Cheshire headed to Division II championship

CROMWELL — Cheshire hockey coach Anthony Giusto understands that the weeks of the state tournament are hectic.

But he hopes his players get a chance to enjoy the experience.

“It’s one thing I keep reiterating to them, enjoy it,” he said. “These last two weeks, take a minute, look around, you’re skating at Quinnipiac, you’re practicing there, you’re playing there, you’re competing for a conference championship, a state championship — it’s great when you’re in it because everything goes fast.

“But you just got to take a minute, look around and enjoy it. I think we’re in that moment right now. We can kind of take a deep breath now and say, ‘We got to be where we want to be, in the finals, now you got a few days to enjoy it a little.’ ”

Top-seeded Cheshire beat Amity Tuesday in the Division II semifinal game at Quinnipiac’s M&T Bank Arena, 3-0, and will face the East Haven co-operative team for the state championship Monday at 7 p.m. at Quinnipiac.

So the Rams have a few days to stop and savor the experience. Thursday, they went to the media pre-championship press lunch at the TPC River Highlands clubhouse.

“Before this, every couple days you’re playing, you’re watching film,” Giusto said. “We had a day off yesterday. This is special today.”

The only time the two teams faced each other was Dec. 30 and East Haven won 5-2. But East Haven had to forfeit 14 games due to the use of an ineligible player and that was one of them.

“We expect them to be much better and we expect to be much better,” Giusto said.

Two years ago, Cheshire won only five games. Last year, the Rams lost in the first round of the state tournament. There are six seniors on the team and they have experienced the gamut of emotions, along with their coach who is also coaching in his first state final. Cheshire last won a title in 2011, the year before Giusto started coaching the Rams.

“I give them all the credit for turning around the culture and environment we had in the program,” Guisto said. “They went through a year where your season ends on Game 20 and there is no post-season play. Then we were a 14-win team., getting knocked off in the first round of the state tournament and feeling that pain. Now going on this run. We’ve been through everything.”