Cheshire won its third state championship in six years under head coach Jim Riccitelli with a 3-1 victory over Guilford in the Division II final at Yale's Ingalls Rink in New Haven.
The teams met three times this season, a 3-3 tie in December and a 4-2 loss for the Rams in February, before Friday night's championship.
Tyler Violano.
Photo by Kevin Pataky
After falling behind 1-0 after the first period, Cheshire scored twice in the second with a goal by junior
Tyler Violano on a deflection and the game-winner by freshman
Matt Muzyka on a rebound. Violano added an empty-netter in the third.
The Rams also received outstanding play in goal by junior
Tyler Carbone (19 saves).
"He got better and better as the season went on," Riccitelli said of Carbone. "If there's an MVP of the tournament, Tyler's name has got to be on the top.
"Can't say enough about our players from top to bottom. Great goaltending, we penalty-killed when we had to, we did what we needed to do. We practiced playing six-on-five, they executed and didn't let (Guilford) get set up in the zone."
In Division I,
Fairfield Prep (21-3) shut out St. Joseph (Trumbull) (21-6) 5-0 as
Bryan Puffer scored twice and had one assist. Prep lays claim to the No. 1 spot in the state writers' poll as previous No. 1 New Canaan fell in the semifinals to the Cadets.
In Division III,
Watertown/Pomperaug (18-7) won its first hockey title by defeating Staples/Weston/Shelton (16-8) 4-0 as
Jack Murphy scored twice.
GREENWICH WINS STATE OPEN SWIMMINGGreenwich scored 388 points to win the State Open Boys Swimming championship at Yale's Kiphuth Pool Saturday. Ridgefield was second with 312.
Andrew Klutey of
Ridgefield was a double-winner with victories in the 500-yard freestyle in 4 minutes, 31.19 seconds and the 200 freestyle in 1:40.69. He was also a member of the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:26.15) along with Derrian Duryea, Grayson Smith and Brian Bollerman.
Michael Dustin of Greenwich won the 100-yard butterfly in 49.99 and was part of the Cardinals' winning 400 freestyle relay with Andrew Dillinger, Eric Minowitz and Matthew Fraser.
Jason Potter of
New Canaan won the 100 freestyle in 46.66 and was second in the 200 freestyle (1:41.16).
Eric Holden of
Amity Regional (Woodbridge) set an Open record in the 100 breaststroke with a 56.37. Ray Cswerko, who also won the 200 individual medley (1:51.81), finished second in 56.64, which also broke the previous record of 56.81. Greg Han of
Cheshire, the Class L champion in the event, was third (58.66).
Paul Rosano, the former assistant sport editor of The Hartford Courant and sports editor of The New Haven Register, covers Connecticut for MaxPreps.com. He may be reached at pjrosano@cox.net.
