Hamden Defeats Top-Ranked Fairfield Prep In Overtime Thriller

After some questions surrounding whether the showdown between Hamden and Fairfield Prep would happen, the game was certainly played, and what a game it was. 

In a matchup of arguably the two best teams in the state, we knew what was at stake. The number 1 Jesuits and number 2 Dragons, as of last week, were to battle for the top spot. The atmosphere was that of a playoff game, and, as one could imagine, the speed of the game did everything but slow down. The first period was a battle, but scoreless at that. As stupid penalties continued to pile up for us, the penalty kill had to come up bigger than ever.

After thorough scouting, we knew Prep's power play was based on one side, what is referred to as the overload. This being said, all week we practiced defending the overload, and Saturday it showed, killing off 8 out of 9 penalties, with their lone powerplay goal coming in a two man down
situation.  

After a foolish penalty taken at the end of the first by freshman defenseman Mike Lee, we began the second a man down. The penalty was killed, but after a hard fought heart of the period, Prep scored after a defensive zone meltdown on our part. (It seems as if I use this line at least once a week, which probably isn't good.) The second period ended with us trailing 1-0, and we took two more selfish penalties courtesy of myself, along with "Tricky Nicky" Amarone, leaving the team to start the final period down two men down.


During the second intermission, there wasn't much to be said. We knew what had to be done. If we were able to kill our second 5 on 3 of the night, momentum would be ours without a doubt. Sure enough, the penalty kill did its job with tremendous thanks to sophmore goalie Matt Hoff. Coach mentioned that good things come to those who worked hard, and in the middle of the two-man advantage, the Jesuits took a penalty that gave us a boost of hope. Now given a powerplay for a little over a minute, Jim Burt picked up an assist as he helped set up a beautiful one timer to knot the game at 1. Shortly thereafter, the Jesuits barked back as they took back the lead with under 10 minutes to go in the game. Down but not out, we needed something to get us going. This something ended up being another chance with a man advantage, and we capitalized. Centerman Clifford Carignan banged home the Dragons' second of the night after a scrum in front of the net thanks to Justin MacGregor's rocket. This may sound confusing as a reader, but this is how the game went. Back and forth, penalty-killing most of the game with a few powerplays for us sprinkled in here and there. 


The game headed to OT, as three periods weren't enough to settle this one. We were exhausted, but thanks to Coach Hallsy's conditioning, we had at least one more shift left. 8 minutes to decide the game, or it was to result in a tie. For some reason, something told me this barn-burner wasn't going to end without a winner. About one minute and 30 seconds into extra time, Hamden's Paul Amarone streaked down the left side of the ice and snuck one through the Farfield goalie's five-hole. The crowd erupted, and just like that we had won. Gritty winger Patrick Lynch, seemingly quoting the Notorious B.I.G., later said, "It was all a dream." Well Patches, it actually happened. 


Thanks to unprecedented intensity, we were able to pull out our biggest win this year. With our powerplay and penalty-kill units close to perfect, we came from behind in one of the most thrilling high school hockey games I was ever part of. 


Tuesday, we take on Xavier on the road, another private-school powerhouse. A tight contest is almost guaranteed.