When Woodstock Academy junior Guerin Favreau rifled a laser beam into the top corner above the blocker of Suffield/Granby/Windsor Lock’s goalie Cam Begley with 1 minute, 18 seconds left in regulation, Kevin Bisson was pretty confident.
“It was the straw that broke the back. You could tell their will was broken,” the Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey coach said.
Just 45 seconds into overtime, Jake Starr scored the game-winner to give Woodstock Academy a 3-2 win Jan. 9 over the Tigers.
It completed a nice week for the Centaurs who also blanked the Lyman Hall/Coginchaug/Haddam-Killingworth cooperative earlier in the week, 4-0.
“We’re on a three-game win streak, it’s great,” Bisson said. “Three games with three goals against is really good. Colin (Liscomb) has been in goal for the last two and Josh (Lavitt) was in there for the 7-1 win (over Northeastern). We’re getting the goaltending, which I always felt good about it, but we’re also starting to get the defensive structure and support which is something that we’ve really put a major focus on.”
The two wins raised the Centaurs record to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Nutmeg Conference.
The SGWL cooperative took the early lead Jan. 9.
Aiden Grabowski scored with 4:12 left in the opening period on a 5-on-3 power play.
The Tigers followed with a second goal just a little over five minutes later off the stick of Remington Ferrari just 1:44 into the second period.
It held up and the Tigers took a two-goal lead into the third.
Favreau halved the Suffield lead 4:51 into the final period. Begley lost his stick and it got shuffled to behind the net.
Senior captain Doug Newton got on to the puck, flipped it to Favreau and the junior hammered it past a stick-less Begley.
Favreau then set the stage for Starr’s heroics when he beat Begley again with 1:18 left.
It was Favreau’s 15th goal of the season.
The Centaurs didn’t start the overtime with their top line.
With Kyle Brennan out of the lineup due to illness, Newton and Favreau were joined by Austen LeDonne on the first line.
Bisson rode the trio through much of the game and they were pretty well spent going into the extra period.
That meant Starr, Devin Chadwick and Nick Chubbuck took the first shift.
It was all the Centaurs needed.
The defense got the puck out of the Centaurs end and fed it to Chadwick who got it to Starr. Just as a line shift was about to occur, Starr made a play, cut across the middle, and fed the puck low to Begley’s blocker side, the puck found the back of the net.
It was Starr’s fifth goal of the season.
Jan. 8 the Centaurs scored all three goals within the first eight minutes of the first period. They protected that and shut out Lyman Hall cooperative program.
Bisson broke down the numbers for the team before the game: Among members of the Nutmeg Conference, the Centaurs were No. 1 in goals scored. They were also dead last in goals against.
“Those two things do not equal success,” Bisson said.
The Centaurs got a strong effort in the net from Colin Liscomb against Lyman Hall, but also limited their opponents scoring opportunities.
On the offensive side, Woodstock Academy had only five shots on goal in the first period but made three of them.
Favreau scored his 13th goal of the season just 3 minutes, 22 seconds into the game off assists from Newton and Brennan.
Newton tallied on a power play goal and followed that up with his fourth goal of the season, giving Woodstock Academy the 3-0 lead.
The game calmed down after that with the two teams skating even through the remainder of the first period, the entire second and most of the third, scoreless.
LeDonne broke the ice with a goal into an empty net with 44 seconds left to account for the final.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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Griffins win
POMFRET — The Pomfret School boys’ varsity basketball team traveled to Governors Academy with the JV team and came back with a 75-50 victory. From the start of the game, Pomfret was swarming on the press and on defense and finding the open man on offense. Forcing turnovers and bad shots gave Pomfret momentum and control of the game. Bryce Johnson hit a three to start the game and Pomfret didn’t relinquish its lead. The Griffins took the lead 12-2, Governors answered with a run, but with toughness and discipline the Griffins went into the half 38-21. In the first eight minutes of the second half, Pomfret outscored their opponent 27-6 and at one point had a 70-30 lead. Govs did not give up — at times Pomfret had trouble with their pressure. The Griffins settled down though and finished with a 75-50 victory.
Individual Contributions: Bryce Howard (10 pts); Bryce Johnson (14 pts); Max Levine (7 pts); Marcus Von Recklinghausen (4 pts); Andrew Lufkin (14 pts); Jon Kazor (9 pts); Ben Kelsey (7 pts); AJ Lesburt (4 pts); Blake Zahansky (2 pts), Kyle Signora, Jaxon Witherspoon, Mambi Tsemo, and Connor Soberay had some trouble when they entered the game around the five minute mark, but they regrouped and sealed the victory.
By Doug MacLeod
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Diarra joins
elite 1,000-
point club
It came rather quietly, not with a big dunk or a long 3-pointer or a contested buzzer-beating jumper.
But the 1,000th point of Hassan Diarra’s career, registered on a first-half free throw on Dec. 14, was nonetheless quite significant.
Diarra, the face of the Putnam Science Academy basketball program, became just the third player in school history to surpass the mark, joining Hamidou Diallo (1,415) and Dayshon “Scoochie” Smith (1,010).
“It’s a blessing. I’m totally grateful for it, to be in the position to be able to do it,” said Diarra, who has 1,082 through 17 games this season. “Coaches, my teammates, they help me throughout the process, pushing me every day in practice, helping me get better and to where I want to be. So to score 1,000 points, it really is a blessing and I am so grateful.”
