14:46; 2nd-S-W-S: Sean Steward (Aaron Liu) 5:15; Aaron Liu (Mike Lynch) 12:04; N-B: Brendon Richard (Nick Briganti, Brandon Ralph) 13:05; S-W-S: Aaron Liu (Liam O’Leary) 14:34; 3rd-S-W-S: Liam O’Leary (Tom Meyers) 4:14; N-B: Brendon Richard (Tyler Mangiasico, Mike Davies) 14:57;
Shots-S-W-S: 23; N-B: 19;
Saves-S-W-S: Riley MacDonald 17; N-B: Drew O’Leary 17
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Wednesday's Top Games (12/14)
I'm starting hockey from the beginning this season and boy do we have a good opening night on tap. I went ice skating at Rockefeller Center in NYC on Tuesday and that experience really made it feel like winter but another good sign of winter is all the quality high school hockey we should see on Wednesday. Enough with the waiting and let's get back to those rinks!
Simsbury @ South Windsor @ 4pm
-SW should win this one but Simsbury is no walk in the park. I will have my eye this match-up up north to see how both teams look coming out this season. I'd recommend going if you are from the CCC area.
North Haven @ Xavier @ 5
-Similar to the game above it, I'd say Xavier is the favorite in this one but I expect North Haven to be a good team this year as well. This should be a better game than the one above it though because North Haven will be better than Simsbury and SW looks to better than X. Again, I really want to see how both of these teams come out and play in a pretty good opening day game for each.
Darien @ Hamden @ 6
-Interesting FCIAC/SCC crossover that is worth attending to see how good Darien will be this year and what kind of team Hamden looks to be this year, at least initially. No question Hamden will be good but this game can certainly help to answer how good and give an indication of thee same for Darien.
New Canaan @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 630
-This should be a very good game and people will be talking about this result all season if both of these programs are in the top ten week in and week out this year like they were last year. ND-WH at home for their opener will give them a big edge and I expect them to come out on top of a new-look New Canaan. This is the SCC area game to check out.
St. Joseph @ Glastonbury @ 7
-I expect to see big things from G-bury in this game to really make a statement on opening night against a quality team from the FCIAC, St. Joseph. The Cadets can possibly beat the Tomahawks though so this could shape up to be a good one here. Decent night cap for the CCC area hockey lovers.
Cheshire @ Conard @ 730
-I really want to see how Cheshire looks against a decent DI team on opening night here and also to see how Conard is going to do this year. I actually think Cheshire will win this game but Conard is known as a place conductive to upsets.
Staples/Weston/Shelton @ Newington/Berlin @ 830
-Maybe not as high caliber as these other games but both teams here are starting off with a very good opponent and serve as a reminder that every team needs to come ready to play from day one because every game is important, even the first one.
Fairfield Prep @ Ridgefield @ 830
-Here it is: the big one. I'm sure many people have lost sleep in anticipation over this game, yet another FCIAC/SCC crossover on the first day. Prep is the defending DI champs looking to come out and prove themselves as the best in the state yet again while Ridgefield touts a high-scoring offense favored to win the FCIAC this year. Game of the night for sure and the one hockey fans from the FCIAC area will definitely want to attend.
DIII game: Hall/Southington @ Northwest Catholic @ 730 (both are looking to have good seasons this year)
Simsbury @ South Windsor @ 4pm
-SW should win this one but Simsbury is no walk in the park. I will have my eye this match-up up north to see how both teams look coming out this season. I'd recommend going if you are from the CCC area.
North Haven @ Xavier @ 5
-Similar to the game above it, I'd say Xavier is the favorite in this one but I expect North Haven to be a good team this year as well. This should be a better game than the one above it though because North Haven will be better than Simsbury and SW looks to better than X. Again, I really want to see how both of these teams come out and play in a pretty good opening day game for each.
Darien @ Hamden @ 6
-Interesting FCIAC/SCC crossover that is worth attending to see how good Darien will be this year and what kind of team Hamden looks to be this year, at least initially. No question Hamden will be good but this game can certainly help to answer how good and give an indication of thee same for Darien.
New Canaan @ Notre Dame-West Haven @ 630
-This should be a very good game and people will be talking about this result all season if both of these programs are in the top ten week in and week out this year like they were last year. ND-WH at home for their opener will give them a big edge and I expect them to come out on top of a new-look New Canaan. This is the SCC area game to check out.
St. Joseph @ Glastonbury @ 7
-I expect to see big things from G-bury in this game to really make a statement on opening night against a quality team from the FCIAC, St. Joseph. The Cadets can possibly beat the Tomahawks though so this could shape up to be a good one here. Decent night cap for the CCC area hockey lovers.
Cheshire @ Conard @ 730
-I really want to see how Cheshire looks against a decent DI team on opening night here and also to see how Conard is going to do this year. I actually think Cheshire will win this game but Conard is known as a place conductive to upsets.
Staples/Weston/Shelton @ Newington/Berlin @ 830
-Maybe not as high caliber as these other games but both teams here are starting off with a very good opponent and serve as a reminder that every team needs to come ready to play from day one because every game is important, even the first one.
Fairfield Prep @ Ridgefield @ 830
-Here it is: the big one. I'm sure many people have lost sleep in anticipation over this game, yet another FCIAC/SCC crossover on the first day. Prep is the defending DI champs looking to come out and prove themselves as the best in the state yet again while Ridgefield touts a high-scoring offense favored to win the FCIAC this year. Game of the night for sure and the one hockey fans from the FCIAC area will definitely want to attend.
DIII game: Hall/Southington @ Northwest Catholic @ 730 (both are looking to have good seasons this year)
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Boys' Hockey: Teams to Watch in 2011-12
Like I did for the lacrosse season, instead of preseason rankings or capsules that focus on local teams only I will be highlighting teams to watch this upcoming season, in no particular order. You can think of this as preseason rankings except that it's silly to use numbers and try to say who is better than who before the 2011-12 teams play more than a few games (most preseason and early season rankings/polls are based on legacy of schools and expectations for the upcoming year...not factual evidence of how they are playing this year). Last year's records are included in parentheses after each team.
