West Hartford’s Conard and Hall high school boys hockey teams met on the ice for the second time this season at Veterans Memorial Rink Monday night.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Declan Stone scored an overtime, shorthanded, backhanded goal to give Hall a 4-3 win in overtime against crosstown West Hartford rival Conard in a thrilling boys hockey game Monday night.

The goal, Stone’s second of the game, came as a Conard powerplay was winding down and the puck came out of the zone along the far boards. Stone broke down the rink with just one defender and goalie Brendan Murphy to beat. Conard defender CJ Bankoff came flying off the bench but had the long change before he and the other defender caught up with Stone as he moved towards the center of the ice. Stone crashed through the two Conard players and while falling managed to get off the game-winning backhander.

“I saw the defenders coming to get me,” said Stone. “I got it on my backhand and was just trying to get it on net. I didn’t think it would go in.”

It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams and was a completely different game than the 6-0 Conard win on Dec. 28. The early part of the game belonged to the Red Wolves who were using a physical style to hold onto the puck and get chances on goal. Junior goalie Matthew Bonner was tested early and often in the Titans’ net, starting with a glove save just 1:46 into the first.

The Conard momentum was stopped when Ken Roche took a cross-checking penalty on Jack Croce. In the Conard net, Murphy had a nice save on an early shot from Tommy Finley, but the Titans got the games first score one minute into the man advantage when Ben Goldstein scored on the powerplay. The goal sparked Hall as they took over control of the game, forcing Murphy to make several good saves.

Conard did come back later in the first and Luke Shaffer had what looked like it was going to be a good scoring chance taken away by Hall’s back-checking. The first would end with Hall up 1-0 and Bonner denying on all eight chances he faced – several with the glove. Conard managed to create some offense with Torin McGoldrick and Shaffer finding space along the far boards, only to be shut down by stiff Hall defense.

Early in the second Hall had a golden chance to double their lead when Stone and Charles DeBassio came in on Shaffer in a 2-on-1, but the standout senior defenseman broke up the pass between the Titans. On offense, Porter Andrews had a series of shots towards goal for Conard but two were blocked before getting to the net and Bonner took care of the third. There were some big hits by both teams – all clean – in the second with Braden Ganey of Conard and Stone of Hall doing most of the work for their teams.

Once again it was a penalty call and ensuing power play that changed the flow of the game. Once again Roche was called, this time for elbowing, putting Hall on the man advantage, but with :10 to go in it, Hall was called for a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. With the face-off coming in the Conard offensive zone, the Red Wolves controlled the face-off and ragged off the :10 t0 get the 5-on-4 advantage.

Conard did a good job of executing but the defense, especially Bonner, was tough. The goalie had two early saves before stopping a Shaffer shot down the slot and then halting play with a glove save on Dylan Smith. Neither team scored with the extra skater, but at 8:38 it was a big hit leading to a big goal. Hall was applying the pressure on offense when Liam Alver delivered a huge hit on Finley, separating him from the puck in front of the goal. But no one on Conard reacted to the loose puck and Finley got up and got off a shot that Murphy saved before Stone scored his first of the game on the rebound.

“We knew we needed a good start and good energy early,” said Hall coach Colin O’Connor. “We knew the crowd (it was a Conard home game) would be a factor and we wanted to shut it down early.”

Trailing 2-0, the Red Wolves worked hard to force the issue and get scoring chances. Torin McGoldrick had a nice tip right in front of Bonner that the Hall goalie took care of, but with just 1:16 to go, Conard finally broke through. McGoldrick sent a pass from the left boards into the middle that Andrews managed to score on with a spinning forehand along the ice as he fell, and the puck slid past Bonner into the glove side next to the post to make it 2-1 Hall.

This was the second game in a row that Conard found itself trailing in the third. Saturday against Rocky Hill Conard scored three times in the third to erase a 2-goal deficit and come away with the win. Monday night it took the Red Wolves just 3:11 to tie things up and erase what was a 2-goal deficit.

The play started with Gavin Mangini taking a shot that was blocked by a Hall defenseman, but the puck went straight to freshman Nathan Dubois who went over Bonner’s right shoulder to even the game. Each team had some quick chances to break the deadlock but at one end it was Murphy with a blocker save and then Bonner stopped a Brady Narus shot with his pads and the bouncing puck hopping over Jack Eisenberg’s stick as he came in for the rebound.

Smith had a strong defensive play later in the third to keep things tied when he managed to use a poke check to knock the puck off Finley’s stick, and then it was Stone avoiding a check at the blue line and forcing Murphy to make a pad save on his shot.

With 5:30 to go, Conard took its first lead of the game when Smith drew everyone’s attention towards him with the puck at the half circle, but instead of shooting he laid a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Eisenberg in the slot who made no mistake with his one timer to make it 3-2. “I like the way they battled back and got in a position to win,” said Conard head coach Jason Olson.

Each team kept up the hard play as the time clicked off in regulation and it looked like Conard might be picking up its second consecutive third period comeback, but with 1:12 to go Croce snapped off a wrist shot that beat Murphy to the glove side and things were tied at 3. It would stay that way heading to an 8-minute overtime period.

In regulation Conard outshot Hall 29-15, including a 21-10 advantage through two that saw Bonner keep his team in the game.

In the OT, each team had a good scoring chance, first it was Shaffer who took a shot from the side boards that deflected off a foot and onto the Hall goal where Bonner covered it. Just under 3 minutes in it was Stone making a bid to end things but Murphy blocked the shot with his pads and covered it up.

With 4:43 to play in OT, Shaffer stole the puck from Croce in the attacking zone and moved in on the Hall net before Croce hooked him from behind negating his move to the net.

The Red Wolves once again controlled the puck and attack zone time, but with 3:22 to play in the game it was Stone coming through with the spectacular game winner that moved Hall to 10-5 on the season and saw Conard fall to 8-6-2.

“We had some good looks in that power play,” Olson said of Conard. “We tried a little too much individually and they beat us.”

Of the game winner, O’Connor said it was “a hustle play by a kid who worked hard all game and beat a good goalie at the end. He’s been a guy who has done whatever we have asked of him. When he plays smart hockey his work ethic is unmatched.”

The loss is Conard’s fifth in their last seven games after a start that saw them unbeaten in the opening eight games. “We’ve been poor in the defensive zone leaving guys open,” said Olson. We have to get better and do a better job there.”

Both teams have five regular season games remaining. Conard will travel to New Milford on Wednesday, and return home to host Newington on Saturday at Veterans, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Hall is home on Wednesday night, hosting the Northeastern Shamrocks at Veterans with puck drop at 7:20 p.m., and on Saturday will travel to meet the Terriers in Cromwell.

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