That he hit the milestone while playing in an NBA arena in his native New York City made it even more special.
“For it to happen at Barclays Center, on an NBA court, man, that’s another blessing,” Diarra said. “My mom got to see it. I made the free throw and they stopped the game a little bit and announced it. It was just crazy. It was surreal.”
Granted, PSA has most players for just their postgrad year, limiting the number of guys who can get to 1,000 points. Diarra has been at the school for his junior, senior, and now postgrad years. But, considering he didn’t play regular minutes as a junior, and is now just halfway through his PG year, “in my eyes, he’s done it in two years,” said teammate Marty Silvera. “The first year he was here, he was playing the last four, five minutes. You’re not going to have 24 points in four, five minutes.”
Also take into account that he has played with a lot of capable scorers across his years (including Silvera, who scored his 1,000th point during his junior year at Doherty High in Worcester), yet he has become the lead dog.
“He’s a real bucket,” Silvera said. “He only takes, what, 10 shots a game maybe? Playing with the guys he’s played with, we all can score. It just shows how consistent he is.”
PSA coach Tom Espinosa honored Diarra prior to the team’s home game on Jan. 8, announcing the feat to the crowd and presenting Diarra with a ball recognizing it.
“Hassan is a special player and a special kid,” Espinosa said. “We’ve had great fortune to have a rich history here and to be the third guy to score 1,000 points is pretty special. He’s already passed one of my all-time favorites, Scoochie Smith, and now he’s only behind an NBA player in Hamidou Diallo.”
PSA has 20 regular season games remaining, then as many as five possible games in the postseason, but more likely four because of a bye in the national tournament bracket. Diarra would need to average a shade more than 14.5 points in 24 games to take over the top spot. He is averaging 14.8 this season.
“It was always a goal of mine to reach 1,000 points in high school,” Diarra said. “Now, yeah, (being the all-time leader) is something I want to do. I talked to Hami last night and told him that I’m chasing him and getting him.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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Centaurs break
track records
The University of Rhode Island Invitational was the site where a couple of Woodstock Academy indoor track school records fell.
The Centaurs boys’ team accounted for both of those marks as Greg Weber set the standard for the long jump at the school when he cleared 21-feet-3 inches to take first Jan. 11.
Joe Zhou also broke a school mark when he launched a 42-foot triple jump.
Weber’s jump broke the previous mark owned by Jason Howard that was set before the turn of the century in 1999.
The senior did so in just his third-ever long jump competition.
“Greg was a surprise,” said Woodstock indoor track head coach Josh Welch.
Welch said the coaching staff was just hopeful that Weber would clear 19-feet and qualify for the CIAC state championship.
Welch thinks that Weber has a chance at an individual ECC championship in the event and could also finish in the top three in the high jump. He is also optimistic that Weber could qualify for the State Open championship.
Zhou took part in his first triple jump of the season and Welch is hopeful that he will continue to improve on his numbers as the season progresses.
Juniors Ethan Aspiras and Adam Schimmelpfennig also had state qualifying performances.
Aspiras did so in the 2-mile where he finished second in the invitational field with a 10:15.9 minute performance.
Schimmelpfennig finished the high hurdles in 8.78 seconds to qualify for States in the event.
The 4x200 meter team of Scout Favreau, Schimmelpfennig, Jeff and Eric Phongsa also qualified for States with a 1:43.74 performance.
The boys’ team improved to 4-1 in dual meets with a 1-1 performance Jan. 8. The Centaurs downed Quaboag Regional, 53.5 – 32.5 but lost to host Tantasqua, 47-39.
Aspiras was a winner in both the 1000 and 1,600 meter races. Jackson Dias, Zhou and Weber finished 1-2-3 in the high jump. Schimmelpfennig finished second in both the hurdles and 300-meter and T.J Walden was second in the 2-mile.
Centaurs Girls
Another Woodstock Academy school record is in jeopardy.
Sophomore Linsey Arends finished third in the 1,600-meter race in 5 minutes, 29 seconds Jan. 11 at the University of Rhode Island Invitational.
It leaves her just 1.1 seconds off the school mark.
“Linsey is doing great and her work prepping for postseason is just beginning,” Welch said. “Once we hit some focused speed work for the mile, I expect her to make some significant improvements.”
Senior Julia Theriaque finished tied for second in the high jump in South Kingstown as she successfully cleared the bar at 4-feet-10.
The 4x800 meter girls relay team of Meg Gohn, Iris Bazinet, Arends and Lauren Brule finished second in the competition in 11:05 which is just shy of a state qualifying time.
Daisy Li did qualify for state competition as she finished the 55-meter hurdles in 10.24 seconds.
The Centaurs girls improved their dual meet record to 5-1 Jan. 8, downing Quaboag Regional, 62-20, and Notre Dame Academy, 64-17. They fell to Tantasqua, 48-38.
Arends won both the 1000-meter (3:28.3) and mile (5:48) events. Gohn, Brule and Bazinet finished 1-2-3 in the 2-mile race. Theriaque was first in the high jump, clearing 4-feet-10 and then winning the jump-off tiebreaker at 5-feet. Li was second in the 55-meter hurdles and third in the 55-meter dash.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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