Tri-Town Skates Past Rinkmates, Heads to State Hockey Finals

NEW HAVEN, CT — Peyton Emrick was part acrobat, part magician Thursday night, as the Tri-Town goaltender stopped 27 shots, including several saves of the spectacular variety, leading his team to the Division III state championship game with a 5-2 victory over Enfield/East Granby in the semifinals at Ingalls Rink at Yale University.

Third-seeded Tri-Town (16-8-1) will meet the No. 5 Eastern CT Eagles in the title contest Saturday at 10 a.m., also at Ingalls. Eastern CT prevailed in an 8-6 donnybrook over top-seeded Staples in the late game Thursday.

Tri-Town earned the right to face the Eagles, comprised of players from more than a half-dozen schools in southeastern Connecticut, by disposing of another squad of Eagles with whom it shares the Enfield Twin Rinks as home ice.

The line of Ben Kingsbury, Dan Bell and Alex Knisley combined to put Tri-Town up 2-0 with a pair of goals in the first half of the opening period. Kingsbury scored after a scramble in front of Enfield goaltender Ryan Groshans, then Bell converted a rebound at the 6:20 mark of the period.

Emrick made his first incredible stop early in the second period, denying Clay Cowee at the goal mouth. The Eagles did break through a minute later on a Cam Gaylor goal, assisted by Jason Marin and Patrick Fleming.

A Tri-Town penalty gave the Eagles a power play near the midpoint of the middle session, and Ryan Murphy converted some nifty three-way passing between Gaylor, Robbie Vose and himself to slam in the tying goal at 8:34, seemingly giving Enfield the momentum it had been seeking.

Andrew Gaines quickly burst that bubble, beating Groshans just 17 seconds after Murphy's goal to push Tri-Town back in front.

"The biggest shift in any game is the shift right after a goal for or goal against," Eagles head coach Frank Genovese said.

After Enfield's Connor Juhasz hit the crossbar, Zachery Roy stole a pass at the Eagle blue line and scored with 2:59 left in the period. Just over two minutes later, Michael Shuman netted another goal to provide a 5-2 margin at the second intermission.

Enfield began the third period on a power play, but was unable to cash in. About three minutes into the final period, the puck lay loose in the Tri-Town goal mouth, but Emrick was miraculously able to keep it from crossing the goal line.

Enfield had one final opportunity to get back into the contest with a power play with just under nine minutes to go, but Tri-Town killed off that shorthanded situation and held on to seal its first trip to the state finals since 1994.

"They made the most of their opportunities, and their goalie played very well," Genovese said. "We battled back, but they made the most of their chances."

The Eagles outshot Tri-Town, 29-19.

Photo credit: Yale University
Video credit: Tim Jensen