Roundup
Centaurs boys
play each
other to begin
season
While some ECC boys’ basketball teams chose to play scrimmages against fellow conference opponents, The Woodstock Academy chose to play each other.
The Centaurs held an intrasquad scrimmage to open the season last week with the seniors posting a 66-59 win over the underclassmen.
Logan Talbot paced the seniors with 27 points including six 3-pointers.
“It was a lot of fun,” Talbot said. “It’s been awhile since I played competitive 5-on-5 and it felt really great to be back out there.”
The underclassmen tied the game at 53 with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left on a free throw by Ethan Davis.
The seniors took the lead back for good when Dmitri Zinchenko scored three of his 14 points on a bucket inside and a free throw.
“He’s coming. He’s getting really good,” Talbot said of his 6-foot, 6-inch senior teammate.
Talbot added a pair of free throws to give the seniors a five-point edge and later delivered the dagger.
His 3-pointer with 1:20 left put the Centaurs seniors up by their final winning margin of seven points.
Andrew Johnson was also in double figures for the seniors as he finished with 13 points. Junior Parker Anderson led the underclass contingent with 15 points while Hamilton Barnes added 10.
The Centaurs are scheduled to open the season on the road at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at Windham High School.
Boys’ Hockey
The Woodstock Academy boys’ ice hockey team is only scheduled to play five games this season. Two of them take place this week.
“It will be a busy week in a short season,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kevin Bisson. “Obviously, it will give us a good look at what we have and what we will have moving forward with our younger players.”
The Centaurs were scheduled to play three games this week. They were also supposed to meet Xavier at Champions Rink in Cromwell Feb. 15, but that game was postponed due to pandemic protocol.
The Centaurs are now next scheduled to play Tri-Town at 8:10 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Enfield Twin Rinks and are supposed to play Northeastern at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Bolton Ice Palace.
Unfortunately, some wintry weather has been predicted for late in the week as well.
“The scrimmage the other day against (Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks) gave us a good glimpse of what we have in these younger kids who, up to that point, we had only seen a couple times on the ice. We got to see some of the chemistry especially in the (first) line of (Guerin) Favreau, (Max) Larkin and (Jeter) Darigan. They looked good together which was a hunch we were playing going in,” Bisson said.
“Larkin got a goal and Darigan stepped up big on the penalty kills, playing defense at one point because of how many defensive players we had in the penalty box.”
Those penalties contributed greatly to a 4-2 loss in the scrimmage to the Wildcats.
It’s something Bisson doesn’t want to see repeated this week. “The first game is always a little tough especially considering the circumstances of this year. A lot of the kids had not played at all or, at least, not in a long time because of the Connecticut shut down. Some of them were fortunate to have ties with programs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. You could see the overall energy and excitement of the game take hold as well which may have affected the composure factor,” Bisson added.
Skiing
Woodstock Academy junior Eliza Simpson started the 2021 season in style with a first-place finish for the Centaurs at Mount Southington Feb. 11.
“Eliza works and trains hard and skis fast. I think the excitement for finally getting some races in also gave her an extra boost,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kevin Brody.
Simpson was best among skiers from 10 programs including Wilton, Weston, Lauralton Hall, New Canaan, Litchfield/Wamogo Regional, Joel Barlow, Daniel Hand, Farmington, Guilford and Brunswick Academy/Greenwich Academy.
Newcomer Emma Brody placed 15th for the Centaurs.
Woodstock Academy did not score as a team as they are one skier short of the required number in both the boys’ and girls’ teams.
Senior Zach Brody led the Centaurs on the boys’ side with a fifth-place overall finish.
“Zach is pretty happy, he had two great runs. Of course, his personality is driven to be the top, but there are a lot of very good racers in this state that come from other programs as well.  With COVID and lousy weather up until the last few weeks, training opportunities have been tough. He knows what he needs to work on and next week will be a new day and new race,” said Kevin Brody.
Davis Simpson placed 14th for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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