Boys' Hockey: Division I Quarterfinals Preview

Saturday hockey with only Top Ten teams left in action, here we go:

(1) #2 New Canaan vs (9) #6 Glastonbury  @ 4pm at Northford Ice Pavilion
-The Rams are looking to make it 25-0 tonight while the Tomahawks will try to pull yet another upset.  Glastonbury will look to ride their goalie Chris Hemhauser and solid defense from Sean Carfi and Alex Robinson to steal a win against undefeated New Canaan.  As for NC, I expect Forward Charlie Corcoran to have himself a big game after only recording an assist in the game against Greenwich but this kid was the key to NC's win over Hamden one month ago on 2/11.  Tim Nowaki will need to have a solid day in goal for the Rams too because NC has not played one CCC team yet this year so Glastonbury's style of play may help them win this one too.

(4) #9 St. Joseph vs (5) #6 Ridgefield @ 7 at Terry Connors Rink (Stamford)
-One more time...Ridgefield won the first of this series on 2/23, 4-1.  However, St. Joseph won the one that mattered more in the FCIAC semifinals on 3/2, 3-2.  Now, in the game that matters the most, with the winner possibly getting a chance to take on their other conference rival, undefeated New Canaan, down at Yale, one can expect both teams will come out hard and play with intensity for the full 45 minutes, possibly even longer.  As hard as it is to believe, this is only the third best game of day (I have NC/G-bury as #2)!

(2) #1 Fairfield Prep vs (7) #3 Hamden @ 5 at Bennett Rink (West Haven)
-In stead of "one more time," this is more like "yet again!"  As much as this sounds like the DI Championship game for this year, it is only the quarterfinals!  How fitting is it that, since this game between two of the biggest hockey dynasties in the state must be at neutral site, it is at the third biggest place in CT for hockey, West Haven!  Biggest doesn't refer to the capacity though so make sure you get there early if you're going to this one, the third match-up between Hamden and Prep this year.  Remember, Hamden stole the first one at home 2-3 in OT on 1/8 because of a line change error on Prep, then Prep took down the Green Dragons a month later on 2/8, 4-2 in Bridgeport.  Now, the age-old rivals meet again for a chance to play at Ingalls Rink next Wednesday.  These two also represent the last four DI championships: Prep in 07 and 08 then Hamden in 09 and last year in 2010 6-5 over none other than Fairfield Prep!

(3) #8 South Windsor vs (6) #4 Xavier @ 3 at Koppel Community Sports Center at Trinity College (Hartford)
-This game looks more like the NC/G-bury match-up because these two Top Ten teams have not yet faced each other this season.  Xavier has, however, beaten Fermi and Simsbury from the CCC but lost 2-4 to Conard.  That may give SW some confidence coming into this one (they beat Conard 4-3 in OT and 1-0) but most people don't have them winning so its hard to tell who is actually the underdog.  Xavier's offense will need to do its thing and have another big game (they are averaging almost 7 goals a game in their last three) while goalie Austin Essery will need to get back to his old form and not let in the 3 or 4 goals on under 20 shots like he has the past two games.  SW has a solid (but not as good) goalie in Christian Marchi and an almost equal back-up in Ryan Serksnas so it will be interesting to see who gets the start (I expect Marchi though).  The way SW wins this is if they score first, get the momentum on their side (Xavier plays with their emotions a lot) and then put the game on the shoulders of Marchi between the pipes.  This is the only game in the central and northern part of the state so I think hockey fans from all around will come for a very good quarterfinal game that really could any way (blowout, 2OTs, upset, etc)!

PICKS: Like in my post about my original predictions, I will stay the course with NC, Ridgefield, Prep and Xavier although I'd personally like to see G-bury, Ridgefield, Hamden and Xavier all win today.