Hall-Southington Steamrolls Staples for First Round Win in the CIAC State Tournament - We-Ha

The No. 3 seed Warrior-Knights hosted the first round of the CIAC Division III boys hockey championships Monday night at Veterans Memorial Rink in West Hartford, with a solid win against the No. 14 seed Staples Wreckers in what would end up being the final game of the season.

Hall-Southington vs. Staples hockey. March 9, 2019. Photo credit: Asaad Hicks

By Asaad Hicks

Hall-Southington was able to add to their impressive record (13-7) in a victory over Staples Monday night behind the stellar performance of their senior captain Duncan Hollander (no. 12).

Hollander was the leading scorer for both teams with a total of four goals and one assist, with three of the points all in the first period alone.

“I was just feeding off my teammates and trying to find the net whenever I could,” Hollander said. “We got a little overhyped once we were up three goals and I had to reel everyone back to focus on finishing the game strong.”

The Wreckers would try to slow down the Warrior-Knights’ momentum with back-to-back goals made by sophomore players Jason Wolgast and Benjamin Epes, with the assists coming from Zachary Schwartz.

With the score 3-2 and the Wreckers looking to make a solid run to tie the game, junior Goalie Noah Behrens-Gould (no. 29) made a solid stand with a couple of game-tying saves to end the period to keep the edge with Hall-Southington.

Senior co-captain Christain Mohr (no. 27) and senior Matthew Weir (no. 4) would carry on the momentum and put the dagger in the game by scoring the Warrior-Knights’ fifth goal with the assist from sophomore Cody Brew (no. 24), with eight minutes left in the second period. Weir scored in the third period with assists from Brew (no. 24) and Mohr to end the game 6-2.

“We knew we had to come out hard and keep on the attack,” said Hollander. “We knew we had to use our speed to our advantage and it ended up working out for the best.”

Hall-Southington had no idea that this was their final game of the season.

The Warrior-Knights were scheduled to host the winner of Masuk and Wilton in the next round of the Division III tournament, however, on Tuesday the CIAC canceled all remaining winter sports tournaments due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

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