Cheshire Takes Division II Hockey Title

Down by a goal after one period, Cheshire needed to pick up its play by pressuring Guilford more in its zone.

Rams head coach Jim Riccitelli told his junior defenseman John Cunningham to move up into the offensive zone more rather than staying in back of the blue line. It paid off almost immediately.

Cunningham started taking some hard slap shots from just inside the blue line and the Rams finally broke the scoring ice when junior Tyler Violano scored on a deflection off one of Cunningham shots from directly on goal at 3:28 of the second.

As the period drew to a close freshman Matt Muzyka took a rebound off another hard slap shot, this one from William Devine, and he put it in for the game-winner. The Rams would score one more on a Violano empty-netter in the final minute to win the CIAC Division II boys hockey championship 3-1 Friday night at Yale's Ingalls Rink in New Haven.

Cheshire (16-6-2) won its second Division II title in three years. The Rams defeated Newington 2-0 in the 2009 final. It was the school's fourth state title in its eighth appearance in a final.

"These guys just refuse to lose," Riccitelli said. "They find a way to win, they battle through everything and I can't say enough about them. I told them tonight before the game 'There was two teams left in the state, if someone was going to win a state championship, why not us.' They believed in it and they went out and they did it.

"We took everything they could give us in the first period. Guilford came out hard. They always do."

The Indians (19-4-1) certainly did come out hard, dominating the first period physically and pressing the Rams in their zone by outshooting them 9-5.

Guilford broke through on a breakaway as Ryan Moore came directly on Cheshire goalie Tyler Carbone (19 saves) and flicked a pass to his right at the last moment that Stephen Petrick wristed in at 14:17 of the first.

This was the third game between the teams this season and in each Guilford has scored first. In a 3-3 tie in December, Cheshire had to come back three times to earn the deadlock, and in a 4-2 loss in January, the Rams trailed by two before coming back to tie.

So the Rams entered the second period never having had a lead over Guilford this season.

The first Violano goal, assisted by Cunningham and Muzyka, came as a culmination of more aggressive offensive play by the Rams.

"We didn't forecheck too hard in the first period," Cunningham said. "Coach came out and he said 'We've got to pick it up,' and he told me I've got to stay in the zone more instead of backing out, and start stepping up and shooting. So I started shooting the puck and on the second or third shot, it went in the net, Vio made a great tip and top shelf. Just doing what coach said."

As time wound down in the second, Cheshire again was pressuring the Indians. And again a hard slap shot set up the goal with just 4.4 seconds left, the first time the Rams held a lead against the Indians in three games.

"I knew there wasn't much time left, I had to get the shot off," Muzyka said. "Shot from the point (from Devine who got the assist), it bounced off his pad. I really had no angle. I just tried to throw it at the net and it went top corner over his glove."

Guilford tried to mount an attack in the third but Cunningham and the rest of the Cheshire defense continually denied the Indians. And Carbone was at his acrobatic best.

On one crucial sequence early in the third period, Carbone got a little help from defenseman Tom Dupont in a scramble around the net when Carbone hit the ice and Dupont fell on top of the puck before it had a chance to go into the net.

"Tyler's a great goalie and he deserves all the help he could get today," Cunningham said. "All the defensemen provide it. When Tommy DuPont dove and blocked that puck, that's just defense, trying to help Tyler out as much as we can."

"They just keep coming back," Riccitelli said. "They've got a lot of heart. That's one of the intangibles we talk about a lot. Having a stronger heart than your opponent. Tonight, that was the big difference."

 To see post-game video interviews and highlights click here.