DIVISION I
Fairfield Prep (21-3)
-It is only fitting to start off with the defending champions and, as expected, they are favorites to win it all again this year. In fact, I would say that they are THE favorites to win Division I this year. 12-year head coach Matt Sather returns 16 varsity players from last year squad captained by senior forward AJ Unker, a 2nd team all-state selection from last year. Junior David White and senior Matt Brophy also highlight the typical fast-paced and fundamentally sound Fairfield Prep offense. Look for seniors Conor Peteronson and Patrick Hayes to step up and become major contributors as well this year. Senior Tom Worsfold is the leader of Prep's defense and will look to have them as physical but also quick as they were last year. The graduation of goalie John Galiani opens up a possible weakness in the Jesuits but senior Riley Wikman and sophomores Matt Beck and Chris Gutierrez are all vying for the staring job and competition maximizes performance.
Notre Dame-West Haven (12-8)
-Another team I expect big things from this season are the Green Knights from ND-WH. They were a top ten team in the state last year with a young team that will just be deeper and more experienced this year. Colby Cretella, Greg Zullo, transfer Billy Vizzo (ND-Fairfield), Eric Austin, Ed Sherman and Jeff Bausch make up a solid offense while Darren Capobianco, Colin Conte and Anthony Astorino are the physical defensemen we have grown accustom to seeing from ND-WH every year. Similar to Prep, the Green Knights have a big hole between the pipes with the departure of Greg Harney to Trinity-Pawling. If they can find a solid goalie, this team is poised to make run deep into the Division I tournament this year.
Hamden (13-7-1)
-The two-time defending champs before Prep won its 14th title last year were the Hamden Green Dragons. They will be relying on the age-old saying in sports: "offense scores points but defense wins games/championships." They return seniors Brandon Daddio and Connor Walsh along with sophomore Mike Lee on defense and senior Andy Varga is ready to fill in goal after the departure of Matt Hoff. Varga is pretty good himself and should have no problem keeping his team in games. The big Q for coach Bill Verneris is offense. His senior forwards are Paul Amarone, Nick Amarone, Connor Walsh, Tim Lee but really only both Amarones were major contributors last year and they will be without Nick Amarone and Mike Lee for at least 10 and 2 games respectively. Forward Jeremy Germaine transferred in from Hamden Hall and knows how to score.
West Haven (12-7-2)
-West Haven is looking to big things this year and could surprise a lot of people. They graduated star goalie J.P. Withington but that spot will be filled by either Justin Shepard or Forest Schell. Also, they have some of the best forwards in the state with Mike Troiano and Adam Mink both back from last year and then three senior defensemen in Kyle Leyerzapf, Mark Berretta and Josh Robichaud. Watch out for the Blue Devils in not only the SCC but also all of Division I.
Xavier (14-8)
-Xavier's strength this year will be their defense headed up by Dan Dupont and Nick Turner but also three other guys that played last year. Even with the transfer of goalie Austin Essery to Canterbury, Steve Romanelli and Shane Baldwin are both talented so whoever emerges as the starter will be a solid tender for the Falcons. Similar to Hamden, their big question will be on offense. They return some lettermen from last year like Will Stanton, Dakota Caron and Dave Brennan but somebody will need to step up and put the puck in the back of the net since 75 percent of their scoring from last year graduated. They did transfer in forward Ryan Mclellan (Hamden Hall) to perhaps be the solution. Coach Scott Gainey has his work cut out for him but still has a shot at making the playoffs, even with playing in the SCC.
Cheshire (16-6-2)
-I'm not going to come out and make the bold prediction that Cheshire will be this year's St. Joseph (move up from DII and make the DI title game in your first year) and put that burden on the Rams. However, they are talented enough to be featured on my teams to watch in DI this year. Since former head coach Jim Riccitelli retired, Cheshire brought in the experienced former coach from Avon, Karl Sundquist. I think the move and timing will actually help this team since the Rams need a DI one coach to get them up to the pace, tempo and skill level that is DI, as soon as possible if they want to contend in the division. Cheshire also lost Owen Powers, Mike Muzyka and Jack Cunningham to prep schools (Choate, Salisbury and Pomfret respectively) but still return 23 of 30 players from last year's DII Championship squad (they also won DII in 2009). In front of the net, senior Tyler Carbone can have a really special season after how he finished out last year. Will Devine and Spencer Hackett still make up Cheshire's defense and Alex Vendetto, Tyler Violano and Joe D'Errico will be the go-to guys on offense this season. Note, Cheshire has changed their home ice back from Northford Ice Pavilion to Spurrier-Snyder Rink at Wesleyan University in Middletown.
South Windsor (19-5)
-Moving up to the north, South Windsor was a final four team in DI last year. The Bobcats return a solid group of forwards led by Joe Bonazelli and David Oullette and experienced defensemen like Dylan Engle. They also have a strong tandem of goalies, Chris Marchi and Ryan Serksnas, although it looks like Marchi will get the start. Look for them to contend in DI again this year and be right at the top of the CCC-North alongside Glastonbury. I give a lot of credit to coach Neil Rodman for really building up this program in the past nine years.
Glastonbury (16-5-2)
-Speaking of the Tomahawks, they are the defending CCC-North Champions. Like the opposite of Xavier, Glastonbury will be leaning heavily on their offense led by one of the only returning All-State players from last year, forward Ethan Holdaway. They also have three very talented skaters in Drew Mozzer, Aaron Mandell and Acery Clair. On defense, they have seniors John Drury and Michael Pizzo but also a very experienced role players from the top to the bottom of their roster like forward ANthony Aspromonti. They have a huge hole to fill in goal left by Chris Hemauser and their options are junior Chase Gabor, sophomore Alex Ment or freshman Kyle Thibodeaux.
New Canaan (25-1)
-The Rams lost 18 players from last year's team but they are still the defending FCIAC Champions with a stellar terrific in Bo Hickey and some returning talent like captains Dylan Hart and Jake Granito. They also have Tyler Manchuck, Ryan Christie and Puck Richardson on offense while Chip Glover and Ritchie Shane head up the defense. In goal, Chris Konnecke and Theo Christian will start out rotating to try and fill the shoes of Tim Nowaki. New Canaan's season could go either way but I still expect them to be a good team and make some noise, at least in the FCIAC tournament.
