The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hamden ousted by Northwest Catholic
NEW HAVEN >> The Northwest Catholic hockey program is no stranger to playing in the Final Four of high school hockey. For four straight years, culminating with a state title in 2012, the Lions reached at least the semifinals.
The Lions can now put a notch in their semifinal belt in Division I. Using a stifling defense and the goaltending of sophomore Cal Skwara, top-seeded Northwest Catholic advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 victory over No. 8 Hamden at Yale’s Ingalls Rink Saturday afternoon.
The Lions (18-3-1) move on to Wednesday’s semifinal against New Canaan, a 3-1 winner over Glastonbury, at Ingalls Rink at a time to be determined.
“We have focused the last half of the season on our team defense,” Northwest Catholic coach Donald Melanson said. “Our play has really stepped up the last few games. We are a high-offense team. We know we are going to score goals. It is a matter of not allowing goals for us.”
Seniors Anthony Ceolin and Ryan Sherba came up big for the Lions as each finished with a goal and an assist. Skwara made 18 saves in the win.
“We played well defensively today,” Sherba said. “They have some guys that can score over there. We just did a nice job getting the puck away from the front of the net.”
For the Green Dragons, the quality chances were set up, but not completed. Each time it looked as if Hamden was getting set up for an opportunity, Northwest Catholic was there to break up the play.
“They were tough for sure,” Hamden coach Todd Hall said. “We did not get a whole lot of flow going on our end. We had chances, but we either shot when we should have passed, or should have gotten another pass. They did a great job clearing out the front.”
Trailing 2-0 in the third, the Green Dragons (14-9) put on the pressure and closed to within a goal with 5:31 remaining as the persistence of Zach Owens paid off. Waiting from a sharp angle on the side of the net, Owens beat Skwara to the short side.
Any momentum the Green Dragons had, quickly went away as the Lions answered 33 seconds later.
Sean Macary’s blast from the point was brilliantly tipped home between the legs of Brennan Horn for a 3-1 advantage.
Sherba sealed Northwest Catholic’s first trip to the semifinals on the Division I level with an emptynet goal with 27 seconds remaining.
“This is big for us,” Sherba said. “We look forward to playing New Canaan again.”
Northwest Catholic dominated play in the middle period, holding a 10-4 shot advantage, and more importantly, scoring the lone goal of the period.
After Hamden goaltender Steven Turner (28 saves) knocked aside a handful of shots, the Lions finally capitalized in the middle period on the power play. With 4:26 remaining, Sherba found a streaking Ceolin, who ripped a shot from the high slot past Turner for the two-goal advantage.
“Scoring early in the game was tremendous for us,” Melanson said. “It allowed us to calm our nerves, especially playing here at Yale. Hamden had a great turn out and it was a lively atmosphere.”
The goal by Ceolin took away from a solid period by Turner, who made several fantastic saves, including a brilliant glove save on a missile from the slot by Sherba seconds earlier.
As in the opening period, Hamden’s opportunities were limited. The Green Dragons had two solid opportunities to get on the scoreboard, but Owens was denied from in front with a blocker save by Skwara 2:30 in, and Jake Blackwell was stopped in the crease with 5:40 gone by in the period.
The Lions took a 1-0 lead after a first period which saw a 34 minute delay when a hole was put into the boards following a collision next to the Northwest Catholic net.
Prior to the delay, the Lions needed just 1:58 of the opening period to strike first when Brett Baker found Brendon Bompane and Bompane ripped a shot past Turner from the right faceoff circle.
Following the delay, the Lions continued the pressure, but Turner was up to the task. The junior goaltender denied both Tucker Alissi and Sherba in succession from in front with eight minutes to go in the period, before turning aside a shot from the slot by Horn just over a minute later.