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Celebrating
Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball seniors and their parents celebrated Senior Night with a win over Ellis Tech. Photo by Marty Hart/The Woodstock Academy.
It has been a very productive line for the Woodstock boys’ hockey team and the nice thing is, it isn’t going anywhere soon.
Freshman Maxx Corradi and sophomores Donnie Sousa and Noah Sampson have accounted for 51 points this season for the Centaurs.
That line produced three key points Feb. 19 in a 3-1 win over the E.O. Smith/ Tolland cooperative program.
“That line, as a whole, has been a very consistent force out on the ice,” said coach Kevin Bisson.
The win over the Bucks, combined with a 12-4 victory over the Housatonic Regional Mountaineers earlier in the week raised the Centaurs record to 8-5. They are now on a four-game win streak going into the final seven days of the regular season.
Sousa added to his team-lead in goals scored as he put home two against E.O. Smith/Tolland. His first one was unassisted and the second one (his 12th of the season) came with help from Sampson and Shawn Wallace.
The assist by Sampson was his 11th of the season and the sophomore now has a team-leading 19 points.
The Bucks (14-3-1) did not go quietly, scoring in the second period to cut the Centaurs lead in half.
“They’re sitting in first place in (CIAC) Div. III, their last loss was to us. They’re playing strong and they play other Div. II schools (Woodstock is Div. II). We knew this was going to be a playoff-type of game,” Bisson said. “Our guys were definitely focused on the task at hand and we knew it was going to be a little different than the last game where we put up a lot of points. It was good that we came out and had the focus and fortitude to get it done. You need these types of games to make you stronger down the stretch.”
Kyle Brennan finished up the scoring for the Centaurs with an empty-net goal with 57 seconds left in the contest.
Defensively, Bisson credited sophomore Jared Neilsen with the play of the game. Woodstock Academy goalie Dante Sousa was watching one post when a Bucks player got the puck and started coming around the other. “Jared Neilsen just completely stuffed him, held the post and kept the kid from putting it home. At the end of the day, Dante’s one goal against was on a power-play for them. He was really solid and gave us the opportunity to hold that really tight lead for a long time before the empty-net at the end,” Bisson said.
Against Housatonic the Centaurs broke out to a big early lead and rolled to the eight-goal victory which raised their Nutmeg Conference record to 3-0.
Sousa got his first hat trick of the season.
Also adding goals were Sampson, Max Larkin, Andrew Newton, Jacob Jurnovoy and Zach Girard.
Another nice thing for Bisson to see was that all of the goals scored had two assists associated with them. Larkin had five assists by himself and now owns the team lead with 12. Sampson added four assists. Wallace also had four assists while Chris Thibault added three.
Girls’ Hockey: 1st tournament championship game
For a first time in the program’s history, the Woodstock girls’ hockey team played in a tournament championship game.
Unfortunately, the Centaurs fell to Hopkinton, Mass.., 5-2, in the title game of the Auburn Central Massachusetts League postseason tournament.
“Hopkinton was a good, fast team who pressured us early on while we were experiencing those championship game nerves. I should have prepared us better for that,” said coach Eric Roy.
Hopkinton jumped out to the 2-0 lead in the first period.
The Centaurs (4-7-2) got one back in the second period when senior Bella Chaves put her sixth goal of the season into the net.
Unfortunately, Hopkinton also scored in the period and led, 3-1, going into the third.
Hopkinton scored twice in the final period while Olivia Crawford tallied her second goal of the season.
The Centaurs downed Oakmont Regional, 2-1, earlier in the week in the opening game of the tournament.
“One of our goals at the beginning of this season was to be playing in this championship game and now, here we are,” Roy said after that win.
The Centaurs put their first goal on the board against the Spartans when Chaves tallied.
Keynila Hochard, tied with Chaves as the team’s leading points-getter with 10, assisted on the goal with help from Alex Lee.
The game-winner came off the stick of Grace Pokorny, her second tally of the season, with help from Crawford and Maci Corradi.
“This team has been playing at a different level for the last month and it’s great to see the results show for the girls’ hard work,” Roy said.
Boys’ Basketball: Centaurs win on Senior Night
The Woodstock boys’ basketball team celebrated Senior Night with a sweet victory over Ellis Tech, 62-26, last week. The Centaurs honored their six seniors, Hamilton Barnes, Ethan Davis, Jackson Goetz, Parker Anderson, Huck Flanagan and Everett Michalski prior to the game.
“It was awesome,” Hamilton Barnes said. “Tough season but we tried our best and it was good to come out here and get the win. It was good to have fun, too.”
It was the Centaurs second win of the season.
“On Senior Night, it was very special,” said coach Marty Hart. “We had hoped to gather and have more victories but it was perfect for the night. I just told them to live in the moment, enjoy the time with each other and I was glad that we were able to go out and spread the ball around a lot.”
The Centaurs put up 23 of the first 24 points scored with Goetz and Anderson both contributing six points each. The Centaurs rolled from there as Hart was able to substitute at will — all 10 players who got on the floor for Woodstock put the ball in the bucket.
Goetz was the only player in double figures with 10 points while Anderson added nine, Carter Morissette finished with eight and crowd favorite Everett Michalski tossed in seven.
Members of the cheerleading squad and pep band were also honored on Senior Night.
The younger guys, including Brady Ericson, James D’Alleva Bochain and Braiden Saucier are among those who have seen increased playing time recently.
The Centaurs played well but did fall to Ledyard, 56-50, later in the week. Woodstock fell behind big early, but rallied to take the lead in the third quarter only to see it slip away in the fourth.
The Centaurs fell to the Vikings, 65-46, Feb. 18. Goetz finished with 12 points and Morissette 10 for the Centaurs.
The ECC Tournament play-in game, at press time, was likely to be against Fitch in Groton Feb. 23.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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