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Hockey team
has mixed results
It was nice to just get back on the ice for the Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey team.
The Centaurs had over a week off before they got on the bus and made the 2 ½ hour ride to Falls Village and handed the Housatonic Regional/Northwestern Regional/Wamogo Regional/Torrington cooperative a 3-1 loss in a matinee game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Centaurs then played their first home game since Dec. 28 on Jan. 25.
The results were not what they had hoped as Woodstock Academy fell to Branford, the defending Div. II state champion, 8-1.
Woodstock Academy coach Kevin Bisson was just happy to finally play a game which ended an unexpected vacation from the ice. Two games were postponed.
The time off took its toll.
“When you look at how much you’re skating and then not skating, when you have a game and then don’t have a game and finally we do have a game against Housatonic. It took a little while to get going,” Bisson said.
In addition to the rust, there was also the bus ride and a few other factors to contend with in the game with the Housatonic cooperative.
“The overall volume of the game was very mild. It was hard to find that energy level. We had to manufacture it on our own,” Bisson said.
The first period ended in a scoreless tie.
In addition to the bus ride, the lack of fans, the funky venue, there was an additional factor the Centaurs had to deal with.
Penalties.
Woodstock Academy and Housatonic were whistled for two apiece in the first period.
The Centaurs were hit with three more in the second period while the Mountaineers had two.
“I thought it was a well-officiated game. The penalties were warranted, but you think you have a power play and no sooner than it begins and we take a tripping penalty. Now, it’s 4-on-4 and then it became 4-on-3. There was a lot of movement, shifting and line jumbling because of kids being in and out of the (penalty) box,” Bisson said.
Successive shifts by the Centaurs first line produced what Woodstock Academy needed; the lead.
Junior Guerin Favreau finally broke the ice 6:05 into the second period with a goal.
The first line left the ice briefly and when it returned, Doug Newton followed just 55 seconds after Favreau’s goal with his fifth tally of the season.
The Centaurs (3-2 Nutmeg Conference) sat on the 2-0 lead until Favreau added some insurance just 1:59 into the third with his second goal of the game and 17th of the year.
Tyler Calhoun scored the only goal for the Mountaineers with 11 seconds left in the contest.
The win was nice considering the Centaurs were away from home for nine hours.
“It makes it that much better that we came away with those two points from that extremely long day especially considering how much we invested in that game physically,” Bisson said.
Jan. 25 Branford scored its first goal just 3:57 into the game when Blake Kustro found the net off an assist from Will Linder.
The Centaurs (6-4) then got what most thought would be an advantage.
A slash against the Hornets left them a man down.
Branford responded with three shorthanded goals, from Jack Manware, Daniel Faricielli and Matt Morgan over the next 46 seconds to go up, 4-0.
Morgan then added another goal 38 seconds after his first when the teams were at even strength to put Branford (10-1-1) up, 5-0.
The Hornets added two more goals in the second and another in the third.
The only goal for Woodstock Academy came with 1:30 left when Alex Wojciechowski scored his first career varsity goal off an assist from Chris Thibault.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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