Ridgefield (17-6-1)
-The Ridgefield Tigers are slight favorites (over Darien and NC) to win the FCIAC this year with St. Joseph losing so many pieces they are not even on my teams to watch, New Canaan being downgraded by graduation and Ridgefield becoming clearly older and better than the young but still talented Greenwich Cardinals.
Darien (11-11)
-The new guys to my watch list (for hockey), Darien, should be able to make a real run his year. They were a lot better than their record indicated last year, as they proved in both the FCIAC (0-1 loss to NC) and Division I (1-2 loss in OT to Prep) tournaments last year. This year they bring in a new head coach, Chris Gerwig, fresh off a 14-year tenure at Trinity Catholic to become their third head coach in four seasons. Gerwig has nine seniors, five juniors and seven sophomores. The three captains highlight their respective positions, forwards Nick Bruno, defenseman Hank Glick and goalie Max Rothston. I still give Ridgefield the nod for best in the FCIAC based on a slightly stronger lineup and more experience being at the top, but Darien has the potential to go very deep this year.
Others not to sleep on: East Haven (13-8; look to be one of the best offenses in the state with Steve Marsico, Rich Decarlo and Matt Barcomb; defense will be led by Frank Latella; good coach in Lou Pane), North Haven (7-13, missed playoffs by one game last year; new head coach this year: Tom Roche, who also brought in quality assistant coaches; talented line of forwards: Mike Andreucci, Ken Broccoli and Tyler DeMartin), Tri-Town (13-10; senior defensemen Nick Binkowski and Mitch Cobb spearhead the campaign to defend Tri-Town's NHC Championship; senior Billy Chevalier is the top forward and senior Mitch DiResta brings a lot of experience in goal), Amity (9-11-1; the Spartans look strong on offense with Joe Bianchi, Riley Hine, Luke Sacramone and even sophomore Adam Shea; Sparty also has a deep defense with Joe DeGoursey, Alex Viera, Nyg Walker and Nick Santini, all seniors; junior Nick Nuzzolo trying to fill in for Alec Mansfield (graduation) between the pipes rounds out this team that is due for at least one major upset like last year but still has the curse and blessing that is playing in the SCC), Notre Dame-Fairfield (6-13-1; another team that cannot be overlooked year after year and they look to have one of their best teams this year; veteran coach Marty Roos has a strong defense with Frank Sullivan, Frank Zumbo and Greg Ferris protecting goalie Scott Kline [2.66 goals-against average and .910 save % in limited role last year]; biggest obstacle will be scoring but sophomore Christian LaCroix is pretty good and junior Dave Canfarotta transferred in from Salisbury to play forward for the Lancers), Fermi/Enfield (6-13-1; I had to highlight this new co-op of two pretty good hockey schools coming together due to lack of numbers [11 kids at each school] but this alliance puts double the amount of star players on one team, giving Fermi/Enfield a chance to do well in Division I, especially the CCC, this year; Evan Boissy is the star on defense while the big-time forwards are Brendan Lemire and Nick Varner), Windsor/Avon/Farmington (17-5/9-10-2; Avon and Windsor did alright in DIII last year with East Granby as the third member of their co-op but now they add Farmington, a okay team from DII...why this means they will play in DI this year, I do not know; however, they some very talented players like senior forwards Dominic Bazzano, Nick Berns (26 goals, 21 assists last season) and Maz Leopold (19 goals last season) along with senior Tyler Stoll on defense; they have potential led by coach Scott Percival, especially with a schedule of mixed DI, DII and DIII games sure to get them in the post-season but DI is very good so how well they will do in March is a big question).
DIVISION II
DIVISION I
Fairfield Prep (21-3)
-It is only fitting to start off with the defending champions and, as expected, they are favorites to win it all again this year. In fact, I would say that they are THE favorites to win Division I this year. 12-year head coach Matt Sather returns 16 varsity players from last year squad captained by senior forward AJ Unker, a 2nd team all-state selection from last year. Junior David White and senior Matt Brophy also highlight the typical fast-paced and fundamentally sound Fairfield Prep offense. Look for seniors Conor Peteronson and Patrick Hayes to step up and become major contributors as well this year. Senior Tom Worsfold is the leader of Prep's defense and will look to have them as physical but also quick as they were last year. The graduation of goalie John Galiani opens up a possible weakness in the Jesuits but senior Riley Wikman and sophomores Matt Beck and Chris Gutierrez are all vying for the staring job and competition maximizes performance.
Notre Dame-West Haven (12-8)
-Another team I expect big things from this season are the Green Knights from ND-WH. They were a top ten team in the state last year with a young team that will just be deeper and more experienced this year. Colby Cretella, Greg Zullo, transfer Billy Vizzo (ND-Fairfield), Eric Austin, Ed Sherman and Jeff Bausch make up a solid offense while Darren Capobianco, Colin Conte and Anthony Astorino are the physical defensemen we have grown accustom to seeing from ND-WH every year. Similar to Prep, the Green Knights have a big hole between the pipes with the departure of Greg Harney to Trinity-Pawling. If they can find a solid goalie, this team is poised to make run deep into the Division I tournament this year.
Hamden (13-7-1)
-The two-time defending champs before Prep won its 14th title last year were the Hamden Green Dragons. They will be relying on the age-old saying in sports: "offense scores points but defense wins games/championships." They return seniors Brandon Daddio and Connor Walsh along with sophomore Mike Lee on defense and senior Andy Varga is ready to fill in goal after the departure of Matt Hoff. Varga is pretty good himself and should have no problem keeping his team in games. The big Q for coach Bill Verneris is offense. His senior forwards are Paul Amarone, Nick Amarone, Connor Walsh, Tim Lee but really only both Amarones were major contributors last year and they will be without Nick Amarone and Mike Lee for at least 10 and 2 games respectively. Forward Jeremy Germaine transferred in from Hamden Hall and knows how to score.
West Haven (12-7-2)
-West Haven is looking to big things this year and could surprise a lot of people. They graduated star goalie J.P. Withington but that spot will be filled by either Justin Shepard or Forest Schell. Also, they have some of the best forwards in the state with Mike Troiano and Adam Mink both back from last year and then three senior defensemen in Kyle Leyerzapf, Mark Berretta and Josh Robichaud. Watch out for the Blue Devils in not only the SCC but also all of Division I.
