Cheshire Edges Hand in State Quarterfinal

As soon as Cheshire sophomore Owen Powers took control of the puck in his end with just under six minutes to play he looked as if he was moving with a purpose. He was.

With the score tied at 1 in the Rams' CIAC quarterfinal game with Hand of Madison, Powers flew past two defenders at center ice then moved slightly toward the left circle as he approached Tigers goalie Dan Tagliarini.

Powers cut to the center through two more defenseman deftly stick-handling the puck left-right-left, then poked it in past Tagliarini from about seven feet for what would hold up as the game-winner. Just as Hand had denied Cheshire in the Southern Connecticut Conference semifinals a week ago, the Rams did the same to the Tigers in the Division II state tournament by the same score, 2-1, Friday night at Bennett Rink in West Haven.

Cheshire (14-6-2) moves on to meet Wilton Monday at Yale's Ingalls Rink at a time to be determined. Hand, which won the SCC final over Guilford last Saturday, finishes the season 12-11-1.

"I wanted to put it away," said Powers, who scored both of Cheshire goals. "It was getting scary there toward the end. There's was no way we were going to let them score first. I was really lucky, I closed my eyes and shot it."

"He just willed himself. He wasn't going to be denied," Cheshire head coach Jim Riccitelli said. "He's a great player for a sophomore. He does everything. He had a lot of ice time tonight."

The first period featured very hard fore-checking on both ends of the ice, but no action on goal until Cheshire converted when the puck came flying from in back of Hand's net and Powers put a stick on it in front of the goal. It flipped end-over-end past Tagliarini's left shoulder for a 1-0 lead at 12:59.

"I got a great pass from my brother (senior captain Ryan)," Owen Powers said. "It just felt good to get off to a good start because that's exactly what we need to do against Hand."

Freshman Matt Muzyka earned the assist on the goal.

"We made some adjustments at practice. We saw the way they fore-checked and they really pinned us in the last game," Riccitelli said. "We had four days to prepare and it seemed to open up the ice a little more.

"Kids just had the will to win. I told them tonight three things are going to make the difference: You had to believe in each other; you had to have a stronger will than Hand; and you had to have bigger hearts than they do. I thought we did."

Hand got even at 6:09 of the second on a similar play as the one on Cheshire's goal. Tyler Bauer took a pass from in back of the Rams' net and delivered a hard, quick wrist shot that beat goalie Tyler Carbone (16 saves). Jarret Rennie and Michael Berestecky assisted.

Cheshire was called for a penalty near the end of the second that carried over for 1:45 of the third, only Hand's second power play of the game. The Rams had just one.

"The penalty kill at the beginning of the (third) period was huge," Riccitelli said. "We worked on the penalty kill, too, all week, because they have a very potent power play."

Hand applied pressure for the remaining five minutes after Owen Powers' second goal but were repeatedly denied by Carbone and the Rams' defense.

The teams played each other three times this season and each game was decided by a goal. In mid-February, Cheshire took a 5-4 regular season decision.

"All three games this season were tight, all one-goal games," Hand coach Mark Andreucci said. "Sometimes you're on the winning side of those one-goal games and sometimes you're not. Our kids played hard. We're proud of what they did. We had a great run at the end of the season."

"Hand's a great team," Owen Powers said. "They played us hard the whole game. It just felt good to finish."