For years now I've been intrigued by the economics and politics of ice rinks.  Hockey is one of the only sports that suffers for a lack of facilities.  Every town has multiple baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, tennis courts and every high school seems to have a football field.  Not so for hockey.  Why is this?   Well the answer is the obvious one, hockey rinks are expensive to build and maintain.   But what about those exorbitant ice time fees?  I hear you asking.  Ummm I hate to tell you this but for most rinks those ice fees don't cover costs.  Thats right.  The public rinks are subsidized.  For us that means Hamill by the town of Greenwich, and Terry Conners by the city of Stamford.  The other rinks - Wonderland, Shelton, Darien and Wintergarden,  are private.  I don't have any inside dope on the profitability of each rink, but what I hear is that the only one that really makes a lot of money is STR and that is because of the bar, not the ice time fees.  

Everyone wants a rink built in their town but how much does it really cost?   I've looked into it.  An indoor, no-frills rink with adequate locker rooms costs about $4million to build.  Here's a newspaper article from Juneau Alaska where a proposed rink was $2.8million but the article is from 2001 so costs have increased since then and you know it would cost more to build around here than in Alaska.  This 2005 article from the Advocate says that the 2nd rink at Wonderland (along with the curling club) cost $5.5million.  Then there are the electricity costs to keep the ice frozen.   This article suggests that it costs upward of $200,000/yr.  How much revenue can a rink generate from ice fees?  Here's an article from Schenectady where a public rink generated $340,000 and had a small surplus over operating expenses.  Many rinks don't cover expenses and need to be subsidized.  Here's an article about how challenging the business is.   The basic point is that the rink needs to be busy almost all the time, to make money.  

Wilton could use its own rink as could Norwalk and Westport and New Canaan (I know they have the Winter club) and Fairfield (Wonderland is in Bridgeport) and Trumbull, but someone has to pay for it.  If rinks were such moneymakers, they would be there already.

Oh man I thought NC was going to come back and beat Prep as I watched the game on my computer at work last night.  What a heartbreaker.  It did seem like they dominated the 3rd period.  They had some games early in the season where they outplayed some really good teams and didn't come away with wins.  I don't know if its something about the team or maybe just bad luck.   I'm talking about their 4-3 loss to Hamden and their 5-2 loss to NDWH very early in the season.  I remember hearing that they had a sizable shot advantage in both of those games.   Whatever it is - that was a tough loss.  Not that beating Hamden is easy but Prep had beaten Hamden twice so if NC had won I would have considered them the favorite in the championship game. 

Darien was pretty thoroughly outplayed but they were within a goal late in the 3rd period.  Will Love was terrific in net.  Hamden outshot them 39-9 for the entire game but only won 3-2. 

St Joes plays Amity for the D2 championship tonight.  These two teams have already met twice this season, swapping 6-5 games with Amity winning 6-5 on 1/2 and St Joes winning 6-5 on 2/25.  This looks like a great matchup.  The audio will be broadcast on SportingNewsCT.com.  The game starts at 7:30pm - they'll probably be on about 5 or 10 minutes before that for a short pregame.

St Joes won 6-5 in OT yesterday to get into the D2 final, which is played Friday (D3 and D1 on Saturday).   Trumbull lost 9-3 to Amity so St Joes will take on Amity in the final.  Its at 7:30 pm on friday at Yale.   SportingNewsCT.com will have a live audio broadcast of the game.

On Wednesday  Thursday (see here) at Yale New Canaan plays Fairfield Prep at 5:30 and Darien plays Hamden at 7:30.  SportingNewsCT.com says they will have live video of both games. 

The FCIAC has had a great showing so far in states.  New Canaan and St Joes were expected to do well but Trumbull and Darien have come out of nowhere.  There is a possibility of an all-FCIAC D1 final.

So far here's how the FCIAC has done in states :

D1
Darien(#16) 4, West Haven(#1) 3
Ridgefield(#10)3, Greenwich(#7) 2 OT
Fairfield Prep (#2) 3, Trinity Catholic (#15) 1
New Canaan(#3) 6, East Haven (#14) 3

In the 2nd round Darien will play Tri-Town, Ridgefield will play Fairfield Prep and New Canaan will play North Haven.

