Warriors Fall in FCIACs

The seventh-seeded Wilton Warriors fell to the second-ranked New Canaan Rams Saturday night, getting bounced from the FCIAC regional tournament in a 5-0 defeat.

Wilton junior netminder Kevin O'Connell faced 41 shots, while New Canaan only allowed six as back-up freshman goalie Chris Koennecke picked up the shutout.

"We wanted to come out strong and play hard in front of Chris tonight," said  New Canaan sophomore Dylan Hart. "It was a real credit to him and our defense that we were able to block a lot of shots."

The Rams opened up the scoring in the first period when senior Henry Richardson scored off a Warrior giveaway to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The second goal came just over two minutes into the second period when Hart skated into the slot, made a nice deke around O'Connell and slipped the puck into the net to give the Rams a 2-0 lead.

Despite being outshot 28-3 after two periods, the Warriors were still in the game because of O'Connell's goaltending.

"Kevin played an excellent game for us tonight," said Warriors head coach Bret Amero. "He made a lot of saves for us."

In the third period, the Rams tallied three goals on 13 shots while only allowing three shots on net. The first goal of the period came on a power play as senior Sam Stanton skated in on O'Connell and beat him high glove side.

Over six minutes later, the Rams scored again as junior Henry Corcoran scored off a wrist shot from the top of the circle. Forty-seven seconds later, Rams senior Bo McGinniss scored on a power play with a slapshot from the point.

"New Canaan did a great job in this game," said Amero. "They are a fast-paced, Division I team and we were proud that we were able to stay with them for two periods."

Hickey spoke with pride of his team too.

"We are a tough team to play against," said Hickey. "We have a good offense, a big mobile defense and get good goaltending."

The Rams will need all their chops in for their second round match-up against the St. Joseph Cadets, who beat the Darien Blue Wave 3-2 in overtime in the first round. St. Joseph barely lost to the Rams in the regular season, 6-5.

"St. Joseph is a good team that has a lot of fire power," said Hickey. "They also have one of the better first lines in Connecticut."

Hart said that it's up to the Rams how far they go in the tournament.

"Our coaches say we have the talent," said Hart. "It's up to us on how far we want to take it."

Wilton, meanwhile, finishes their season at 15-8-1, including a 4-0 record in the CIAC division.