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caption:
Senior Day
The Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey team celebrated Senior Day Feb. 27. From left: Evan Haskins, Zach Girard, Kadin Shepherd, Shawn Wallace, Brendan Hill, Chris Thibault, Kyle Brennan, John Armstrong. Photo by Marc Allard.
Caption, page 8:
Two Goals
Sophomore Donnie Sousa had two goals and an assist Feb. 27 in the Centaurs 6-4 win over the Eastern Connecticut Eagles. Photo by Bryson Gould.
It was a busy, but very successful week for The Woodstock Academy Centaurs boys’ hockey team.
The Centaurs recorded four victories to raise their record to 12-5 overall and 7-0 in the Nutmeg Conference.
“It’s nice to really rack up the wins here especially considering that earlier in the year, what led us to be 4-5 was a win, a loss, a win, a loss. We were never on a losing streak or a winning streak, but the turning point was the loss to Bishop Hendricken. These kids started to believe in what they could do and the way they could play and they’ve been playing like that ever since. We need to keep doing that,” said coach Kevin Bisson.
They are now on an eight-game win streak with one more game left in the regular season.
“It started out a little rough,” senior Kyle Brennan said of the season. “We had some positive (COVID) cases and some arguments in the locker room but we’re starting to become a real family now. We’re bringing it together and we will be ready for the playoffs.”
The Centaurs host the Nutmeg Conference tournament beginning March 3 at the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School. The semifinals will be played at 6:15 and 8:15 p.m. with the winners to play in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. March 5.
“Higher seed typically hosts and, because some ice restrictions have come up, both semifinal games will be here. That makes it really exciting because the atmosphere should be that much better and, hopefully, we get the championship game on Saturday as well,” Bisson said.
Feb. 27 the Centaurs posted the 6-4 victory over the Eagles. Prior to the game, the Centaurs honored their eight seniors, Kyle Brennan, Evan Haskins, Chris Thibault, Zach Girard, Brendan Hill, Kadin Shepherd, Shawn Wallace and John Armstrong.
This group was special to Bisson. “It was my first four-year completion of players. These guys were freshmen my first year here and it’s really nice to see how far they have all come,” Bisson said.
The Centaurs jumped out early as the sophomore duo of Donnie Sousa and Noah Sampson got together twice within 30 seconds.
Sousa got the two goals, both were almost of the shorthanded variety with the Centaurs getting back to full strength just a second before Sousa’s second tally, to raise his team-leading total to 17.
Maxx Corradi would add his ninth goal of the season to give the Centaurs a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Sampson got a goal of his own in the second period off a rebound from a shot by Thibault. He was able to slip it between the pads of goalie Cam McCollum.
The Eagles did get a pair of goals in the period, though, to shave the Centaurs lead to 4-2.
Max Larkin added the Centaurs second shorthanded goal of the game to put Woodstock up, 5-2, but the Eagles came back to cut the deficit to 5-4. Then Sampson tallied for a second time with 3:23 left in the game.
The Centaurs did lose a little focus at times in the game. They were whistled for six infractions and twice had to play two-men down. Fortunately, the Centaurs didn’t allow a goal in those situations.
Feb. 25 the Centaurs beat Enfield Tri-Town 3-0. Junior goalie Kaiden Keddy delivered the shutout. Thibault scored just a minute, 55-seconds into the second period off passes from Jacob Jurnovoy and Sampson to give the Centaurs the lead.
Just a little over two minutes later, Corradi, with help from Sampson and Shawn Wallace made it 2-0 and Brennan scored one more goal 6:34 into the third.
Feb. 23 freshman goalie Dante Sousa did the honors, getting his first career shutout in a 2-0 win over the Suffield-Granby-Windsor Lock.
The Centaurs and Wildcats played to a scoreless first period but Sousa kept his team in the game.
Suffield took seven shots to Woodstock Academy’s three and none got into the net.
He also turned aside all nine shots sent at him in the third period when the Centaurs had only one look at the net.
Sousa wasn’t the only one beaming after the shutout victory. “I’m super-happy for him. He’s had a couple of close ones where he kind of looked like he was going to get (a shutout) and allowed one goal,” said Bisson.
After that scoreless first period, it took only 5 minutes, 20 seconds into the second for the Centaurs to take the lead on a Zach Girard goal.
“I just battled hard in the corner, won the battle for the puck and heard Girard yelling out front so I dished it to him on his forehand and he went upstairs for me,” Brennan said.
