South Windsor Squirt B Hockey Team Advances to State Semis

The South Windsor Squirt B hockey team propelled itself to the semifinals of the state tournament with a 6-4 victory over ECHO (Bolton) on Saturday at the South Windsor Arena.

Ethan Cornish scored twice for South Windsor, while Nathan Stratton, Nathanael DiSalvatore, Caden Gesualdi and Ryan Heslin each had a goal for the hosts.

South Windsor finished pool play with a 3-0 record, which also included victories over Northern Lights (Simsbury) and Central C (Newington).

“We’re 3-0 going into [Sunday] morning, but [then] everything is reset,” head coach Matt Beaulieu said. “If we lose [Sunday] morning, we’re out. We win, we go to the championship in the afternoon.”

South Windsor advanced on the strong performances of players such as Cornish, defenseman Nick Passacantando, defenseman Brett Schofield, Ryan Heslin and center Tim Beaulieu.

“[Cornish] is good; when he wants to turn it on, he turns it on and he’s got a mean shot,” Beaulieu said. “He can rip the corner.”

Goalie Brian Azinheira (11 saves against ECHO) has also played well, no small feat considering that he was called up from the Mites to fill in.

“He should be playing at a lower level, but we needed a goalie and he’s come on strong as the season progressed,” Beaulieu said.

South Windsor will take on The Whalers (Cromwell) on Sunday morning in one semifinal game, while Wallingford will face Central C in the other. Eight teams took part in the tournament, with four advancing to the semifinals after pool play.

The championship game will be played Sunday afternoon at South Windsor Arena.