D2
Wilton (#8) 10, North Branford (#9) 2
Trumbull(#13) 2, Suffield Granby Windsor-Locks(#4) 1
Avon (#5) 8, Westhill (#12) 7
St Joes (#2) 6, Stamford (#15) 4

In the 2nd round Wilton plays Amity, Trumbull plays Avon and St Joes plays Lyman Hall.

D3
none qualified




The FCIAC championship airs tonight on MSG Varsity at 8pm and probably again later at night and over night.  

I left with 1:30 left in the game, New Canaan was winning 6-1.  It was 2-1 at the end of the 2nd but NC was all over Ridgefield in the 3rd to go up 6-1.    The game will air on MSG Varsity Thurs night at 8pm.

The conclusion of the 2009-2010 FCIAC boys ice hockey season is upon us.    The #2 seed, New Canaan will take on the #4 seed Ridgefield for the championship.

New Canaan finished the FCIAC season 11-1, with an overall record of 17-3.   They defeated Wilton 5-0 in the quarterfinals and outlasted St Joes in a thrilling 4-3 OT win in the semifinals.  Ridgefield finished the FCIAC season 8-4 and had an overall record of 13-7.   They won 7 of their last 8 regular season games with the only loss in that stretch a 5-4 defeat by St Joes.   They defeated Trinity Catholic 2-1 in the quarterfinals and beat Greenwich 3-2 in the semifinal.

I'm not going to make a prediction but I want to hear yours.  I'm pumped for this game!!   

The final is set.  NC will play host to Ridgefield Saturday night at 7pm at Terry Conners Rink in Stamford. 

New Canaan 4, St Joseph 3 OT

St Joes struck early as Conner Crouse took the puck wide down the left side and sent a perfect pass right onto the stick of Pat Corcoran who was standing right in the slot and he deflected it into the net to give St Joes a 1-0 lead just 1:30 into the game.   St Joes dominated the first 3 minutes of play but then the momentum swung in New Canaan's favor.  New Canaan's pressure would finally pay off with 5:23 left in the 1st period when Henry Corcoran would put back a rebound of a backhand shot by Kris Nugent.   Nugent come out from just above the goal line and curled toward the net and let go a backhand shot that was stopped by St Joe's goaltender Zach Carrano but Corcoran quickly popped the rebound into the back of the net to tie the score 1-1.  New Canaan continued to apply pressure for the rest of the period but they weren't able to get another goal past Carrano.  The 1st period ended tied 1-1.

New Canaan started the 2nd period where they left off the 1st - in St Joes end of the ice.   They finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead with 7:56 left in the period.   Kris Nugent recieved a pretty drop pass from Henry Corcoran (I thought it was Granito but they announced Corcoran) and let go of a wrist shot from just inside the top of the faceoff circle on the left side.  The shot found the right side of the net about 2 feet off the ice to give New Canaan a 2-1 lead.  St Joe's had a couple of excellent chances to tie it.  First Crouse had rush up the ice where he faked out 3 NC players and sent in a teammate on a breakaway but New Canaan goalie Tim Nowacki made the save.  A little while later Crouse found Corcoran streaking down the right wing.  Corcoran let go of a wrist shot hit Nowacki in the arm and trickled wide.  Then with 1:38 left in the 2nd period St Joes would finally tie it.  Crouse again found Corcoran on the right wing, this time with a long cross ice pass in the neutral zone allowing Corcoran to pick up speed as he approached the NC defense.  Corcoran took the puck wide and as the defender closed on him he ducked the check, holding it off, and put a wrist shot low inside the far post.    The 2nd period ended tied 2-2. 

