Corrales' Sudden-Death Goal Gives Hall/Conard a Title

A great player made a little mistake and Emily Corrales made it sting.

Olivia Hompe, the celebrated state scoring leader for perennial championship contender New Canaan, relaxed on a back pass intended for Madzie Carroll.

Corrales, the leading goal scorer for /, picked it off and made a dash for goal that proclaimed the WarChiefs state ice hockey champions for the first time.

The diminutive junior outpaced Carroll and stuck her shot in the upper left corner of the net in the 10th minute of sudden death overtime Saturday afternoon to give the third-seeded West Hartford co-op a 3-2 victory over the top-seeded Rams in the Connecticut High School Girls’ Hockey Association championship game at Yale University’s Ingalls Rink.

Such heroics were nothing new for Corrales.

Her sudden-victory goal Thursday night at Trinity College eliminated second-seeded Simsbury and punched the WarChiefs’ ticket for their first championship berth in the eight-year annals of Connecticut girls scholastic hockey. New Canaan (23-2) has been in every state final of a sport that operates independently of the CIAC.

“Emily was able to get out of the pack, and if she doesn’t run into any traffic she can be quite effective,” Hall/Conard coach Bruce Woolley said.

“She’s our leading scorer (22 goals). Her size at the high school level keeps her from getting more goals but if she gets away from you and there’s space … . She proved that against Simsbury when she got the winner. She pretty much buries it 99 percent of the time when she’s in that situation.”

Hall/Conard (20-3) held a 2-0 lead when the FCIAC-champion Rams rallied for two goals in a four-minute span early in the third period. But the WarChiefs, outshot 32-17, kept the explosive New Canaan attack under wraps with aggressive defensive play and stellar goaltending from Lauren Sorgio (30 saves).

The Rams enjoyed a territorial advantage as the overtime session unfolded but the shots were equal. They were in the process of setting up their offense inside the blue line when fate intervened. Corrales became destiny’s darling for the second time in three days.

“I intercepted the pass, saw the opportunity to go and went as hard as I could,” Corrales said. “I saw that top-corner shot and it worked. It’s the greatest feeling.

“[The pass] was going to [Carroll] and I saw an opportunity to grab it. I saw her on me and I know she’s a good athlete. I played with her before and I would have to do everything I could to get past her.”

Sorgio, a Conard sophomore, stopped everything New Canaan threw at her for two periods. The save that best represented her afternoon came as she was protecting a 1-0 lead with 2:41 left in the first period. Carroll penetrated the slot and when the defense collapsed on her, she dished to wide open Holly Burwick at the right post. Sorgio stuffed her.

“When I see somebody coming at me and it’s just her against me, I come out and challenge her to block off any goals and follow her,” Sorgio said. “I don’t really think about it I just kind of do it. You kind of just act on instincts after you’ve been doing it for so long.”

The other key defensive tactic was to limit Hompe, who came into the game with 78 goals and a state record 270 career points.

“We had designated skaters to stay with her, to take away her ice, take away her space,” Woolley said. “I think we were pretty effective with that. Bailey Amenabar and Juliana Bailey-Simao were the designated people. We told the other girls [who may be in the area they were to help out] if Olivia had the puck.”

Hall/Conard took a 1-0 lead 3:33 into the game when Amenabar dug the puck out of the corner and delivered it perfectly to Emmy Jednorowicz at the point. New Canaan goalie Britt Gardella stopped the shot but Caitlin O’Meara, perched on the left post, deflected it home.

The WarChiefs doubled the advantage with 1:08 left in the second period. With New Canaan down a skater, Caroline Kuzoian stormed down the left wing and drilled a shot that trickled through Gardella’s pads.

The Rams returned the favor with under a minute gone in the third when a wrist shot by Abbey Buckenheimer popped the net behind a screened Sorgio. Four minutes later, Carroll tied the game setting off a New Canaan celebration.

But strains of “It’s All Over” that cascaded down from the gallery proved to be false advertising. The WarChiefs may have been outplayed but they persevered.

“After two I didn’t think we were playing terrible,” New Canaan coach Rich Bulan said. “We weren’t doing what we usually do obviously, then in the third [we get] a couple of breaks, we’re flying, we have jump in our step and it makes a big difference.

“It might be one of best third periods we played all year and it just fell short. It is the way the game goes. … A great player made a great play and won the game.”

The WarChiefs rode the motivation of a recent newspaper article that regaled Simsbury. The Trojans defeated Hall/Conard in two of their three regular-season games, including a decisive 4-1 victor February 22.

“If you read the article and you were not really following our season, you would have thought Simsbury moved on to the championship round,” Woolley said. “Our coaching staff took advantage of that and used it as a motivational tool to go into Trinity and prove to them we were not just a bump in the road. We were a team you have to get by to be standing here at Ingalls Rink today.”

The psychology worked wonders.

“That was annoying. My mom showed it to me Thursday afternoon before the game,” Sorgio said. “They basically discounted our team. They assumed they were just going to walk right over us like they did before. I think that helped to give us energy and motivation to beat them. It was kind of a good thing. Simsbury has their eye on the state championship. They had to get through us first and I think they just overlooked us.”

CHSGHA Championship

At Ingalls Rink, New Haven

Hall/Conard (20-3) 1 1 0 1 – 3

New Canaan (23-2) 0 0 2 0 – 2

First Period – 1. H/C, Caitlin O’Meara (Emily Jednorowicz, Bailey Amenabar), 3:33.

Second Period – 2. H/C, Caroline Kuzoian (Juliana Bailey-Simao, Rachel Aronow), 13:52.

Third Period – 3. NC, Abbey Buckenheimer (Olivia Hompe, Holly Burwick), :57; 4. NC, Madzie Carroll (Jenny Crandall, Eloise Somerby), 4:56. Overtime – 5. Emily Corrales (unassisted), 9:38.

Saves – H/C, Lauren Sorgio 30; NC, Britt Gardella 14. Shots on Goal – NC 32, H/C 17.