Falcons Win at Conard Qualifies Team for State Tournament

On the heels of Monday's final-minute comeback win over Tri-Town, the Fermi/Enfield/East Granby/Stafford hockey co-op still had work to do.

The Falcons needed awin or tie against Conard Wednesday night to qualify for the Division II state tournament. However, the host Chieftains seemed determined to spoil the hopes of their CCC North rivals.

Conard held a 21-7 shot advantage through two periods, but stellar goaltending by the Falcons' Aaron Lickwar kept the game a scoreless tie heading into the final session.

Just 34 seconds after the second intermission, Avery Boissy broke the ice with the first of his two goals, paving the way to a 3-0 victory that enabled the Falcons to reach postseason play for the 12th time in head coach Frank Genovese's 13 seasons.

"When the team wasn't bringing a lot of offense, the goaltender was there and made some momentum saves," Genovese said. "In big games, you ask for the best players to show up and make big plays, and for us with Lickwar in net and Avery with the goals, they showed they were big players."

Four minutes after Boissy's first goal, Nick Ferracci scored off an assist from Marc Richard. Boissy clinched the win with his second tally with 5:27 to play.

Lickwar stopped 25 shots to earn the shutout. Backup goalie Joshua Huffman made 13 saves for the Chieftains. Regular goalie Charlie Fisher did not play due to illness.

Earlier this week, Conard kept its tournament hopes alive with an away win over Cheshire, 2-1.

The pairings for the Division II tournament will be releaesd Saturday. Based on the current rankings, the Falcons (8-11-1) will likely play a first-round game at Branford, while Conard (7-11-2) is expected to host a play-in game against Newtown.