The Woodstock Academy Centaurs boys’ ice hockey team spent last Friday’s practice working on one specific skill; causing havoc in front of the opponent’s net.
“Every drill we did, every connotation of anything was net front, net front, net front. We made the goalie’s life easy (last) Wednesday and we told the boys when you give a good goalie the ability to see the shot, he’s going to make the save every time,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kevin Bisson.
That’s what happened in a 3-0 loss to the East Haven/Old Lyme/Old Saybrook/East Hampton/Morgan/Valley Regional cooperative program on the road Dec. 19.
Bisson and the Centaurs were not about to let that happen against the Northeastern Shamrocks cooperative Dec. 22 at the Jahn Ice Rink in Pomfret.
The Centaurs corrected the flaw and posted a 3-1 victory.
“The biggest difference was the net front presence; our physicality in and around the net, being hungry in front of the net and clearing out in front of ours,” Bisson said.
Bisson said there was one instance that he thought was particularly noteworthy even though it didn’t result in a goal.
Jake Starr “dug his heels in on the edge of the crease,” according to Bisson, and Doug Newton took a shot on goal.
The Northeastern goalie, Derek Leshak, never saw it coming, but the puck hit him and failed to find the back of the net.
“The whole bench reacted to it to because they knew what the message was and what we were trying to achieve. The players on the bench were like ‘Wow, look at that, that’s what he’s talking about,’” Bisson said. “You actually saw the frustration boil over. The (Northeastern) goalie finally got tired of us being in and around his crease, he caused a little scrum, and took a penalty. It was just pure frustration. We made his life difficult all game and he, finally, had enough.”
The Centaurs (2-1) needed a bounce back after being shut out by East Haven keeper, Logan Hamilton, who made 39 saves against them.
Newton ended the scoreless streak early when he scored 5 minutes into the game against Northeastern.
“We talked before the game about how we started on Wednesday and how important it was to get the momentum and ride it, put them away early,” Bisson said.
Kyle Brennan took the initial shot which hit the goalie low in his pads and forced him to go down. Newton skated in, got the rebound, and flipped it into the net.
The junior celebrated his birthday in style as he also scored the second goal of the game for the Centaurs in the second period.
He and Sonny Nielsen broke through the Northeastern defense with a 2-on-1 opportunity. Newton took the pass from Nielsen, saw the opening and took the shot, again finding the back of the net with at the 2:29 mark of the period.
Austen LeDonne finished up the scoring for the Centaurs about four minutes later with a power-play goal.
The defense also played well as it yielded the Northeastern’s lone goal to Sean Power with only 3:40 left in the game.
“We were playing solid, keeping the shots at the perimeter, and (goalie) Dylan (Shea) was making the saves we needed him to make,” Bisson said.
The Centaurs, unlike some teams, will not get much of a break for Christmas.
Woodstock Academy plays at 5 p.m. Dec. 26 against the Redhawks cooperative at the Norwich Ice Rink.
The Centaurs come home Dec. 29 for a game against the Hall-Southington cooperative at 3 p.m. Dec. 29 at the Jahn Ice Rink.
The Dec. 29  game will be broadcast on both woodstockacademy.org/live and the Woodstock Academy Athletics Facebook page.
“One of the hardest things about the winter sports season is the way the breaks and holidays show up. A lot of programs start the season, take a break, and start the season again. In the spring and fall, they just go, no breaks. I actually like that we have these games and just keep going. The last thing I want to do is lose the excitement and momentum from Saturday. I just want to keep this thing rolling the way we got it,” Bisson said.
So far, in his first year at the helm, Bisson is happy.
“I have a team that I really want to shape and mold into what I want it to be. The first game wasn’t too bad. I think they got some false confidence with the overtime win. I let them know, after the fact, that it could have easily been a loss since we had to pull the goalie. Wednesday’s game, it felt like our style went away and on Saturday, we got it back,” the Woodstock Academy coach said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy