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Head Coach Doug Robinson of the Stamford Co-Op discusses penalties with an official during a game in 2017. Robinson died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022 after a three-year battle with cancer.
Gregory Vasil / For Hearst Connecticut Media
SHELTON — When the Stamford police and fire departments met in a hockey game last summer in honor of Doug Robinson, the longtime Stamford coach wondered if anyone would show up.
“I said, ‘Doug. Are you kidding me?’” said longtime friend and co-coach at Westhill/Stamford, John Santagata. “He walked in, he saw the crowd, he was in awe.”
Robinson died Aug. 24 at age 60 after a battle with cancer of the parotid gland, and he’s still being honored.
Most recent is the FCIAC’s tournament for its Division II and Division III teams, which bears Robinson’s name this season. His Westhill/Stamford team will face Trumbull in the final at The Rinks at Shelton on Saturday night at 8:30.
“It was an honor,” Santagata said. “Actually we talked about it early in the season that we wanted to split the divisions this year. ... (Trumbull coach) Greg Maxey had come up with the idea of naming it after Doug.”
Westhill and Stamford won a CIAC Division III championship in 2016, the first year of their co-op and the first year that Santagata and Robinson, who had been in charge of those school’s programs, were co-coaches after being friends for decades. He was an assistant coach on the 2001 Division II championship team, which beat Westhill in the final.
Santagata said Robinson’s wife, Judy, and their children are expected to be in attendance on Saturday.
“I’m glad we’re able to do this like this,” Maxey said. “He was one of the good guys. His teams were always tough, played hard, clean. You always knew what you got when you played them, like we want our teams to be.”
Westhill/Stamford is 17-4-0; its four losses are to top-10 teams in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll, three of them top-five teams. The team dedicated its season to Robinson, who, Santagata said, had both a sense of humor and an ability to be tough when he had to be.
“He’s been a longtime friend of mine, 30-something years. He’s a tough guy to lose,” Santagata said. “It’s tough on the boys that have been there for four years with us. Everyone’s motivated. It’s a great thing to do. It should be a nice night.”
Westhill/Stamford advanced with a 9-2 win over Wilton; Anthony Corelli scored three of the nine. Trumbull beat Staples 4-3; D.J. Kimberly’s goal put the Eagles (10-11-0) up two and proved to be the game-winner.
Maxey is enthusiastic about the two-tournament model for the FCIAC. In a six-team tournament, as the Division I tournament was this year, this gives the other teams an extra game or two. In an eight-team tournament, the top seeds probably weren’t going down.
“Going into this two-week gap before the state tournament, you want some meaningful games,” Maxey said. “Even if, in the past, you latch on to the eighth seed, you get Darien, you get spanked: It’s not a productive game.
“Now we’ll get two games, get a good game with Stamford and go into the tournament, have a couple of good games under our belt. That’s what we wanted to accomplish, and we can honor Doug in the process.”
mfornabaio@ctpost.com; @fornabaioctp