Katie Tan, Reporter
@ktanCourant
Coming into the game with a record of 3-2-3, the girl’s ice hockey team took on Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe co-op for the second time this season after beating them 5-1 earlier in the year. However, this time they weren’t so lucky as they fell, 3-2 on their home ice at Darien Ice House. The Rams carried a 2-1 lead until the last five minutes of the game when Fairfield scored to tie it up. The game then went into overtime where the Falcons were able to score in the first few minutes.
New Canaan’s junior co-captain, Gianna Bruno, scored the first goal in the first period putting the Rams at 1-0. Then, after both teams had their fair share of shots on goal, New Canaan’s sophomore Sarah Murphy was able to put the puck in the back of the net, giving the team a 2-0 lead in the second period.
A few minutes later, Fairfield managed to sneak in a goal, catching up to New Canaan and narrowing the score to a 2-1 lead. With a few minutes left in the game, Fairfield scored again and tied the score at 2. Rams head coach Rich Bulan said, “The team did a lot of things that we asked them to. It showed well early, but we got tired and we got lazy, and it came back to bite us.” The game ended up going into sudden death overtime, but it didn’t last long because Fairfield scored again to win the game.
After beating Fairfield before, the Rams were able to come into the game with experience. The teams were familiar with each other’s tactics and were therefore able to focus their practices on the opposing team’s strengths and weaknesses. “We told them to do what we did the first game, which was shoot everywhere, crash the net, and look for the rebounds, which we didn’t do tonight,” Coach Bulan said. “It came back to hurt us.”
The girls still have seven regular season games ahead of them and a chance to avenge a 6-0 loss against rival Darien on Monday, February 13.
