POMFRET — The Pomfret School girls’ varsity ice hockey won 5-3 against Canterbury Dec. 8. The Griffins dominated in possession and time in the offensive zone for the majority of the first period. Unfortunately, Canterbury capitalized on a screen in front of the net and scored with 2:32 remaining. Down 0-1 the discussion in the locker room included keeping the tempo, clearing the front of the net, and chipping pucks up and out of the defensive zone for quick offensive opportunities.
The Griffins came out and continued to get shots to the net. 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the period, Breanna Studley ’22, off of a pass from Grace Arsenault ’20, circled Canterbury’s defensive zone and roofed the puck over the Canterbury goalie, tying the game 1-1. With 6:00 left in the second period, Grace Long ’23 and Sarah Rumley ‘22 found Riley Millard ’23 at the point who buried the puck home off a beautiful slapshot.
With the excitement of being up 2-1, the girls sat back and little bit and Canterbury took advantage with 30 seconds remaining in the period to tie it 2-2.
The third period was intense. Arsenault found Rumley who rushed the puck down the left side of the ice. Rumley made a low, hard pass towards the front of the net which was beautifully redirected by Long putting the Griffins up 3-2.
Canterbury did not give up after this goal and found their way to our net for some good opportunities that Cate Gallagher ’22 shut down. Canterbury netted a goal off a rebound, tying it back up 3-3.
With 5:37 left in the period, Arsenault found Long cutting through the neutral zone and chipped it ahead. Long confidently went in on a breakaway, deking the goalie putting Pomfret up 4-3.
At 3:45 remaining in the game, Emma McLean ‘22 and Rumley battled hard in the offensive zone and found Long below the dots who dangled the defenseman and the goalie for a goal to finish the game at 5-3. Goalie Gallagher got 28 saves.
BB&N 5
Pomfret 0
Dec. 7 the girls played a skilled and seasoned BB&N team but could not get the shots and the score ended at 5-0 BB&N.
Right from the get-go, BB&N came at the Griffins hard and fast. Their breakouts were efficient; cycling skills mastered and consistently dropped a player in and out of the high slot. After the first couple of minutes, the Griffins figured out the speed and settled into their positions, focusing on doing their job on the breakout and neutral zone regroups. Anticipating BB&N’s plays and blocking shots lead to quite a few scoring opportunities from Lexi Hendrickson ’23, Melissa Montesi ’21, Breanna Studley ’22, and Grace Long ’23. After the first period, tied at 0-0, locker room discussions centered on how to focus the high wing on the high slot in the defensive zone, as well as shutting down their “quick up/one touch” breakout.
BB&N took advantage on one of the Griffins’ penalty kills and netted its first goal of the game. Exhausted from the “long” change, BB&N and scored again with just 30 seconds left in the period, 2-0. In the third period the Griffins continued to work hard to cover BB&N’s speed and efficient passing. There were many glimpses on our end of smooth breakouts, beautiful neutral zone swinging, crisp passing, and hard shots, but unfortunately, we could not finish. BB&N ended up netting 3 more goals in the last 9 minutes of the game for a final score of 5-0. Rieley Jessie-Gerelli ’20 had 54 saves.
Pomfret: 1
St. George’s: 1
Dec. 4 Pomfret took on the Dragons and came away from the game a stronger, more cohesive team than when they went in.
With a young bench full of lots of new faces, on top of first-game jitters, the first period was a bit frantic. Between periods the teammates recognized they needed to stop panicking and believe in themselves and their skills.
In a calmer second period, Emma McLean ’22, Grace Long ’23, and Sarah Rumley ’22 worked well together, possessing the puck and controlling the game. Melissa Montesi ’21, Breanna Studley ’22, and Bridget Fallon ’23 kept their feet moving, spread the ice, and created meaningful scoring opportunities. Lily Brook ’23, Lexi Hendrickson ’23, and Liz Phalen ’20 came together as a line, finding their way to the net on multiple occasions. Bridget Horst ’22, Emma Aldenberg ’20, and Shoshana Lebo ’21 worked hard to keep St. George’s inside out and played strong defense. On the defensive side of the game, Grace Arsenault ’20 and MK Marshall ’22 made it look like they had been practicing their neutral zone regroup since last year—it was smooth and controlled. Arsenault found confidence on the blue with hard, low shots from the point. Hannah Twombly ’21 and Riley Millard ’23 stepped up and rushed the puck when given the opportunity to find a lane, and also held the blue line with patience and strength. Tara Vala ’23 and Dava Dudek ’23 worked well together, supporting each other. Tara ’23 confidently created offensive opportunities with her vision of the ice, and Dava ’23 was feisty along the boards and in the corners.