With about 11:05 left in the 3rd period it looked like Sam Stanton was going to break free from just outside his own blue line but Conner Crouse whacked the stick out of his hands to prevent the opportunity.  Crouse was called for slashing but Stanton probably would have had a breakaway if not for the slash.   New Canaan didn't score on that power play.    With 6:41 seconds St Joes took the lead 3-2 on a goal by Brian Kelly.  The New Canaan defenseman was unable to keep the puck in at the left point as one of the players on St Joes chipped it up the boards past him.  Brian Kelly picked up the puck behind the left point man with only 1 NC defender back.  He carried it down the right side and after the NC defender lay down on the ice to block the pass he shot it  over the prone defender past Nowacki low to the left side.   Just a few seconds after the faceoff following the goal NC almost tied it on a weird bounce off the glass.  They dumped it in high down the left boards.  Carrano started to skate behind the net to stop the puck but it took an odd bounce off the glass and headed straight for the net.   One of the defenseman reacted in time to keep it from going in.    New Canaan did tie it about a minute later, with 5:29 left in the 3rd.  There was a scramble in front of the net and Henry Corcoran had the presence of mind to pass the puck across the front of the net instead of trying to whack it straight at the goal.  He must have seen Kris Nugent standing by himself off to the the right side of the net.  He slid it over to Nugent who quickly slid it into the goal to tie the score 3-3.    With 3:20 left in the 3rd St Joes took a time out to rest their top guys.    With about 2:30 left Sam Stanton had a great chance to score when he took the puck down the left wing side, his off wing, and stick handled around 2 defenders only to be stopped by Carrano on a point blank wrist shot.   New Canaan continued the pressure for the rest of the period but again they couldn't get one past Carrano. 

Curtis McKeon almost scored in OT when he carried the puck over the blue line down the right side and fired a slap shot that hit the shaft of Tim Nowacki's stick and deflected just over the net, missing the upper left corner by inches.    Still New Canaan continued to get the vast majority of the chances but Carrano was just outstanding, stopping everything and, most impressive to me, not allowing any good rebounds, steering every shot into the corners.    With 4:53 left in the OT Sam Stanton broke free but as he was closing on the goal he was being hooked from behind.  He was still able to get in on goal but Carrano came out aggressively and poke-checked the puck off of Stanton's stick as Stanton was being hauled down.  Colin Morrisey would go to the penalty box.  With a power play about to start New Canaan took time out to talk things over.    New Canaan converted on the power play to win the game.  Ryan Begoon recieved a pass from the right point at about the left faceoff dot and then quickly let go of a wrist shot that found its way into left side of the net to send the NC cheering section into a frenzy and the Rams into Saturday's  championship game.


Ridgefield 3, Greenwich 2

Ridgefield opened the scoring on a goal by Aidan Scott off of a faceoff win by Matt Hrvatin.    Hrvatin won the faceoff on the left side right back to Scott who let go of a quick wrist shot the found the upper left hand corner of the net over the glove of left-handed goalie Adam Gelbs.  The rest of the period was a pretty even back and forth battle but there was no more scoring.

Ridgefield extended the lead to 2-0 with 12:24 remaining in the 2nd perid on slapshot by Terry Guider from the left wing boards.  Sean Wilkinson passed it over to Guider on the left wing and Guider let a slapshot go from along the boards about even with the faceoff dot.  The puck squeaked past Gelbs on the short side.   With 11:03 left in the 2nd there was a play in front of the Ridgefield net where a couple of the Greenwich players started celebrating as if the puck had gone in but the refs never indicated that and it was ruled a no goal.  I couldn't see it that well from where I was so I have no reason to doubt the refs.    A little while later Greenwich pulled to within 2-1 on an exciting goal by George Cody.  Rit Spezzano was rushing up the ice and he had beaten one defender and he was trying to dangle to beat the last defender but the defender stood him up and knocked him down to the ice, but George Cody, traling the play picked up the puck, went in on goal, and put a nice deke on Ridgefield goalie Mike Gliedman to put Greenwich on the board with 10:41 left in the 2nd period.   Ridgefield took a 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission.