Xavier (14-8)
-Xavier's strength this year will be their defense headed up by Dan Dupont and Nick Turner but also three other guys that played last year. Even with the transfer of goalie Austin Essery to Canterbury, Steve Romanelli and Shane Baldwin are both talented so whoever emerges as the starter will be a solid tender for the Falcons. Similar to Hamden, their big question will be on offense. They return some lettermen from last year like Will Stanton, Dakota Caron and Dave Brennan but somebody will need to step up and put the puck in the back of the net since 75 percent of their scoring from last year graduated. They did transfer in forward Ryan Mclellan (Hamden Hall) to perhaps be the solution. Coach Scott Gainey has his work cut out for him but still has a shot at making the playoffs, even with playing in the SCC.
Cheshire (16-6-2)
-I'm not going to come out and make the bold prediction that Cheshire will be this year's St. Joseph (move up from DII and make the DI title game in your first year) and put that burden on the Rams. However, they are talented enough to be featured on my teams to watch in DI this year. Since former head coach Jim Riccitelli retired, Cheshire brought in the experienced former coach from Avon, Karl Sundquist. I think the move and timing will actually help this team since the Rams need a DI one coach to get them up to the pace, tempo and skill level that is DI, as soon as possible if they want to contend in the division. Cheshire also lost Owen Powers, Mike Muzyka and Jack Cunningham to prep schools (Choate, Salisbury and Pomfret respectively) but still return 23 of 30 players from last year's DII Championship squad (they also won DII in 2009). In front of the net, senior Tyler Carbone can have a really special season after how he finished out last year. Will Devine and Spencer Hackett still make up Cheshire's defense and Alex Vendetto, Tyler Violano and Joe D'Errico will be the go-to guys on offense this season. Note, Cheshire has changed their home ice back from Northford Ice Pavilion to Spurrier-Snyder Rink at Wesleyan University in Middletown.
South Windsor (19-5)
-Moving up to the north, South Windsor was a final four team in DI last year. The Bobcats return a solid group of forwards led by Joe Bonazelli and David Oullette and experienced defensemen like Dylan Engle. They also have a strong tandem of goalies, Chris Marchi and Ryan Serksnas, although it looks like Marchi will get the start. Look for them to contend in DI again this year and be right at the top of the CCC-North alongside Glastonbury. I give a lot of credit to coach Neil Rodman for really building up this program in the past nine years.
Glastonbury (16-5-2)
-Speaking of the Tomahawks, they are the defending CCC-North Champions. Like the opposite of Xavier, Glastonbury will be leaning heavily on their offense led by one of the only returning All-State players from last year, forward Ethan Holdaway. They also have three very talented skaters in Drew Mozzer, Aaron Mandell and Acery Clair. On defense, they have seniors John Drury and Michael Pizzo but also a very experienced role players from the top to the bottom of their roster like forward ANthony Aspromonti. They have a huge hole to fill in goal left by Chris Hemauser and their options are junior Chase Gabor, sophomore Alex Ment or freshman Kyle Thibodeaux.
New Canaan (25-1)
-The Rams lost 18 players from last year's team but they are still the defending FCIAC Champions with a stellar terrific in Bo Hickey and some returning talent like captains Dylan Hart and Jake Granito. They also have Tyler Manchuck, Ryan Christie and Puck Richardson on offense while Chip Glover and Ritchie Shane head up the defense. In goal, Chris Konnecke and Theo Christian will start out rotating to try and fill the shoes of Tim Nowaki. New Canaan's season could go either way but I still expect them to be a good team and make some noise, at least in the FCIAC tournament.
Ridgefield (17-6-1)
-The Ridgefield Tigers are slight favorites (over Darien and NC) to win the FCIAC this year with St. Joseph losing so many pieces they are not even on my teams to watch, New Canaan being downgraded by graduation and Ridgefield becoming clearly older and better than the young but still talented Greenwich Cardinals.
Darien (11-11)
-The new guys to my watch list (for hockey), Darien, should be able to make a real run his year. They were a lot better than their record indicated last year, as they proved in both the FCIAC (0-1 loss to NC) and Division I (1-2 loss in OT to Prep) tournaments last year. This year they bring in a new head coach, Chris Gerwig, fresh off a 14-year tenure at Trinity Catholic to become their third head coach in four seasons. Gerwig has nine seniors, five juniors and seven sophomores. The three captains highlight their respective positions, forwards Nick Bruno, defenseman Hank Glick and goalie Max Rothston. I still give Ridgefield the nod for best in the FCIAC based on a slightly stronger lineup and more experience being at the top, but Darien has the potential to go very deep this year.
Others not to sleep on: East Haven (13-8; look to be one of the best offenses in the state with Steve Marsico, Rich Decarlo and Matt Barcomb; defense will be led by Frank Latella; good coach in Lou Pane), North Haven (7-13, missed playoffs by one game last year; new head coach this year: Tom Roche, who also brought in quality assistant coaches; talented line of forwards: Mike Andreucci, Ken Broccoli and Tyler DeMartin), Tri-Town (13-10; senior defensemen Nick Binkowski and Mitch Cobb spearhead the campaign to defend Tri-Town's NHC Championship; senior Billy Chevalier is the top forward and senior Mitch DiResta brings a lot of experience in goal), Amity (9-11-1; the Spartans look strong on offense with Joe Bianchi, Riley Hine, Luke Sacramone and even sophomore Adam Shea; Sparty also has a deep defense with Joe DeGoursey, Alex Viera, Nyg Walker and Nick Santini, all seniors; junior Nick Nuzzolo trying to fill in for Alec Mansfield (graduation) between the pipes rounds out this team that is due for at least one major upset like last year but still has the curse and blessing that is playing in the SCC), Notre Dame-Fairfield (6-13-1; another team that cannot be overlooked year after year and they look to have one of their best teams this year; veteran coach Marty Roos has a strong defense with Frank Sullivan, Frank Zumbo and Greg Ferris protecting goalie Scott Kline [2.66 goals-against average and .910 save % in limited role last year]; biggest obstacle will be scoring but sophomore Christian LaCroix is pretty good and junior Dave Canfarotta transferred in from Salisbury to play forward for the Lancers), Fermi/Enfield (6-13-1; I had to highlight this new co-op of two pretty good hockey schools coming together due to lack of numbers [11 kids at each school] but this alliance puts double the amount of star players on one team, giving Fermi/Enfield a chance to do well in Division I, especially the CCC, this year; Evan Boissy is the star on defense while the big-time forwards are Brendan Lemire and Nick Varner), Windsor/Avon/Farmington (17-5/9-10-2; Avon and Windsor did alright in DIII last year with East Granby as the third member of their co-op but now they add Farmington, a okay team from DII...why this means they will play in DI this year, I do not know; however, they some very talented players like senior forwards Dominic Bazzano, Nick Berns (26 goals, 21 assists last season) and Maz Leopold (19 goals last season) along with senior Tyler Stoll on defense; they have potential led by coach Scott Percival, especially with a schedule of mixed DI, DII and DIII games sure to get them in the post-season but DI is very good so how well they will do in March is a big question).