In the third period St. George’s put one in Pomfret’s net with 13:18 remaining in the period. Just under 2 minutes later, Phalen chipped the puck ahead over the offensive blue line, dangled their defenseman, and roofed the puck to tie the game 1-1. After a 5-minute overtime, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Rieley Jessie-Gerelli ’20 tallied 37 saves.
By Samantha Slotnick
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Griffins lose
POMFRET — The Pomfret School girls’ basketball team Dec. 7 lost to Phillips Andover Academy 65-49.
Pomfret Scoring came from: Molly Vincent, 5 points; Sel Gonzalez, 27points; Brooke Zahansky, 6 points; Grace Bullied, 2 points; McKinley White, 4 points; Teagan O’Hara, 3 points.
Record: Pomfret School 0 wins, 1 loss
In their season opener, the Pomfret girls’ varsity basketball team lost to visiting Andover 65-49. Sel Gonzalez led for Pomfret with 27 points. Molly Vincent was Pomfret’s leading rebounder on the day.
By Patrick Burke
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Julian Dozier Jr. says that he is big on feelings.
And when the Putnam Science Academy prep team guard took an official visit to Fordham University a few days before Thanksgiving, it felt like home.
“The (Fordham) campus itself is calm, you wouldn’t know that you’re in the middle of the Bronx,” he said. “But as soon as you step outside it, you’re right back in the middle of everything.
“That’s exactly how my school (University of Detroit Jesuit High School) was back home. The campus was calm, it’s like its own neighborhood. And then you step off campus and you’re pretty much in the city.”
That feeling, added to the mutual interest the school and player had in each other from early on, led Dozier to announce last week his commitment to play basketball there next year.
“Fordham really showed me love to begin with and took a chance on me,” he said. “The coaching staff welcomed me with open arms, the players did. I hung out with a lot of the guys and I could really see myself fitting in there perfectly.”
Dozier, a 5-foot, 10-inch guard, is adept at breaking down defenders and getting into the paint. There he has great feel to dump the ball off to a teammate or, despite his size, finishing the play himself against opposing bigs. He is also a capable 3-point shooter should the defender sag off in hopes of better keeping him in front.
His size has given him a chip on his shoulder on the court.
“Being small, I had to fight and outplay to prove myself every day,” he said. “Even if I’m better than some kids who are bigger, I had to go prove it because of my size.”
He is also a menace on defense. He had had a steal in all but two of the Mustangs’ first 10 games, including two or more seven times.
“He just does an unbelievable job creating and getting his teammates involved offensively,” PSA coach Tom Espinosa said. “And he creates so much havoc defensively with his tremendous quickness.”
Dozier averages right around seven points, three assists, and two steals through 10 games off the bench for the Mustangs.
On his visit, Dozier said he had a little film session with the coaches showing clips of his playing style and theirs.
“It fit perfectly in terms of playing hard on defense, using ball screens, stuff like that,” he said. “I feel like with their playing style, I can really flourish.”
Dozier had previously given a verbal commitment to Cleveland State, which was coached by Dennis Felton. But when Felton was fired at the end of last season, Dozier kept his recruitment open. And when Felton landed on the coaching staff at Fordham, it was only natural to consider the Rams.
“I think I’ve fought through a lot of adversity,” he said. “Coming from Detroit, it can be a bad situation. Bad people, bad decisions everywhere. I had to just fight through that.
“There’s that, plus just to persevere through all that type of stuff that happened at Cleveland State, I’m proud of myself. I’m really happy. Not too many kids get to play on a high level like I’m going to get to do.”
Dozier is the third PSA player to commit to a Div. I basketball program, joining Hassan Diarra (Texas A&M) and Mekhi Gray (New Jersey Institute of Technology).
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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It’s the second year for Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey head coach Kevin Bisson.
That always makes things a little easier.
“Just having an understanding of who the kids are, who already fits well together and what their strengths and weaknesses are. It’s changed the way I approach everything,” Bisson said.
And while there may be a feeling of comfort in those regards, it also means raising the bar for himself and for his players.
The Centaurs finished 12-7-2 on the ice last season, 7-2-1 in the Nutmeg Conference.
A good year by any standards.
But Bisson and his team couldn’t help but feel that it could have been even better.
They finished the season with a 0-3-2 record in their last five games.
That included first-round losses in both the Nutmeg Conference tournament and the Division II state tournament.
“The very end of the season didn’t finish the way we wanted,” Bisson said.
Lineup adjustments caused by school events and other factors conspired against the Centaurs.
“It was a disappointing finish in that I thought we had a very strong team last year that certainly could have gone beyond one game in the postseason,” Bisson said.
