By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor
The Greenwich High School boys’ ice hockey team got the band back together Monday afternoon, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Playing Ridgefield High School, a team that is fighting the Cardinals for the top spot in the upcoming Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament, with a healthy squad for the first time in over a month, Big Red pulled away late and flexed its muscle in a big way.
With the scored knotted at 1-1, GHS scored two quick goals and never looked back, coming away with a huge 5-3 victory on senior night.
“It was everything you expect from this game,” said GHS head coach Chris Rurak. “I thought we did well. They came out really flying and it kind of caught us off our heels. We kind of got away from our game plan that we wanted to. But as the game settled in, Ben [Nash] stood in there and bailed us out and allowed us to get our momentum back. Then we started to play like we know how. Adding the defense back into the lineup, we were able to slow the pace down a little bit, get out of the run and gun, open up the neutral zone and give it to our forwards to go to work.”
Helping Greenwich make its senior night a memorable one and helping the large crowd leave the Dorothy Hamill Ice Rink happy was Nikita Kovalev, as the sophomore finished with a hat trick and one assist.
Also helping Big Red keep the Tigers at bay was goalie Ben Nash, who was lights out when it mattered most. In addition to making point-blank saves, as well as blocking several shots that were redirected towards the back of the net, Nash finished with 38 saves.
“It felt pretty good,” Nash said. “It’s that point in the season where you have to play hard and we did that today. It was a good team effort. We were happy to come out with a win.”
Joining Kovalev on the scoreboard Connor Santry and Matt Davey, as they each picked up a goal.
Davey got the ball rolling for Big Red. With 10:11 to play in the opening period, he darted down the ice towards RHS goalie Sean Gordon and blasted a shot from just inside the faceoff circle that beat the goalie for the 1-0 lead.
However, the lead didn’t last long. Less than two minutes later, Ridgefield’s Nick Cullinan grabbed the rebound from Braeden McSpedon and tied the game at 1-1. And after the Ridgefield goal, the Tigers were dominating play the rest of the period, as Greenwich hardly had any time in the Ridgefield zone.
In total, Greenwich was outshot 14-6. However it was a contest that was still tied 1-1
“It meant a lot for me to come up big,” said Nash. “I’ve practiced with these guys and worked all season. So I wanted to give them my best performance. I owe it to them. I felt good out there. I got to the rink early, warmed up, stretched out and felt pretty good.”
With Nash’s stellar play early on, it was the duo of Kovalev and Davey who backed up their goalie. Just over a minute gone by in the second period, Big Red took the lead when Kovalev found the back of the net with a picture-perfect one-timer.
Greenwich’s Davey pitched in and helped add some insurance a few minutes later, as he blasted a deep shot at the net. Gordon made the save on the tough shot, but wasn’t able to control the rebound. That’s when Kovalev stepped up, gained control of the puck and pushed it home for the 3-1 advantage.
Santry’s return to the Cardinals was complete when the senior took home a goal on senior night to start the third period. And in the final minute of action, with the Ridgefield goalie pulled for the extra skater, GHS Alex Mozian was able to gain control of the puck and clear it out of the GHS zone.
Although he had the opportunity to fire the shot at the empty net, the senior instead unselfishly passed the puck to a streaking Kovalev, who was able to shoot the puck at the blue line and score the goal, which gave him the hat trick.
“It was great to see all the fans here tonight,” Kovalev said. “It’s the end of our winter break and people might want to spend the last day of break at home, but they came out here and it was great to see. I tried to stay around the puck a lot. I knew that the puck would be bouncing out and there would be a lot of opportunities. I try to be there all the time and execute or get those lucky bounces.”
The icing on the cake for Greenwich was that they were able to do this on senior night, as Mozian, Santry, JT Lawrence, Ollie Fulton, John Duffy, Matt Baugher and Robert Bray were honor before the start of the contest.
And for Santry, Monday’s game was a dream come true. For the past six weeks, the senior has been itchy to come back from injury and return to the ice. Working had to recover, Santry got his wish and was able to return…and do it on senior night.
“It was awesome,” Rurak said. “Every other game you would see him kind of slumped in and looking down and today there was a huge smile. He was really excited to be back. He texted me after his doctor’s appointment saying that he’s in and he was really excited. It was great to see him get a lot of playing time and get a goal, especially on senior night. It was really special.”
Obviously, Santry couldn’t be happier to finally hit the ice again. When he found the back of the net early in the third period, the smile on both his face and the team’s could have illuminated the rink.
“It felt really good to be back on the ice and especially for a big game like Ridgefield,” Santry said. “I was a little nervous, I won’t lie. I couldn’t sleep last night and I was super amped up to go, but it turned out well and we got the win. It was so great to get that goal. As a defenseman, I’m in front of the net usually on the power play. That’s how I usually get my goals, but today I got a nice rush, got a nice pass from Nikita and I happened to bury it. I feel good and a ready for FCIACs.”
And Rurak wasn’t alone in being thrilled to have Santry back on the ice.
“It’s great to have him back,” said Nash. “He’s a great player and he really helps me out. It’s nice as a goalie to have someone like Connor in front of you.”
In addition to getting the victory, Greenwich was able to show its toughness against a good team. While the contest against the Tigers only got chippy at the end of the game, it was more physical overall than most games they’ve played this year. And Rurak said his team stepped up to the occasion.
“It wasn’t that chippy of a game, but I did think it was very physical,” Rurak said. “Both my coaching style and Shaun Gallagher’s coaching style kind of bleeds into our kids as to how you expect them to play. If we are out of control, the kids are out of control. I was really proud at the end because when it did get chippy, we backed away instead of trying to take that on.
“I don’t shy away from a physical game because I think we are one of the biggest teams in the conference, as well as in the state,” added Rurak said. “Sometimes I look at our team and look at the other team’s blue line and think that we are pretty intimidating. So we welcome it and we are ready to play any style of hockey.”
With the victory, Greenwich improved to 17-9 overall and 9-1 in the FCIAC.
“It’s really big to get the win because now we are going to get the bye in the FCIAC and a good seeding in States,” Santry said. “It just really shows that we can have a shot to win it all this year.”
And Big Red has been on a good run lately. After it’s 6-3 loss to Xavier back on Jan. 27, Greenwich has run the table. With only one game to play before press time, a game Wednesday against St. Joseph High School, the Cardinals have taken seven wins in a row, outscoring its opponents 51-21
With the team playing like it’s on a mission, it’s hard for the Cardinals to hide the fact that they are quite fired up for the upcoming conference and Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Division I tournaments.
“Of course I’m really excited,” Rurak said. “Now that we are having everybody back, it’s great. In addition to Connor, [Dylan] Maddan is back and [Nic] Pelletier-Martinelli is back. Obviously, the need to get back into shape. They’ve been skating, but it’s nothing like playing in a game. But we are primed and ready to take a serious run at it and I think we are a really in good shape.”
And Kovalev believes that the sky’s the limit for Big Red this postseason.
“This game was a big victory going forward,” Kovalev said. “We’re about to go to the playoffs and beating Ridgefield was a great morale boost and confidence boost. I think we feel really good going into the playoffs. I think this team could go all the way. I have no doubt in that. We just beat Ridgefield, which was one of the best teams in the state. I think we have a good chance to go really far.”