DIVISION II
Guilford (20-4-1)
-With last year's champion, Cheshire, forced to move up to DI, I will start with the other half of last year's championship game and the number one seed, almost undefeated team that year. The Guilford Indians lost a lot of talent all around to graduation and the transfer of Luc Amatruda to Notre Dame-West Haven. They will still contend in DII with Billy Ring, Bobby Noonan, Kyle Bejnerowiccz, Jack Fitzgerald, James Mackey on offense, all kids that know how to score, and then two solid defensemen in Derek Nelson and Ryan Moore. If senior goalie Chad Faulkner-Filosa can step up, the Indians should be alright this year but DII is definitely wide open.
Hand (12-11-1)
-The Daniel Hand Tigers are, believe it or not, the defending SCC-DII champions. This year they are stacked with talent like goalie Dan Tagliarini, defensemen Eric Williams and Mike Deane and then forwards Joe Deane, Nico Capone and Jarrett Rennie with Capone being the only junior in the group of seniors. However, the forwards will need to step up and score more goals than they did last year since Tyler Bauer and Mike Berestecky, both of whom graduated, scored 63% of the goals last year.
Wilton (12-10-1)
-Only lost 4-5 to DI runner-up St. Joseph in the FCIAC tournament quarterfinals last year and 1-2 in OT to DII Champion Cheshire in the DII semifinals as well. This team will back and ready to contend in both realms again. Leaders are Matt Kobyra on offense and 6'2" sophomore Jon Meissner on defense.
Watertown-Pomperaug (16-7)
-Next up is the reigning DIII Champions, W-P. Forward Ryan Borsari should have no problem scoring points on one end of the ice while goalie Trevor St. Onge just keeps stopping them on the other. St. Onge was good last year but one year older means one year wiser and that is exactly what they will need to make some serious noise in DII.
Staples-Weston-Shelton (16-7)
-Another team that can make an impact right away in DII is DIII runner-up from last year, S-W-S. Their key to success will be a core group of seniors returning from last year's team, namely Andrew Pfefferle, Michael Lynch, Riley MacDonald, Aaron Liu and Forest Savage.
Newtown (15-6)
-The Newtown Nighthawks have just moved up to DII this year and return a solid senior class. Big-time juniors like forward Christian Blais make this team deep and versatile. Coach Paul Esposito has coached most of these players for almost ten years between high school and youth hockey. Their anchor is goalie Mike Allwein who averaged only 2.87 goals against last year.
Trumbull (11-10-2)
-Trumbull made it to Yale last year losing in the DII semi's and return forward Michale Ahearn who scored 19 goals last year. They will also still have a solid tender but some of the new younger forwards will need to step as most of their scoring form last year, aside from Ahearn, graduated.
Others not to sleep on: Wethersfield (6-13-1; Eagles are looking to make a push in the postseason with senior defensemen Brett Fortin and Matt Lis plus junior forward Pat Dowd), East Catholic (13-10; defense will not be a problem with Garrett Richardello, JT Sabin, Evan Cedron and Matt Urrichio but some underclassmen will have to step on offense for the defending CCC-East Champions).
DIVISION III
Northwest Catholic (11-10-2)
-Upset number one seed Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury last year and made it to the DIII semifinals for the third straight year and for the third straight year also lost to the eventual champion, who moved up to the next division each year (St. Joseph in '09, Guilford in '10, Watertown-Pomperaug in '11). They return all but one starter from last year and this could very well be their year. Their first line is one of the best in the division with A.J. Massaro, Jeff Greenwood and Patrick Melanson. Senior Tyler Vaughn is the name to know on defense. Also, goalie Matt Greenwood was a second-team all-state selection last year.
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown (10-11)
-Experienced team that made the playoffs last year and has only gotten better since. Key returning player is junior Kyle Whalen who tallied 43 points in sophomore season.
Newington-Berlin (15-7-1)
-Defending CCC-North Champs, can never count them out.
Joel Barlow (8-11)
-Led by senior forward Mike Mattson, a second-tem all-state pick last year.
Masuk (5-14-1)
-Very young team last year that came up a little short of states; I expect them to make it and do well this year.
Hand (12-11-1)
-The Daniel Hand Tigers are, believe it or not, the defending SCC-DII champions. This year they are stacked with talent like goalie Dan Tagliarini, defensemen Eric Williams and Mike Deane and then forwards Joe Deane, Nico Capone and Jarrett Rennie with Capone being the only junior in the group of seniors. However, the forwards will need to step up and score more goals than they did last year since Tyler Bauer and Mike Berestecky, both of whom graduated, scored 63% of the goals last year.
Wilton (12-10-1)
-Only lost 4-5 to DI runner-up St. Joseph in the FCIAC tournament quarterfinals last year and 1-2 in OT to DII Champion Cheshire in the DII semifinals as well. This team will back and ready to contend in both realms again. Leaders are Matt Kobyra on offense and 6'2" sophomore Jon Meissner on defense.
Watertown-Pomperaug (16-7)
-Next up is the reigning DIII Champions, W-P. Forward Ryan Borsari should have no problem scoring points on one end of the ice while goalie Trevor St. Onge just keeps stopping them on the other. St. Onge was good last year but one year older means one year wiser and that is exactly what they will need to make some serious noise in DII.
