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Roundup
Centaurs
finish 3rd at
Class S state
championship
It has not been a typical gymnastics season for the Woodstock Academy girls.
But all is well that ends well. Such was the case on Saturday.
The Centaurs revived some of their past magic and posted a third-place finish in the Class S state championship at Jonathan Law High School in Milford.
“The girls are beyond happy,” said coach Kasey Tocchio. “We just wanted to go and do as well as we could and we did that.”
The Centaurs finished with a 133.175 total which put them just behind first-place Daniel Hand of Madison (140.275) and Killingly (138.0).
The key for the Woodstock resurgence was the return of Olivia Aleman.
The junior, who has not competed due to injury since the first meet of the season, had been working out at Deary’s Gymnastics in Danielson for the past week prior to the state championship.
“We’ve been adding things over time and she just did amazing. She just wanted to do this for her team and I’m so proud and happy that she was able to do it for herself,” Tocchio said.
Individual results only count toward the team score, there is no individual all-around medalist in the state championship competition but had there been, Aleman would have won it.
She finished first in the individual scores in the floor (9.525) and bars (9.425) competitions, was second in vault (9.2) and was fourth best in beam (8.850) after an uncharacteristic fall.
“Right back to Olivia standards,” Tocchio said with a laugh.
Allie Boyd finished with an 8.7 on the beam and an 8.350 in the floor competition; Livia Gerum had an 8.3 in vault and an 8.150 on beam and Emma Long added an 8.650 in vault.
“We had some amazing beam and floor performances, they just really held it together as a team,” Tocchio said. “Emma did a new vault so her score in that improved tremendously. Even before Olivia came back, this team has held its own. We beat Stonington twice before heading into this meet so we knew we could do it. The kids have stepped up enough and adding Olivia was just a bonus for everyone.”
The third-place finish did make up a bit for the fourth-place finish in the ECC championship two weeks before which ended the Centaurs’ 13-year reign atop the conference.
“This group is beyond deserving of this. I was tickled to death for them. It was our hope to try and do that and to come back from ECC’s is something really special,” Tocchio said.
Aleman, who came into the season as the defending ECC champion, was still not ready to compete when the league championship was held two weeks before.
“I think this was so good for her to get out there and have one last hurrah. She can’t compete in the State Open because she doesn’t have enough scores this season. I think she needed this for herself and I cannot wait for her senior year,” Tocchio said.
The state championship meet was also the final competition for the team, as a whole, as it did not qualify for the State Open.
Gerum will compete as an individual in the beam and vault competitions.
But there is plenty of hope for the future.
“Everybody is coming back and we know we have two freshmen coming in, too. I’m hoping it will be a very good, productive year,” Tocchio said.
Hockey
Taking it all in with a smile. It was Senior Day on Saturday for the boys’ hockey team.
And Centaurs boys’ hockey coach Mark Smolak was happy with the group he saw gathered on the ice and not only for their accomplishments with the stick in their hands.
“It’s not even about the team aspect, it’s about watching their growth as individuals and humans during their time here in this program and making sure they are leaving behind a good legacy. Each one care about that. They are dedicated to our team, our school, our community, They are better people today than when I met them four years ago, that’s all I care about,” Smolak said.
The boys’ hockey coach saw eight of his players; Alex Gessner, Noah Sampson, Troy Daviau, Thomas Blevins, Donny Sousa, Jared Nielsen, Sam Lescault, and Ryan Wallace recognized prior to the contest.
“It was very special. I have been a part of this organization for four years, it means a lot especially with my family here. I wanted to perform for them, it was Senior Day, the last game of the (regular) season and it’s States time now,” Sampson said. “I’m going to miss the coaches, the boys, the fans, everything about this rink. These have been my boys since Day 1. I remember my freshman year, skating at Norwich because of COVID, the times were rough. We only played six games but we all fought through it together and here we are now.”
Sampson and his teammates didn’t waste any time when it came to performing Saturday.
The Centaurs came out quick and posted an 8-1 win over Notre Dame-Fairfield.
The win meant the Centaurs finished the regular season with a 10-10 record and second-ranked in CIAC Div. II.
Sampson came out on the ice flying, the team captain getting the puck on a breakaway just 42 seconds into the contest and sending it past Lancer goalie Brandon Bayusik to give the Centaurs the early lead.
Woodstock failed to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play moments later and incurred a penalty of its own just moments after Notre Dame-Fairfield successfully killed off its two penalties.
The saying all year has been the Centaurs are better short-handed than on the power play and it proved out again as Sampson got another breakaway opportunity and flipped a back hand into the net for the 2-0 lead just 4:37 into the game.
“I was talking to him after the second goal and I told him, ‘There were like four straight games where you had 8-10 breakaways and didn’t cash in on any of them.’” Smolak said with a smile.
Sampson agreed, “I’ve been snake bitten all year so those breakaways helped a lot to get my confidence back for States.”
He and the Centaurs weren’t done yet. But they did have to endure a quiet period.
After the second Sampson goal, Notre Dame-Fairfield (3-16) settled down a bit and even took it to the Centaurs a little, outshooting them at one point in the second period, 16-3.
“One of the things that was causing us problems is that we started to run around a little bit. We had to get focused on our system again and be sure we were in the right position and, even though they had a lot of shots, I don’t remember any key scoring opportunities from the middle of the house which is what we’re focused on,” Smolak said.
All of the Lancer shots, however, were turned away by junior goalie Devlin Mansolf.
The Centaurs found the target again late in the second period when Keegan Covello scored his first goal of the season off a Gessner assist.
Junior Maxx Corradi then put home a power-play goal off a Wallace assist with five seconds to play.
Brady Lecuyer, Daviau, Corradi and Sampson all tallied in the third period for the Centaurs.
