The Branford boys’ ice hockey team’s season came to a conclusion with a 5-3 loss to Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks in the semifinals of the Division II State Tournament at Ingalls Rink in New Haven on March 16. The No. 3 seed Hornets finished their campaign with a record of 18-6-1 while No. 2 Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks improved to 18-5 and advanced to a championship matchup against North Branford.

Branford fell into a 4-0 hole less than four minutes into its semifinal contest. Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks scored the game’s first goal at the 2:05 mark and then made it 2-0 just 11 seconds later. S-G-WL followed by netting two more scores in the next minute-and-a-half, the latter which completed a hat trick for sophomore Jake Bourdeau for a 4-0 advantage.

“It was a perfect storm with us maybe a little flatfooted and them getting real opportunities that came one right after the other. They were ready to cash in in those opportunities and, unfortunately, that was a tough hole to put us in,” Head Coach Adolph Brink said. “It certainly wasn’t the start that anyone could have anticipated, but there was a lot of hockey left and so we just had to get back to basics and see if we could reel this thing in.”

The Hornets—who had rallied from a two-goal deficit in their previous week’s quarterfinal win versus Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe—once again demonstrated that they weren’t going to go away without a fight. Cooper Bunton scored from fellow senior Tyler Criscuolo midway through the opening period and it was 4-1 after one.

Branford took that momentum into the second period. First, Scott Klouda scored from sophomore classmate Zach Withington 2:44 in, followed by Bunton’s goal from Withington and Klouda at 9:06 and suddenly the Hornets were only down 4-3, which was how it stood through two.

“Credit to our kids for their resiliency and guts,” said Brink. “They were rattled for that two-minute stretch, but they regained their composure and made a good run at it.”

Brink’s club pressed for the equalizer in the third period and nearly netted it, although S-G-WL keeper Shane Kertanis made a handful of his 30 saves to prevent Branford from tying it. Meanwhile, Hornets’ senior keeper AJ Brink (29 saves) turned aside several chances from the opposition as it looked for an insurance marker. Ultimately, Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks scored on an empty-netter with 43 seconds left and came away with the 5-3 win. 

“It just wasn’t our night to get the breaks,” Brink said. “And unfortunately, in a single-elimination tournament, only one team moves forward.”

Even though that team wasn’t the Hornets, Coach Brink still expressed how proud he was of this collection of athletes for what they achieved. He praised his senior class for recording a boatload of accomplishments through the past four years that included four conference final berths, two SCC/SWC Division II titles, a spot in the state final in 2012, plus consecutive 18-victory campaigns.

“The aspiration for all the teams is that you want to win a state title, but when you put together back-to-back 18-win seasons, you don’t want to diminish the efforts of the boys,” he said. “This group did things that other teams never get close to, so in terms of thinking about it that way, I hope they’re happy with their overall experience.”

Earlier in the tournament, Branford faced off against Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe in the quarterfinals of the Division II bracket at Milford Ice Pavilion on March 13. The Mustangs had eliminated Branford from the tourney two years and threatened to do so again by holding a 2-0 lead through one period. But then Criscuolo scored a goal in the second and another in the third to tie it up, followed by Bunton’s game-winner shortly thereafter, and the Hornets walked away unscathed with a 3-2 win and a spot in the semifinals.  

Fairfield (15-7) scored the game’s initial goal when Zach Weinstein took a shot that went off the glove, then the helmet of Hornets’ senior captain keeper Brink (24 saves), and into the net for a 1-0 lead 7:48 into the contest. Five-and-a-half minutes later, the Mustangs’ Jake Fuss threw the puck in front and it went off two Branford defensemen for a goal and Fairfield was now up 2-0.

“Fairfield carried play in the first period and so we made an adjustment to our forecheck for the second period. Their defensemen were getting passes to their forwards real quickly and they had two breakaways early, so we had to slow it down and tighten up our coverage,” said Brink. “We made the change, the boys adjusted really well, they didn’t get many chances, and we got ours.”

Senior captain Criscuolo converted one of those chances for a goal on an assist by Withington and the Hornets cut it to 2-1 just 1:58 into the middle frame.

Fairfield brought its 2-1 advantage to the third, but then Criscuolo tied it on his 34

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goal of the season from junior Mike Annunziata and senior defenseman Jack Murray at the 4:23 mark, after which Bunton buried the go-ahead goal from Annunziata and Criscuolo at 5:46. Criscuolo’s equalizer was on a breakaway off a nice pass in the neutral zone from Annunziata and the victorious score came via a shot by Criscuolo that went off Bunton and past Mustangs’ goalie Mike Grace (32 saves). Fairfield had one great chance to tie it at the end, but Brink stood tall in net by making the save to preserve the come-from-behind victory.

“It was mental toughness. Our seniors refused to go out quietly and the team just worked hard and showed no panic when we were down 2-0,” Brink said. “These guys just chip away and showed a mature mindset that really worked to their advantage.”

Three days before the quarters, Branford hosted No. 14 seed and defending Division II champion Hand and notched a 4-0 triumph at Northford Ice Pavilion. Withington had a hat trick in the game to give him 27 goals for the campaign, scoring his first two from Criscuolo in the first and second periods, respectively. Withington sealed the hatty by scoring unassisted in the third and Criscuolo followed with an empty-net goal to ice it for the Hornets. Brink stopped all 26 shots that came his way for his fifth shutout of the year. The Tigers finished their season at 6-13-2.

“It was a good defensive battle and credit to Hand. We got out to a slow start and they came out hard, which is what we expect from our Division II teams, and threw everything on net in the first two periods,” said Brink, whose club had won its second straight SCC/SWC DII title the week prior. “We were fortunate to score in the last minute of the first period and then with seven seconds left in the second and that gave us a little momentum going into the third. Zach scored our third goal and then Tyler capped it off with the empty-netter.”