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caption, page 2:
Trophy
The Woodstock Academy Blue prep basketball team proudly displays the Power 5 Conference AA tournament trophy, held by coach Denzel Washington, after it posted a win over Springfield Commonwealth Academy in the championship game Marc. Photo courtesy of Denzel Washington.
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All-Star Award
Four members of the Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey team, from left: freshman goalie Dante Sousa; senior defenseman Chris Thibault, sophomore winger Donnie Sousa and sophomore center Noah Sampson with coach Kevin Bisson, after receiving their Nutmeg Conference All-Star awards prior to their tournament semifinal game with SGWL. Photo by Marc Allard.
Roundup
Centaurs take
Power 5
Conference
AA crown
It was the final game of the season for the Woodstock Blue prep basketball team.
And the Centaurs went out in style.
The third-seeded Centaurs downed No. 4 Springfield Commonwealth Academy, 50-47, in the Power 5 Conference AA tournament championship game March 6.
The Centaurs led the entire game, including 23-16 at the half, but they could never completely pull away from the Tornadoes.
“We knew that whatever the score was, they were going to play hard. We just had to weather the storm. We told the guys not to get too high or too low although it was a very emotional game for some of them because it was their last high school game. We knew we would be OK at the end,” said coach Denzel Washington.
Kunga Tsering led the Centaurs (19-12) with 20 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Jason Ofcarcik added 10 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists.
Ofcarcik has been a key for the Blue squad over the last half of the season.
Washington said: “He has been the heart-and-soul of this team He showed his, although he was one of the younger guys, veteran status as far as being here before. This is Year 2 for him and while there are a lot of guys who come in and are stressed about going through certain things, he’s already been through it so he’s been one of the guys to tell everyone what is coming up next.”
Ofcarcik led the Centaurs in the first game of the tournament March 4 as he finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists in a 59-49 win over sixth-seeded Hoosac School. Logan Talbot added nine points and four steals in the win.
Woodstock followed that up with a 67-60 win over second-seeded Evangel Christian in the semifinals March 5. Talbot was the top scorer with 15 points to help propel the Centaurs into the championship game.
For the Centaurs, it was a nice way to cap off a season where the team not only battled opponents but injuries and the continued problems of the pandemic.
Many of the Centaur players on both the Gold and Blue prep basketball teams will begin the process of leaving the school as early as this week.
“It’s hard,” Washington said. “You go from getting to know them, to loving them, and wanting to coach them for years to come. Then, it ends and you have to recruit a whole new group for next year. It’s really hard to let them go but I also know that we’ve prepared them to be the best men that they can be. Not just basketball players, but the coaching staff has done a great job preparing them for what is to come afterward. It’s about being great young men, model citizens. Within the next couple of years, these guys will be fathers, which is scary to think, but it’s true. We hope that we’ve prepared them for everything that is to come after Woodstock.”
Gold falls in 1stround:
The Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball team was knocked out of the Power 5 Conference AAA tournament in the first round March 4.
The Centaurs fell to the Springfield Commonwealth Academy AAA team, 77-65.
Dominic Strother paced Woodstock with 11 points, two rebounds and two steals while Jayshane Woodard added 10 points and two rebounds.
Boys’ Hockey: Centaurs fall in championship game
Sometimes, the puck just doesn’t go into the net.
The Woodstock boys’ hockey team took 44 shots at Eastern Connecticut Eagles goalie Cam McCollum March 5. Only two found their way between the pipes.
As a result, the top-seeded Centaurs fell to the second-seeded Eagles, 3-2, in the Nutmeg Conference championship game.
The Centaurs (14-6) gave it their best shot and the Eagles almost helped.
A tripping call against Eastern Connecticut gave Woodstock the power play for the final 1 minute, 24 seconds of the game.
The Centaurs even bettered the odds by bringing on a sixth skater and pulling goalie Dante Sousa.
They got several chances at the net, the best by sophomore Noah Sampson but as it was all night, the puck bounced harmlessly away with just over a minute to play.
“We got the pole there at the end. We wanted the puck on Noah’s stick and it just hit the post which was unbelievable honestly,” said coach Kevin Bisson.
