New Canaan goalie Beau Johnson makes a save against Ridgefield during the FCIAC boys ice hockey semifinals at the Darien Ice House on Wednesday, March 4, 2020.
Dave Stewart / Hearst Connecticut Media
DARIEN — The FCIAC will be crowning a new boys ice hockey champion this year.
New Canaan freshman Shane Mettler scored off a pass from sophomore Nick Megdanis five minutes into double overtime as the Rams knocked off three-time defending conference champion Ridgefield, 3-2, Wednesday night at the Darien Ice House.
The victory puts top-seeded New Canaan (18-2-1) in the FCIAC final opposite No. 3 seed and rival Darien (18-4), which defeated second-seeded Greenwich, 2-1, in Wednesday’s semifinals.
BOYS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
The championship game will be played at 5:45 p.m., Saturday, at Dorothy Hamill Rink in Greenwich.
Megdanis threads pass to Mettler for the game-winner in 2 OT. NC tops Ridgefield 3-2 #cthk @GameTimeCT pic.twitter.com/qSO3LphORV
— Dave Stewart (@DStewartSports) March 5, 2020
The Rams, ranked third in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, will be making their first appearance in the FCIAC final since 2017, when they lost to Ridgefield, and they’ll be facing a Darien team which routed them 10-2 during the regular season.
“It’s going to be great,” Megdanis said of the final. “We have a lot of momentum going in, especially against our rival, Darien, who really handled us last time. So we’re looking for payback (on Saturday), and tonight was a great win.”
New Canaan’s semifinal win against Ridgefield was an instant classic, as the momentum seesawed between the two teams for 65 minutes. The Rams led in shots 38-37, the Tigers twice came back from one-goal deficits to tie the score, and both goalies — Beau Johnson of New Canaan and Matt Silliman of Ridgefield — made 35 saves in a pressure-packed performance.
“These guys have found a way to win all year,” New Canaan coach Clark Jones said. “I’m proud of their resilience. A couple of guys got banged up and fought through it, and Beau in net was unbelievable.”
Ridgefield’s Matt Silliman comes up with a save against NC in the first period. #cthk @GameTimeCT pic.twitter.com/we25QCaQCL
— Dave Stewart (@DStewartSports) March 4, 2020
“It was fun for the kids, fun for the tournament and congratulations to New Canaan for moving on,” Ridgefield coach Shaun Gallagher said. “That was a really nice play for a really nice goal at the end. I’m proud of my guys for battling, especially in the third period, coming up with that goal.”
The winning series started with Mettler skating the puck into the zone and back-handing a pass to Megdanis. Megdanis cut through the circle, spun and slipped a pass across the front of the net to Mettler, who one-timed it into the net for the goal.
“Honestly, I kind of just threw it in front of the net,” Megdanis said. “Shane’s a big boy, he’s strong, and he was able to handle that one-timer and put it in the back of the net.”
“Megdanis was a threat all night long down low,” Jones said. “He makes an awesome pass to Shane, who can go. When it went to 4-on-4, the ice opened up and (Mettler) can go. He made a tremendous finish.”
NC’s Megdanis gets a quick shot in OT, Silliman makes the save. #cthk @GameTimeCT pic.twitter.com/PViAbifO80
— Dave Stewart (@DStewartSports) March 5, 2020
Three of the game’s five goals came during the second period, when the Rams took leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
Justin Wietfeldt started the scoring with an assist from Megdanis 31 seconds into the period, and Ridgefield’s Will Stewart tied it at 5:36, slamming home a rebound after Johnson had blocked a shot by Kevin McNicholas.
That tie was short-lived as a turnover in the defensive zone resulted in a short-handed goal for Megdanis at 7:07.
New Canaan held the 2-1 lead into the third period, but Ridgefield’s Luke Welsh netted the equalizer with assists from Michael Conciatore and Pat Rigby, tying the score with 8:25 to play in regulation.
From there, the defenses took over, with both Silliman and Johnson racking up saves. In the first OT, they both stopped 10 shots.
“He gave us a chance to win,” Gallagher said of Silliman. “That’s all you can ask for from your goalie. He made a couple of good saves in overtime especially, kept it calm, and gave us a chance to continue on and create chances on the other side.”
The Rams had a 4-1 edge in shots in the five minutes of the second overtime, with Mettler and Megdanis ending the drama.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Nick Megdanis, New Canaan. Megdanis had a hand in all three Ram goals, and set up the game-winner, but even outside of those points, the sophomore set up numerous opportunities throughout the game.
QUOTABLE
“Last year, Gunnar (Granito) had 40% of our goal-scoring and this year, we have more goals and it’s spread out from Boden (Gammill) to Griffin (Deane) to Carter Ellis to Nick and to Justin Wietfeldt. There’s a lot of depth in our production this year, which has helped a lot.” — New Canaan coach Clark Jones
