All games are Wednesday 3/16 at Yale's Ingalls Rink in New Haven.
(1) #2 New Canaan vs (4) #9 St. Joseph @ 530pm
-Things don't get any easier for New Canaan coming off their win over Glastonbury. St. Joseph is looking for revenge in this game not only for a pair of regular season losses (2-6 on 1/4 and 2-5 on 2/12) but also the 2-3 OT loss to NC in the FCIAC Championship game on 3/5. The New Canaan Rams are coming into the game playing the 25-0 team that they are; Tim Nowaki is doing well in goal, their defense has stepped it up as of late and they have proved they have more offensive weapons than just Charlie Corcoran and Reed Harper. The St. Joseph Cadets are riding hot play from their goalie Zach Carrano into this one after the kid stood on his head (33 saves) in their 3-2 win over Ridgefield in the Semifinals. I think that that ends here or NC at least bends him enough to put the games in the hand of their defense and Nowaki, who just seems to get better each game. Anything can certainly happen since it's the playoffs and these are two very good teams, not to mention St. Joseph has playoff experience. I think New Canaan is back on track after those slip-ups in the FCIAC and they will emerge with their 26th win of the season!
(2) #1 Fairfield Prep vs (3) #8 South Windsor @ 730
-Interestig match-up that not even Conyers picked. Prep won 7-0 way back on 12/18 when the two played a regular season game. Prep certainly will not be over looking SW though after SW just upset Xavier in the quarterfinals. Also, the kids on Prep are smart and know that they need to bring it every game, for the entire game. You know playing at Yale will get both teams pumped too! SW will need to score that crucial first goal again in this one and goalie Christian Marchi will need to be better than he was against Xavier or Glastonbury if the Bobcats want to upset another SCC "giant!" If Prep scores first and the SW defense dwells on it too much, Prep will score again and things will just ugly from there. I'm not expecting 7-0 again as both teams have grown and matured together a lot since 3 months ago but I do still think my number one team in the state will win and be playing in the championship game Saturday at 2pm!
Scalz,
ReplyDeleteGood assessment of the SW v Prep game...no question on who the underdog is in this match up...but I think SW will be a tough opponent....they will have to play the perfect game.... but this team is a group of battlers....who seem to enjoy prove predictions wrong...so we'll see. One other point....reread your X v SW post game...you're about the only one who praised th SW Defense on their shot blocking etc...limiting X to 10 shots in the first two periods..Marchi made some good saves at the end to lock it down ...but X had very limited opportunities due to the Team sacrificing their bodies to stop or deflect shots....which I believe was the key to the win....
yeah I think SW may be able to win even if they don't play perfectly (look at NC's goalie chocking big time right now...something no one expected) but at the same time Prep can win even if SW scores first, thanks though
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kudos, X was a very offense-heavy team since their D was so young; they really relied on it a lot