Flashback Friday: A Magical Enfield Sports Moment [VIDEO]

ENFIELD, CT — With the entire world pretty much on hold due to the new coronavirus pandemic, Americans are finding themselves missing out on the daily things usually taken for granted: going to school, dining out, heading into the office, socializing with friends and enjoying their favorite sporting events.

With pro sports leagues on hiatus, winter high school tournaments canceled in midstream and spring activities on hold for now, fans are experiencing an unprecedented dearth of competition, both in person and on the tube. Networks like ESPN are broadcasting old games and highlight shows around the clock, like the 2003 Tangerine Bowl and a 1997 Masters recap - not much to really strike one's fancy.

For hockey fans in the town of Enfield, however, a long-lost video has recently resurfaced that likely has been rarely seen in the past three decades: the 1990 Div. II high school championship game between top-seeded Fermi and No. 2 Stamford Catholic. The game was captured by Continental Cablevision (the forerunner to Cox Communications in town), and broadcast on its local cable access channel.

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The two teams had met in the semifinals the previous year in a high-scoring affair, won by the Falcons by a 7-5 count which propelled them into the title game against Notre Dame-Fairfield at the Hartford Civic Center. Unfortunately, it was not to be that year for Fermi, as the Lancers pounded out a 7-3 win for their first state hockey championship.

Fermi and Stamford Catholic wove similar paths to the finals in 1990. They compiled regular season records of 17-3 and 16-4, respectively, to earn the top two seeds and first-round byes, then steamrolled their first two tournament opponents by combined scores of 13-2 for the Falcons and 12-0 for the Crusaders, setting up what was anticipated to be another wild and woolly matchup at the home of the NHL's Hartford Whalers.

Fifteen seconds into the March 13, 1990 contest, Scott White brought the Fermi faithful to their feet with a quick-strike goal, which was followed in rapid succession by tallies from Rob Polmatier, Mike Bruno and John McCormack in a 1:28 span to sprint to a 4-0 lead.

"I was moved up to the first line before the start of the playoffs and it paid off immediately," White recalled in a message to Patch Thursday.

Near the midway point of the first period, Brett Pellegrini added a fifth goal to send the fans into delirium, as the Falcons were turning the game into a runaway right out of the gate.

Not so fast. Stamford Catholic rebounded to score a pair of goals prior to the end of the first period, then struck again 65 seconds into the middle session to get back into the game. A goal by Rick Gauvreau provided the Falcons a 6-3 cushion at the second intermission, but the Crusaders cut it back to two early in the third period.

When Bruno banged home the rebound of a Jeff Bemis shot with 2:56 remaining, the TV announcer proclaimed Fermi to be the champions. Again, not so fast, as the never-say-die Crusaders netted two goals within 10 seconds with under two minutes to play to slice the deficit to one. In the final minute, Stamford Catholic pulled its goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker, but the Falcons withstood the pressure to snare the title that had eluded them the previous season.

"One of the best moments of my life after failing to win it from the previous year," White said.

Joe Bonfiglio was a freshman for Fermi who did not see a lot of ice time that season, but he said he learned about doing things the right way from his coaches and teammates.

"Truly one of the best seasons and teams I ever had the privilege to be part of," he wrote in a note to Patch Thursday. "Although I was only a freshman at the time, I took so much away from that year regarding work ethic and leadership from the upperclassmen as well as Coach Polmatier and Coach Zaczynski. Truly grateful to go on that journey with a great group of brothers!"

In 2014, the team was inducted into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame. Six years later, Bonfiglio resurrected a VHS tape of the championship game, which had been recorded at the time of its cable access broadcast by his late father, Bob. A conversion process enabled the game to be preserved onto a YouTube channel, and it may be seen in its entirety below.

(Joe Bonfiglio via YouTube)