The Eagles (9-12-1) didn’t wait long to take the lead in the title tilt. Drew Sager slipped one under Dante Sousa’s blocker just 1:04 into the contest. Just 4 ½ minutes later, Eastern Connecticut struck again when Dylan Relaz tallied.
“They caught us flat-footed,” said assistant coach Bob Donahue. “We didn’t come out with the intensity that we were looking for and they did.”
The Centaurs cut the lead in half quickly in the second period when Sampson put in his 18th goal of the season just 20 seconds in.
But the Eagles responded with five minutes left in the second when Anthony Gesino tallied to make it, 3-1.
Like the third period, the opportunities were there.
“We seem to be fighting ourselves in a way,” Bisson said at the end of the second period. “We’ve had some opportunities, two posts at the end right there, and (if they went in), it’s a very different game at this moment in time. We talked about it before the game, what we did before against this team doesn’t really matter. When the stakes are higher, teams find a way to ramp it up and that’s what we need to do.”
The Centaurs had beaten the Eagles, 8-3 in Norwich and 6-4 at home in the regular season.
It looked like things were going to turn around when Donnie Sousa put home his 19th goal of the year off the second assist of the game for Chris Thibault.
But Woodstock just could just not find the equalizer.
“We waited too long,” Bisson said. “We kind of gave them the first period. We fought, we battled, and we gave everything we had right until the final second. It’s unfortunate to have the record we had and everything we’ve done to this point and that’s the way the conference championship played out.”
The Centaurs headed into the Div. II state tournament as the 10th seed. They played No. 7 Trumbull March 8 (the game ended too late for this edition).
The Centaurs advanced to the title game of the Nutmeg Conference tournament with a 4-1 win over Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks in a semifinal March 3. It was the Centaurs 10th straight win.
Suffield scored first when Dillon Gadzik took a rebound off a Colby Esposito shot and poked it into the Woodstock net just 5 minutes, 55 seconds into the game.
“We kept calm, kept our composure,” said defenseman Chris Thibault.
The Centaurs tied the game with 4:49 left in the first period when freshman Maxx Corradi assisted on a goal by Sampson.
“We tied it up at the end of the first, went into the locker room and assessed and we came out in the second period pretty strong,” Thibault said.
The Wildcats first period goal would prove to be the only one it would get on the night as the Woodstock defense was staunch.
“We got Jeter Darigan back in the lineup (Thursday) after a concussion and we shifted him from forward to defense and have him paired with Chris for the most part. We see them as a good pair, they both have the offensive and defensive skill sets, and it was great to have Jeter back because we’ve lost Brendan Hill (broken hand). Shawn Wallace, a first-year senior for us, had two nice early assists. You’re seeing the contributions come from up-and-down the lineup which is great,” Bisson said.
The Centaurs went ahead for good when Jared Neilsen got the puck to Wallace for the first of those two assists as he sent it to Corradi who put home his 12th goal of the season 4:59 into the second period.
Woodstock got the insurance tally with 14 seconds left in the period when Donnie Sousa tallied off a Wallace assist.
Sampson finished things off with his second goal of the game just 21 seconds into the third period.
In between the two semifinal games, the Nutmeg Conference announced its All-Stars with four members of the Centaurs honored.
Freshman goalie Dante Sousa, sophomores Donnie Sousa and Sampson and Thibault all received first team All-Star plaques.
Girls’ Hockey: Centaurs finish up season
The Woodstock girls’ hockey season ended where first-year head coach Eric Roy’s season did last year — at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
Roy was the former head coach of the Daniel Hand cooperative program and his former team handed his current team a 3-1 loss March 5.
The Centaurs had been on the sidelines since Feb. 19. They came out a little flat and fell behind by three goals.
“We battled in the third period, though. That final 15 minutes was the way to close the season,” Roy said.
Junior Keynila Hochard scored her eighth goal of the season for the Centaurs off assists from Bryn Miller and Sydney Haskins to account for the only goal.
The Centaurs finished the season with a 4-8-2 record.
“I would consider my first season at Woodstock Academy to be a success,” Roy said. “We laid the groundwork for a winning environment; We made the program’s first championship game. Our younger players were able to grow and got lots of minutes. The future of this team is definitely bright. The loss of our five seniors will be tough to overcome because they meant so much to the team but they set a great example for the younger players.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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