West Hartford’s Conard High School boys hockey team repeated as the Division III State Champion with a 4-1 win over Joel Barlow on Saturday, March 22, 2025.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

First period goals by junior Jack Eisenberg, freshman Nathan Dubois, and sophomore Henry Tamaccio – and stellar defense led by senior goalie Brendan Murphy (19 saves) and senior defenseman Luke Shaffer – led the Conard Red Wolves to a second CIAC State Division III boys hockey title with a 4-1 win against Joel Barlow on Saturday, March 22.

Conard came out of the locker room with an edge and an attitude and was in control before Liam Alver took an interference call just 2:50 in. The Red Wolves kept the pressure off Murphy for most of the kill, until Greyson DiBlasi got off a high shot that Murphy blockered away.

Then, with :40 to go in the man-down situation, Murphy made another save and directed the puck towards the boards. A Knights defenseman tried to pinch in and keep the puck in the zone but Conard pounced on the puck, and Jack Eisenberg scored the first goal – shorthanded – with assists to Torin McGoldrick and Dylan Smith.

The defending champions kept up the pressure on JBWA goalie Connor Thomas, and Shaffer nearly made it 2-0 with a jam shot off a pileup in front. Just after that it was Peter Robinson of the Knights getting a chance as he came into the attacking zone but McGoldrick came back and took the puck while Shaffer took the man and the threat was neutralized without a shot on goal.

With 2:15 to go in the first Conard would strike again. This time it was Dubois banging home the rebound off a shot by McGoldrick, and the lead was 2-0. “That second goal took a lot off my shoulders,” said Murphy. “But I knew I had to stay focused.”

With the Conard crowd feeling good about the first period, Barlow came back and just 25 seconds later managed to cut the lead in half. Murphy made a save on a short side shot but the puck bounced back into the center of the crease and Kris Neiger beat the Conard defenseman to the puck for the easy goal.

“I know I can’t stop every shot,” said Murphy. “I just can’t dwell on any goals. … Everyone in front of me played so well.”

As time was running out in the first it was Tamaccio with the effort that paid off. He crossed into the offensive zone, cut towards the middle of the ice, and using the defenseman as a screen let go a wrist shot that smashed into the back of the net to make it 3-1.

“I just pulled it back and went high,” said Tamaccio of his goal with :08 to go in the period. “I didn’t see it go in until I got past the defenseman,” said the son of Conard 1996 hockey champion Lew Tamaccio.

Conard outshot Barlow 18-7 in the first with Murphy making 5 saves on 7 Knights’ shots.

The opening period saw the Red Wolves dominate most of the play, being aggressive on offense, stingy on defense, and sticking to what got them this far.

“In our mind we knew we had to go with what works” said Porter Andrews. “Working hard, fore-checking and just being sure we played our game.”

There were a total of three minor penalties called in the first and the referees were tossing players out of the faceoff circle on nearly every draw.

When they play this game back in years to come, it might be wise to just fast forward through the second period. It looked more like the State Wrestling Championships with takedowns, headlocks, and leglocks. In a period that saw big hits – clean and not so clean – players being tackled and head-locked into the ice, the officials decided to “ let them play.” There were no goals scored and there were no penalties scored after a very tightly-officiated first period.

Murphy and his defense – Shaffer, Dylan Smith, Liam Alver – and others did have a few tests. Murphy made one save and Shaffer was down in the crease without a stick but rose up his upper body to stop a rebound chance. Then with just :24 to play it was Murphy standing tall and taking Krug’s shot from inside the circle right in the crest. Again, it was Conard dominating the shots (8-2), but it was the chippy-at-times nasty play that went uncalled that stood out in the period.

Conard held the 3-1 lead entering the third period and was expecting Barlow to throw everything they had at them to get back into the game. The Knights had some early pressure and with :45 off the clock Colin Morse tried to hold the puck at the blue line but it skipped over his stick. Andrews raced past him picked up the puck near center ice, held off a closing defender and buried the fourth goal of the game for the Red Wolves.

“At one point I got slashed,” said Andrews. “But I got off a shot that went between his legs and in.”

Unfortunately, after that things got ugly and the officials lost complete control of the game. Both teams had been laying out hard shots along the board and in center ice. But at 3:26 Bradan Gainey of Conard was hit high when a JBWA player leapt towards him, leaving the ice and knocking Gainey to the ice. Gainey attempted to get back to his feet and get to his bench but could not get his balance. At one point, he lay at the feet of an official who didn’t stop play to tend to an obviously injured player.