Staples-Weston-Shelton (16-7)
-Another team that can make an impact right away in DII is DIII runner-up from last year, S-W-S. Their key to success will be a core group of seniors returning from last year's team, namely Andrew Pfefferle, Michael Lynch, Riley MacDonald, Aaron Liu and Forest Savage.
Newtown (15-6)
-The Newtown Nighthawks have just moved up to DII this year and return a solid senior class. Big-time juniors like forward Christian Blais make this team deep and versatile. Coach Paul Esposito has coached most of these players for almost ten years between high school and youth hockey. Their anchor is goalie Mike Allwein who averaged only 2.87 goals against last year.
Trumbull (11-10-2)
-Trumbull made it to Yale last year losing in the DII semi's and return forward Michale Ahearn who scored 19 goals last year. They will also still have a solid tender but some of the new younger forwards will need to step as most of their scoring form last year, aside from Ahearn, graduated.
Others not to sleep on: Wethersfield (6-13-1; Eagles are looking to make a push in the postseason with senior defensemen Brett Fortin and Matt Lis plus junior forward Pat Dowd), East Catholic (13-10; defense will not be a problem with Garrett Richardello, JT Sabin, Evan Cedron and Matt Urrichio but some underclassmen will have to step on offense for the defending CCC-East Champions).
DIVISION III
Northwest Catholic (11-10-2)
-Upset number one seed Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury last year and made it to the DIII semifinals for the third straight year and for the third straight year also lost to the eventual champion, who moved up to the next division each year (St. Joseph in '09, Guilford in '10, Watertown-Pomperaug in '11). They return all but one starter from last year and this could very well be their year. Their first line is one of the best in the division with A.J. Massaro, Jeff Greenwood and Patrick Melanson. Senior Tyler Vaughn is the name to know on defense. Also, goalie Matt Greenwood was a second-team all-state selection last year.
Rocky Hill/RHAM/Middletown (10-11)
-Experienced team that made the playoffs last year and has only gotten better since. Key returning player is junior Kyle Whalen who tallied 43 points in sophomore season.
Newington-Berlin (15-7-1)
-Defending CCC-North Champs, can never count them out.
Joel Barlow (8-11)
-Led by senior forward Mike Mattson, a second-tem all-state pick last year.
Masuk (5-14-1)
-Very young team last year that came up a little short of states; I expect them to make it and do well this year.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
General Announcements (Me, Football and Hockey)
First, an update on what I've been up to lately. I work in the Athletics department at Stevens Institute of Technology and frequently announce the webcasts of many of their home events in the winter season. You can find the links through www.stevensducks.com.
Next, I would like to say that I am exploring the possibility of bringing back the blog for the winter season but only for Boys' Hockey. A decision and post on pre-season capsules or rankings will be coming by Wednesday, the first day of comeptition.
Finally, congratulation to Holy Cross (Class S), Ansonia (Class M), Hand (Class L) and Xavier (Class LL) for winning state championships in football. Holy Cross ended Cromwell's cinderella playoff run in dominating fashion, Ansonia proved that they can win in Class M too, Hand prevented New Canaan from winning 5 of the last 6 in L and Xavier won their 26th game in a row and second straight title by beating the last team they lost to ('09 semifinals), Staples.
-Mark
Next, I would like to say that I am exploring the possibility of bringing back the blog for the winter season but only for Boys' Hockey. A decision and post on pre-season capsules or rankings will be coming by Wednesday, the first day of comeptition.
Finally, congratulation to Holy Cross (Class S), Ansonia (Class M), Hand (Class L) and Xavier (Class LL) for winning state championships in football. Holy Cross ended Cromwell's cinderella playoff run in dominating fashion, Ansonia proved that they can win in Class M too, Hand prevented New Canaan from winning 5 of the last 6 in L and Xavier won their 26th game in a row and second straight title by beating the last team they lost to ('09 semifinals), Staples.
-Mark
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Boys' Lacrosse: Coaches of the Year
Coach of the Year
CLASS L: Mike Epstein - Brien McMahon
CLASS M: Jeff Lombardo - Daniel Hand
CLASS S: Paul Deon - Stonington
Assistant Coach of the Year
CLASS L: Steve Garneau - Conard
CLASS M: AJ Alessi - Branford
CLASS S: Chris Jez - Somers
CLASS L: Mike Epstein - Brien McMahon
CLASS M: Jeff Lombardo - Daniel Hand
CLASS S: Paul Deon - Stonington
Assistant Coach of the Year
CLASS L: Steve Garneau - Conard
CLASS M: AJ Alessi - Branford
CLASS S: Chris Jez - Somers
Boys' Lacrosse: All-State First and Second Teams (with college commitments)
CT All-State First Team
CLASS L
Attack
Matt Kycia - Xavier - Senior - Quinnipiac
Scott McCormack - Brien McMahon - Senior - Endicott
Matt Prezioso - Southington - Senior - Wesleyan
Aidan Scott - Ridgefield - Senior - Denver
