By Mackenzie Lewis, Sarah Klearman, and Kate McMahon
Welcome to this edition of “Play of the Week”. Sarah Klearman, Mackenzie Lewis, and I (Kate McMahon) will keep you in the loop with which rams are truly showing their stuff, whether it be on the ice, the field, or on the court POW has it all. Feel free to contact us if you feel a play should be showcased. Never stop playing hard ladies and gentlemen of NCHS, go get em’.
The boys hockey team played the Fairfield Mustangs last Monday night January 5th at the Darien Ice Rink. The boys were looking for a win in order to recover from a three-game losing streak. The Rams fought hard and came out successfully, thus advancing to 2-3 so far this season.
After the first period, the game was tied at 1-1. Senior Parker Lewis (#21) however changed that by giving New Canaan the lead in the second period. The play began as senior Cooper Manchuck (#27) threw the puck around the boards ending up on the right side of the ice where Parker fought hard in the right corner. The puck was loose and thrown back around where junior Kyle Mettler (#12) checked the Fairfield left wing. The Mustangs tried to clear the puck out of the zone, but failed as Lewis caught the puck between his skates and kicked it up to his stick. Lewis proceeded to rip a shot from above the hash marks and it soared over the goalie’s left shoulder and into the back of the net. This goal allowed the Rams to gain a 2-1 lead early in the second period.
Sophomore Tyler Hill (#7) added to Rams’ advantage by making the score 3-1 with 6:12 left in the 2nd period. As the time was ticking down in the second period, Lewis was given an opportunity to pop another goal into the net. The play started by sophomore Brendan Hughes (#23) picking up the puck and skating it around the back of the Ram’s net. As he broke it out of the defensive zone he looked wide to Mettler who immediately made a pass across the neutral zone to Lewis who had been skating up the right side of the ice. The Mustangs were unable to keep up with the moving play, causing Lewis to have a breakaway down the side of the ice. One of Fairfield’s players chased after Lewis, but was unable to keep up with his speed, causing the Rams’ forward to have an open shot on net.
“In that moment I had to think fast. I pulled the puck towards me, and then back out, causing Fairfield’s goalie to move towards the left, before I took a quick wrist shot into the right top corner of the net” Parker said. He did it all with 24 seconds left in the 2nd period, making this his second goal of the night and gave the Rams a 4-1 lead over Fairfield.
In the 3rd period the Rams were able to add a few more goals to the scoreboard, with goals from senior Max Begoon (#15) and another from Hill to make the final score 6-1. Later in the week, the Rams added two more wins to their record, defeating Notre-Dame West Haven in a tight battle, with an ending score of 2-1, and crushing the Staples-Weston-Shelton co-op team 6-1. The Rams will take on Trumbull on Wednesday, Jan 14 at 6:30 at Shelton Rinks.
