The three NEPSAC championship games have been set and will be played on Sunday, March 6th.
Elite Tournament: #5 Salisbury at #3 Belmont Hill, 5pm
Large School: #2 Kent at #1 Brunswick, 2pm
Small School: #4 Pomfret at #2 Frederick Gunnn School
In the Stuart/Corkery Elite 8 Tournament, #5 seed Salisbury returns to another title game, as the Knights went on the road and knocked off top-seeded Kimball Union, 2-1 in overtime.
The winning goal came on a shot by Ben Poitras that glanced off a KUA defender and into the net about midway through the overtime session, Kimball Union had tied the game with three minutes to go oin regulation on a goal by Jaiden Moriello. Earlier, Lee Parks had given the Knights (22-5-0) a 1-0 lead.
The Crimson Knights will face off with third-seeded Belmont Hill for the title (Game time is 5pm at Belmont Hill). The Sextants also won on the road, downing #2 seed Avon Old Farms, 4-2.
James Fisher‘s wrist shot from the right wing side with 9:27 left in the third period snapped a 2-2 tie. Jack Houser sealed it with a shorthanded, empty net tally with 1:22 to go, stealing the puck at the blue line and firing it into the vacated cage.
Charlie Cave and Ronan O’Donnell staked BH to a 2-0 lead before the Winged Beavers came back to tie with a second period goal from Matt DiMarsico and a third period strike from Charlie Gollob.
In the Martin/Earl Large School final, the top two seeds will meet as Kent will be at Brunswick (2 pm start).
Kent took care of Phillips Exeter, 7-3 in one semifinal as Jake Kraft scored four goals. Gio DiGiulian, Dante Palumbo and Cole Watson added single tallies for the Lions.
Brunswick held off Nobles, 3-2, in the other Saturday semifinal. The Bruins got goals from Sloan Farmer, James Shannon and Drew DellaSalla to get past the Bulldogs, who received goals from Austin Tasca and Aidan Lyons.
And in the Piatelli/Simmons Small School final, fourth-seeded Pomfret will travel to second-seeded Frederick Gunn School (2 pm faceoff).
The Griffins got a yeoman effort from goalie Kellan Bouton and a second period goal from Declan Chapman to oust top-seeded St. Mark’s, 1-0, holding on at end while being down 6-on-4.
Frederick Gunn took care of sixth-seeded Governor’s Academy, 3-1, thanks to goals from Julian Facchinelli (first period, off an offensive zone draw) and Kyle Smyth and Ryan Novo in the second period, which built a 3-0 lead.
