In January, due to a reduced number of boys’ hockey teams from 67 to 57 since 2006, the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee decided to make some adjustments to its hockey division format. The proposal included going to an elite 12-team Division I format with the remaining teams split between Division II and III and initiating a new best-of-three series for the D-I championship round.
On Thursday, the Ice Hockey Committee submitted a revised proposal to the CIAC Board of Control who approved it. When it was all said and done, the only major change to the divisions was guaranteeing a minimum 16 teams for each postseason tournament.
Through this season, only teams with a winning percentage of 40 percent or better could qualify for the tournament, which is why only nine teams qualified for the current Division III tournament. Starting next season, for tournament qualification all teams with a winning percentage of 40 percent or better will qualify for the tournaments. But in a division where fewer than 16 teams meet the 40 percent qualifying standard, a full bracket of 16 teams will be achieved by qualifying teams with the next highest winning percentages.
When the proposal to go to a 12-team D-I format with a best-of-three series final was first proposed, there was mixed reaction among coaches. A meeting with the coaches and the Ice Hockey Committee on Feb. 3 to discuss the proposal and get input from coaches made an impact with the Ice Hockey Committee’s proposal.
“It is true that the original proposal we shared with our coaches on Super Bowl Sunday morning (Feb. 3) offered a 12-team Division I and larger Divisions II and III,” said Tom Neagle, chairman of the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee. “This proposal reflected a willingness on the CIAC's part to allow sports committees to have "unbalanced" divisions, something we had been directed not to do in the past.
“The original proposal served a very important role. It generated thought and discussion among the (Ice Hockey) Committee members, our coaches and our officials. Our Committee listened carefully to what our coaches said and they said keep the 16-team Division I bracket intact and keep three divisions. As an educator, I was pleased to see all of us in the "hockey fraternity" express our opinions in an articulate and respectful fashion.”
Neagle said the Ice Hockey Committee heard from first-year coaches and those who have been on the bench for decades.
“If anything, the discussion that took place that Sunday morning at the CIAC was one of the proudest moments during my tenure,” Neagle said. “The math is pretty simple. With 57 teams, we are unlikely to qualify 48 teams (three divisions of 16) for our tournament unless we dip below the 40 percent standard. The Board of Control's approval of our proposal (on a two-year trial basis) represents a significant shift in thinking that will be carefully observed by other sports committees.”
For Milford boys’ hockey coach Sal Follo, who also serves as the coaches’ CIAC liaison as a member of the Ice Hockey Committee, the important thing was to maintain a three-division format. There was also concern that a best-of-three series in D-I would make players want to transfer to D-I teams to get the exposure those extra games would provide.
“There will be no best 2-out-of- 3 championship series and we will keep the three divisions,” Follo said. “I believe that at the CIAC hockey committee meeting with the coaches the committee listened to the coaches who were loud and clear when they said they more or less wanted to keep everything the same with no changes. So the committee put a proposal together with the input of the coaches and passed it on to the board of control for approval. The coaches voices were heard, which is a good thing and I am happy for that.”
It should also be noted that the division distribution for the next two seasons will be formulated by considering the regular season results and tournament success over the previous two seasons.

The CIAC Ice Hockey Committee met on Sunday with boys’ high school hockey coaches to discuss the reorganization of the sport's three divisions and 40 of the 57 state coaches attended.
Because the number of hockey teams have gone from 67 to 57 since 2008, the Ice Hockey Committee is trying to find a way to keep the three-division setup. The CIAC is favoring going to a 12-team elite Division I group of teams with the remaining teams split up into an equal number of Division II teams and Division III teams.
"We listened to different proposals from the coaches and their concerns,” said Milford coach Sal Follo, who represents the state’s coaches on the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee. “The most important thing for all of us is to keep the three divisions.
“The coaches had their say today and it was a very productive meeting. What it comes down to is tweaking what was presented by the Ice Hockey Committee (12-team elite division). Nothing definite was decided today and the Hockey Committee will meet to come up with a final proposal to present to the CIAC Board of Control (Feb. 28) for their approval.”