Stephen Dodd - Greenwich - Senior - Fairfield University
Midfield
Kip Orban - Staples - Senior - Princeton
Andrew Buckanavage - Ridgefield - Senior - UVM
Zach Wholley - Southington - Senior - Maryland
Matt Dupont - Cheshire - Senior - Keene State
David Dickson - Greenwich - Senior - Bucknell
Cory Santor - Glastonbury - Senior - Wagner
Defense
Matt Yeager - Staples - Senior - Colgate
Mark Fessenmeyer - Brien McMahon - Senior - Roger Williams
Dan Jacobsen - Simsbury - Senior - Connecticut College
Adam Sands - Greenwich- Senior - Lehigh
Torrey Martone - Cheshire - Senior - UMass
Goalie
Parker Burr - Simsbury - Senior - UMass
Long Stick Defensive Midfield
Matthew Shannon - Ridgefield - Senior - UNC
Short Stick Defensive Midfield
Louis Digiacomo - Brien McMahon - Senior - Fairfield University
CLASS M
Attack
Case Matheis - Darien - Junior - Duke
Mike Francia - Wilton - Senior - Villanova
Richard Gregory - Darien - Senior - Union
Mike Bossidy - New Canaan - Junior
John Pendergast - New Fairfield - Senior - Western Connecticut
Midfield
Graham Maybell - Darien - Senior - Villanova
Joe Costigan - New Canaan - Senior - UNC
Mike Serpa - Wilton - Senior - Dickinson College
Chad Crisco - Daniel Hand - Senior - Quinnipiac
Ryan Mallon - New Fairfield - Senior - Siena
Mike DeFaria - East Lyme - Senior
Defense
Eric Parnon - Darien - Senior - Maryland
Christian Kolderup - Darien - Senior - Villanova
Pat Holland - Wilton - Senior - Roger Williams
Stephen Gruse - New Fairfield - Senior - C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
Christian Cattaruzza - Guilford - Senior - Babson
Goalie
Sam Somers - Wilton - Senior - Army
LSDM
Baylis Treen - Darien - Senior - Lafayette
SSDM
JP Walsh - Darien - Senior - Lehigh
CLASS S
Attack
Connor Sweet - Ledyard - Senior - Roger Williams
Zach Thresher - Somers - Senior - Eastern Connecticut
Wyatt Tompkins - Joel Barlow - Junior
Brian Bacarella - St. Joseph - Junior
Cory Allen - Suffield - Senior - Southern New Hampshire
Midfield
Pat Corcoran - St. Joseph - Senior - Quinnipiac
Mike Hanna - Somers - Senior - Salisbury
Brian Sternberg - Joel Barlow - Senior
Thomas Riordan - Stonington - Senior
Connor Defemia - Ellington - Senior
Jack Scheufele - Weston - Junior
Defense
Kip McMahon - Weston - Senior - Fairfield University
Garrett Ficara - Somers - Senior - Endicott
Cam Pollard - Ledyard - Senior
Doug Indelicato - Joel Barlow - Senior
Sean Curtin - Ledyard - Senior - Saint Michael's
Goalie
Dan Bell - Somers - Senior - Western New England
LSDM
Nick Taylor - Joel Barlow - Junior
SSDM
Brandon Goncalves - St. Joseph - Senior
CT All-State Second Team
CLASS L
Attack
Kevin Adams - Cheshire - Junior
Lewis Thompson - Newtown - Senior - Wittenberg
Danny Carr - Hall - Senior
Charlie Ross - Staples - Senior - Union
Connor Kelly - Fairfield Prep - Sophomore
Midfield
Dan Walsh - Xavier - Senior
Colby Summerlin - Newtown - Senior
Harrison Cotter - Fairfield Prep - Senior
Will Northrop - Newtown - Senior - Gettysburg
Ryan Scott - Brien McMahon - Junior
Jeff Smith - Simsbury - Junior
Defense
Brandon Reid - Xavier - Senior - Stevenson
Douglas Pollack - Glastonbury - Senior
Max Nacewicz - Newtown - Senior
Travis Tiger - Ridgefield - Senior - Eastern Connecticut
Dean Duffy - Fairfield Prep - Senior
Goalie
Dan Feeney - Greenwich - Senior - Salisbury
Long Stick Defensive Midfield
Evan Gaudio - Cheshire - Senior - Deerfield (Prep school in New Hampshire)
Short Stick Defensice Midfield
Steve Patria - Simsbury - Senior
CLASS M
Attack
Paul Alberti - Daniel Hand - Senior - Avon Old Farms (Prep school in CT)
Ben Preston - Darien - Senior - Trinity
Brian Swenson - East Lyme - Senior
Nick Petrowski - Guilford - Senior
Ian Bond - Fitch - Sophomore
Midfield
Nate Ryan - Fairfield Ludlowe - Senior - Wesleyan
Henry West - Darien - Junior - Cornell
Kurt Skelly - Avon - Senior
Bobby Weaver - Darien - Junior
Taylor Leahy - RHAM - Senior - Western Connecticut
Casey Dowd - Daniel Hand - Senior - Siena
Defense
Zach Bartlett - East Lyme - Senior - Western Connecticut
Tony Britton - Darien - Junior - Cornell
Kevin McDonough - New Canaan - Junior
Nick Kyle - New Fairfield - Senior
Eric DeLea - East Lyme - Senior
Goalie
Jimmy Granito - New Canaan - Senior - Loyola
LSDM
Willie Gould - New Canaan - Senior
SSDM
Jack Bratches - New Canaan - Junior
CLASS S
Attack
Jake Turkowski - Old Lyme - Senior - Wesleyan
Nolan Stauffer - Joel Barlow - Junior
Dan Pelzar - Granby Memorial - Senior - Endicott
Avery Dodd - Stonington - Sophomore
Mike Marini - St. Joseph - Senior
Midfield
Pat Mulligan - St. Joseph - Senior - Quinnipiac
Neil Cardwell - Somers - Senior
Ryan Brouwer - Waterford - Sophomore
Mike Delia - Ledyard - Junior
Alex Navarro - Old Saybrook - Senior
Oscar Nordness - Stonington - Senior - UConn
Defense
Alex Stefkovich - St. Joseph - Senior - Mount St. Mary's
Jacob Steinhoff - Stonington - Senior
Tyler Pardee - Granby Memorial - Senior
Dan Shine - Waterford - Senior
Nick Francis - St. Joseph - Senior - Stevens
Goalie
Alex Peyreigne - Weston - Senior - Merchant Marine Academy
LSDM
Brendan Wenzel - Ledyard - Junior
SSDM
Eddie Hutchins - Weston - Senior
CLASS L
Attack
Matt Kycia - Xavier - Senior - Quinnipiac
Scott McCormack - Brien McMahon - Senior - Endicott
