Spartans Lose to Cadets in Season-Ending Hockey Match

Scoring two goals in a span of 2 minutes, 38 seconds was all the St. Joseph of Trumbull hockey team needed to defeat Amity 3-0 Wednesday night in a CIAC Division 1 first round state tournament contest at the Rinks in Shelton. It was the third time the Cadets and Spartans squared off on the ice this winter and the Cadets won all three games (by scores of 5-0, 5-2 and 3-0-). The victory improved the fourth-ranked Cadets’ record to 19-5 and moved them on to Saturday’s quarter-finals game against fifth-ranked Ridgefield. The thirteenth-rated Spartans end their season with a 9-11-1 mark.

 “My kids played as hard as they could and they played their hearts out tonight. After playing a very strong first period, we made some defensive mistakes during the second period that really hurt us,” said Amity Coach Gary Lindgren. “St. Joe’s just had more depth and more offense than we had. They were able to capitalize on our mistakes."

Led by defenseman Luke Sacramone, Amity came out and played very aggressive, physical hockey during the first period. Lindgren explained that his game plan was to have his team throw its weight around early in the contest, hoping to soften up and wear down the Cadets. 

Early in the second period, the Cadets raced down the right side. The puck came to Connor Crouse in the corner and he flipped it over to line mate Pat Corcoran, who circled behind the Amity net. Seeing Matt Julian open at the top of the crease, he fed him the puck and Julian lifted it over the left arm of Amity goalie Alex Mansfield with three minutes gone in the second period. Slightly more than two minutes later, St. Joseph went back on the attack. Once again Crouse was deep in the corner when the puck came to him. This time, he fed Julian out in front, who returned the puck to Crouse as he moved into the high slot and let fly with a shot that was blocked by Mansfield. He regained the puck and pushed it down low to Corcoran, who made a nice move and beat Mansfield at 5:38.

 Crouse’s third period break-away was stuffed by Mansfield (who recorded 34 saves) with eight minutes left to play. With just under a minute to go in the game,  Lindgren pulled Mansfield in favor of a sixth skater, but that moved backfired. With 16 seconds left to play, Crouse (who had already picked up two assists) fired the puck into an empty net. He has now recorded 46 points (16 goals and 30 assists) for the season.  Corcoran’s two points up his season total to a team-high 55 points (30 goals and 25 assists).

Lindgren added, “We knew that they usually played only two lines so we had hoped to wear them down early in the game and build up some confidence; but, without Joe Bianchi (the Spartans’ high-scoring junior forward who broke his wrist in Amity’s previous game against  Fairfield Prep,) we had to change the personnel on our first two lines. That caused a change in dynamics and forced us to be more conservative, especially in the neutral zone. Losing Joe (Bianchi) cost us one of our biggest offensive weapons. We also hit the pipe three times during the second period.”

The winners outshot Amity 37-24 but Lindgren had nothing but praise for Mansfield, who played his last game in front of the Spartan net and recorded 34 saves.

He said, “As usual, Alec played well and came up with some big saves that kept us in the game. I tip my hat to St. Joe’s. They beat us three times. With Crouse, Corcoran and (Sandor) Boroczky, they have a very tricky and very potent offense. Zach Carrano (who recorded his third shutout of the winter) played well in goal all year long and came up big again tonight.  St. Joe’s deserved to win this one. In addition to having more offense and depth, St. Joe’s was able to take advantage of our mistakes, but we still gave it our best shot.”