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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Boys' Hockey: Thursday and Friday's Results (1/26 adn 1/27)

All shutouts but there was still a lot of good hockey played.

Thursday

Cheshire 0 @ #1 Fairfield Prep 5
-This game is exactly what Prep wanted to prepare for the Jesuit Tournament that they're going to in NJ this weekend.  IT was a solid win over a solid team that was competitive enough to make them better but comfortable enough that it won't put a strain on them playing again on Friday and Saturday.  Here is the box score:
Goals
1st period: FP - David White (Will Brophy) 14:45.  2nd period: FP - David White (AJ Unker) 3:57; David White (AJ Unker) 13:47.  3rd period: FP - Kevin Brown (Nick Bargiello) 1:36; David White (Matt Brophy) 3:46.
Saves: C - Tyler Carbone 40; FP - Chris Gutierrez 6.
Shots: C - 6; FP - 45.

New Canaan 4 @ Notre Dame-Fairfield 0
-Good win for NC by way of a solid offensive effort and an even better defensive one to shutout the Lancers; box score:
Goals
1st period: NC - Jake Granito (Tyler Manchuck, Dylan Hart) 14:31.  2nd period: NC - Harry Stanton (Brock Anderson) 14:29.  3rd period: NC - Harry Stanton 1:24; Dylan Hart (Spencer MAnchuck, Jake Granito) 6:48.
Saves: NC - Chris Koennecke 30; ND - Justin Krochko 27.
Shots: NC - 31; ND - 30.

Friday

#1 Fairfield Prep 2 @ Boston College High 0 @ Prudential Center (Newark, NJ)
-Great "upset" win for Prep here at the Jesuit Shootout played at the AmeriHealth Pavilion at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.  To start, both teams came out sluggish and I have to think that was because of how far both of these teams had to travel to get to Newark and the fact that these kids had school earlier in the day too.  BC High picked it up first and Riley Wikman made some good saves to pick up his team.  When BC is physical, it gives them the advantage but they didn't play physical that much.  Fairfield Prep's quickness allowed them to clear quickly (when they could take the puck from BC), shift right over to offense and get a few shots on goal.  Prep had some scoring chances around midway through the period when Evan Antisdale fed Connor Henry but the close-range shot was blocked and then a short while later when Henry hit the inside of the post but the puck did not ricochet into the net.  The Jesuits broke through with a goal at the 13:27 mark when AJ Unker's shot was "redirected" by David White and found its way past the goalie.  Really, it was a scrum goal where the puck was kind of bouncing in front of the goalie but he couldn't react in time react in time to knock it way or cover it up.  The puck wasn't moving quickly, like a normal redirect, but Prep got the goal nonetheless and Henry was credited with an assist on the play as well.  In response, BC played more aggressive, a little more physical and almost scored on a deflection and then a half open net because the goalie was down but the Eagles were no good on both, Prep cleared and the period ended.  BC had some other chances that they lost asa  result of poor puck control.
In the second, BC maintained a margin of more than twice the shots on goal that Prep had, until Chris LaLiberte was called for interference and Prep went on the power play 1:16 into the period.  On the PP, the Jesuits ran the same play three times where they took a shot from the blue line and had a perfect opportunity for a rebound goal but three times they could not get the puck on the rebound to put it home.  Henry had a one-on-one to the side of the net on the power play as well that he failed to convert and was visibly mad about afterwards.  Although they did not score, Prep almost caught all the way up in shots during those two minutes.  At the 4:35 mark, Kevin Brown tripped up a BC player and that sent the Eagles on their first power play.  However, again BC had more chances lost due to mishandling the puck; Prep also did a nice job o clear the puck a few times.  After the PP, the BC players started looking a little down and it just proliferated the lack of a physical game everyone was seeing.  Both teams were soft on their checks and the players were not looking to be that physical in any situation.  Unker started getting hot for Prep when he made a nice move to beat the defenders but his shot on the ice back across was just wide.  BC also became less physical and aggressive on face-offs and, as a result, lost a lot more of them late in the second.  Prep got increasingly more opportunities as a result as well and they nearly scored their second goal when Unker found White between two defensemen and the pass got him alone with the goalie.  He got a great shot but it was just a little too high and went over the crossbar.  #11 for BC High, Tom Besinger, was working hard at the end of the period but the score remained 1-0 FP with the shots on goal 23-20 in favor of BC.
There was a little bit of intensity from both sides to start the third period.  Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds in, FP's Kenny Kochiss hooked a BC player and the Eagles got their second power play opportunity.  Frankly, the BC defensemen aren't good at keeping the puck in the zone and that cost them a bit on this PP.  Their best opportunity was a 2-on-1 in front of the net but miscommunication on the centering pass ended that threat and the power play.  Back on the other end, Unker got the puck across in front of the net to Henry but BC goalie, Peter Cronin made a good play when he slid over in time and save the puck on this bang-bang play.  BC seemed to have no urgency, purpose or plan really.  They were always searching, never finding; always trying, never succeeding.  The Eagles didn't really ever think ahead and seemed to have a low hockey IQ, at least in this game.  An example would be when Bartley Regan made a nice move up ice to beat one defenseman but went along the boards and tried to shoot it from that angle, giving his shot a very low percentage of going in, even without a goalie in the way.  Again, AJ Unker started doing work for Prep and Cronin kept having to make good saves to stop him.  However, he broke through on an easy goal through Cronin's five-hole.  He just beat him I guess but it wasn't really a relatively fast or hard shot, especially not compared to even others that game.  Billy D'Amore and Connor Henry picked up assists on Prep's second and final goal, 10:44 into the third period.  BC must have been having one of their worst games of the year because they looked stagnant, almost like they didn't know what they were doing.  Also, they did a poor job adapting when things didn't go perfectly.  The ran this nice play in the last minute where they tricked all the Prep players as to where the puck was but the player with the puck, couldn't control it well enough to get a quality shot on the half open net.  Another example would be in the last twenty second when Besinger tripped on his own with the puck while the Eagles were 6-on-5 and trying to score.  Riley Wikman had a remarkable 38 saves to get the shutout, his fourth of the year and second in a row, while Cronin finished with 21 saves as shots still ended in favor of BC, 23-38.
So Prep got the huge win and faces the host, Saint Peter's Prep (from Jersey City, NJ) on Saturday at 2pm.  A larger general concern I have for the BC High Eagles is that they have size and speed but don't use their size to win pucks or work down their opponents or handle the puck well enough for their speed to be effective.  They play Canisuis High School from Canisuis, NY in the consolation game at noon on Saturday.  Good job by the Jesuits representing CT in the Jesuit shootout and hopefully they can win it on Saturday and make CT HS Hockey look even better!

Guilford 0 @ North Branford 2
-Great win for N Branford to move ahead of Guilford in the DII rankings and officially qualify for the DII state tournament in March!  Good defenses seemed to dominate this one as Nb's goalie, Kyle Saroca, picked up his second shutout in a row; check out the box score:
Goals
1st period: NB - Alec Martone (Chris Burkle) 2:32.  2nd period: NB - Kyle Deming (Sam Amendola) 1:42.
Saves: G - Chad Faulkner-Filosa 13; NB - Kyle Sarcoa 20.
Shots: G - 20; NB - 15.

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