Fairfield Prep rallies past Notre Dame- WH

BRIDGEPORT — Fairfield Prep was playing well but didn’t have anything to show for it on the scoreboard, trailing Notre DameWest Haven by two goals with the second period winding down.

“We were saying we got to go into the end of the period with one,” Fairfield Prep junior Aksel Sather said. “We kept saying “we’re going in with one, we’re going in with one.”

Senior forward Mason Whitney took a pass from Teddy Gravanis in front and buried it, kick- starting a run of four unanswered goals in the third- ranked Jesuits’ 4- 2 win over the top- ranked Green Knights.

“Fairfield Prep believes they will never lose a game,” Notre Dame- West Haven coach Larry Vieira said. “Our guys are getting there, but we’re not there yet.”

The line of Sather, Whitney and Curley scored three of the four goals and were on the ice for all four.

“Once we popped the first one, we really got it going,” Sather said. “Once we get going, we get excited, and we start moving.”

Notre Dame- West Haven got on the board first when Ryan Ahern scored midway through the first. A Daniel Cusack goal early in the second extended the lead.

“We told our guys to attack, attack, attack and we started to pull back,” Vieira said. “We told them they need to attack.”

Despite the deficit, Fairfield Prep coach Matt Sather said his team never thought they were out of the game.

“We made a couple of sloppy coverages in our zone that led to the two goals,” Matt Sather said. “But I felt like we were all over them from the start.”

The Jesuits continued to play their game and the goals started to come.

Senior defenseman Luke Giardina tied the game with 12 minutes left and then Tiernan Curley gave the Jesuits the lead seven minutes later. Whitney iced the game with an empty netter.

“They’re special, there’s three college hockey players there if they want to be,” Matt Sather said of his top line. “When you get that level of play together, it’s fun to watch.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Mason Whitney, Fairfield Prep: Got the scoring going for Fairfield Prep late in the second period and then put the game away with an empty netter.

QUOTABLE

“We’re the No. 1 team in the state, we didn’t come here to lose. We came here to win, and it didn’t turn out that way.”

— Notre Dame- West Haven coach Larry Vieira said.

Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Notre Dame- West Haven’s John D’Errico, left, defends against Fairfield Prep’s Mason Whitney during Saturday’s game at Winterland Ice Rink in Bridgeport. The third- ranked Jesuits beat the top- ranked Green Knights 4- 2.

Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Fairfield Prep goalie Thomas Martin stops a shot during the Jesuits’ 4- 2 victory over No. 1 Notre Dame- West Haven on Saturday in Bridgeport.