The Quinnipiac men’s hockey fell to Harvard in ECAC Hockey championship game on Saturday.
Getty ImagesGoalie Kyle Kundrath blanked second-seeded New Milford and helped the Rocky Hill co-op to a 3-0 upset win to open the CIAC Division III boys hockey tournament on Monday night at Canterbury.
Olaf Talar opened the scoring for the Terriers (8-13-0). Tyler Poulin scored in the last minute of the second period, and Dom Violette finished it off in the third period.
Rocky Hill became only the second No. 15 seed in 15 years to win a CIAC first-round game. The Housatonic co-op did it in 2020, and the last to do it before that was Simsbury in 2008.
The Terriers will face No. 7 Tri-Town (11-10-1), a 6-2 winner over Newtown/New Fairfield in Enfield, on Thursday. Sites and times for all four of Thursday’s quarterfinals are to be announced.
New Milford finishes 17-5-0.
In Shelton, Kyle Sutfin scored three goals and two assists to help top-seeded Masuk defeat the Southington co-op 8-3.
Masuk (20-1-2) led by just two going to the third period, but Sutfin scored his second goal early in the third and assisted on Christian LaBella’s goal. Colin Deering (four points) scored a power-play goal later in the third.
The Panthers, who hadn’t won a CIAC playoff game since reaching the 2015 Division III final, will face ninth-seeded Hall (12-10-0) in the quarterfinals. Hall defeated the Shepaug co-op 6-3 Monday night in Washington.
Hall had not won a CIAC playoff game on its own since 2008, after which it joined Southington in a long-term co-op that only ended in 2021. Rocky Hill earned its first CIAC playoff win as the host of a co-op since 2009; it’s in its third season back in front after a long-term partnership under Wethersfield.
The third-seeded and defending champion Newington co-op survived a scare from 14th-seeded Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury and won 3-2 at Newington Arena. Josh Grimm's second of the game, with 8:54 left, was the game-winner after BBD's Jovanni Smeriglio scored twice in the second period to tie the game.
Newington (21-2-0) will face the sixth-seeded Enfield co-op in the quarters after the Eagles defeated Staples 5-1 at Enfield Twin Rinks. Enfield (14-8-0) took a 4-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game and tacked on another midway through the second before Levi Nevstad scored to get the 11th-seeded Wreckers on the board. Luke Arseneault scored twice, and Colin Tavernier had a goal and an assist for the Eagles.
Fourth-seeded Conard, last year’s runner-up, defeated E.O. Smith/Tolland 3-0 in West Hartford. Aiden Emery, Jack Hodgson and Gavin McGowan each had a goal and an assist apiece for Conard (19-4-0). Next up is fifth-seeded Barlow/Weston/Abbott Tech (JBWA), which beat Wilton 6-2 in Danbury.
JBWA (13-9-1) twice took the lead on goals by Tommy Kane, and then Spencer Thomas built the advantage to 4-2 with goals off assists from Emmet Arees. Thomas finished with three goals and five points.
Nikolai Naydenov scored Wilton’s goals.
The Division II tournament begins Tuesday night at the higher seeds. Five first-round games in Division I are Wednesday.
mfornabaio@ctpost.com; @fornabaioctp