Darien knocked out of quarterfinals
BRIDGEPORT—Playoff hockey is different.
The margin for error is razor-thin. The end to three months of wonderful effort can come suddenly.
The operative phrase is ‘On any given night.’
The third time was certainly not the charm for the No. 3 seed Darien High School boys ice hockey team in Saturday’s Division I state quarterfinals at Wonderland of Ice.
No. 6 seed Notre DameWest Haven High School found the formula for success as it ousted the Blue Wave, 3-1 before a packed arena.
The win means the Green Knights (12-9-1 overall) advance to Wednesday’s Division I semifinal doubleheader at Yale’s Ingalls rink where Northwest Catholic will be waiting. No. 2 seed NW Catholic eliminated No. 7 seed New Canaan, 1-0 Saturday.
CHANGE THE PLAN
ND-West Haven had lost 6-4 and 7-3 to Darien in the regular season.
ND-West Haven coach Larry Vieira changed strategy for Saturday’s encounter.
“Normally we are extremely aggressive on our forecheck. This time we used a neutral-zone trap,” Vieira said. “It slowed up Darien’s speedy wings. Slowing the wings cut Darien’s legs off to a degree.”
Another key was NDWest Haven was able to play with a lead much of the contest.
Andrew Buckholz scored just 5:52 into the battle for 1-0. Zach Schroeder tallied on a shot from the right point with 2:52 left in the second period for 2-1.
LOVE YOUR GOALIE
The biggest star for NDWest Haven was sophomore goalie Connor Smith. Smith responded Saturday with a 30-save performance including a group of stops worthy of a YouTube video.
“I owe much of today’s success to my team. There were so many blocks in front by my guys on pucks that didn’t get through,” said Smith, who was in net three weeks ago for Darien’s 7-3 win over the Green Knights. “We knew Darien could be beaten. I believe they underestimated us. They did score 13 goals in the first two games against us. There was reason for them to think today would be easy.”
Coach Vieira wasn’t surprised by his sophomore goalie.
“We have three outstanding goalies on our roster. But Connor was in a zone,” Vieira said. “I’ve been coaching forever and I get nervous. But Connor has ice water in his veins. He’s mature beyond his years.”
Darien coach Mac Budd also took notice of Smith’s brilliance.
“We played well. We just couldn’t finish,” Budd said. “Hats off to ND-West Haven’s goalie. Some of his saves were incredible. He was the best player on the ice. We didn’t have enough pucks get through. Therefore there weren’t a lot of rebounds for us to cash in.”
GOOD SEASON FOR DARIEN
Darien entered Saturday having won 14 of its last 15 contests.
The postseason, however, wasn’t kind to the Blue Wave.
Darien lost 2-1 in overtime in the FCIAC semifinals to Greenwich. And the Brotherhood of ND-West Haven ended the Blue Wave season Saturday.
Blake Swiggett, one of 10 Darien seniors, had the lone Blue Wave goal midway in the second period for 1-1. ND-West Haven’s Ian Hayden added an empty net tally with 5.5 seconds left as Darien senior goalie Henri Pfeifle collected 23 saves.
“I was happy with our season overall. We had struggled a bit the previous two years,” Darien coach Budd said. “This group answered the challenges and posted a number of big wins along the way. I’m happy with a lot of our accomplishments. We just ran into some very hot goalies in the playoffs.”