Logan Phillips
Senior Editor
On Wednesday, March 16, the boys hockey team suffered a heartbreaking loss to St. Joe’s in the state championship semifinals, ending their long-awaited run at perfection.
The last time the boy’s hockey team won the state championship was 1972. Since then, it’s been 38 years of frustration for the NCHS fans who have seen their team appear to be destined to win a state championship time and time again, only to fall short at the last minute. With all the near-misses and with the Rams’ best team in decades, it’s easy to get greedy and adopt the mantra of championship or nothing. But while the boys hockey team was ultimately unsuccessful in their pursuit of a state championship this year, it is imperative that fans realize that 2011 season was anything but a failure.
When the season began, the Rams knew that they had the chance to do something special. Between senior David Crandall, senior co-captain Jimmy-Joe Granito, junior Reed Harper, senior co-captain Thomas Krieger, sophomore Phillip Prins, and sophomore Tim Nowacki, the Rams had an “all-star” caliber player at nearly every position with a phenomenal bench backing them up. Even with all they had on the table, nobody could have imagined that the Rams would have been THIS good.
What the Rams have accomplished this season is remarkable. Before last Wednesday’s loss, the Rams were a perfect 25-0, highlighted by an FCIAC championship. However, the most noteworthy achievement might be the Rams’ feat of both scoring more points and allowing less than any team in the state. Dominating on offense and defense like that is almost unheard of.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the one time they did not accomplish perfection was in the state semifinals against the St. Joe’s Cadets, a team that they played and beat three times prior in the season, including the FCIAC Championship. Even in their one loss, they played toe-to-toe with Cadets the whole game, and only lost by a goal in a 6-5 game nail-biter.
Regardless of the loss, the Rams’ record and accomplishment still stands in what has been overall an incredible success, not a failure.
