It’s been a busy time for Tim Belcher, named new Notre Dame-West Haven boys hockey coach on Friday.
Emotions have been running high, he has been deluged with emails, texts and calls from well-wishers and he is already looking ahead to the challenge of taking on his ultimate dream job.
“I’ve been swamped,” said Belcher, a former Notre Dame player who coached the Lyman Hall boys hockey team the last 13 seasons. “This experience the last few days, getting your dream coaching job, it’s been an unbelievable feeling, I’ll tell you that.
“I am looking forward to the challenge. Fortunately I was at Lyman Hall and experienced each level of competition going from Division I to Division II and then last season in Division III. This is definitely a jump up for me. I go from a team of 14 total roster players last season to an elite Notre Dame team where 50-60 kids try out every year.”
Belcher said the entire interview process took about a month. After sending in his initial application and resume, he had his first interview on Monday, a second interview Wednesday and was offered the position on Thursday.
“I signed the contract right then and there on Thursday,” Belcher said. “Being an alumnus likely helped me. But I was upfront during the interview. I told them I was an intense person, I was passionate about being successful but also with having fun in the sport. I also have a disciplinary philosophy.”
Belcher graduated from Notre Dame-West Haven in 1993 and during the 1992-93 season helped the Green Knights win a CIAC Division I title. He went on to play at Quinnipiac University where graduated in 1997 and that fall became an assistant boys hockey coach at Lyman Hall. He became the head coach at Lyman Hall for the 2000-01 season.
Belcher becomes the first Notre Dame boys hockey coach to be a former Green Knights player and he also sees that as a positive in taking over the program.
“I’m going to be able to relate to the players on a more personal level,” Belcher said. “I actually went through what they are going through. I know about the stresses at Notre Dame when it comes to balancing academic success and success on the hockey team.
“Academic success is very important and I am well versed in the ways to help players fall in line faster to make that balancing act work and be a positive experience.”
Belcher replaces Bill Gerosa who retired after last season after coaching the team the last 15 seasons.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk with coach Gerosa yet,” Belcher said. “But he was a great teacher in the classroom and on the ice. He gave a lot to the sport of hockey.”
Belcher has volunteered to help Lyman Hall officials in their search for a new coach but there is no specific timetable to make that selection. There will likely be an in-house search and then candidates outside the Lyman Hall school system will be considered.
“I’ve been out of Notre Dame for 20 years and I’ve been coaching 16 of those years at Lyman Hall,” Belcher said. “It was a great experience with great support from the people there. Their program is going to grow the next few years and it will be a great place for someone to coach boys hockey.
“I always said the only way I would leave Lyman Hall is if my dream job at Notre Dame ever became available, and it did. I’m a very fortunate person.”

SCC DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 1 Fairfield Prep (19-1) vs. No. 2 Notre Dame-West Haven (15-4-1)

WHEN: Wednesday, 8 p.m.

WHERE: Quinnipiac’s High Solutions Arena, Hamden

ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast live at CPTV Sports and on WELI-960, 960WELI.com, iheart radio.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The two best teams in the state face off for the third time this season. Both teams are strong in every phase of the game.

The Jesuits have depth at goalie with Matt Beck, Chris Gutierrez and Jack Taubl with Beck likely to start tonight. The on-ice defense is led by Sean Henry, Kevin Brown and Andrew Hatton. There is a long list of quick, high-scoring forwards led by David White (19 goals, 24 assists), Connor Henry (15 goals, 18 assists), Nick Bargiello (eight goals, 19 assists), Matt Wikman (14 goals, 10 assists) and Dean Lockery of New Haven (11 goals, 11 assists). Notre Dame-West Haven is led between the pipes by Luc Amatruda of North Haven and Paul Sliwinski of Guilford with Amatruda the likely starter tonight. Darren Capobianco of Branford, Cameron Hotchkiss of West Haven and Lou Iannotti of Durham are among the deeply talented defensemen. The fast-paced balanced offense is led by Bill Vizzo of Shelton (24 goals, 26 assists), Greg Zullo of Branford (11 goals, 22 assists), Ryan Lynch of Milford (seven goals, 13 assists), Kyle Thibault of Guilford (nine goals, seven assists) and Kyle Lynch of Milford (eight goals, eight assists).

CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES: Notre Dame makes its fourth SCC Division I championship appearance and Fairfield Prep makes its third appearance. Notre Dame won a title in 1999 and Prep won in 1997. The SCC Division I tournament was held from 1997-99 and discontinued until this season.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: Fairfield Prep defeated Notre Dame 3-1 and 1-0 in the regular season.

— Dan Nowak

Both the West Haven and Notre Dame-West Haven hockey teams posted victories on Wednesday. The Westies defeated Milford 9-2 on the strength of three goals by Mike Troiano (click here for the story). The Green Knights, ranked No. 3 in the New Haven Register Top 10 Poll, cruised past ninth-ranked East Haven 5-0 (click here for the story).

Despite the loss to West Haven, Milford (a Division II team) is enjoying a bounce-back year and is closing in on a playoff berth. Click here for a story recapping the first half of Milford's season.

By Mike Madera
Elm City Sports Writer

WEST HAVEN — The Ridgefield Tigers traveled to West Haven knowing they were playing a team that had just come off a tough loss against Fairfield Prep. The Tigers, ranked No. 4 in the New Haven Register Top 10 poll, were up to the challenge.

Behind the goaltending of Nathan Gliedman and the scoring of John Christensen and John Tregurtha, the Tigers upset No. 2 Notre Dame 2-1 at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Wednesday night.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY

The fifth-ranked Notre Dame-West Haven boys’ hockey team scored three times in the third period in a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Xavier Saturday at West Haven. Matt Merola, Brandon Martone and Joe Travaglino netted goals for the Green Knights (9-2). Mike Rotondo and Kurt Johnson scored in the third period for the Falcons (8-4).


Goalie J.P. Withington came up big for No. 6 West Haven with 53 saves to preserve a 3-3 SCC Division I tie with No. 3 Hamden at Astorino Rink in New Haven.
Behind 3-1 in the third period, West Haven (5-2-2) scored two late goals to tie the game. West Haven’s Adam Mink scored off an assist from Mike Troiano at 4:39 to make it 3-2 and Mike Troiano scored off an assist from Mink at 5:08 to tie the game at 3.
Jim Burt had a goal and two assists and goalie Matt Hoff made 17 saves for the Green Dragons (5-2-1).

Brandon Martone scored a hat trick to lead No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven to a 4-0 win over Notre Dame-Fairfield at Bennett Rink in West Haven
Martone has seven goals for the season. Goalie Greg Harney made 20 saves for the Green Knights (7-2).
Goalie Eric Sugrue of New Haven made 27 saves for the Lancers (1-4-1).

Former Notre Dame of West Haven multi-sport athlete Luke Curadi (2009 graduate), who resides in Cheshire, signed a National Letter of Intent to play hockey at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Monday morning.
Curadi will actually spend next hockey season playing for the DuBuque Fighting Saints in the United States Hockey League before enrolling at RPI in the Fall of 2011 in time for the 2011-2012 season.
Curadi played varsity hockey his first three years at Notre Dame. He also played football and track as a freshman and lacrosse as a sophomore before devoting himself full-time to hockey.

During his senior year, Curadi played for the Hartford Junior Wolf Pack before going to the British Columbia Hockey League last season. As a member of the Penticton Vees, Curadi played in 58 of the teams’ 60 games and scored seven goals and added 10 assists as a defenseman. Penticton finished second in its division with a 48-8 record. They were eliminated in the semifinal round of the league playoffs.