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.”

The East Haven boys hockey team will hear its appeal with the CIAC today in an effort to move from Division I to Division II next season. Last month, when the CIAC had its post-season meeting to determine the 2013-14 divisions, East Haven petitioned to move down to Division II and the CIAC denied the move.
CIAC Ice Hockey Committee chairman Tom Neagle confirmed that East Haven's appeal will be heard today at 3 p.m. Neagle could not comment on the appeal only to say that East Haven deserves an opportunity to make its case and have it heard by the Ice Hockey Committee.
“After researching several different areas of concern, we have very interesting facts that certainly show a bias toward our team when it comes to the CIAC's decision to keep us in Division I,” East Haven coach Lou Pane said. “These areas are in population of boys in school compared to other schools, records against Division I opponents, teams with their own rink and percentage of winning state championships. “There are also youth hockey numbers, safety concerns, roster numbers, tryout numbers, teams that won Division II after us and have already gone down.”
Pane gave Amity as an example, a Division II team that went 5-1 against Division I opponents last season, winning a Division II title in 2010 and having 856 boys enrolled compared to East Haven, which has 450. Pane also cited the number of East Haven residents going to private schools.

What a rough night on Tuesday with my predictions in the first round for the CIAC Division II boys’ hockey tournament.
Three of my final four predictions –Amity, Hand and Milford - were eliminated.
Ouch!
Fortunately the team I picked to win the championship, Branford, is still alive and kicking. The Hornets ended up with a 4-0 win over Fermi/Enfield/East Granby/Stafford.
The biggest surprise was top seed Amity losing 2-1 to No. 17 Newtown. This win by Newtown certainly gives all lower seeds hope in all three divisions, showing us all that anything can happen, especially when you face a hot goalie.
It was a tough finish to the season overall for the Spartans who ended up 2-5 in their last seven games including the regular season. Scoring was an issue for the Spartans with three of the losses by one goal.
No. 10 Hand, with goalie Chase Briggs carrying the team on his back with over 40 saves in the game, looked like it was going to hold on to a slight 1-0 lead against a strong No. 7 Northwest Catholic in the first round . But a third period goal and another in OT gave Northwest Catholic a 2-1 win.
I’m not so surprised about No. 6 Guilford defeating No. 11 Milford 5-3. That was one game I figured could go either way. But I did predict that whoever won that game would at least advance to the D-II semifinals.
Lastly, apologies to North Branford who I failed to mention in my hockey predictions. Any time you have an outstanding, speedy scorer like Dylan Podbielski on your team you are always going to be competitive. The Thunderbirds actually have a lot more than that going for them with talent front to back.
I predicted the SCC would dominate Division II and I’m sticking to that prediction. My adjusted Final Four now has Branford, North Branford and Guilford with No. 2 East Catholic in the Final Four. I still think Branford has the motivation and talent to win the title.
Here is a link to my original tournament predictions - http://bit.ly/1012TiM.

Here are links to my other pre-tournament hockey stories/predictions/Top 10 Poll:
http://bit.ly/XKsWe3
http://bit.ly/XKm8Nv
http://bit.ly/14oyfjZ
http://bit.ly/14oNGsx

St. Joseph and Ridgefield take center stage in boys' hockey on Saturday in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament championship at Terry Connors Rink in Stamford at 6 p.m. as MSG Varsity will show the game live online and later next week on tape delay.

The game will be streamlined live on MSGVarsity.com and will be broadcast on MSG Varsity, Channel 14 on Optimum, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

The Cadets, seeded No. 2 in the tournament and ranked No. 5 in the New Haven Register Top 10 Hockey Poll this week, defeated No. 3 seed New Canaan 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday in the semifinals. New Canaan is No. 8 in the Register Top 10 Poll. The Tigers defeated No. 1 seed Darien 2-1 in overtime in the other semifinal. Darien is No. 3 in the Register poll.
Here's a link to this week's Register Top 10 Boys' Hockey Poll - http://bit.ly/13tXUvZ.

The Cadets are led by forwards Christian "CK" Keator, Ryan Corcoran and Colin Powell, defensemen Andrew Gore and Dean Smith and goalie Mark Van Etten who had 34 saves in the semis against the Rams.

