Stamford Boys Hockey Falls to Darien

The Stamford boys hockey team certainly had its opportunities against Darien on Saturday night.

However, the Black Knights could not take advantage of 10 power plays and suffered a 4-1 loss to the surging Blue Wave at the Terry Conners Rink.

Darien won its fourth straight to improve to 6-5-1 while Stamford, which was 0-for-10 with the man advantage, dropped to 4-7.

“Our power play cycled well down low, but we seemed to wait too long to shoot the puck,” Black Knights head coach Doug Robinson said. “We still have some work to do.”

Firing 10 shots on goal, the Black Knights played extremely well and came out of the first period with a 1-1 tie,  thanks to a breakaway goal by freshman Brian Powers.

He picked up the puck after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone,  skated in alone and beat Blue Wave junior netminder Max Rothston with a wrist shot just under the crossbar.

Despite scoring only once in the game,  Stamford outshot Darien, 29-21.

“I thought we played well,  but we just did not get the bounces tonight,” Robinson said. “We made some changes tonight and it seemed to help us and soon enough, the pucks will start bouncing our way.”

The Blue Wave picked up two goals in the second period, both on wraparounds that beat Black Knights’ sophomore goaltender Hunter Alderman.

Blue Wave junior Nick Bruno picked up the first one with 10:11 to go in the second period, followed by senior Garren Fritts, who gave the Blue Wave a 3-1 lead heading into the third.

The Blue Wave scored again early in the third period, this time with a shorthanded marker by senior Christian Nielson to make it 4-1.

Rothston turned  away 15 shots in the third period to seal the Black Knights’ fate.

“We were able to move the puck well , but we just could not get the scoring opportunities that we wanted to,” Robinson said.

Stamford will be back in action on Wednesday night at Terry Conners to take on St. Joseph (8-2-0).