The Conard boys hockey team defeated Newington on Saturday, 3-1, on Senior Night in West Hartford.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Luke Shaffer assisted on the game winner and scored the insurance goal, and Brendan Murphy made 18 saves and came within 4:05 of a shutout as the Conard boys hockey team improved to 10-5-2 on the season with the win on Senior Day.

“We have a lot of playoff experience, and we have that mindset now,” said Jason Olson, head  coach of the defending State Champion Red Wolves.

The day started with a celebration of the five seniors who have been a part of the growth of the program that included a loss to  Newington in the state semifinals two years ago and winning the State Championship a season ago. When the opening whistle blew, Conard came out strong, applying heavy pressure to Newington and goalie junior goalie William Ryan who had three good early saves with his chest and pads to keep it scoreless.

Four minutes in Shaffer nearly gave Conard the lead with his solo effort that saw him pick up the puck, skate from his own defensive zone into the offensive, glide behind the net and try the wrap around. Ryan got the good push from post to post and just managed to close off the space inside the post for the save.

The Nor’easters struggled to counter the Conard pressure and were held without a shot on Murphy for the opening six minutes of the game. “The defense played so well in front of me all game,” Murphy said. “I was able to see every puck.”

The senior goalie was tested a few minutes later when Jack Petronio picked up a loose puck just inside his attacking zone and rushed in on Murphy who made the stop. Four minutes later it was deja-vu all over again, with the same two players and the same result. The Nor’easters got their skates under them late in the period but neither side could score and the first ended in a scoreless tie.

When the two teams last met, on Jan. 22, it was scoreless after one and then Conard scored twice in each period for the shutout win. On Saturday, Torin McGoldrick got the Red Wolves scoring started just over two and a half minutes into the second period. With the puck on the left boards, the junior came off and skated towards the center of the goal, forcing Ryan to try to cut the angle, but when he dropped down, McGoldrick elevated the backhand to make it 1-0 with assists going to Braden Gainey and Jack Eisenberg.

Things got a little chippy after the goal and  at 10:23 Jack Guilmartin took a high sticking penalty on a retaliation and Conard was on the power play. The Red Wolves had some good early pressure in the opening :30, but then spent the next minute trying to organize, before using the final 30 seconds to get a pair of chances, first from Shaffer and then Henry Tamaccio found Gainey alone about 10 feet out and laid a pass on his tape for the one timer that Ryan took in the chest as the penalty was expiring.

Tamaccio would have another great chance off a hustle play a few minutes later. He picked up the loose puck and cut in on Ryan’s blocker side. His shot went over Ryan’s far shoulder, hit the post, and dropped to the ice where Ryan managed to cover it before anyone else got to the puck laying in the crease.

The final four minutes of the period were a special teams practice session as Liam Alver and Petronio battled in from of Murphy and Alver was whistled for holding. Six seconds after that penalty expired, Dylan Smith went off for high sticking and less than 30 seconds later Alver and  David Andrews of Newington exchanged greetings and each went off for matching roughing penalties.

With the Nor’easters having the man advantage they pinned Conard in their zone and nearly tied things with the period running out when a shot on goal appeared to go in and out past Murphy, but it was not called a goal. The loose puck allowed Newington to get off two more attempts from a scramble of bodies in front, but each hit a post.

With 30 minutes gone and 15 left to play in regulation it was still anyone’s game, but Conard had the best chances early. Twenty-four seconds in off the face-off, Shaffer used his speed to come in on a breakaway on Ryan, but his backhander was stopped. One minute later, Newington’s Andrews was tangled up far behind the play with a Conard defender that resulted in Andrews being sent off for interference.

It took Conard just :58 to make the Nor’easters pay for giving them a man-up advantage, and again it was Shaffer jumping into the offense from the blue line. He stopped a clearing attempt and sent it towards goal where Tamaccio found himself all alone and he made no mistake with a perfect tip-in that squirted between Ryan’s pads.

“I just stepped up and saw a teammate in front and sent it in and Henry tipped it perfectly,” said Shaffer. It is just part of the role that he plays every day for Conard, a role his coach says others need to pay attention to.

“He has been awesome for four years and for us,” Olson said. “He’s been so underrated his whole career. He’s a dream back there.” As for Shaffer, he gives some of the credit to his teammates and coaches now and in the past. “I have coaches to thank for developing me as well as the other defensemen I have played with,” said Shaffer.

Newington was not about to give up and pressure the attack with Conard breaking up a 2-on-1 and then Murphy – who was stellar all game – used his glove to scoop and hold a long shot from just inside the point by mason Buckley.

With 4:03 to play the Nor’easters finally managed to solve Murphy and deny the team its fourth shutout on the season. It started with Murphy making a point-blank right shoulder save on Petronio that saw the puck flow to the sideboards. Freshman Park Bastos managed to get control of the puck and his shot from angle beat Murphy to make it 2-1.

“This was one of Brendan’s better games,” said the Conard coach. “He was more aggressive, confident, and comfortable back there.”

With two minutes remaining and a face-off coming up in the Conard defensive zone, Newington took a timeout and decided to pull Ryan from his net. Newington controlled the puck but was not able to get off a good scoring chance, while Conard had three chances at the empty net at the other end but missed them all.

The last of those misses resulted in the face-off coming back into the Newington offensive zone to Murphy’s left. The puck was caught in a tangle of skates and Shaffer managed to pull it free. Instead of just dumping down the ice, he skated to open ice just inside his own blue line and then let the shot go that slid into the empty net to make it 3-1 with just :45 to play.

“I just saw a lane and fired it,” Shaffer said after the game of the long-distance insurance goal. But after a series of misses at the empty net, two of which brought the face-off back into the Red Wolves’ defensive zone, was Olson okay with his senior d-man taking the shot? “He’s got the green light on that one for us,” said the coach.

 The Red Wolves have three games remaining – two at home and the other at Wethersfield before they begin play in the post-season. Despite being ranked fourth in Division III, Olson says there are still things they need to work on. “We’ve gotta work on attention to detail in our defensive zone,” he said. “I also want us to work on our creativity on our entry plays. We are getting to the point where there is no time to let up.”

Game notes:

• In addition to honoring the teams seniors: Shaffer, Murphy, Oliver Levesque , Brady Narus, and Porter Andrews, a special ceremony was held to honor former Conard student-athlete Lawrence (Larry) Philippon. A former hockey player and student from 1997-2001, he enlisted in he US Marines after 9/11. Lance Corp. Philippon was killed in action in Iraq on May 8, 2005.
• Saturday, his parents Ray and Leesa as well as his sister Emilee and her two sons, were on hand to receive a donation to the Lance Corporal Lawrence R. Philippon Memorial Fund from the Friends of Conard Hockey Booster Club. There is also a plaque in front of the Veterans Ice Rink at the base of the flag honoring Lance Crop. Philippon and his service and sacrifice.

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