Saturday
Notre Dame-Fairfield 0 @ #1 Fairfield Prep 2
-In one of Fairfield Prep's closest games of the year, goalie John Gilani picked up his sixth shut-out. ND-Fairfield takes on ND-West Haven next while Prep has the game of the weekend on Sunday against #3 Xavier.
Conard 1 @ Tri-Town 2 OT
-Well I guess this means there is no third best team in the north. It will actually be worth watching how Tri-Town finishes out the season because they will be playing in March.
#4 Hamden 4 @ #9 South Windsor 1
-Hamden officially qualifies for the tournament courtesy of a Nick Amaron hat trick. South Windsor squeezed in a goal at the end but, to me at least, it appears that Matt Hoff is better than Andy Vargas in goal for the Green Dragons. What impressed me most is that Hamden was coming off a very tough loss to New Canaan, and a shut out at that (you know the offense wasn't feeling good). However, they very next night they came out and beat the best team the CCC has to offer and a very talented one at that. Both teams are off until next Wednesday.
St. Jospeh 2 @ #2 New Canaan 5
-It's better than the 2-6 NC win the last time these two met haha but seriously this is a very good sign for New Canaan that they could play on back-to-back nights and get a good win (not just a close/fluke one). I know St. Joseph doesn't compare to South Windsor or anything but they were the last DI team on New Canaan's schedule this year. The perfect regular season is almost as good as a done deal.
Amity 0 @ North Haven 2
-Very impressive for North Haven. Yes, they had the worse record but like I said, they are a very good team. In fact, the shut-out on a team like Amity was a good sign for the goalie and the team as a whole. Amity will almost certainly make the tournament with Watertown-Pomperaug and Hand left on their schedule while North Haven should beat Branford, and then they have Conard, Tri-Town East Haven and South Windsor to get two more wins and make the tournament. I don't see them taking down West Haven or Fairfield Prep.
Staples-Wilton-Shelton 1 @ #7 Ridgefield 6
-Not today DIII. S-W-S is still the best DIII team to me (Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury doesn't play any DI teams) but just couldn't get it done today. Look for Ridgefield to finish the season strong and make some noise in the DI tournament.
Others of note:
Wethersfield 2 @ #10 Glastonbury 5
Wilton 2 @ Trinity Catholic 0
Greenwich 2 @ Fairfield Warde/Ludlow 0
# 8 Darien 2 @ Westhill 5
-I had my eye on this game for a reason but I really hoped it wouldn't happen (just like with those above). DII Westhill got a clear-cut victory over #8 Darien...things aren't looking good for Darien.
ALSO: West Haven made the DI tournament with a 6-1 victory over Fermi.
Sunday
#3 Xavier 1 @ #1 Fairfield Prep 3 (I'm not going to make a pun about the score/rankings)
-The conversation is over; Fairfield Prep is the undisputed number one team in the state. NC did not schedule them so we won't have the potential for that match-up until the tourney but Xavier is better than NC and Prep just beat Xavier. Things are not looking good for the Falcons. They came out very strong and playing the physical sort of game they played to beat Hamden, getting good shots on goal in the process. Dan Walsh almost scored on one right in front of the net but Prep goalie John Galiani made a beautiful glove and again on the powerplay Walsh had a nice slapshot that beat Galiani but hit off the top post...just a little lower and Xavier would taken the 1-0 lead. Instead, A.J. Unker got around his man, skated to right in front of the goal and then slid it over to David White for a sick goal that gave Prep the early 1-0 lead. To start the second, Prep ran into three penalties in the first three minutes (four in the first six) and what I saw from Xavier mirrored their game with ND-WH where they just couldn't score up one or even two men, to the point you couldn't even tell they had a man advantage on the ice. The lack of a goal on those four powerplays wasn't the typical momentum booster for Prep as it was a demoralizer for Xavier and unfortunately for the Falcons they never did get their mojo back. The Preps goals from Bryan Puffer's hand (apparently you're allowed to slide into the crease head first and push the puck in with your hand if you're the home team at the Wonderland of Ice) and then later in the period with just sick stick skills in front of the net. To their credit, I think the Xavier defense of Dan Dupont, Nick Turner, Kade McCartin and Bryan Stanton played very well; Prep's two legitimate goals were simply the byproducts of the best offense in the state that I don't know if even a prep school goalie could stop them. The discouraging thing from this game for Xavier is again a lack of flow to the offense; hell there was even times when they couldn't pass and receive the puck effectively. Their lone goal, which is worth something when you're playing the state leader in shut-outs (which include #6 West Haven and #9 South Windsor), came off a shot by Turner that Galiani couldn't squeeze, leaving it on the ice in front of the goal line and Nathan Rosadini put it in (with his STICK). Lastly, it would be foolish to overlook that there was an undeniable hone advantage in the officiating, from the aforementioned goal to an X player getting called for a hook while he was handling the puck all by himself or even a player getting a penalty for getting his leg grabbed and pulled out from underneath him by a Prep player on the ground, but it actually did not affect the game too much except for maybe killing any momentum Xavier's third period goal may have started to create. The team has a week off before Senior Night against Simsbury at Spurrier-Snyder Rink in Freeman Athletic Center at Wesleyan University while Prep hosts #7 Ridgefield on Wednesday and #5 ND-WH on Saturday. I'm definitely going to have to sleep on if Xavier still deserves the #3 ranking...look for the new ones up tomorrow.
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