Boys' Hockey: Rankings (2/27)

As I reflect back on this past week, I cannot help but smile.  It was a thrilling and fun-filled week as the girls' bball conference tournaments wrapped up, the boys' started and we played the full of the regular season for hockey.  Wrestling class opens were last weekend and state open this weekend with indoor track the weekend before too.  Senior nights meant the end of a four-year journey for many student-athletes as next starts with acceptance letters to colleges coming in and will all be received by the end of March.  The rankings did not change much at all but this upcoming Wednesday and conference tournaments feature some high-profile match-ups that may shake things up going into the state tournament (first date = Monday, March 7th)!

#1 Fairfield Prep (16-3) 5 wins and 1 loss out of state (all prep schools)
-The team with the best record against DI opponents? The Jesuits from Fairfield Prep.  That includes the top-level out of state teams they face, like Catholic Memorial, who they beat 2-1 this past week.  They also beat North Haven 7-2 and their only game left now is the Amity Spartans, fresh off a win over ND-WH (who beat Prep), on Wednesday at 4pm @ Bennett Rink in West Haven!

#2 New Canaan (21-0) 1 conference tournament win
-The DI Rams (DII Rams are Cheshire) made the 20-0 regular season official with a 8-0 win on Wednesday over DII Stamford.  In the FCIAC Quarterfinals, which do not count for states, they took apart the 8 seed Trumbull 8-0 on Friday.  They've got the semifinal on Tuesday against 4 seed Darien who is coming off a 3-2 OT victory over Staples-Weston-Shelton.  The championship, where they will likely meet Ridgefield, is Saturday 3/5 @ 6pm @ Terry Connors Rink (Stamford, CT), the same site as for the semi's.

#3 Hamden (11-6-1) 3 losses out of state (all prep schools)
-The Green Dragons may have been quiet last week losing 3-5 to Winchester (MA) and ending ND-Fairfield's post-season hopes 3-1 on Saturday but this week, in their final game, they host ND-WH at Lou Astorino Rink, Wednesday at 6pm.  On a day filled with huge hockey games, I'm picking that as the GAME OF THE WEEK, more for ND-WH to rebound going into states than for Hamden to just stay at the top and send the message that the TWO-TIME defending champs are still at the top of their game.  I think that the referees should not receive their game checks from Hamden but rather one from each so we see the two most notorious officiating crews (Hamden and West Haven) on the ice at the same time haha.  One way or the other, the game should be worth whatever they charge for admission...be sure to get there early!

#4 Notre Dame-West Haven (12-6)
-No, I am not keeping ND-WH at 4 just to make their game with Hamden seem better, like college basketball and football do for the games they carry on TV.  Read the description under Xavier for why I went against my "almost guarantee" from a couple weeks ago when I moved X to #5.  The Green Knights beat Prep 3-2 last Saturday, as well all know, and they continued to look impressive 7-2 over East Haven on Thursday...then Amity happened.  To start, Amity beat Cheshire, Tri-Town and West Haven, tied Glastonbury and only lost to Xavier 1-2 in OT.  On senior day/night at Bennett Rink this past Saturday 2/26, they took down ND-WH 4-3 in OT, being up 3-0 late in the second period.  Go back and read my Staurday Scores, the game was a thriller that even included a penalty shot!  Notre Dame-West Haven now ventures to Hamden on Wednesday for showdown with the two-time defending DI champions as both play their last game before the state tournament starts next Monday.

#5 Xavier (12-7) 1 win 3 losses out of state
-So why, after a 9-1 destruction of West Haven did I not move the Falcons back ahead of ND-WH like I said I most likely would when I moved them down to #5 a few weeks ago?  Xavier lost, however illegitimately, 2-4 to Conard on Wednesday and that only was enough to down when you remember: ND-WH beat Prep and Amity is a lot better than Conard...a lot!  Xavier also lost 3-4 to St. John's (Shrewsbury, MA) last Monday but they played very well in that loss and not getting the 9 points was disappointing.  They finish out at Milford Ice Pavilion on Wednesday against Notre Dame-Fairfield who cannot make the state tournament but can still beat Xavier if they don't play like the #5 team in the state.

