New Canaan Boys Hockey Beats St. Joseph Again

In a game in which there were more penalty minutes than minutes played, the New Canaan boys hockey team defeated St. Joseph 5-2 Saturday night at the Darien Ice Rink.

After the teams combined for 24 penalties and 56 minutes in penalties, the Rams improved to 9-0 in the FCIAC and 17-0 overall, beating the Cadets for the second time this season and handing them their first FCIAC loss.

New Canaan also defeated St. Joseph (7-1, 10-3)  6-2 in a non-conference game at the Shelton Ice Rinks in December.

On Saturday, St. Joseph scored first at 2:56 of the opening period, as Pat Corcoran fired a bullet past New Canaan goaltender Tim Nowacki from the left dot.

But the Rams, on a five-on-three power play, tied it a short time later when Reed Harper scored unassisted.

Harper wore No. 19 in the game – in honor of the injured Henry Corcoran (shoulder injury),  who's expected to miss the rest of the season– instead of his usual No. 23

Each team had nine shots on goal and one goal on the scoreboard after one.

The Rams took the lead for good less than a minute into the second period. Charlie Corcoran beat Cadets goalie Zach Carrano to make it a 2-1 game at 3:08 and two minutes later,  David Crandall put the home team ahead 3-1.

"Harper carried the puck wide and shot it low at the goalie," Crandall said. "I followed the shot down the middle and when it rebounded off his pads,  it came right to me and I put it in."

St. Joseph scored on a power play when Conor Crouse, with helpers from Christian Keator and Pat Corcoran, make it a 3-2 game at 5:03.

When the horn sounded to end the period, 15 penalties had been called, and nothing changed in the third period when it became SRO in the box.

The Rams – for the second time in the game – scored less than a minute into a period.  This time, it was Dylan Hart from Corcoran just 25 seconds in.

The' Rams final goal was set up with an outstanding assist. Brian Tohir had the puck deep in his own zone. He looked up and saw two Cadets patrolling the blue line with another near the far blue line .

 "The passing lanes were closed off,  so I lobbed it over their heads where Harper picked it up, beat the defender, skated in and went top shelf for the goal, " Tohir said.

Nowacki made 23 saves for the Rams and Carrano stopped 19 shots for the Cadets.

The only undefeated team in the state, New Canaan has three games left in the regular season, starting with Wednesday's contest at Wilton.