Conard Boys Hockey Shuts Out Hall/Southington

The stands were packed with fans in blue or red and the walls covered with signs, balloons and streamers for the annual  Senior Day Boys Ice Hockey grudge match between and /Southington at on Saturday. In the end, Conard shut out Hall/Southington by a score of 7-0.

Senior Day is a wonderful tradition in the ongoing hockey rivalry between the two West Hartford high schools, where the parents of the players on both teams chip in for a potluck brunch at the rink and everyone mingles prior to the game.  The pre-game festivities are capped off by a ceremony where each senior presents his mom, who wears her son’s jersey, with a bouquet of flowers and photos are taken of the players and their parents.

The excitement was at a fever pitch before the game and the stands were full of fans, and even some shirtless superfans with painted on jerseys, rooting for their school. The score was close early on, with both teams getting excellent scoring chances, but with the Conard players definitely being the aggressors. Kyle Krueger opened the scoring for Conard late in the first period, with a shorthanded goal that deflected off of a Hall/Southington player’s stick. Danny Kycia scored shortly afterward, to make it 2-0, on a wrist shot from the high slot. 

Conard scored on a power play goal early in the second period, to make it 3-0, on a shot from the point from Steve Marshall, off of a clean face-off win by Mike Schaffman.  It was at this point that the wheels came off the bus for the Hall/Southington team, and Conard scored another four goals during the second period by Kyle Weber, David Funkhouser, Danny Kycia, and Quinn Lacroix to make it a rout. At the end of the second period, the score was 7-0.

During the uneventful third period, both teams pulled back somewhat, and the final score was the same as it was at the end of the second period, 7-0.