#6 Ridgefield (16-4-1) 2 wins out of state, 1 conference tournament win
-Three games last week! The dreaded tie, 3-3 with Glastonbury, on Monday, a nice 4-1 win over St. Joseph on Wednesday and then a 1-2 win over Greenwich in the FCIAC quarterfinals on Saturday.  They will, being the 2 seed, will face 3 seed St. Joseph again, on Tuesday in the semifinals at Terry Connors Rink.  Look for that to be a very good game as the winner gets a shot at either Darien or more likely New Canaan in the championship on Saturday!  I can't comment on possible state tournament match-ups for any of these teams really because even with just about one game left for each team involved, depending on the results, which cannot be safely assumed, bonus points may or may not be awarded for certain teams and then who wins will get lots of points and the standings are so close that basically seeds 5-17, including a possible 19th teams, are WIDE OPEN (NC/Prep=1/2, SW=3, St. Joseph=4)!
NOTE: I apologize for getting this wrong when I first posted this but Prep can get the #1 seed if they beat Amity (they would tie NC at 141 points) and then North Haven makes the playoffs, giving Prep three more points and the number one seed.  Neither team can collect bonus from any other teams and NC didn't play North Haven.

#7 South Windsor (17-3) 2 wins out of state
-What did the Bobcats do this past week? They returned to the northern part of the state and crushed Enfield 7-2 then just kept rolling with a 4-2 win past Tri-Town in their season finale.  They will be in action again before the state tournament: Saturday at Trinity's Rink in Hartford at a time TBA for the CCC-East Championship against Glastonbury.  This is one of the top games of the day as both are top ten teams and for the season series G-bury won 3-1 on 12/22 but SW won 4-3 on 1/22 (neither played on 2/22 ironically).  The only game that day that may be better is the FCIAC Championship and the projected SCC-D2 Championship is a close 3rd...we'll see what things look like when we get there.

#8 Glastonbury (14-4-2)
-This is more about their tie with Ridgefield than WH's loss to Xavier (the way X played in that game was the way everyone expected them to be playing this whole season when you have that much talent on one team).  It just works out nice that the CCC-East Championship will now be #7 vs #8!  After their tie with Ridgefield, the Tomahawks were on fire, taking down Simsbury 6-1 on Wednesday and Fermi 8-3 on Saturday.  I know South Windsor thinks they are a lot better than Glastonbury but they better watch out on Saturday, momentum combined with talent and a good goalie is dangerous!

#9 West Haven (10-6-2)
-I feel odd putting the Westies this low and no its not based on the "tradition/past" of their program.  This team can play and they showed it all season, tying Hamden, splitting games with ND-WH and their loss to Amity doesn't look bad at all anymore.  They even showed it this past week with a big 8-1 win over Milford Co-op on Monday, beating Tri-Town 3-2 Wednesday in OT, and then see the write-up on G-bury for the Xavier game...the Falcons are expected to play that well every game.  The Blue Devils actually have two games left (more point to pick up): North Haven at Bennett on Tuesday at 6:30pm and @ Simsbury on Wednesday.  Don't forget about West Haven come tournament time.

#10 St. Joseph (17-4) 3 wins out of state, 1 conference tournament win
-I assure you I am not just doing this to make the Ridgefield/St. Joseph FCIAC Semifinal look better.  I was actually going to put Amity here based on their other quality wins/results but St. Joseph beat Amity 5-0 and 4-2.  Maybe next week for Amity, if they don't get blown out by Prep (a in over Prep would get them at the very least #8, maybe 9 (or 7 or 6 if it's really good) totally dependent on other results but I think this is a good time to point out that Amity won the DII Championship in 2010 and 2009, actually over St. Joseph last year too!).  A quick recap of St. Joseph's busy week last week: 4-1 over Cheshire on Monday, 5-1 over Stamford Tuesday, 1-4 to Ridgefield Wednesday but the bounce back 5-4 over Wilton on Friday in the FCIAC Quarterfinals.

I will gladly be your source for all the games and conference tournaments this upcoming week.  The FCIAC match-ups are all discussed above, I think NC and Ridgefield will make it to the championship.  The SCC-D2 tournament, played Friday, is #1 Guilford vs #4 Branford and #2 Cheshire vs #3 Hand.  I think the championship (on Saturday) will be our possible DII championship game as well: Guilford vs Cheshire (already played twice this season, tie and Guilford win).  The NHC (Tri-Town's conference) is still waiting on final seeding but they play semifinals on Wednesday then the championship on Saturday: I've got Tri-Town, the only DI and clearly the best team in that conference, winning the whole thing.  The SWC will play semifinals on Thursday: Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury has the #1 seed and will face either Joel Barlow or Immaculate-New Fairfield and the other game is #2 Watertown-Pomperaug against #3 Newton [note: Notre Dame-Fairfield plays in this conference but is excluded since they are DI and the other teams are not].  The SWC Championship game is also on Saturday.  The CCC-North Championship, Newington-Berlin vs Windsor-East Granby-Avon wil be ehhh but the I really like the CCC-South Championship game: East Catholic vs Northwest Catholic...a very interesting rivalry that will be a lot better game than just any DII vs DIII game.  I will make picks for every conference tournament game: check the top games for the day for my breakdown and prediction; sites and times will also be included.  After Monday, ITS MARCH!!!!!