Just a little over five minutes later, Girard returned the favor and assisted on a Brennan goal.
Feb. 21 Woodstock beat South Kent School 7-2 in a Nutmeg Conference game. Donnie Sousa got the hat trick, getting the first goal in each of the three periods for the Centaurs.
Sousa scored with 4 minutes, 17 seconds left in the first; added another with 10:21 left in the second period and completed the triple with a goal with 10:31 to play in the third.
Sousa now has a team-best 15 goals on the season.
Sampson added a pair of goals and three assists and now has a team-best 31 points for Woodstock. Troy Daviau and Jared Neilsen also scored for the Centaurs. Jurnovoy added a pair of assists.
Boys’ Basketball: Finish regular season
with win over Griswold
Senior Parker Anderson was playing in his final home game as a member of the boys’ basketball team.
He wanted to finish on a high note and he and the Centaurs accomplished that with a 52-39 win over Griswold.
Anderson, who came in averaging a team-high 10.4 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half.
The Centaurs fell behind the Wolverines by as many as seven points in that first half, 19-12, but rallied to own a 24-22 lead going into the half.
Anderson made his presence known in the scoring column in the second half.
His first basket came halfway through the third quarter but it was a biggie. Anderson hit a 3-pointer to put the Centaurs up by five, 33-28.
After Griswold missed a pair of free throws, Anderson got to the free throw line and hit a pair.
After a Griswold basket, Anderson stepped behind the 3-point arc again.
He missed the shot but was fouled in the process and hit all three of his free throws to put the Centaurs up by eight.
Griswold closed to within four early in the final quarter, but freshman Brady Ericson (a game-high 15 points) hit a 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left and Anderson hit another trey 90 seconds later to put the Centaurs into cruise control with a 10-point lead.
Anderson finished with 13 points.
In addition to Anderson, Hamilton Barnes, Huck Flanagan, Jackson Goetz, Everett Michalski and the injured Ethan Davis were also playing or watching their final home game of their basketball career.
The Centaurs’ season closed Feb. 23 with a 54-51 loss to Fitch in an ECC tournament game. “It went down to the wire,” said coach Marty Hart. “We had to dig out of a hole in a physical game but we battled and came up just short.”
The Centaurs trailed at the end of the first half, 29-20, but rallied and took the lead, 45-44, late in the contest only to see the Falcons regain the lead and hold on for the win.
Ericson had a pair of dunks and a 3-pointer and led the Centaurs with 19 points.
Hart also credited sophomore Hunter Larson as he came off the bench, started the second half and contributed a pair of 3-pointers to finish with seven points. Carter Morissette also finished with seven points for the Centaurs.
Prep Basketball: Blue sweeps 2 games;
Gold splits
The Blue prep basketball team won its final two scheduled home games, downing South Kent School 77-56 on Feb. 27 and winning, earlier in the week, 87-69 against Redemption Christian Academy. The Centaurs raised their record to 16-11 on the season.
Jason Ofcarcik got the Centaurs off to a good start as he scored nine of his team-high 15 points in the first half as the Blue squad forged ahead, 37-20.
Chiwer Mayen was the second half hero as he put down 12 of his 14 points. Logan Talbot and Kunga Tsering each added 11.
Against Redemption Christian Academy Eddie Fisher led the Centaurs with 20 points while both Talbot and Ofcarcik each finished with 14.
The Gold Prep basketball team (15-19) got past Redemption Christian, 68-62, Feb. 23. The Centaurs were still without several guards due to illness and injury so the frontcourt stepped up. Center Promise Opurum led the Gold team to the win with 20 points while Jayshane Woodard added 14. Jalen Bradberry added 12 from his guard position.
Against South Kent Woodstock battled back from an early 11-2 deficit to take a 22-21 lead by the half.
But the tempo was definitely in favor of the visitors and the Centaurs could not pull away. With just about five minutes to play, Woodstock was clinging to a two-point lead.
That went away when South Kent went on a five-point run to go up, 46-43, with 3:42 left to play and Woodstock would not regain the lead.
A pair of free throws by Bradberry (11 points) cut the deficit to one, South Kent responded with a pair from the charity stripe of their own but a steal and a dunk by Woodard left the Centaurs just one back, 48-47, with 1:16 left.
South Kent scored the next three points, allowed a tip-in by Opurum but finished by making four of six from the free throw line for the win.
Tyshawn Trail, who returned to the Centaurs lineup after going through pandemic protocol, finished with a team-high 15 points.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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