At 4:20 Barlow went on the power play when Brady Narus tripped an attacker moving into the zone, and that led to one of the game’s best saves.

A Knights forward headed for the right post, drawing Murphy over to cover, but he didn’t shoot and instead went for the wrap around. As he came around, Murphy managed to get a huge push from post to post and got his left pad across in time to keep it out.

As Conard tried to get the puck out, bedlam broke out as Gavin Mangini was mugged trying to clear the puck and taken hard to the ice where he was pounced on by a pile of Barlow players. With his helmet having been ripped off his head, Mangini battled back and teammate Smith came in to try and even things up. Eventually, a pile of at least four players lay on the ice, tangled up and struggling to get up. The officials dove into the pile and worked to sort things out, assessing matching roughing penalties, and giving Mangini and Krug double minors.

The calls did nothing to restore order to the game as the chippy play continued. Through it all Murphy kept his focus and it paid off moments later when he took a rising shot off the top of his mask, sending the puck high into the air and away from his goal.

Shortly after that, Nolan Reck of Conard took a knee to his leg and had to be helped back to the bench. The referees, having found their whistles, were calling a penalty when JBWA touched the puck behind its own net. A Conard player bumped into the Knight and soon had three of them on him along the boards.

Colin Morse of Barlow would have a golden chance to cut the lead to a pair when he found himself alone with Murphy in the third, but the senior netminder stoned him, taking the shot off his shoulder.

The final five minutes of the game were a parade to the penalty box as the frustrations of the Knights players started showing and Conard players would react. There were three penalties called at 11:17 – two were matching. Two more matching penalties at 12:24, and then at 14:04 it was Mangini of Conard and Nieger and Krug of JBWA all going off at the same time for holding, holding, and roughing calls, with Nieger picking up a 10-minute misconduct on the play.

It started when Mangini checked a player into the boards in front of the JBWA bench. He was then greeted by two other Knights players who did not like it, and then a third as Mangini – without a stick – stood there pinned to the boards with his hands in the air. After all this there was a timeout and the on-ice officials gathered with a CIAC official before play was resumed.

“The coach told us to focus on our game and I think the penalties took them out of their game,” said Tamaccio.

The final :56 were played 5-on-3 for Conard, and a wild celebration on the ice and in the student section of the seats was set off at the final horn.

“Getting ahead was huge because we defend well,” Olson said. “We could play the way we wanted to and roll our three lines.”

“When we walked into the rink at Veterans before we left, the feeling was this is just another game,” said head coach Jason Olson. “When we show up here (at Quinnipiac University) we didn’t let the championship weigh on us.”

In the last four years Olson has brought his team to three finals – winning two. In fact, over the last four years the team has had the chance to win eight titles – four CCC Titles and four State Titles – and has made the finals six times, winning three. They are the first Division III team to make four straight semi-finals in states.

“We have put ourselves in a good place to get respect in high school hockey,” Olson said of the last few years. “We played good team hockey this year.” That is a sentiment backed up by his players.

“We played our game, played the right way, and played as a team,” said Brady Narus.

Luke Shaffer has been a part of all the runs the team has made. One of the most underrated defensemen in the state, he was finally recognized as the Division III Defenseman of the Year this season. One of the team leaders, and a captain, he said of the two titles he has a favorite already. “This game will stay with me. People doubted us and we got the job done,” Shaffer said. “This feels amazing and shows our hard work.”

Game notes

• Conard outshot Barlow 41-34 in the game.
• A total of 17 penalties were called in the game, three in the first, none in the second, and 14 in the third. “You never want it to turn into that,” said Olson. “We talked about letting the shine stay on the State Champions.”
• The last team to win back-to-back DIII hockey titles for the boys was Newington in 2012 and 2013.
• In the four games they played in the State Tournament, Conard only allowed five goals in their four wins, while scoring 13 times.
• Conard’s defense was credited with five blocked shots in the game.
• Dubois had two points (1-1), McGoldrick two points (0-2) for Conard.
• Murphy was named the CIAC player of the Game.
• There is no MVP for the DIII Championship.
• Prior to 2024, Conard’s last hockey championship was 29 years earlier, when they defeated East Haven 6-2 in the Division II tournament in 1996. Conard also won the Division II championship in 1985, beating Westhill (Stamford) 5-4 in overtime.
• Coach Jason Olson, and several of the players, shared thoughts about the reason for Conard’s success the past few years. Click here to read more.

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