By Dave Stewart
MaxPreps.com
STAMFORD, Conn. - Mark Mongillo’s pre-game message to his St. Joseph/Amity girls’ hockey team was a simple one. After the Cadets had scored a major upset of top-seeded Greenwich, 5-3, in the FCIAC semifinals, the last thing Mongillo wanted to see was a bunch of players who were simply satisfied with reaching Saturday night’s final.
“All I told them was don’t settle for second,” the first-year coach said. “You’ve worked too hard through the whole season. Don’t settle for second.”
With that in mind, St. Joseph went out and captured its first FCIAC championship as Caitlin Cataldo scored 5:03 into overtime, giving the Cadets an unlikely 3-2 victory at Conners Rink and dethroning three-time defending champion New Canaan.
One win over a top team could be considered a fluke, but victories over the FCIAC’s top two teams in less than a week? Not a chance.
“We all know that story about how hard it is to beat somebody a third time,” New Canaan coach Rich Bulan said. “They’re solid and they draw from both St. Joseph and Amity. Mark’s a very good coach and he’s got them playing solid. Give credit to them, they took advantage of their opportunities.
“They beat No. 1 and No. 2," Bulan added. "That’s pretty good.”
St. Joseph’s overtime win kicked off a long night of hockey here as the FCIAC held its girls and boys championships back-to-back at Conners Rink.
In the boys’ final, Darien won a hard-hitting war with its arch rivals, the New Canaan Rams, 2-1.
A short-handed goal by the Wave’s J.T. Cook, who was the game MVP, early in the third period was the difference, but the real story was Darien’s defense, which kept the Rams 0-for-5 on the power play.
“We worked all week killing the power play — keep your stick on the ice, force it the boards and clear it out,” Darien coach Russell Foster said. “We didn’t allow many second opportunities.
“It was simple hockey. It was know you’re assignments, pick up your men, head on a swivel. Every rink they’ve ever skated on from mites to now is the same size — 200 x 85 — they’ve been here before and pressure is what you put on yourself.”
The win gave the Blue Wave a measure of revenge against New Canaan, which knocked Darien from last year’s tournament with a 1-0 win in the semifinals. The Rams were then beaten by Ridgefield, 3-2, in overtime in the final. With this season’s loss, it’s two straight years as conference runners-up and four years since New Canaan’s last FCIAC championship.
A raucous crowd added an extra, sometimes negative, dimension to the boys’ championship as the rivalry appeared to bring out the best in the players and the worst in some of the fans. At game’s end, about 40 Stamford police officers provided security in the parking lot, although at least one person was injured.
On the ice, the Rams and Wave pounded each other hard during the first period, but went to the locker rooms locked in a scoreless tie.
At 3:38 of the second period, Darien struck for the game’s first goal when Ryan MacDonald scored on a rebound of a Teddy Malley shot.
The Rams generated several scoring chances after that, many by the top line of juniors Brandon Sorbara, Mark Simone and Frank Granito, but each time they were stymied by goalie Jermiah Ormond (12 saves) and the defense, which included MacDonald, Tim Clinton, Brett Kelly and Mike Bruno.
“Jeremiah was solid in net,” Foster said of his goalie. “He made some good low-glove saves and played very calmly. He was on top of his crease and he was in a zone. He watched this happen for us two years ago, this was his first shot at it and he’s 1-for-1.”
The Wave added a short-handed goal at 1:21 of the third period, when Cook stole the puck from the Ram defense, skated up the right side and scored inside the left pipe.
The Rams weren’t finished, however, and finally broke through with 7:03 to play in regulation when Simone nailed home a shot that deflected off a defenseman. Sorbara and Andrew Krieger assisted on the play.
New Canaan had several chances down the stretch, but Ormond and the Wave defense came through to clinch the win.
While the FCIAC’s boys’ ice hockey title, as well as both basketball crowns, went to perennial powers and No. 1 seeds, it was the St. Joseph girls who wore the Cinderella slipper this winter. The Cadets squeaked into the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed with a less-than-intimidating 5-7 record against FCIAC opponents.
They then proceeded knocked off the No. 1 and 2 seeds en route to the first conference championship in program history.
The Cadets (13-8) scored two power-play goals, both off the stick of forward Michaela Katz. Her first goal made it 1-0 with 2:51 to play in the first period.
New Canaan (15-4-3) came back with two goals during a 2:35 span of the second frame, with Annie Amrhein scoring the first at 7:50 and Katie Durkin scoring the second at 9:45. Freshman Jana Persky assisted on both and Durkin also had an assist on Amrhein’s goal.
But instead of fading in the face of the Rams’ momentum, the Cadets came back and got the equalizer with 53.9 seconds remaining in the second period. It was Katz’s second goal, assisted by Lesley Lemieux.
In the third period, goalies Charlotte Spitzfaden (13 saves) of New Canaan and Allesandra Talloni (26 saves) of St. Joseph came up huge as the team’s headed to overtime.
In OT, the Rams had a couple of early shots by Durkin and Persky turned back by Talloni before the Cadets got things moving in the opposite direction.
“We had a great play out of our end. Michaela Katz passed it to Alex English who passed it over to me and I scored the goal,” said Cataldo, who also had four goals in the semifinal win against Greenwich. “It was a great play by all the players all the way up and I just happened to be in the right spot. Just great teamwork and a great feeling.”
“I’m speechless, really,” Mongillo said. “The kids just played with their hearts. They worked hard all season and everything they get, they worked for.”
Boys Basketball: Late 9-0 Run Gives Trinity Catholic Boys’ Hoops Crown
Frustration has been the catch-word for the Trinity Catholic Crusaders in the last two FCIAC finals, but last Friday at Fairfield-Warde High, it was jubilation as the Crusaders won the championship with a 51-46 victory over the Warren Harding Presidents.
Harding led the game much of the way, but Trinity Catholic scored the final nine points to get the win.
The Crusaders have appeared in the conference final for the past six years, winning four times.
All-star junior Tevin Baskin led the top-seeded Crusaders (20-3) with 19 points, while Eric Jean-Guillaume scored 12, including five during the stretch run. Davon Korac scored nine and John O’Leary scored seven.
Harding came in as the No. 6 seed, but scored a couple of upsets over defending champion Bassick and No. 2 St. Joseph to reach the final.
The Presidents (17-6) received an added boost to their fortunes when long-time coach Charlie Bentley returned to the team after a 45-day suspension. Bentley received the suspension after allegedly slapping a female student but he was reinstated in time for the FCIAC semifinal game last Tuesday.
The Presidents knocked off St. Joseph,76-56, in that game and nearly pulled out an FCIAC title against Trinity. Harding took the lead early on, led 27-21 at halftime and still led by four, 46-42, with about 4:30 to play, but the Presidents would go scoreless the rest of the way as the Crusaders rallied.
O’Leary started the winning stretch with a lay-up and Jean-Guillaume hit a 3-pointer to give Trinity a 47-46 lead.
A two-point bucket by Jean-Guillaume made it a 3-point game and the final two points came on a Baskin dunk at the buzzer.
Harding’s Cornelius Brown had a great game with 23 points and Davon Pratt added seven in the loss.
Dave Stewart, the Sports Editor of the New Canaan (Conn.) Advertiser, is a MaxPreps.com writer and photographer. He may be reached at 203-966-9541 or at sports@ncadvertiser.com.
