Local Youth Hockey Tops in CT Hockey Conference

 

The Lions began pool play on Wednesday night, March 4, against the New Canaan Winter Club team at the Champions rink in Cromwell. The snow that closed schools for the day didn't seem to slow the team down that night as they got off to hot start and won the game 6-2.

 

On Saturday morning competition shifted to Wesleyan University in Middletown, where Ridgefield faced the Stamford Sharks who they had split games with in regular season play. The game was locked in a 1-1 tie unit late in the third, when the Lions scored on a breakaway to take a 2-1 lead. Landing one more into an empty net, Ridgefield prevailed 3-1.

 

In the final game of round-robin play, the Lions took on the #1 seed Darien. It was a hard fought game between two strong teams, and Ridgefield's 6-4 victory knocked the #1 seed out of the tournament and secured their place in the semi-finals the following day.

 

At the end of pool play, the top four teams that advanced to the semi-finals were the Ridgefield Lions, The Whalers (Cromwell), New Canaan Winter Club, and Yale (New Haven). The Lions would face off against Yale, while The Whalers would lock up with New Canaan in the semi-finals on Sunday morning. 

 

The Lions stumbled in a shaky start in their semi-final game, putting them quickly behind 2-0 in the first period. They respond with one of their own, ending the first frame trailing 2-1. Yale scored on the opening shift of the 2nd period, then again only minutes later to take a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 lead. Yale held that lead until late in the period when Ridgefield was able to get one back and shut down Yale's attack, cutting the lead to 4-2.

 

Despite many great saves and quality chances, the score remained unchanged until Ridgefield struck again with just under six minutes to play in the game. As the Lions drew within one, the energy in the Arena mounted with the chance of improbable comeback. As the cheers for Ridgefield continued to swell, the Lions were forced to kill off a Yale power play starting at the 4:20 mark. 

With only a minute left on the clock, as the Lions goalie skated towards the bench, Ridgefield got the equalizer. The entire crowd, now pulling for Ridgefield, erupted. With the score now tied at four and both goalies back in their respective nets, the Lions continued to apply pressure. With the crowd still buzzing, the teams lined up for a center ice face-off. After winning the draw, Ridgefield gained the zone and scored the game winning goal within seconds. 

 

A tense 53 seconds of play later, Ridgefield celebrated an incredible 5-4 comeback win and their chance at the Championship.

In the other semi-final game, New Canaan beat The Whalers 2-1 to advance to the finals.

 

Later that night, Ridgefield and New Canaan faced off in a great match-up between two local teams fighting for the CT State Championship. The Lions scored during the first shift of the game and, with great defense and goaltending, held on to win the Championship with a final score of 1-0.

 

The Lions were undefeated in their championship run.

 

At the end of March, both the Ridgefield Lions and New Canaan Peewee As will represent Connecticut Hockey when they travel to Massachusetts to compete in the Peewee Tier II Super Regionals. Congratulations to both teams.

 

The Ridgefield Lions were lead by HeadCoach Andrew Marchison, Assistant Coaches Ray Boudiette, Erik Dube and David van Wees, Manager Thomas McNicholas, and Scheduler Mike McCaghey. The Ridgefield Amateur Hockey Association attracts players from many surrounding towns. Players from Ridgefield, Redding, Wilton, and Bedford Hills(NY) are represented on the Peewee A team.