Of course, they also played the eventual Division II state champion, Branford, in that first round of the state tournament.
It’s a new season. And, as always in high school, it’s a new team.
Among the graduation losses was team captain, defenseman Liam McDermott.
“Liam was a leader by example at all times. He had a great presence on and off the ice,” Bisson said.
Also gone is leading goal scorer Matt Odom (19 goals), fellow forwards Mason Stewart, Tom Catsam and Owen Borski, defensive players Connor Starr and Ethan Thorpe and goalie Dylan Shea.
The loss of Shea means the Centaurs come into the season without an experienced varsity player between the pipes.
Senior Josh Lavitt started one game in the net a year ago.
He returns along with junior Colin Liscomb who did not play last season.
“They’re having a healthy competition right now and, hopefully, they push each other and at the end, make each other better. Our schedule is a little different than last year where there were days between games and it stayed fairly spread out,” Bisson said.
The first week of the season has Woodstock Academy with a scrimmage Dec. 14, the season opener Dec. 18 and games Dec. 20 and 21, all on the road.
“It’s unrealistic to think one goalie can play all those games,” Bisson said. “The true hope is that we have two strong goalies.”
The offense will be led by the return of a line that stays together from last season.
Senior Doug Newton, junior Guerin Favreau and sophomore Kyle Brennan will start as the top line for the Centaurs.
Newton was the leading scorer for the Centaurs last season, getting 17 goals and 13 assists for 30 points.
“Matt is a big loss, but hopefully, goal scoring leadership can come from guys like Guerin, Kyle, Austen LeDonne and Jake Starr, who step up in big ways and get the job done just as well as Matt did,” Newton said.
Newton is coming off an ankle injury that he suffered playing soccer at the end of the summer.
He missed his senior year of soccer at The Academy due to the injury.
Staying off that ankle, however, paid off for hockey.
“It’s feeling a lot better. I feel comfortable on the ice. There is no pain in my ankle anymore and since the skate isolates it so much, there is really no movement in it. It feels great. It feels like it did a year ago,” Newton said.
Bisson agreed losing Odom hurts the team, but he’s confident in Brennan (7 goals, 3 assists) and Favreau (8 goals, 6 assists).
“Kyle had a breakout year as a freshman. I know he’s put in the work in the offseason and has come back bigger, stronger and faster. You have to hope the dedication off the ice translates to results on the ice and Guerin is the same scenario. He’s been relentless in the weight room. You have to think that he, Kyle and Doug will complement each other and get the results on the scoreboard,” Bisson said.
LeDonne finished with 15 points last season, getting nine goals and six assists while Starr had two goals and seven assists. Other players up front this season will include senior Anthony Girard and sophomores Devin Chadwick, Nick Chubbuck, and Zach Girard.
Those skating behind the blue line include seniors Sean McCusker and Sonny Neilson, junior Alex Wojciechowski, and sophomores Chris Thibault, Brendan Hill, and Gabe Geyer.
None of them were starters with McDermott and Connor Starr getting that honor and Thorpe being first off the bench.
Bisson said it will be difficult to replace the minutes that last year’s seniors provided.
There is little time to put everything together and that time was made a bit shorter last week.
A double-barreled winter storm Dec. 2 and 3 cancelled the first two days of practice.
The Centaurs will find out quickly what they are made of.
Their first game will be against the East
Boys'
Continued from page 9
ern Connecticut Eagles who now represent the entire ECC, with the exception of Woodstock Academy, and a couple of Shoreline Conference schools.
The Norwich Free Academy-based Redhawks program disbanded due to lack of numbers following last season and those schools that comprised that program can now play for the Eagles.
An unfair advantage?
“There has been a lot of different talk and back-and-forth on that whole thing,” Bisson admitted. “It’s a challenge that we accept wholeheartedly because we want to play the best and if they were able to get the best of all these different places, then great. They were given a 1-year allowance. I would predict moving forward that there will be a division of where all these different schools will have to go and not just go to the Eagles like they currently are.”
Following that, the Centaurs travel to Tri-Town, whom they lost to in last year’s Nutmeg semis, for an 8:10 p.m. game on Dec. 20 and then have a 5:30 p.m. game at Branford on Dec. 21.
“I’m extremely excited,” Newton said. “I’ve been waiting for this all year after losing in the first round of States. This season is huge for us. ”
“To look at the final record and to think about the successful year that we had, it’s very frustrating when you see the final numbers. The season as a whole was much better. I’ve told players countless times that I have high expectations for the program as a whole. I know they feel the same way about each other and themselves so we’re looking for a stronger regular season and a stronger postseason,” Bisson said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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