In the Division II First Round on Tuesday, Cheshire High School ice hockey (third seed, 14-7) ended the season with a 4-1 loss to Trumbull (14th seed, 10-11) at Louis Astorino Ice Arena in Hamden. Back on Feb. 4, the Rams shut out Trumbull, 3-0, in Shelton, but in a reversal of fortunes, the Eagles never trailed in the rematch.
With 12:58 left in the first period, Trumbull went up 1-0 on a deflection off the stick of senior Tyler Hickey.
CHS actually outshot the Eagles, 17-6, in the first period, but they were unable to put the puck by Trumbull senior goalkeeper Gabe Deist.
After the first break, Cheshire returned to draw even with 8:30 left in the second. After passes by junior Drew DePodesta and senior co-captain Rocco Ocone-Krause, junior Biagio Pepe controlled the puck and netted a shot in the middle.
Cheshire’s momentum was short-lived, as the Eagles scored twice to end the second. With 4:22 remaining in the second, junior Nikolas Smagacz scored on a feed from senior Jake Terlik to snap the tie.
With 56 seconds left in the second, CHS was penalized for slashing and it took just seven seconds left for Terlik to score on the power play. Hickey picked up the assist.
CHS tried to cut into the deficit. On a two-on-one breakaway in the third, junior assistant captain Evan Vasiljevs passed to senior co-captain Will Gaudet, but a point-blank shot was saved by Deist.
To gain an extra skater, Cheshire pulled senior goalkeeper Jack Falk inside two minutes, but with the open net, Trumbull senior Jacques Roy converted to finish the scoring. Terlik and senior Austin Ashby assisted on the play.
The Rams led 41-26 in shots, but Deist recorded 40 saves for Trumbull. Falk finished with 23 saves at the other end.
In winning 10 of their last 11 games in the regular season, CHS earned a nine-game improvement over last season.
Cheshire will graduate a deep senior class of Gaudet, Ocone-Krause, assistant captain Lukas Sargolini, Falk, Corbin Forselius, Chase Hackett, Liam Harkins, Aiden Larke, Gabe Magriz, and Andrew Vaill. Seniors Kaitlyn Hartman and Devyn Sheehan also served as managers.