Honored
POMFRET — Students named to this list earned a grade point average of 3.330 and received no grade lower than a B- for the Fall 2017 term:
Trisha Berk of Woodstock from the Class of 2018
Chelsey Castle of Pomfret Center from the Class of 2019
Isaac DiIorio of Pomfret from the Class of 2021
Caroline Labbe of Pomfret Center from the Class of 2020
Rose-Michaela Nsubuga of Danielson from the Class of 2021
Inyoung Park of Pomfret Center from the Class of 2019
Bailey Riva of Woodstock from the Class of 2018
Peter Sheehan of Pomfret from the Class of 2019
Kayta Tsemo of Pomfret from the Class of 2018

A five-minute major penalty is rare in a high school hockey game.
Two is almost unheard of.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen two in a high school game to be honest with you,” said Woodstock Academy coach Mike Starr.
But the Centaurs were the beneficiaries of a pair of major penalties whistled against the Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks cooperative Jan. 27.
The second one, a major for slashing in the second period, led to a pair of goals and a 3-2 win for the Centaurs over the Wildcats at the Jahn Ice Rink in Pomfret.
The Centaurs didn’t capitalize on the first five-minute penalty called against the Suffield Cooperative for boarding.
They failed to score.
The Centaurs did take the lead early when Matt Odom snuck one past Wildcat goalie Dan DeGagne with 57 seconds left in the first period.
“You put the puck on net and good things will happen,” Odom said.
Odom actually fell down on the play, got back up and was able to get his stick on the puck and flick it over DeGagne’s shoulder.
It made for a much happier locker room between the first and second period.
The Centaurs had a 5-on-3 power play in the period which they failed to take advantage of.
“They probably have the most aggressive penalty killers in Connecticut High School hockey- that penalty kill is fantastic,” Starr said. “Our message to the kids when they were going out on the ice was that it was going to be fast and they’re not going to let you set up and they didn’t. They surge toward the puck and are right on you.”
The Wildcats (5-7) tied the game 5:57 into the second period when Julian Cultrera snuck into the faceoff circle to the left of Woodstock Academy goalie Dylan Shea and sent it into the net.
The Wildcats then killed off the five-minute major, only to have another called on them with 1:21 left in the period.
This time, the Centaurs capitalized and again, it was Odom.
Jacob Black sent the puck at DeGagne with 57 seconds left in the period but the Suffield goalie could not cover it and Odom was there to put the rebound in.
“(Odom) really commanded the ice (Jan. 27). When he was out there, he definitely made a difference. We shuffled our lines last Saturday, going from a two-line to three-line system and I think it wears the other teams down a little,” Starr said.
Being in penalty-killing mode constantly probably didn’t help the Wildcats cause.
The Centaurs still had the man-advantage for 3 ½ minutes of the third period and got what proved to be the game winner with a minute left in the power play when Ethan Thorpe passed the puck to Guerin Favreau. The freshman’s shot was re-directed by Jake Starr into the SGWL net with 12:31 to play.
Tyler Gadzik did score for the Wildcats with 2:38 to play, but Shea was able to keep the tying goal out of the Centaurs net.
“I walked into the locker room, the kids were all pretty quiet when I walked in and I just screamed, ‘That’s the way to play hockey’ and they all jumped up. They’re excited, I’m excited,” Starr said.
The Centaurs ended a four-game losing streak on the ice with a 4-3 overtime win over Bolton-Coventry-Rockville on Thursday at the Bolton Ice Palace.
The Centaurs playing their second game in two days, got a pair of goals each from Odom and Black.
Dylan Shea made 21 saves in net for The Academy.
It was deja vu all over again for the Centaurs boys’ hockey team on Wednesday.
For a second straight game, they took on Tri-Town and, for a second straight game, lost in overtime, 6-5, this time at the Enfield Twin Rinks. They had lost the Saturday before in overtime at the Jahn Ice Rink to the Terror Cats.
Black had three goals.
Thorpe added three assists for the Centaurs  while Doug Newton and Liam McDermott both added goals.
Ryan Wojciechowski, Odom and Jake Starr also had assists for the Centaurs.
Girls’ hockey falls
The Centaurs girls’ hockey team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end at the Steriti Rink in Boston’s North End. The Centaurs fell to the Windsor School, 3-1. Lily Wilcox scored the only goal for Woodstock Academy (5-3) while Emma Ciquera had an assist.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

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The Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team has prided itself this season on its inside play.
Jan. 27, the Longmeadow (Mass.) Lancers turned the tables.
“We got killed on the boards,” said Centaurs coach Will Fleeton. “Usually, we’re pretty strong there and I think they won that battle (Saturday). I feel like they were the stronger rebounding team which limited our second chances and our fast breaks and gave them second chances – forced us to defend a little more.”
The Lancers did win the battle, by two rebounds, but the Centaurs won the war in overtime, 51-45.
“It was definitely a battle,” Heather Converse said. “Both teams were really physical down there.”
The free throw line almost scuttled the Centaurs hopes in regulation.
The Academy made only 5-of-11 from the line in the fourth quarter.
In total, the Centaurs were an uncharacteristic 17-for-38 from the charity stripe including only 6-of-14 in overtime.
The game was back-and-forth throughout.
The biggest lead belonged to Longmeadow when it forged ahead, 29-23, midway through the third quarter.
But the Centaurs came back to take the lead with 5:50 to play on a layup by Kalianna Dingui (15 points), 34-33.
Longmeadow rallied to tie, but Jamie Woods (11 points, 8 rebounds) took a pass from Converse with 3:03 left and scored on another layup to put the Centaurs up, 40-38.
Madison Brennan added a free throw with 1:54 left to make it a three-point advantage.
The Academy (11-4) needed all of that as Cameron Riordan sank a no-look 3-pointer with 1:24 left that sent the game into overtime after Longmeadow missed a pair of free throws and the Centaurs missed three.
Converse helped the Centaurs take over in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“Huge,” Fleeton said of Converse’s contribution. “I think she started to make her way in the paint and rebound the ball in the fourth. I think that was the key, something we were missing earlier and she was solid and able to do that at the end.”
Woods put the Centaurs ahead to stay with a basket just 26 seconds into the extra period.
Converse, who led the team with 16 points and 11 rebounds, added a free throw but Longmeadow cut the deficit to one with a pair from the charity stripe by Lyssa Tyler.
Free throws by Dingui and Converse and a basket by Dingui gave the Centaurs a seven-point lead with 46 seconds to play.
“In the past, like freshman year, we had really close games and we didn’t always win them. We’re older, we have the confidence and it was nice to get this win,” Converse said.
Earlier in the week, the Ledyard Colonels tried to do what many will likely attempt.
Take away leading Centaurs leading scorer, Woods.
The Colonels held Woods to nine points, but that opened the door for Converse who dropped 17 points and led Woodstock to a 42-30 win over Ledyard Jan. 23.
“We try to play inside first and Ledyard was playing a 2-3 matchup (zone) that gave us a little trouble. We just flipped the coin from Jamie Woods to Heather Converse so Heather got a few more touches and she scored a little more and Jamie had a few more assists and rebounded more. They just reversed roles,” said Fleeton.
The Centaurs built a 19-12 lead at the half and extended that to 12 points by the end of the third which is where it remained.
“Outstanding,” Fleeton said of the 11-4 record thus far. “I felt like we let a couple slip through the cracks earlier, but they were (losses) to quality teams so we accept those. But to win 10 at this point and be in control of our own destiny is all we could ask for.”
The Centaurs share the top spot in Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II with Bacon Academy at 4-1. Stonington is a half-game back at 4-2.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

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