In a rematch of the 2019-2020 Small School Championship, two Connecticut powerhouses met for the finals in a matchup between Frederic Gunn and Pomfret. We saw both teams play just a few weeks ago at Trinity College in Hartford, CT where Frederic Gunn won 6-3.
These two are no strangers to the Small School finals as they both met last season (2019-2020) and Pomfret has also won this in 2017 over Cushing.
Today’s game was even from the get go and remained scoreless until the final 3 minutes of the first period when senior captain Nils Forselius got a pass in the slot from Declan Chapman, who made a slick pass out from behind the net, and burried it to go up 1-0.
It remained 1-0 heading into the second period despite a few grade A scoring chances from Frederic Gunn to try and tie the game. The second period looked like Pomfret’s early on and they’d get rewarded scoring on a rebound goal in front whee Will Stewart outmuscled a defender and passed to the slot side of the goal where Cam Geary tried twice to bang home the shot under the pad and the puck squirted out to Jesse Heinberg who scored on the third try.
With a 2-0 lead Pomfret looked like they had the game in hand but a gritty Frederic Gunn squad came back with a vengence scoring just a minute later and then tying it up with 2:35 remaining in the period. The second goal was a heavy one-timer from Julian Facchinelli who blasted it by the Pomfret netminder. The key play however came from Nathan Stachowiak who flew in on the forecheck, won the puck battle and made the pass to Facchinelli for the score.
The game was tied heading into the third period and both teams exchanged penalties in the first half of the period ledaing to quality chances but neither team could put it away. It wasn’t until 4:30 remaining in the period when Pomfret speedster Nils Forselius got a loose puck in the neutral zone and took it end to end, breaking away from the defender at the red line and going in for a breakaway chance where he made a nifty move and scored 5-hole at top speed.
Frederic Gunn to their credit didn’t put their heads down, they battled to the last minute but in that last minute Declan Chapman was able to score on an empty net and seal the game and bring another Small School Championship trophy to Pomfret School.
Three Stars of the Game:
1st Star: Nils Forselius, F, Pomfret
2nd Star: Kellen Beauton, G, Pomfret
3rd Star: Declan Chapman, F, Pomfret
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
