Finalists boast top flight goalies in Pickering, Jackson

CROMWELL — There are few CIAC boys hockey teams left that can play the kind of depth that will be on display Tuesday night at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden in the Division I final.

At the same time, there aren’t any CIAC teams being led onto the ice by goalies like the ones who will be in net Tuesday night.

They’re the senior allconference goalies in the state’s two best conferences, New Canaan’s Mason Pickering in the FCIAC, Notre DameWest Haven’s Layne Jackson in the SCC/SWC.

“At the end of the day,” New Canaan coach Clark Jones said, “we don’t get here without really solid goaltending.”

Pickering has a .947 save percentage and a 1.23 goals-against average. Jackson’s numbers are .943 and 1.43. MaxPreps statistics are incomplete around the state, but of players entered, those are the two best GAAs in Connecticut.

“I know our defense and our team has a lot to do with it,” Notre Dame coach Larry Vieira said, “but Layne’s arguably the best goalie in New England. He’s that good.”

Jackson saved the Green Knights’ bacon in the first period of Wednesday’s semifinal win over Simsbury, keeping what could have been a three-goal Trojans win to just a 1-0 Notre Dame deficit. Pickering helped preserve overtime in the FCIAC championship long enough for Max Lowe to win it.

With an inexperienced defense, Jones said, Pickering gave his team time to get up to speed. The top-seeded Rams lost early to Notre Dame-West Haven and in overtime to Darien to fall to 6-2. They haven’t lost again, winning 17 in a row.

“We’ve pretty much just come together as a team. It’s really nice,” Pickering said.

The Rams fell in the semifinals the past two years. They had Beau Johnson two years ago, a third-year starter as a junior, arguably the state’s best goalie. But then he left for prep school.

“Mason stepped right in,” Jones said, “and he’s not fazed by big moments at all, which is a tremendous trait to have.”

Second-seeded Notre Dame, ranked first in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll, will have its fourth different starting goaltender in the past four state finals.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve had good goalies here since I’ve been at Notre Dame,” Vieira said. “Layne came to us as a sophomore. And it just took a little while to figure out the expectations that would accompany being here.”

Vieira saw Jackson working out all summer, saw his work ethic developing. Jackson was on the ice working on his game. Vieira said he saw Jackson, whom he’d known for nearly a decade, maturing into a man.

“Last year I didn’t really play much, so I just learned to come back from just a rough season,” Jackson said. “I had a really good summer. And it really turned me into a resilient person.”

It paid off to the point that Vieira called in the preseason just how good Jackson would be.

Jackson’s father, James, was an Army Ranger. Jackson plans to join the Air Force.

“He’s a high-character kid. To have him back there, it’s a wonderful feeling,” Vieira said. “When you don’t have to worry about the puck going in the net, it’s a great feeling. It’s like having a life preserver off the Titanic.”

Pickering plans to study business at Miami (Ohio), but he has one more hockey game with a championship on the line.

Second-ranked New Canaan is in its first Division I final in 22 years and its first CIAC final in 18. The Rams have not won a championship since their only title in 1972, before there were multiple divisions at all.

“It’s incredible, honestly, People who won the last championship are coming to the game,” Pickering said. “It means so much to them. It would be great just to win. We haven’t won in so long.”