The East Haven boys’ ice hockey team defeated Conard and Branford in the first two rounds of the Division II State Tournament to advance to the semifinals, where the Yellowjackets took a 7-1 loss to North Branford at Ingalls Rink on March 14. The Yellowjackets finished their season with a record of 9-10-4.

East Haven fell into a 5-0 hole against top-seeded North Branford before John Monaco scored its lone goal in the second period. The Thunderbirds netted the game’s final two goals and advanced to face Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe in the championship game.

Previously in the DII state bracket, the 12th-ranked Yellowjackets played their upset card against No. 5 Conard by earning a 5-2 road victory at Veterans Memorial Rink in West Hartford for the opening round on March 8.

“We felt going in after reviewing their film that we had a good shot at them. There were a few guys we needed to shut down and we did a good job,” Coach Pane said. “We played a good defensive game, which helped our offense. We felt confident going in, but we knew we had to jump out to an early lead, which we did. It was important to go up there and silence the crowd early.”

The Yellowjackets did just that by taking a lead to the locker room after the first period on goals from senior captain Joseph D’Albero and Frank Higgins.

“We outshot them and capitalized on our opportunities,” Pane said. “We did a good job between our goaltender and defense, preventing them from getting rebounds. That night, it went our way. To come out of there with a victory was very rewarding.”

In the second period, Ryan Albert and Zach Paquin found the back of the net early and then Joe Lorello scored a shorthanded goal late in the frame to give East Haven a sizeable advantage. Goalie Matt Twarowski recorded 23 saves to earn the victory.

Three of East Haven’s goals came via rebounds. Coach Pane said his group executed the game-plan flawlessly by getting into the gritty areas to punch home goals.

“We thought we could get to some rebounds. Conard has a small goaltender. Being small in stature, we could get rebounds and put them upstairs,” he said. “We were able to get a few past him in the first two periods, which really propelled us.”

After the win, East Haven learned that rival and No. 13 seed Branford upset No. 4 South Windsor 3-1 in its first round matchup and so the pair would meet in the quarterfinals at Bennett Rink in West Haven on March 11.

“We found out later that Branford won, which were the two upsets of the tournament. Nobody expected us to win or Branford to go up and win. We started working right away on the game film that we had because we played them a week and a half earlier and it’s tough to beat a good team twice in that short period of time,” Pane said. “We needed to see how Branford exposed three goals against us. In that game [a 5-3 East Haven win on Feb. 27], we had three power play goals, so in 5-on-5 hockey that night, Branford outscored us.”

Pane and the Easties made the necessary adjustments and completely shut down Branford. Twarowski recorded his first career postseason shutout in a 3-0 victory by recording 25 saves. Branford’s goalie, Justin Edwards, made 42 saves in the loss.

“His performance, he has come into his own in the last seven or eight games. Two big playoff wins from him. He’s playing really confident. The team is playing confident, as well,” Pane said. “He did a great job of controlling rebounds and we limited their shots in what I call the ‘golden area’ or the slot, which helped us out.”

Forward Joe Aloi scored the only goal East Haven would need at 10:23 of the first period. There was a scramble in front of the net and Nick Latella put the puck on Aloi’s stick for the score. Latella made it a two-goal game in the second when he scored off a rebound.

“Latella’s goal gave us motivation for third period. I told our team, the next goal, if we score, we’ll clinch it. If we don’t, we’re in a dogfight,” Pane said. “We came out and, with about eight minutes to go, one of our guys took a penalty. Zach Paquin intercepted pass and went in and scored.”

Paquin’s insurance marker was a smooth defensive play. He stepped in and swiped the puck on a cross-ice pass, made a move to get Edwards out of position, and buried the shot.

“Our special teams executed great in these two games,” Pane said. “Our penalty kill against Conard saw Lorello score a goal and Paquin scored the short-handed goal against Branford. On special teams, you don’t expect to score short-handed goals. They’re a bonus. To kill the penalty and get a goal is very huge and we were capable of doing it in both games.”

The Yellowjackets’ road was hardly finished, though, as they then had to take on a North Branford team that topped them 6-3 on Feb. 13. Coach Pane was planning on breaking down that game film to form a plan of attack against the SCC/SWC Division II champions.

“I’ll take some time later today to watch that full game and see what we can come up with for North Branford,” he said. “They’ve been the best team since the beginning of the season to where they are now. We’re going to try and do a little something different to hold down their offense.”