The Centaurs also played two other games last week.
They downed Burrillville, R.I. on the road, 4-1.
Sampson got one of his three hat tricks in the last week and a half in the win and Lecuyer also scored. Corradi had two assists in the game while Landon Murdock, Lescault and Gessner all added assists.
Woodstock also traveled to Simsbury where it fell short to the Div. I Trojans, 5-3.
The Centaurs opened a 2-1 first-period lead on goals by Corradi and Lecuyer but Simsbury responded with four unanswered goals between the second and third periods to end a three-game win streak for Woodstock.
Sousa had the final goal for the Centaurs with nine seconds left in the contest.
Sampson finished the regular season with 22 goals and 20 assists while Corradi added 19 goals and 18 assists and Sousa, who had to sit out Saturday due to concussion protocol, had 15 goals and 15 assists.
The Centaurs now get to sit until March 5 when they will host a state tournament first-round game.
If the season ended on Saturday, they would host Farmington Valley but teams still have games to play and the rankings could bounce around a bit.
“Knowing that we are the home team, it will be ‘let’s see who we are playing’ and we will have a week to prepare for that team whether that be on the ice or in video sessions, assessing our own game, assessing our competition, and just seeing where we’re at so we can put our best foot forward,” Smolak said.
Div. II just went through a shakeup as former top-seed East Haven had to forfeit 14 of its wins due to the use of an ineligible player. It dropped the co-op team down to No. 16 but it’s possible the Yellowjackets could move up to No. 15 making them the Centaurs first-round opponent.
“It doesn’t change anything. If they are the 1, 15 or 16 seed, if you’re going to win, you have to play the best and beat the best. We knew going into this that if we were going to win, we would have to go through them, we would have to get through Cheshire and any of those other teams in the top six. It doesn’t change anything except maybe the round we have to play them in. We’re not focused on that right now,” Smolak said.
Boys’ Basketball
It’s never easy for a team to be without its leading scorer especially at tournament time. Such was the case for the Woodstock Academy boys basketball team last week.
Junior center Brady Ericson had to watch from the sidelines as the Centaurs played in the ECC Div. 1 tournament.
Woodstock went in as the eighth-seed, meaning it had to participate in a play-in game against No. 9 Ledyard Wednesday.
Even without the 6-foot, 6-inch Ericson, who averaged 15.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and almost two blocks per game, the Centaurs were able to pull it together and posted a 47-38 win over the Colonels.
The reward was a game the night after, on the road in Uncasville against top-seeded St. Bernard.
There was to be no upset as the Saints cruised to a 74-39 win.
“It was a minor tweak. He came down in the Windham game and stepped on someone’s foot for a little ankle sprain.” coach Donte Adams said of Ericson’s absence. “It’s getting better day-by-day but the turnaround was kind of quick from Windham to the ECC tournament so we decided to see if we could compete without him and save him for States.”
The Centaurs (10-12) were able to do that. They rolled out to a 16-4 lead over the Colonels who finished the season with a 5-16 mark.
“I told these guys, even though (Ledyard) came back a bit, it’s really hard to win a playoff game no matter who you are playing against. Guys are going to come out and give you their best. I knew the guys were ready to play and I wasn’t worried about the offense, I knew we had to make some stops defensively,” Adams said.
Junior Garrett Bushey led the Centaurs with 13 points. Hunter Larson and Teddy Richardson both scored seven points in the win.
Unfortunately, the Saints were another animal.
“I just told the guys to show up on the bus and be ready to play. The best thing that we could do was to go out and give it our all and the guys really played hard. I would have loved to win but the goal is just to keep getting better,” Adams said.
The Saints led, 24-11, at the end of the first quarter and were up at the half, 42-20.
Ty Grudzien and Amyre Grey each finished with 15 points for the winners while Curtis Marshall added 12.
Bushey led Woodstock with nine points; Richardson added seven.
The Centaurs will next step on the floor in a competitive game on March 4 in a first-round CIAC Div. IV contest.
The seedings have not been officially released by the CIAC but if the rankings hold true, Woodstock will be the 26th-seed and will travel to Hartford to play No. 7 Weaver (16-4).
“I don’t really know too much about them. You can’t go by regular season record. In the playoffs, everyone is 0-0. What I can expect is that they will play hard. This is one-and-done. I expect that they will be gritty. I expect even more from my guys. We’ve won 10 games this season, no one can take that away, give yourselves a pat on the back but the job is not done. We have a chance to continue and do something special,” Adams said.
Adams said, once he knows that it is locked in with Weaver, he will start watching film and get to know their personnel.
“When you say ’Weaver’, quickness pops into my head. I don’t know if it is the name of the school or what but quickness is what I think of and we will have to keep them on their toes, change defenses, see if they can make the adjustments,” Adams said.
The nice thing for the Centaurs is the week and a half off to get the bumps, bruises and Ericson fixed.
“We’re going to work hard, give them a little break but there will be a quick turnaround. We’re not going to be sitting around and prepare for the last two days. You have to treat this like a whole new season with the mindset being, ‘I want to play in that last game, the championship game,’” Adams said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Girls Gymnastics: The Woodstock Academy gymnastics team (from left to right) Emma Long, Rhea Desota, Livia Gerum, Olivia Aleman, Angelina Auger and Allie Boyd was all smiles after a third-place finish in the Class S state championship meet at Jonathan Law High School in Milford Saturday. Photo by Kasey Tocchio/Woodstock Academy.
Boys Hockey Senior Day: Eight members of the Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey team (from left to right) Ryan Wallace, Sam Lescault, Jared Neilsen, Donny Sousa, Thomas Blevins, Troy Daviau, Noah Sampson and Alex Gessner were recognized during Senior Day festivities at the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School Saturday. Photo by Collin Singleton/Woodstock Academy.
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