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Sports

Cheshire Boys Hockey Stops Wilton in OT

Owen Powers nets game-winner in semifinal; Rams advance to Division II state title game vs. Guilford.

When Cheshire came out for the overtime period in its state semifinal game with Wilton Monday night, the Rams knew they had to turn up the heat. That's precisely what they did.

Outshot 10-4 in the third period and 23-17 through regulation, Cheshire kept the puck almost exclusively in Wilton's zone in OT. The pressure was unrelenting and the result seemed only a matter of time.

With a defender on his back, junior defenseman Spencer Hackett took the puck in back of Wilton's net, stretched out to keep it and somehow made a pass to a waiting Owen Powers who was planted in front of the net. When Powers saw the puck on his stick, he knew it was over.

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"I got pretty excited once it came off the stick," Powers said.

Powers put a low shot inside the post past Wilton goalie Kevin O'Connell and Cheshire took away a 2-1 CIAC Division II victory at Yale's Ingalls Rink. The Rams advance to the state championship game Friday against Guilford at 7:30 p.m.

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It will be Cheshire's first appearance in the Division II final since winning it in 2009. Cheshire (15-6-1) has played Guilford (20-3-1) twice this season: the first game a 3-3 tie, the second a 4-2 loss.

"We had one more period of hockey left," Cheshire head coach Jim Riccitelli said. "I said 'We made 92 bus trips this year. Do you really want to throw all that out? For the last 15 minutes, think about it.'"

Powers, who has scored all four of Cheshire's goals in the tournament, got things started with an unassisted goal that looked a lot like his game-winner in a 2-1 quarterfinal victory Friday night over Daniel Hand.

Powers made an end-to-end rush with the puck down the right side of the rink, cut toward the goal at the right circle stick-handling past two defenders and pushed it past O'Connell right in front of him for a 1-0 lead at 12:09 of the first.

Wilton (12-10-1) got even on a goal from the right side almost even with the net from Alex Pagliaro, assisted by Dillon Pastorello and Matthew Kobyra at 3:26 of the second.

Shots were even through two periods. Then came the onslaught as Wilton attacked the net and Cheshire junior goalie Tyler Carbone (22 saves) continually in the third. Carbone warded off shot after shot, second and third rebounds and long, hard slapshots, everything.

"Tyler's been getting better and better," Ricchitelli said. "He's really kind of been the glue. In playoffs, you need good goaltending and you need good special teams. Our power play, we couldn't get organized tonight, but the penalty kill was huge. We killed some big penalties. (Wilton) has some good kids that can shoot the puck from the point."

"Going into the third I was hoping we would have it their zone most of the time," Carbone said. "As the goalie, you can't make any mistakes. So I had that in my head the whole time."

Cheshire, which killed four penalties, received excellent defensive work from junior John Cunningham and Hackett, who played defense last year but has been a forward this season. He was forced into the role Monday because of two defenseman being out, Jake Nesdale (flu) and Kyle Murgo (high ankle sprain).

"We juggled things around a little bit," Riccitelli said. "I told Spence we had confidence in him and he's played defense before."

"It was a nice effort," Wilton head coach Brett Amero said. "I though both teams played a solid game. We both put ourselves in a position to win it. It's a disappointing end to a season, but at least they went down fighting hard."

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