Fairfield Prep is No. 1, again
For the fourth straight season, the Fairfield Prep boys hockey team ends the season as the No. 1 team in the state.
The Jesuits went 11-1-1 and received 12 of 13 firstplace votes in the final poll. They defeated five Top 10 teams, including a 4-2 win over then-No. 1 Notre Dame-West Haven. The two also tied later in the season.
“When I think about this team, they’re just tough. I think we can say that about all of these kids this year,” Fairfield Prep coach Matt Sather said. “(The kids) are waking up every morning wondering if that is it for your season.
“To battle through (the uncertainty), to grind through that all year, that toughness was fun to watch. It was rewarded in the poll.”
Unfortunately for Sather
and his team their season was cut short after the SCC/SWC Division I semifinals.
Fairfield Prep defeated Notre Dame-Fairfield to advance to the final and, two days later, multiple Notre Dame players tested positive for COVID-19 and the championship game was canceled.
The Jesuits lost their season opener then bounced back with a win in their second game. But it was the third game of the season against Darien when Sather knew what his team was all about.
Fairfield Prep defeated Darien 3-0 on three goals from Tiernan Curley and senior goalie Tommy Martin’s
29 saves.
“Darien outshot us in that game and Tommy was unbeatable,” Sather said. “I think that set the tone for that toughness for the year. (That game) taught us a good lesson of what we could be.”
With Martin’s play in net, plus performances from Mason Whitney, Tiernan Curley and Aksel Sather on the top line, the Jesuits didn’t lose another game.
The trio combined for 69 points and scored 31 of the 55 goals the Jesuits scored this year.
“If Tommy is that toughness on the ice, the chemistry of that line was the fun that we needed,” Sather said. “When those guys get going it was fun to watch.”