And then there were six.
Saturday's NEPSAC boys hockey semifinal matchups produced some wild results. In the Elite 8, No. 3 Dexter Southfield dominated No. 7 Rivers for a 6-2 win, while No. 4 Cushing upset No. 1 Deerfield, 4-1.
No. 5 Westminster won a thriller against No. 1 Belmont Hill, taking down the Sextants, 4-3 to advance to the Large School final. Facing the Martlets will be No. 3 Phillips Andover who trounced No. 2 Avon Old Farms 7-0.
In the Small School field, No. 1 Kimball Union beat No. 5 St. George's, 11-0, while No. 2 Berkshire edged out No. 3 Holderness, 3-1.
Here's the full schedule for Sunday:
- Large School: Phillips Andover vs. Westminster | Noon | UConn
- Small School: Kimball Union vs. Berkshire | 2 p.m. | UConn
- Elite 8: Dexter Southfield vs. Cushing | 4 p.m. | UConn
This means one thing: my championship picks. I infamously went 0-for-3 last season on championship day. It's time to redeem myself.
How am I doing this year?
Overall, I'm 11-for-18 which is...meh. I've done well in the Elite 8 and Small School fields, going 4-for-6 in each. But the Large School has been full of surprises, as I'm 3-for-6.
Let's dive in.
FOLLOW THE TOURNAMENTS: Elite 8 | Large School | Small School
Elite 8: No. 3 Dexter Southfield vs. No. 4 Cushing
These two teams met on Dec. 4 and Dexter won fairly easily, 5-2. While Dexter looked like a wagon, the Penguins gave off the impression of a team who had a long way to go. Cushing made up for that loss on Jan. 5 when it beat Dexter, 6-3, to win the Watkins Tournament.
Sunday will be the rubber match.
Dexter overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Salisbury, 3-2, on Wednesday. On Saturday, Dexter looked like a team possessed, dominating Rivers, 6-2. Cushing survived a back-and-forth first period to beat Brunswick, 6-3, in the quarterfinals before taking down Deerfield, 4-1, in the semis.
On paper, Dexter is much better offensively. But it ranks No. 5 in goals-for (134), while Cushing ranks sixth with 129. On paper, Cushing is better defensively but Dexter has fewer goals-against with only 62 allowed compared to Cushing's 79.
Both goalies have been terrific, too. Dexter junior Colin Davis (Canton, Mass.) has a 2.29 GAA and a .924 save percentage, while Cushing junior Maksim Corovic has a 2.45 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
MVP: 22 candidates to win MVP in the Elite 8
One very important thing to consider is that this is Cushing's third-straight appearance in the Elite 8 championship. The Penguins have lost the last two. Only Cushing captain Tyler Russo (Hamilton, Mass.) and junior forward Axel Favreau (Auburn, Maine) have been on both those teams. They don't want to lose again.
On the other side, Dexter fell in the Large School final last season to Kent. Most of last year's team returned.
I've also picked Cushing to win both of the last two years. Maybe it's best if I go in the other direction.
This will be a high-end clash. But in the end, Dexter gets the best of Cushing.
Prediction:Â Dexter wins, 4-2.
Large School: No. 3 Phillips Andover vs. No. 5 Westminster
These two teams have had wildly different paths here.
Phillips Andover crushed Trinity-Pawling, 6-0, and Avon Old Farms, 7-0. Senior goalie Chase Anderson (Marblehead, Mass.) is on fire with a 38-save shutout to beat Trinity-Pawling and a 36-save shutout to take down Avon. Neither of their two games has been particularly close. They have gotten scoring from everywhere.
Westminster, however, has had to fight. The Martlets won a back-and-forth contest with Governor's Academy on Wednesday. On Saturday, junior goalie Jack Fichthorn (Darien, Conn.) got hurt and was replaced by freshman netminder Cayden Weichselbaumer (Hampden, Mass.). It was Weichselbaumner's first action of the entire season and he made 21 saves on 24 shots.
The craziest part? Senior forward Blake Burke (Trumbull, Conn.) scored a shorthanded goal with 11 seconds left in the game to give Westminster a 4-3 win.
FOR FUN: What would a New England prep 4 Nations tournament look like?Â
Fichthorn should be good to go on Sunday, so we will likely get an elite goaltending matchup between him and Anderson.
Who wins?
Westminster is red-hot and continues to find ways to win, but Andover is on a six-game winning streak and has been dominant since the postseason started.
Prediction:Â Andover wins, 3-1.
Small School: No. 1 Kimball Union vs. No. 2 Berkshire
Similarly to Andover, Kimball Union has torched the competition en route to the Small School final. The Wildcats took down Frederick Gunn, 8-1, before having no issue taking down St. George's, 11-0. Berkshire has also taken care of business to arrive at UConn on Sunday, shutting out Groton, 3-0, and beating Holderness, 3-1.
Both KUA and Berkshire were Elite 8 teams throughout the season. Both have high-end offenses — Kimball Union ranks second in the region in goals with 149, while Berkshire ranks fourth with 136. Both have great defenses — Berkshire has given up two fewer goals (63) than Kimball Union (65).
Berkshire senior goalie Kyle Bolduc (Bolton, Conn.) has the best goals-against average (1.84) of any goalie left in the playoffs. Kimball Union senior goalie Blake McMeniman (Revere, Mass.) ranks right behind him with a 1.96 GAA. They both sport .915 save percentages.
ROUTE TO A TITLE: The path for every Large School team | The path for every Small School team
In short, this is a coinflip.
A lot of this Kimball Union team does have the advantage of having experience from winning the Elite 8 title last season. The Wildcats know how to play in big games, and they seemed to right their ship after beating Holderness for the Lakes Region title.
Prediction:Â Kimball Union wins, 2-1, in overtime.