The Tigers are led by Vin Rella, Chris Morrow and Cam McGuire, senior Ian Ball leads the defensemen and goalie Dusty Rausa had 24 saves in the semifinal win over the Blue Wave.

southernconnecticutconference.org

Since the Southern Connecticut Conference had only 15 boys' hockey teams the last two seasons, commissioner Al Carbone has been looking for another team to make it an even 16.
Carbone added that team on Thursday when North Branford agreed to join boys' hockey in the SCC.
"Ever since we lost Derby a couple years ago to the NVL we've been looking for a replacement and North Branford was one of the teams we reached out to," Carbone said. "We've had ongoing discussions for a couple years now at the coach's level about associate membership for hockey and the timing is right to make the addition a perfect fit.
"Another reason this makes sense is North Branford already plays a number of our SCC teams in the regular season plus five of our SCC teams call the same rink home as North Branford (Northford Ice Pavilion)."
From a numbers angle, there is a big reason the addition of North Branford to the SCC makes a right fit. On Wednesday, the CIAC boys' hockey committee agreed to allow the Amity to move from Division I to II for next season and Lyman Hall moves from Division II to III.
"With Amity moving to Division II and Lyman Hall to Division III, the addition of North Branford gives us eight Division II/III teams and eight Division I teams," Carbone said. "This makes sense for everyone. North Branford will also be eligible for our SCC Division II tournament next season as well."
Carbone also added North Branford's move to the SCC is only for boys' hockey at this time. Although nothing is planned now, Carbone did not rule out future discussions to add other sports as well.

As the 2011-12 boys' hockey season fades in the rearview mirror, Notre Dame-West Haven, which defeated Glastonbury 5-0 in the CIAC Division I championship on Saturday, validates its championship season with a unanimous No. 1 ranking in the Register's final Top 10 poll of the season.
Check out the entire poll at http://bit.ly/GDPRkY.

Once you checked out our final poll, get Notre Dame-West Haven boys' hockey coach Bill Gerosa's take on this past season by reading the poll story at http://bit.ly/GLqPg9. Gerosa discusses all the factors that contributed to the Green Knights' late-season roll.

Wrapping up the season overall is the season's final hockey notebook at http://bit.ly/GEnhv4. The notebook highlights some award winners, an advance on this weekend's annual Junior Select and Senior Select boys' hockey all-star games at Milford Ice Pavilion, and some players who reached scoring milestones.
It should be noted that it was brought to my attention today that Rich DeCarlo of East Haven also reached a milestone with 107 points for his career (39 goals, 68 assists).
Also broken down in the notebook are several noteworthy tidbits regarding the Southern Connecticut Conference's dominance in the postseason.

Notre Dame-Fairfield officials have announced that interim boys' hockey coach Steve Hetherman has been hired as the full time coach.
Hetherman took over in an interim role in mid January when longtime coach Marty Roos decided to resign in midseason.
The team has had a resurgence since Hetherman took over. The Lancers were 3-6 when Roos stepped down and have have gone 5-3 under Hetherman to improve to 8-9. Notre Dame defeated South Windsor 4-3 in overtime tonight (Thursday) to get their eighth win and qualify for the CIAC Division I tournament.
"Steve has been well-received by the players," said assistant coach and statistician George Burr. "Steve has focused a lot on fundamentals and strategy. The kids were down when Marty Roos stepped down but Steve and the entire coaching staff has re-energized them."
Hetherman brings an impressive coaching background to the Lancers. He was the head coach for the New York University men’s hockey team for five years (1997-2002) and was named American Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year for the 2001-02 season. Last season he was the assistant coach at Darien High under Larry Vieira. Hetherman has also coached youth hockey for Southern Connecticut Youth Hockey in Milford and the Connecticut RiverHawks in Shelton.Hetherman.