 With 11:55  left in the 3rd period Sean Wilkinson was sent in on a breakaway by a long headman pass from one of the Ridgefield defenseman.  He received the pass right at the Greenwich blueline, split the D and went in on goal.  There was a pile-up as Wilkinson somehow fell and one of the Greenwich defenders fell and the net came off.    I really didn't see exactly what happened.  When the ref pointed at the goal I thought he was awarding Ridgefield a goal but the puck didn't go in the net.  The call was a penalty shot.  Wilkinson was awarded a penalty shot.  I'm not really sure what it was for.   A Greenwich player may have touched it with his hand in the crease during the pile-up or maybe the ref thought they intentionally dislodged the net.  Anway Wilkinson faked right (his backhand side) and then went left to score on the penalty shot to give Ridgefield the 3-1 lead with 11:55 left.   With 4:37 left in the 3rd period and Greenwich trailing 3-1 Spezzano went tearing up the left wing side but as he was about to make a centering pass he was hooked by Sean Wilkinson, giving Greenwich a two minute power play.    48 seconds into the power play, with 3:51 left, Joey Lodato, under pressure near the blue line found Jack Gilson on the right point.  Gilson took a couple of strides toward the net and then sent a shot/pass along the ice to the front of the net in a perfect spot to be tipped in by George Cody for his second goal of the game.  That made the score 3-2 with 3:51 remaining.    With 1:27 left Ridgefield called time out.   Somewhere about here Greenwich pulled their goalie.  With 52 seconds left a Ridgefield player took a shot at the empty net from his own zone but he missed by mere inches, and was called for icing, bringing the faceoff back down into their own zone.    Greenwich wasn't really able to get a good attack going in the waning seconds and Ridgefield held on to  the lead for the 3-2 win and the chance to play for the championship Saturday night.

    Greenwich and St Joes both needed overtime to get to the semifinals but they both got there by 3-2 scores.  Ridgefield eked out a 1 goal win over Trinity Catholic 2-1 and New Canaan beat Wilton 5-0.  I was at the games at Darien. 
    The St Joes/Darien game was a thriller.  Both teams had multiple close chances in the OT.  In fact the 1st period of that game ended 2-2 and there was no more scoring for the rest of regulation but there were plenty of scoring chances both ways throughout the 2nd and 3rd periods.  Zach Carrano the St Joes goalie made several long passes up the ice after dump-ins by Darien.  He even had an assist on one of the 1st 2 goals.    The goals were scored by Corcoran, McKeon and Keator (the OT goal) for St Joes and George Gregory and Domenick Luongo.   Here is a story on the game from the Darien times.
   The New Canaan/Wilton game was a dominating performance for New Canaan but, as has been a theme for them all year,  the numbers on the scoreboard were less impressive than the shots on goal totals and puck possession.   Kevin O'Connell was outstanding in the net for Wilton keeping the game close well into the 3rd period.  The score was only 2-0 at the end of the 2nd period.  Freshman goalie Chris Koennecke didn't see much rubber but he did have to make a few tough saves to preserve his shutout.   I believe that their other freshman goalie, Tim Nowacki was sick and couldn't play so expect to see Nowacki back in the net on Wed.   Here is a story on the game from NCAdvertiser and here's another one from New Canaan Patch.


Here's a story from the Stamford Advocate on the Greenwich/Stamford game.

Here's a recap of the Ridgefield/Trinity game form The Ridgefield Press.

Here's a recap of all 4 games from fciac.net.

My heart skipped a beat when I read in the paper that the semis would be on Tues (see here), but I'm pretty sure it's wrong because I just found this on the FCIAC.net website :

Wednesday, March 3

Boys Ice Hockey Semifinals at Terry Conners

No. 3 St. Joseph vs. No. 2 New Canaan, 6 p.m.

No. 4 Ridgefield vs. No. 1 Greenwich, 8 p.m.

Which is the way it has been since I started following it 3 yrs ago. 

