Harry Stanton’s overtime goal capped off one of the most exciting hockey games of the season, propelling the New Canaan Rams to the FCIAC championship game with an exhilarating 3-2 semifinal win over the defending conference champion Ridgefield Tigers at Terry Conners Rink.
“I was exhausted,” Stanton said. “Everyone was exhausted. It was just a great feeling.”
The Rams will face Darien in Saturday’s conference final. The top-seeded Blue Wave defeated Trinity 3-1 in the other semifinal.
Unlike the last time they played Ridgefield where they fell behind 3-1, ultimately losing 5-4, New Canaan got off to a fast start in the rematch. Jack O’Rourke led a furious New Canaan attack, scoring just 21 seconds after the opening faceoff. Then with 1:22 left in the 1st, Patrick Hompe gave the Rams a 2-0 lead with a power play goal.
Ridgefield, however, answered 9 seconds later as Sam Sarath beat New Canaan goalie Mac Wright to cut the Rams advantage to 2-1.
“I don’t think we were complacent or anything,” said New Canaan head coach Bo Hickey. “They’re a good hockey team. They won a lot of games. You’re not going to shut them out, they do play a little bit. “
And play they did, as the Tigers–despite being outshot 9-7 in the 2nd period–tied the game with Sarath’s second goal of the night with just over 4 minutes left in the period.
New Canaan had three power plays in the 3rd period and outshot Ridgefield 14-7, but the Rams were unable to put the puck by Tigers’ goalie Patrick Sheehan-Delaney, who finished the game with 36 saves. New Canaan’s Wright made several spectacular glove saves himself, preserving the tie and sending the game into overtime.
“Goalie came up big the last regulation period and the overtime period,” Hickey told NewCanaanite.com. “In the last two periods he rose to the occasion and did what he had to do and gave us an opportunity. “
“Mac played absolutely out of his mind,” Stanton said. “Glove saves over and over. That just kept us in the game. You know this could have gone either way.”
Ultimately, it went New Canaan’s way. As the teams were approaching the 10-minute mark in overtime, O’Rourke won a faceoff in Ridgefield’s zone, with the puck finding its way to Stanton.
“I actually looked up and saw I was one-one-one with the goalie,” Stanton said. “He was playing the right side pretty well, so I just faked a shot right and crossed to my backhand and just found a little bit of room to slip it in.”
“I told them we don’t need a miracle, we just need to play,” Hickey said. “Get a shot, keep the third guy high on the attack and it’s amazing what happens when the third guy is high. That’s where most of the goals come from. “
Now all that stands between the Rams and an 18th FCIAC Championship are their arch-rivals.
“We want to see Darien, we want another shot at them,” Stanton told NewCanaanite.com. “Obviously everyone knows the rivalry that’s there. I just think it’s great for the game if we get a New Canaan-Darien finals. We haven’t seen that in a while. We want a big crowd, we want a huge game.”