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03/11/2019 12:00 AMThe Guilford boys’ ice hockey team earned a victory in its Division II State Tournament opener last week, before seeing its season come to a close with an overtime loss in the quarterfinal round.
The 2nd-seeded Indians dispatched No. 15 seed Amity by a 5-1 score in a first-round home game at DiLungo Rink on March 5. Three days later, Guilford went up against No. 10 Farmington Valley in the quarterfinals at Bennett Rink in West Haven. Guilford battled with the Generals to a 3-3 score during regulation, but took a 4-3 defeat when Farmington Valley netted the winning goal in the extra session. The Indians finished their campaign with an overall record of 15-8.
“We battled back from an early deficit well and had to battle back to tie the game a second time,” said Head Coach Ralph Russo on the loss. “We had some key stretches of the game in the second and third periods when we carried the play, but could not get the go-ahead goal.”
The Indians were facing a 2-0 deficit midway through the first period versus Farmington Valley. The Indians scored the first goal of the night 3:19 into the game and then added another goal at the 7:55 mark.
Guilford responded by scoring two quick goals in the second period. First, junior Jack Dacey lit the lamp on assists from senior Jake Watrous and sophomore Shea Thibault 2:31 into the stanza. Just 29 seconds later, senior captain John DeLucia netted the equalizer from Watrous and Dacey. Farmington Valley regained the lead by scoring a goal about four minutes after that.
Guilford trailed 3-2 late in the third period, when sophomore Steve Tortora scored a goal to tie the game with 2:35 remaining. After neither side could score through the rest of regulation, the game went to overtime. The Generals scored a power-play goal 5:23 into the OT period to get the 4-3 win and advance to the semifinals. Senior Alex Attruia made 18 saves for the Indians, who outshot Farmington Valley 37-22.
Guilford had advanced to the state quarterfinals by earning a 5-1 win versus Mercy in a first-round matchup. Dacey, who had a hat trick in the victory, got the scoring party when he scored on feeds Watrous and DeLucia 4:41 into the game. Dacey netted his second goal six minutes later to make it a 2-0 game. DeLucia and Watrous also had the assists on that score.
Connor Hagness increased the lead to 3-0 by scoring on a Thibault assist 2:18 in the second period. Amity got on the board to make it 3-1 less than a minute later. Dacey halted any hopes of a Spartans’ comeback when he scored his third goal of the game with 5:39 left in the second.
DeLucia capped off the victory by scoring an unassisted goal with 10:52 remaining in the game. Guilford outshot Amity by a 38-21 margin as Attruia made 20 saves.
“It was a consistent effort on both sides of the puck. Overall, we made plays on offense and defense,” Coach Russo said. “Amity has played some teams tough this year. Our team was excited to play well and advance.”
Russo said the Indians were disappointed that they didn’t make it back to the state’s Final Four this year. However, he was still pleased with the fight that his team displayed throughout the campaign.
“It was a nice accomplishment to make it to the final eight teams in the State Tournament, yet disappointing for all of us to lose a very close state quarterfinal game in overtime,” said Russo. “Our team had a knack for scoring goals, and we were hoping we could keep outscoring our opponents down the stretch as we had earlier in the season.”
Despite the defeat, Coach Russo praised his senior athletes for recording a plethora of achievements with the Guilford boys’ hockey squad during these past four seasons.
“I want to congratulate our seniors on a great four-year run. They participated in 72 wins over their four years and won two league championships and a state championship. That’s a nice accomplishment to take out of a high school athletic experience,” Russo said. “While they will move on with their lives to new challenges, there will be new opportunity next season for our incoming and younger players to set goals, compete, and strive for their own success.”
From the Sidelines
This was Ralph Russo’s 18th season as head coach of the Guilford boys’ ice hockey team.
Bill Graves was the assistant coach for the Indians this winter.
The Indians finished the year with 124 goals scored for the 2018-’19 season.