Trumbull Boys Hockey Outclassed By New Canaan

It was a rout from the beginning. 

Unfortunately for the boys hockey team, the Eagles were on the wrong end of that rout, losing  7-0 to unbeaten New Canaan on Saturday night at the Shelton Ice Rinks. 

The Eagles were trying to put the game behind them as soon as possible, focusing on their upcoming schedule.

“They came in the best team in the state, but we were looking to put out a much better effort than that,” Trumbull senior Andrew Pierson said. “We just have try to look forward to the next couple of games because we have a big matchup versus Ridgefield coming up.”

However, Trumbull head coach Greg Maxey was disappointed with his squad.

He believed his team’s lack of effort had actually spanned the past two days, first blowing a winnable game against Darien on Friday night, which may have carried over to the loss versus New Canaan.

“We stopped working and gave it away yesterday,” Maxey said. “So we made some adjustments and made sure everyone played today. Because if you’re not going to win those games that are in the palm of your hand, I had no reason to believe we were going to win this game.”

The Trumbull players seemed to believe that Saturday's loss - which dropped the Eagles to 3-4-1 in the FCIAC and 8-6-1 overall - could be attributed to the team’s different divisions.

“They are a No. 1 team in Division I and we are a Division II team,” Trumbull senior captain Trevor Saggese said. “But it was disappointing because we could have done a lot better.” 

The Rams showed why they are ranked no. 1 in the state, scoring early and often to completely demoralize the Eagles,  who looked outclassed on the ice. 

“We came out and did what we had to do,” New Canaan head coach Bo Hickey said. “We used five lines out there tonight, and I’d put my threes against most teams twos, and a lot of teams ones.”

Junior Reed Harper scored a hat trick and added two assists for New Canaan, which improved to 7-0 in the FCIAC and 14-0 overall.

“We’re just going with the one game at a time approach,” Harper said. “And we came out hard tonight and made sure that we played all three periods.”

Although Trumbull shots were scarce, great goaltending also was a key to the Rams' success. New Canaan sophomore goaltender Tim Nowacki recorded 12 saves.

“It’s a good confidence booster going into the tough week in front of us,” Nowacki said. “We’re playing Darien on Wednesday, Hamden on Friday, and [] on Saturday.  So we have three big games that will set the tone for the rest of our season.”

As always the Darien-New Canaan game has the players preparing for a battle.

“Darien doesn’t have the greatest record this year but a rival game is a rival game,” said Rams senior captain Brian Tohir, who had an assist Saturday. “We know it’s going to be a real barn burner, so we’re going to train hard this week in order to get ready.”

While New Canaan focuses on a major rivalry game, the Trumbull players are trying to stop their two-game losing streak. 

“We got to win all our Division II games and get a higher seed in the playoffs,” Saggese said. “But we’re going to work hard and try to beat some Division I opponents because if you can beat them, who’s going to be able to beat you in Division II?”