Saints co-op hockey team puts together a successful regular season

The Saints' Zack Turek jostles Northwest's Brennan Graham. Photos by Melanie Savage.

A tough 1-8 loss against Northwest Catholic on Feb. 21 brought a four-game winning streak to a close for the St. Bernard/Bacon Academy/Norwich Free Academy hockey team.

Senior goaltender Danny Berry put in a strong performance during previous games against New Fairfield/Immaculate (6-0), Masuk (5-2), Guilford(4-3) and Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury (5-4). Guilford – against whom the Saints played at the outdoor Rentschler Field arena – is the top-ranked team in Division II. Brookfield, with a 14-3 record, tops Division III.

Head coach Chris Discordia made a decision to put junior goaltender Evan Callahan in goal against Northwest Catholic. “We’re going to give someone else a chance to play,” he said. The Saints have beaten Northwest before, by a score of 3-1. With the team on a winning streak, “the kids are kind of keyed up right now, so we’ll see how that goes,” said Discordia.

But Callahan had a tough time in goal, and he wasn’t getting a lot of support from his team. A power play during the second period was lackluster, with the puck spending more time in front of Callahan than Northwest goalie Alex Connal. Back-to-back goals by Northwest Captain Brennan Graham put the score at 5-0 shortly before the end of period two. It was an off-night for the Saints, who have put together a respectable season after forming a new cooperative (NFA joined the existing co-op of St. Bernard/Bacon at the start of the season). The team lost last season’s strongest player, St. Bernard forward Jerry Theiler. Also gone was goalie Scott Steele, an All-State second team selection.

But after a rough start to the season (their first three games were losses), the new team started to meld and pick up wins. With an overall 10-7 record so far, they are already assured a spot in the state tourney.

The Saints were scheduled to play Lyman Hall at home on Feb. 23. Their last two games of the regular season are away: Milford Co-op on Saturday, Feb. 26, and Sheehan on Wednesday, March 2. See www.casciac.org on Saturday, March 5, for post-season brackets.