S-W-S Boys Hockey Closing In On FCIAC Playoff Spot

The S-W-S  boys hockey team certainly has come a long way in a year.

Kyle Wehmhoff broke open a close game with a natural hat trick in the third period Thursday to lead the Wreckers to a 7-3 victory over Norwalk-McMahon at the Shelton Ice Rinks.

Staples (6-4, 12-5) , which has won six of its last eight games, moved into a tie for fourth place in the FCIAC standings.  The Wreckers need one point in their final two league contests to clinch an FCIAC playoff spot after winning only three games last season.

"The boys have all bought into the system and it seems to be paying off,” Wreckers coach Ralph Unker said.

Most of the success can be attributed to the sharpshooting duo of Wehmhoff and Aaron Liu, who added a pair of goals Thursday.

The juniors combined for 35 of the Wreckers' 83 goals heading into Thursday's game and  continued their prowess against Norwalk-McMahon.

The Bears (0-10, 4-12) were able to hang with their opponents for the first two periods with their hard work and physical play, but eventually got worn down by the Wreckers.

Staples opened the scoring just 2:02 in when Tali Laifer fired a shot that managed to beat Norwalk netminder Anthony Chiaramonte.

It appeared Norwalk was headed for a lopsided defeat against its skilled opponents, but the Bears responded with an excellent effort.

Norwalk had the next seven shots in the game, but couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the back of the net. The Bears' diligence did pay off in an unusual manner at the end of the period.

The Wreckers had a late-period power play that could have extended their lead.

However, they mistakenly iced the puck with four seconds left in the period, giving Norwalk a faceoff in the Wreckers' zone. Rocco Bocchetta managed to control the faceoff and fired a quick shot past goaltender Mark Blake-lobb right before time expired.

The goal, however, sparked some life into the Wreckers and they controlled proceedings for the rest of the game, although they did have to wait until 3:09 left in the period to take their second lead.

Norwalk made an ill-timed line change, and the dangerous tandem of Liu and Wehmhoff made the Bears pay. Liu took the pass from his teammate and easily beat the sprawling Chiaramonte to make it 2-1.

Staples extended its lead just 16 seconds later when Sean Stewart’s shot blistered through traffic and past the unaware Chiaramonte.

The freshman goalie made 21 saves for the Bears before giving way to Dan Diaz in the third period.

What he saw on the bench - and what everyone in attendance witnessed - was an outstanding display by Wehmhoff. While his outstanding puck handling and blazing speed were on hand all evening, the finished product was packaged in impressive fashion in the third.

After Norwalk narrowed the deficit to 3-2 with just 1:54 left in the second period, Wehmhoff completely took over for the Wreckers.

His first goal came 54 seconds into the final stanza, when he blasted a shot from the slot into the top corner of the net, giving Staples a 4-2 edge.

Wehmhoff's second tally came with 5:30 left, after he weaved his way into open space and blasted a shot past Diaz. He completed his hat trick on the power play with less than four minutes in the game.

"Seeing we are currently fourth in the conference, a few more wins and we can be right there when the regular season ends," Unker said.  "After that, it's a new season filled with more opportunities."

Still, he doesn't want to look past Saturday's non-conference game against Fitch.

"Right now,  it's just one day and one game at a time,” Unker added.  "I'll begin planning for Fitch next. But honestly, it's first things first. Nothing matters to me or the team other than that.”

Things don't get any easier for Norwalk- McMahon, which was outshot by the Wreckers, 44-24. The Bears' next opponent is top-ranked New Canaan on Saturday.