St.Joseph Boys Hockey Defeats Fairfield Warde-Ludlowe

The boys hockey team erupted for four unanswered goals in the third period Saturday night to defeat Fairfield Warde-Ludlowe 5-1 at the Shelton Ice Rinks. 

The third-period surge enabled the Cadets, who were locked in a 1-1 tie after 30 minutes, to record their 10th win of the season. 

“We never turned it on," St. Joseph coach Marty Crouse said. "We were lucky to play that way and still come out with a win. You can’t have these games. They get a couple goals against you and it could get ugly. I don’t know if these kids understand that yet.”

Pat Corcoran scored two goals while Christian Keator added a goal and an assist for the Cadets (10-2). Fairfield senior captain Brooks Brown tallied the lone goal for the Mustangs (5-6).

Fairfield and St. Joseph skated even early in the first period with the Cadets having a slight advantage in shots at Fairfield goaltender Robert Ficarra.

The Mustangs opened the scoring with 3:48 left in the first on a quick wrister from Brown at the right faceoff circle.

“We know that we didn’t have a great first period,” Corcoran said. “We were tired. We were slow. We just didn’t come out fast.”

On Fairfield’s end, Ficarra turned away 14 shots in the first period, maintaining the Mustangs' 1-0 lead.

“Everyone is trying to knock us off now,” Crouse said. “We can’t have those slow starts. We have to have three periods of solid hockey and we haven’t had it yet this year.”

The Mustangs started the second on the first of their three failed power plays in the period. Meanwhile, Ficarra continued to frustrate the Cadets.

St. Joseph finally tied it with 2:32 left in the second when Sander Boroczky spun around and flicked the puck under Ficarra’s stick for the goal. Matt Vazzano earned the assist.

“It’s always good to get ahead, get them playing our hockey game," Fairfield coach Mark Pettorini said. ''We did, we had them chasing in the beginning. “Crouse adjusted in the second period, started sending guys. That’s when it changed.”

To start the third period, Fairfield had another man advantage. In total, the Mustangs were 0-for-5 on the power play.

Those failed chances came back to haunt the Mustangs, as the Cadets broke down Fairfield early and often in the third period.

“We’ve been struggling all season with finishing,” Pettorini said. “A lot of games we should have blown guys out (and) we only win by a goal. It only takes a couple shots to score and it goes in the wrong direction, you lose all your momentum and it’s over.”

A few minutes into the third period, St. Joe’s took a 2-1 lead on a goal from John Ferguson, who flicked Keator’s deflection in the air over Ficarra.

Minutes later, Graeme Keleher tried to clear the puck out of his zone but inadvertently sent it to Conor Crouse. He passed across the ice to Corcoran, who wristed it past Ficarra into the upper right corner of the net to make it 3-1.

At 3-1, the Mustangs were reeling,  trying to find a way to get back into the game but their attempts just turned into more St. Joseph goals.

“We just needed to shoot," Corcoran said. "We were trying to stick handle around everyone instead of shooting the puck on net. Earlier, everyone was being an individual. Then we started playing as a team passing it, moving fast and getting good shots on net.”

With four minutes left, the Cadets scored again, making it 4-1, thanks to Keator, who wristed a shot past Ficarra’s outstretched glove after Ferguson stole the puck from Steve Kernstock, who was trying to take the puck out of the zone.

Less than a minute later, Corcoran provided the dagger, scoring on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle to  make it 5-1. Crouse recorded the assist.

“We didn’t do anything special in my book," Crouse said. "We were lucky to get away with a win. We got to pick it up, we definitely have to pick it up.”