The Branford boys' hockey team makes a return appearance to Webster Bank Arena and for the second year will participate in the New Year's Eve High School Faceoff Hockey event on Dec. 31.
Harbor Yard Sports and Entertainment officials announced on Thursday that the second annual high school boys' hockey doubleheader will be held at Webster Bank Arena starting at noon with Division I teams St. Joseph and Notre Dame of Fairfield. This year’s tournament marks the debut of Division I teams.

The 2 p.m. game is a rematch of last season’s CIAC Division II championship game. Reigning state champion Trumbull will play Branford. Trumbull beat Branford 5-3 in the championship game.

 “We have a great matchup. Both teams play a similar style. It will be a hard-fought game,” Trumbull coach Greg Maxey said in a prepared statement.

Tickets are $12 for both games and can be purchased at the arena’s Click It or Ticket Box Office. Pre-sale tickets will be available at each respective school for $10.

North Haven first-year coach Tom Roche and junior varsity coach Bill Augur have organized a “Bring a Toy to the Game” event to kick off the teams’ first home game against Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury on Friday at the Northford Ice Pavilion at 2 p.m.
Anyone bringing a toy worth $5 or more to the game will receive free admission. All the toys collected will be delivered to Yale New-Haven Hospital’s Children Hospital following the game by members of the North Haven varsity and junior varsity teams.

The Amity boys' hockey team was scheduled to host No. 2 Hamden on Wednesday at the Bennett Rink in West Haven at 8:15 p.m. following the Trinity Catholic at West Haven game scheduled to start at 6.
But a lengthy traffic backup on I-95 north delayed Trinity Catholic's trip from Stamford, forcing a later start to the West Haven game. This would have moved the start of the Amity-Hamden game to after 9 p.m.
As a result, the Amity-Hamden game has been rescheduled for today (Thursday) at Bennett Rink at 5:15 p.m.

North Haven High officials have tabbed one of its own to be the new boys’ hockey coach.
Tom Roche, who played hockey at North Haven and graduated in 1973, has been selected as the new Indians’ coach. He played defense for the Indians the first season (1971-72) they played as a varsity program. He also played for the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team from 1975-77.
“When the opportunity to coach at my alma matter became available, I had to apply,” said Roche, 55, who is a project manager at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “The chance to finally come home is a dream come true.
“Coming to North Haven I have been blessed with four very strong captains, a solid senior class and over 30 underclassmen who want to play. I am not used to having such a large feeder group of players. Because of this we will continue to have a full JV (junior varsity) program.”
Roche has been a coach for almost 40 years at all different levels but said he enjoys the high school age players the most. He is vice president of the Greater New Haven Youth Hockey program and also is the program’s Midget (Under-18) director.
Roche coached Shelton from 2008-2010 and last season (2010-2011) was instrumental in getting the team to co-op with Staples-Weston. The co-op move proved to be successful as the team advanced to the CIAC Division III finals. Shelton-Staples-Weston lost 4-0 to Watertown-Pomperaug in the D-III final.
“I am thrilled to be back at North Haven after 40 years and I plan to finish my coaching career where I started,” said Roche. “The goal for us will always be to get to the post season.”