Notre Dame-Fairfield legendary coach Marty Roos has stepped down as the Lancers’ coach.
A press release from Notre Dame-Fairfield athletic director Rob Bleggi confirmed Roos has stepped down effective immediately. Assistant coach Steve Hetherman will be the new coach. Calls to Hetherman’s cell phone were not returned.
Roos has coached for 41 years, first with Fairfield Prep, and he then took over ...for the Lancers in the 1991-92 season. At age 75 he owns the record for most wins by a Connecticut high school coach with a 536-301-19 career record. He has won six state titles.
"I always felt that when it came time to step down from coaching I would know that it was time," Roos said in the Lancers' press release. "Even though Notre Dame is mid-season, I believe that now is the right time."
Notre Dame-Fairfield will face No. 4 Hamden today at the Milford Ice Pavilion at 6 p.m.
The story was first reported on Twitter by @FairfieldConnSports and later confirmed by a report in the Fairfield Citizen.

http://www.casciac.org/
Sites and times have been determined for the CIAC Division boys hockey quarterfinals on Saturday.
South Windsor vs. Xavier, at Trinity Community Sports Plex (Hartford), 3 p.m.; New Canaan vs. Glastonbury at Northford Ice Pavilion, 4 p.m.; Fairfield Prep vs. Hamden at Bennett Rink (West Haven), 5 p.m.; St. Joseph vs. Ridgefield at Terry Conners Rink (Stamford), 7 p.m.

Who are the best boys’ high school hockey players in Connecticut this season?
This is the $64,000 question for many high school boys’ hockey sportswriters who organize all-state and all-star teams this time of year.

The philosophy at the New Haven Register has always been to find the best of the best, combining all three divisions and making selections from a statewide pool of players for a special elite all-state first team of 12 players. There are three teams of 12 players each with the first team of 12 the elite selections.
Every position does not have to be represented in this format. If the 12 best players in the state happen to be eight forwards and four goalies, so be it. It could also be four forwards, four defensemen and four goalies. This year it is very tough with so many good players at every position statewide.

Who are the best players at each position right now? Here are some of them:

At forward you have players like C.J. Carignan, Nick Amarone and Jim Burt at Hamden, Dan Walsh at Xavier, Joe Bonnizelli at South Windsor, Ethan Holdaway at Glastonbury, Sean Wilkinson at Ridgefield, Bryan Puffer, David White and A.J. Unker at Fairfield Prep, Corey Shea and Joe Bianchi at Amity, Troy Raccuia at Guilford, Conor Crouse and Pat Corcoran at St. Joseph, Nick Kruczek and Tyler Bauer at Hand, Matt Dupont, Ryan Powers and Owen Powers at Cheshire, Kyle Wehmoff and Aaron Liu at Staples-Weston-Shelton and Brandon Martone at Notre Dame-West Haven.

There are also many talented goalies in the state like Chris Hemhauser at Glastonbury, Tom Nowacki at New Canaan, Alec Mansfield at Amity, Austin Essery at Xavier, J.P. Withington at West Haven, Greg Harney at Notre Dame-West Haven, Zach Carrano at St. Joseph, Eric Sugrue at Notre Dame-Fairfield, Tyler Carbone at Cheshire, Matt Hoff at Hamden and John Galiani at Prep.

Among the many solid defensemen are Tom Krieger at New Canaan, Danny McMullan at Ridgefield, Pat Holland at Wilton, Tom Brunski at East Haven, Sean Carfi at Glastonbury, R.J. Ugolik and Brandon Dadio at Hamden, Christian Cattaruzza at Guilford, Zach Hunter at Northwest Catholic, Kevin Dubrow at Notre Dame-West Haven, Jay Johns at North Haven, Tom Worsfold and Nick Downing at Prep

If you think someone else belongs on this list, add him in a comment below.

http://www.casciac.org/
ciacsports.ticketleap.com

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Association, which governs high school sports in the state, is offering advance ticket sales for the CIAC Division I, II and III boys' hockey semifinals and finals.
Ice hockey is the first sport to offer online ticketing and the CIAC plans to expand the online ticketing option to other sports in the spring.
The divisional semifinals and finals in ice hockey are the first events where advance tickets can be purchased online as part of the CIAC's partnership with TicketLeap. Advance tickets, which are offered at a lower rate ($8) then tickets purchased at the event, are on sale now at ciacsports.ticketleap.com.
You go to the site, go to the specific semifinal and/or final game you want to buy tickets, click on it and using a credit card you can purchase as many tickets as you like.
I went to the site and tried it out and it works!
Online purchasing is the exclusive method sponsored by the CIAC to obtain pre-sale tickets in hockey.
For more information, go to the CIAC web site (casciac.org) listed above.