By Ryan Rumrill

Town Crier Sportswriter

The Woodstock Academy Boys Hockey Team won its first state hockey title over a strong sixth-seeded Hall-Southington team by a score of 7-3 to win the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Division III final March 18 at Ingalls Rink. 

The game was tied up in the start of the third period when Nate Deluca got the fast break opportunity with just the goalie in his sights. The goalie was shadowing the pass side of the net, when Nate ripped a shot at the empty side of the net, breaking the tie, and the momentum shifted Woodstock’s way. Three more goals came from another from Nate Deluca, Avery Rivera, and Will Liscomb, resulting in the 7-3 final score. 

The program has been a varsity program for only four years. In 2014, the team lost in the first round, then each year got further into the CIAC states, and crowned champions.  Three goals came from Nate Deluca, two from Avery Rivera, and one each from Ryan Black and Will Liscomb. Goalie Cal Wilcox had 29 saves for the Centaurs who finished the year 22-2-1. 

The Woodstock Academy Centaurs took down the Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug team, which had defeated them earlier in the season. They met up in the semifinals and won by a score of 6-0 to advance to the Finals against Hall-Southington. Nate Deluca led the charge for Woodstock netting three goals for the Centaurs. 

Senior Basketball

The boys’ game in the Putnam Rotary Ray Brousseau Senior All-Star Senior Shootout was a much higher score than the girls’ game and was more of an NBA all-star game with the high scores, and the “go out and play” mentality. They were not really playing competitive get down in a stance defense and it  turned into a dunk fest. Dommoy Ennis slammed down a pair of dunks for the Blue team. Eli Malbouef had his own for the red team, and then Putnam’s Lucas Bastilio had two of his own coming on consecutive trips, coming on a driving to the rim slam in traffic, grabbed a rebound down the other end, and came down and had a two-handed slam. Windham Tech senior Mario Rangel sank five three-pointers enroute of being named the Most Valuable Player for the Blue team, and Eli Malbouef was named the MVP of the Red Team, and the Blue Team went on to win 98-72 over the Red squad. 

Girls’ Wrap Up

The girls also put on a great show at the shootout with all the local seniors in the area.

Putnam’s own Maria Fredette led the way for the Green team coached by Devin Hill to the 56-54 victory over the Yellow team coming off of a game-winning layup with 3.6 seconds left of the game enroute to her 21 points and being named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Her teammate Alyssa Espinosa finished the game with 15 points. Olivia Braithwaite had eight points. This game is big for all of the seniors in the area, but it’s even bigger for the seniors from Putnam getting one last chance to play in their gym.

The game was down to the wire when the Yellow team hit a three-point basket by Tourtellotte’s Emily Vincent to tie the game up. The Yellow team went up, then Maria tied the game at the freethrow line. Then with 22 seconds left in the game, Green controlled the rebound by Haley Gagnon from Parish Hill, who finished the game with 9 points. She hit Fredette with a pass after she cut to the basket and she laid it in to put her team on top and take home the trophy. Yellow team was led by Griswold’s Caitlyn Ellis with 15 points, and Tourtellotte’s Emily Vincent and Megan Dion each had 13 points.