As the Christian season of Lent began on Wednesday, so did the CIAC Division I Ice Hockey tournament. Oh what a night! No major upsets (aside from 9 over 8) but plenty of the excitement that one comes to expect from playoff hockey:
(16) Greenwich 1 @ (1) #2 New Canaan 5
-Make that 24-0 for the Rams who are back on track. Goalie Tim Nowacki looked solid only letting in one goal on 19 shots and the offense, especially Reed Harper (2 goals) and Dylan Hart (1 goal but was everywhere on offense). Ryan Begoon and David Crandall also scored for New Canaan while
-Conor Crouse had himself a game (1 goal, 2 assists) as he lead his St. Joesph Cadets to sweet revenge over Amity (7-5 loss in last year's DII championship game). The Cadets have now won all three meetings between the two DI rookies this year and the Spartans' season is over. St. Joseph advances to face their fellow FCIAC squad, Ridgefield (going to a tremendous game...preview will be up on Friday). Pat Corcoran also had a goal an assist while junior Matt Julian moved up to the first line for this game and scored as well. Amity's all-star goalie, Alec Mansfield, had 34 saves, 16 in the third period, as one would expect from a player of his caliber (St. Joseph's third goal was an empty-netter). Zach Carrano had 24 saves for St. Joseph but Amity's offense was completely different from the one they've had all year as they lost their top forward, Joe Bianchi, for the playoffs and I really think that was the difference maker in this one.
(12) Conard 1 @ (5) #6 Ridgefield 4
-Conard struck first in this one but it didn't have quite the effect as when they did against Xavier. Ridgefield is 11-0-1 at home after this one and for good reason; they answered Conard's first period goal with a goal by Aidan Scott before the period ended. From there, the Tigers scored three more unanswered (one empty-net) and got the win. Danny McMullan had a goal and two assists but Sean Wilkinson was the star with two goals and an assist. Matt Hrvatin, Timmy Kelly and Matt Flanagan all finished with assists as well for Ridgefield.
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(15) Darien 1 @ (2) #1 Fairfield Prep 2 OT
-There is a reason I hyped up the potential upset, and it wasn't just based on Xavier F/C Charlie Dupont's always sound advice. Darien shocked the state last year by upsetting 1 seed West Haven 4-3 then 8 seed Tri-Town 6-0 before losing to eventual champion Hamden 3-2 in the semifinals...they were the first 16 seed to ever make it to Yale. This year, they almost upset New Canaan in the FCIAC semifinals (0-1 loss) and came even closer tonight taking the best team in the state to OT and only losing with 5:49 left. The Blue Wave not only showed how actually talented they were this year again but also highlighted how wide open the DI tournament despite NC and Prep's dominance in the regular season! Darien scored 2:40 second into the game on a goal by Nick Bruno via Richard Gregory's assist but that would be it. Prep did not answer until 5:20 left in the third when A.J. Unker passed it to Evan Antisdale and he put a loose puck by Max Rothston. Inbetween the two goals Darien couldn't sustain a strong offense as Prep goal tender John Galiani only had to make 16 saves and Prep fired numerous shots, only scoring when they resorted to the most basic offense of shooting on goal and then crashing the net for a rebound. Darien's goalie, Rothston, had 36 saves but couldn't stop Bryan Puffer's shot off a rebound from Ray Boudiette's shot with 5:49 left in overtime. Don Carnicky and Darric White also had assists for Prep on the night.
(10) #10 West Haven 3 @ (7) #3 Hamden 5
-You want drama, how does a rivalry game at Louis Astorino sound? This game was tied twice, in both the first period at 1-1 and the second period at 2-2. In addition to that, the glass behind West Haven's bench shattered in the first period right after Ryan Hansen scored for them to even things at one apiece. The twenty-minute delay to fix the glass really killed any momentum WH had but nonetheless they scored again before the period was over to head into the locker room up 2-1. Hamden, the two-time defending champions, came out strong in the second and Brandon Dadio managed to get a rebound past WH goalie J.P. Withington off a shot by Nick Amarone just 1:18 into the second. Hamden scored twice more in the second and never looked back. Withington had 43 saves but the Green Dragons are #3 in the state for a reason. Plus, only getting off 16 shots (WH did) is not going to cut it if you're trying to beat Hamden, especially in the tournament.
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(14) Tri-Town 3 @ (3) #8 South Windsor 5
-3-1 then 4-2...why not 5-3 for the 3rd time? This was on the "two goal maximum" side but at the end of the day, as close as the game may have been, the better team emerged and will be playing in the quarterfinals. Joey Bonazelli stood out on the night with four points for the Bobcats. I do not know which goalie played for SW but hopefully I'll find out tomorrow because that will make a difference when they play Xavier on Saturday. Tri-Town had a good season as NHC Champions but since South Windsor lost the CCC-North Championship, on a Division I Championship will satisfy this team now!
(11) East Haven 3 @ (6) #4 Xavier 4
-SCC Hockey...it's a crazy but beautiful thing. No matter what team you're rooting for, your emotions are jostled around throughout the game and make the outcome that much sweeter (or sour). Like I said coming, East Haven had a real chance in this one and answered each and every one of Xavier's goals, save the last one. The Falcons defenseman Nick Turner netted a beauty to start things off at the 5:26 mark of the first period. East Haven matched that effort in the second when captain Tom Brunski scored unassisted 2:13 into the period. Xaveir captain Kurt Johnson was not about to be shown up in his own house and got the lead back for X 2 minutes and 16 seconds later with a goal that ignited the crowd and entire team really. One couldn't get too comfortable though as Xaveir goalie Austin Essery lunged to cover up a rebound two minutes later bu missed and Andrew Hamilton, the other captain for the Easties, put the puck in the back of the net. At the 11:45 mark, Charlie Dupont (another captain) buried a shot in front of the net thanks to some nice footwork and again put Xavier ahead, 3-2 this time. And again, with 55 seconds left in the period, EH came back as Hamilton scored again, this time thanks to some scrum in front of the net, but nonetheless things were 3-3 when the second period ended. Tie games are always nerve-wracking but Xavier's crowd stood behind them and Xavier's third and final captain, Dan Walsh, scored 4 minutes and 33 seconds into the third, unassisted, and pull off what many consider to be the celebration of the year (pictures from the game can be found in the Middletown Press's article). That goal proved to be the game winner as Essery played a lot better in the third and Xavier moves on to play South Windsor in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Both teams will need to play better than they did in the first round if they hope to win! For East Haven, Stephen Marsico only had an assist along with Matt Longobardi, Matt Barcomb and Rich Decarlo. Goalie Sam Gavigan had around 34 saves while Essery had about 12. Walsh had two assists to go with his goal, Johnson had one assist to go with his goal and standout freshman defenseman Kade McCartin added two assists.
NOTE: Interesting thing to think about: one team is only three wins away from being the state champion...
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