Farmington Valley Cracks Top 10 of Ice Hockey Poll

FARMINGTON-AVON-WINDSOR-BURLINGTON, CT — The most recent top 10 poll of boys ice hockey teams in Connecticut includes just one Division II team: the four-school co-op from Farmington, Avon, Windsor and Lewis Mills high schools.

The Generals (4-1) placed eighth in the latest balloting of coaches and media members after posting a pair of impressive wins last week against tough competition. They defeated Northwest Catholic, last year's Division I runnerup, 9-3 on Dec. 27, then routed Glastonbury 7-1 on Saturday.

Fairfield Prep (6-0) collected all 16 first-place votes to retain the top ranking.

Here are the top 10, as well as all programs receiving votes, with records through Jan. 3.

1. Fairfield Prep (6-0)
2. Hamden (4-1)
3. Greenwich (4-0)
4. Notre Dame-West Haven (4-1)
5. Notre Dame-Fairfield (4-1)
6. Ridgefield (2-2)
7. Xavier (3-2)
8. Farmington Valley (4-1)
9. New Fairfield/Immaculate (3-0-1)
10. Darien (1-4)

Also receiving votes: Northwest Catholic (3-1-1), Watertown/Pomperaug (5-0-1), Simsbury (2-3), New Canaan (0-4), Cheshire (3-2).

Voters: Coaches - Matt Sather, Fairfield Prep; Nick Boorman, Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks; Ken Barse, Glastonbury; Tim Belcher, Notre Dame-West Haven; Shaun Gallagher, Ridgefield; Larry Vieira, New Fairfield/Immaculate. Media - Mike Fornabaio, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, SportingNewsCT.com; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Sean Begin, Hartford Courant; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT.com; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Dan Nowak, New Haven Register; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald; Luke Devoe, CTHSHockey.org; Jim Stout, MaxPreps.com.

Photo credit: Tim Jensen