Karl Sundquist of Prospect is pumped up.
Sundquist, who coached boys’ hockey at Avon for 14 years, has been named the new boys’ hockey coach at Cheshire High. He replaces Jim Riccitelli who retired recently for personal reasons.
Cheshire athletic director Steve Trifone made the official announcement early this afternoon.
“I’ve been out of hockey for a year and I miss it,” Sundquist said. “I also live nearby in Prospect and the locale of the program drew me to it too. Cheshire has a winning tradition and Jim had a lot of success the short time he was there. Hopefully we will continue that success.”
Sundquist will also have to deal with some challenges as the Rams enter the 2011-12 season.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference moved Cheshire from Division II to Division I for the 2011-12 season. The Rams will compete on the Division I level in the post season for the first time since 1978. Also, key players from last season’s championship team have opted to move to prep school instead of staying at Cheshire – Owen Powers (Choate), Mike Muzyka (Salisbury) and Jack Cunningham (Pomfret).
“Moving to Division I will be a big challenge,” said Sundquist, who knows something about challenges. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in early 2009 and it was caught early enough where surgery successfully removed the cancer the same year. “I know some talented kids moved on to prep school and that will be a challenge as well.
“But the magic number in high school seems to be 35. If we can get more than 35 kids to try out for the hockey team, we can be competitive.”
Riccitelli coached six seasons at Cheshire and won a CIAC Division III championship in 2006 and Division II titles in 2009 and 2011.
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http://www.casciac.org
The first round of the CIAC Division I boys' hockey tournament is in the books and except for one upset the games went true to form with the higher seeds winning today (Wednesday).
The only upset of the day, actually a mild upset, happened at the Bennett Rink with No. 9 Glastonbury defeating No. 8 Notre Dame-West Haven 3-2 in overtime.
No. 2 seed Fairfield Prep had a near scare, needing overtime to win 2-1 over pesky No. 15 Darien. Coach Larry Vieira of Milford always has his teams ready for the postseason and the Blue Wave nearly pulled off the upset.
No. 1 seed New Canaan def. No. 16 Greenwich 5-1 to remain unbeaten at 24-0.
My pre-tournament picks for the final four are still alive with Prep, Xavier, New Canaan and St. Joseph all moving on to the quarterfinals. New Canaan and St. Joseph seem destined to meet for a fourth time this season in the semifinals.

Kudos to Darien boys' hockey coach Larry Vieira who teaches at West Haven High and resides in Milford. His No. 16 seeded Blue Wave pulled off the biggest upset of the 2009-10 season by stunning No. 1 West Haven 4-3 in the first round of the CIAC Division I tournament.

Check out the brackets for all divisions at the CIAC Web site at http://www.casciac.org/hoc.shtml

Richard Gregory scored the game-winning goal with 8 seconds left in the third period and goalie Will Love made 34 saves as Darien beat West Haven 4-3 at Bennett Rink in West Haven on Wednesday.
Gregory also scored at 11:28 of the third period to tie the game at 3.
The Blue Wave improves to 11-11.
Tim Baylis scored twice for the Blue Devils (17-4), ranked third in the Register Top 10 poll.
Goalie J.P. Withington made 25 saves for the Westies.
No. 2 Hamden 4, No. 13 Xavier 3: The Green Dragons scored four times in the third period in this first round home victory.
C.J. Carrignan scored twice and had one assists for No. 2 Hamden (14-5-1), while Connor Walsh and Jim Burt also scored.
Mike Samek, Dan Walsh and Brandon Reid scored for the Falcons (8-13).
No. 2 Fairfield Prep 3, No. 15 Trinity Catholic 1: Lucas Dennison, Darric White and Bryan Puffer scored for the Jesuits in this first round win at the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport.
Puffer also had two assists for top-ranked Fairfield Prep (16-3).
No. 5 Notre Dame-Fairfield 6, No. 12 Fermi 2: Tyler Schmarr and Peter Gintoli each had a goal and two assists to lead the Lancers to their first round win at the Milford Ice Pavilion.
Goalie Eric Sugrue of New Haven made 18 saves for the Lancers (16-6). Dan Haber and Ryan Guhne scored for the Falcons (11-10).
division ii
No. 1 Amity 5, No. 16 St. Bernard 2: Corey Shea scored twice for the Spartans in this first round win at Bennett Rink in West Haven.
Eric Carrano, Joe Bianchi and Anthony Aprile also score for No. 9 Amity (19-2-1).