   

In case you've been too engrossed in the olympics and weren't aware the playoffs are here.  They were scheduled to start today with 2 games today and 2 games tomorrow but because of the snow all 4 games are Saturday.  Here is the schedule :

FCIAC Championship
Sa 2/27	6:00	Qtr	Trinity Catholic		Ridgefield	Terry Conners Rink
Sa 2/27	6:00	Qtr	Darien		St. Joseph	Darien Rink
Sa 2/27	8:00	Qtr	Stamford		Greenwich	Terry Conners Rink
Sa 2/27	8:00	Qtr	Wilton		New Canaan	Darien Rink

    Ridgfield and Trinity Catholic play at 6pm at Terry Conners.  Ridgefield edged out Trinity Catholic for 4th place just 5 days ago with a 3-2 OT win.  Not that it mattered much, the game is at Darien Ice Rink either way.  I guess it determines which bench each team is on.    These teams are pretty even as you would expect from 2 teams that finished 1pt apart in the standing and who just played an OT game.   I expect another close one. 
    St Joseph the third seed is the home team against Darien at the Darien Ice Rink.  In their head to head matchup 1/25 at Shelton, St Joes won 6-0.  The difference between the 2 teams is not 6 goals.   USHSHO.com computer rankings have St Joes at 1.4 goals stronger.  That's not a huge difference and Darien has definitely been better the 2nd half of the year.  That looks like another good one.
    The top seed, Greenwich, plays the #8 seed Stamford at Terry Conners at 8pm right after the TC/Ridgefield game.   Greenwich thumped Stamford in their 1match-up this season.  The game was televised on MSG Varsity.  It was a pretty convincing win for Greenwich but don't count Stamford out.  They have a lot of talent on the top 2 forward lines and they are dangerous.  I've not heard anything about whether or not Ryan Kelly will be playing for Greenwich.
    In the second game at Darien, New Canaan will be the home team against Wilton.  These 2 teams played an early morning battle with New Canaan winning 4-2.  New Canaan is very strong but Wilton has some talent and they shouldn't be taken lightly.  

There are just a few games left  in the FCIAC season :

Wed., 2/24	V Boys Ice Hockey	Stamford @ Westhill	Terry Connors	6:00 p.m.
Wed., 2/24	V Boys Ice Hockey	Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe @ Trumbull	Shelton Rinks	8:30 p.m.
Wed., 2/24	V Boys Ice Hockey	Greenwich @ Wilton	Winter Garden Rink Ridgefield	8:30 p.m.

Thu., 2/25

V Boys Ice Hockey

St. Joseph @ Amity

Bennett Rink - West Haven

6:30 p.m.

Stamford and Westhill for bragging rights - underway about an hour ago as I write this.  Fairfield finishes up their season tonight against Trumbull.  Neither team made the FCIAC tournament but Trumbull qualified for the D2 tournament and they may be able to improve their seed a little bit with a win tonight.   Greenwich travels to the Winter Garden to play Wilton in the regular season finale for both teams.   If Wilton upsets Greenwich it will shake things up a bit as they'll move to 5th place (same record as Ridgefield but they'd lose the tiebraker).  They'll jump to 6th if they tie.   Greenwich will finish 2nd win lose or tie. 

St Joes has 1 more game - tomorrow against Amity.  Amity is a really good team and that's a tough game to have to play a day or two before the FCIAC quarterfinals but thats the way it is.  St Joes is ranked 1st in D2 7pts ahead of Amity.  I don't know how the pts work.  Maybe Amity can jump them in the D2 state rankings if they win, I don't know.

Here are the standings before today's games :

FCIAC Standings

Team	FCIAC		CIAC
	Record	Pts.	Record	Pts.
New Canaan	11-1-0	22	17-3-0	116
Greenwich	9-0-2	20	13-4-2	91
St. Joseph	9-2-1	19	14-3-2	82
Ridgefield	8-4-0	16	13-7-0	73
Trinity Catholic	7-4-1	15	9-10-1	53
Darien	7-5-0	14	9-11-0	50
Wilton	7-4-0	14	13-6-0	50
Stamford	5-6-0	10	8-11-0	35
Trumbull	4-7-0	8	9-10-0	38
Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe	2-8-1	5	5-13-1	19
Westhill	2-9-0	4	8-11-0	32
Staples-Weston	1-10-1	3	3-16-1	9
Norwalk-McMahon	0-12-0	0	1-19-0	2