It's 30 minutes until they drop the puck for the CIAC Division II championship between No. 2 Cheshire and No. 1 Enfield and Ingalls Rink in New Haven is starting to rock.
While the Rams side of the rink is slowly filling in, the Enfield side of the rink has a section of about 50 boistrous students grouped together and belting out intermittant cheers of "LETS GO RAIDERS."
Cheshire coach Jim Riccitelli and his staff just made a brief appearance on the Rams' bench to survey the Rams crowd and was greeted with cheers.
Both teams report no injuries and came out of the grueling semifinals in good shape.
Following my unofficial and unscientific poll around the rink, the concensus is this will be a high-scoring game. The team with the best stamina in the third period will win.
Personally, I believe the difference in this game will be Cheshire goalie George Donnarumma who is an imposing presence between the pipes. Enfield has two high-scoring snipers who have speed and will certainly have their opportunities.
My prediction is Cheshire 5, Enfield 3.