Matt Prezioso - Southington - Senior - Wesleyan
Aidan Scott - Ridgefield - Senior - Denver
Stephen Dodd - Greenwich - Senior - Fairfield University
Midfield
Kip Orban - Staples - Senior - Princeton
Andrew Buckanavage - Ridgefield - Senior - UVM
Zach Wholley - Southington - Senior - Maryland
Matt Dupont - Cheshire - Senior - Keene State
David Dickson - Greenwich - Senior - Bucknell
Cory Santor - Glastonbury - Senior - Wagner
Defense
Matt Yeager - Staples - Senior - Colgate
Mark Fessenmeyer - Brien McMahon - Senior - Roger Williams
Dan Jacobsen - Simsbury - Senior - Connecticut College
Adam Sands - Greenwich- Senior - Lehigh
Torrey Martone - Cheshire - Senior - UMass
Goalie
Parker Burr - Simsbury - Senior - UMass
Long Stick Defensive Midfield
Matthew Shannon - Ridgefield - Senior - UNC
Short Stick Defensive Midfield
Louis Digiacomo - Brien McMahon - Senior - Fairfield University
CLASS M
Attack
Case Matheis - Darien - Junior - Duke
Mike Francia - Wilton - Senior - Villanova
Richard Gregory - Darien - Senior - Union
Mike Bossidy - New Canaan - Junior
John Pendergast - New Fairfield - Senior - Western Connecticut
Midfield
Graham Maybell - Darien - Senior - Villanova
Joe Costigan - New Canaan - Senior - UNC
Mike Serpa - Wilton - Senior - Dickinson College
Chad Crisco - Daniel Hand - Senior - Quinnipiac
Ryan Mallon - New Fairfield - Senior - Siena
Mike DeFaria - East Lyme - Senior
Defense
Eric Parnon - Darien - Senior - Maryland
Christian Kolderup - Darien - Senior - Villanova
Pat Holland - Wilton - Senior - Roger Williams
Stephen Gruse - New Fairfield - Senior - C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
Christian Cattaruzza - Guilford - Senior - Babson
Goalie
Sam Somers - Wilton - Senior - Army
LSDM
Baylis Treen - Darien - Senior - Lafayette
SSDM
JP Walsh - Darien - Senior - Lehigh
CLASS S
Attack
Connor Sweet - Ledyard - Senior - Roger Williams
Zach Thresher - Somers - Senior - Eastern Connecticut
Wyatt Tompkins - Joel Barlow - Junior
Brian Bacarella - St. Joseph - Junior
Cory Allen - Suffield - Senior - Southern New Hampshire
Midfield
Pat Corcoran - St. Joseph - Senior - Quinnipiac
Mike Hanna - Somers - Senior - Salisbury
Brian Sternberg - Joel Barlow - Senior
Thomas Riordan - Stonington - Senior
Connor Defemia - Ellington - Senior
Jack Scheufele - Weston - Junior
Defense
Kip McMahon - Weston - Senior - Fairfield University
Garrett Ficara - Somers - Senior - Endicott
Cam Pollard - Ledyard - Senior
Doug Indelicato - Joel Barlow - Senior
Sean Curtin - Ledyard - Senior - Saint Michael's
Goalie
Dan Bell - Somers - Senior - Western New England
LSDM
Nick Taylor - Joel Barlow - Junior
SSDM
Brandon Goncalves - St. Joseph - Senior
CT All-State Second Team
CLASS L
Attack
Kevin Adams - Cheshire - Junior
Lewis Thompson - Newtown - Senior - Wittenberg
Danny Carr - Hall - Senior
Charlie Ross - Staples - Senior - Union
Connor Kelly - Fairfield Prep - Sophomore
Midfield
Dan Walsh - Xavier - Senior
Colby Summerlin - Newtown - Senior
Harrison Cotter - Fairfield Prep - Senior
Will Northrop - Newtown - Senior - Gettysburg
Ryan Scott - Brien McMahon - Junior
Jeff Smith - Simsbury - Junior
Defense
Brandon Reid - Xavier - Senior - Stevenson
Douglas Pollack - Glastonbury - Senior
Max Nacewicz - Newtown - Senior
Travis Tiger - Ridgefield - Senior - Eastern Connecticut
Dean Duffy - Fairfield Prep - Senior
Goalie
Dan Feeney - Greenwich - Senior - Salisbury
Long Stick Defensive Midfield
Evan Gaudio - Cheshire - Senior - Deerfield (Prep school in New Hampshire)
Short Stick Defensice Midfield
Steve Patria - Simsbury - Senior
CLASS M
Attack
Paul Alberti - Daniel Hand - Senior - Avon Old Farms (Prep school in CT)
Ben Preston - Darien - Senior - Trinity
Brian Swenson - East Lyme - Senior
Nick Petrowski - Guilford - Senior
Ian Bond - Fitch - Sophomore
Midfield
Nate Ryan - Fairfield Ludlowe - Senior - Wesleyan
Henry West - Darien - Junior - Cornell
Kurt Skelly - Avon - Senior
Bobby Weaver - Darien - Junior
Taylor Leahy - RHAM - Senior - Western Connecticut
Casey Dowd - Daniel Hand - Senior - Siena
Defense
Zach Bartlett - East Lyme - Senior - Western Connecticut
Tony Britton - Darien - Junior - Cornell
Kevin McDonough - New Canaan - Junior
Nick Kyle - New Fairfield - Senior
Eric DeLea - East Lyme - Senior
Goalie
Jimmy Granito - New Canaan - Senior - Loyola
LSDM
Willie Gould - New Canaan - Senior
SSDM
Jack Bratches - New Canaan - Junior
CLASS S
Attack
Jake Turkowski - Old Lyme - Senior - Wesleyan
Nolan Stauffer - Joel Barlow - Junior
Dan Pelzar - Granby Memorial - Senior - Endicott
Avery Dodd - Stonington - Sophomore
Mike Marini - St. Joseph - Senior
Midfield
Pat Mulligan - St. Joseph - Senior - Quinnipiac
Neil Cardwell - Somers - Senior
Ryan Brouwer - Waterford - Sophomore
Mike Delia - Ledyard - Junior
Alex Navarro - Old Saybrook - Senior
Oscar Nordness - Stonington - Senior - UConn
Defense
Alex Stefkovich - St. Joseph - Senior - Mount St. Mary's
Jacob Steinhoff - Stonington - Senior
Tyler Pardee - Granby Memorial - Senior
Dan Shine - Waterford - Senior
Nick Francis - St. Joseph - Senior - Stevens
Goalie
Alex Peyreigne - Weston - Senior - Merchant Marine Academy
LSDM
Brendan Wenzel - Ledyard - Junior
SSDM
Eddie Hutchins - Weston - Senior
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