Greenwich Girls Blanked in Conference Final

GREENWICH, Conn. – The Greenwich High girls ice hockey team knew it had a tall task  taking on two-time defending champion New Canaan in the conference finals. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they got to see first hand why New Canaan junior Olivia Hompe is the best female hockey player in the state.

Hompe scored the finals six goals of the afternoon and New Canaan goalie Britt Gardella stopped all 23 Greenwich shots as the Cardinals fell in the conference title game, 8-0. The win gave undefeated New Canaan its third-straight conference title.

“New Canaan is a great team and they’ve been one of the top teams in the state all season and today it showed,” Greenwich head coach Brett Farson said. “Tonight was a good team playing at a very high level.”

New Canaan needed just three minutes to get off and running on a goal by Madzie Carroll. Holly Burwick followed less than two minutes later, keeping New Canaan’s offensive momentum going forward.

Then the train really got rolling when Hompe netted her first with just under five minutes to play in the first period. The Cardinals had no answer for Hompe, who weaved her way through Greenwich defenders at will.

Greenwich had plenty of chances to answer with some ringing shots from seniors Hannah Jeffrey and Meghan Spezzano, but New Canaan’s Gardella denied every Cardinal chance. Greenwich outshot the Rams 14-12 in the second period – thanks in part to Hompe being in the penalty box twice – but the Cardinals still could not score.

“I don’t think the final score tells the whole story,” Farson said. “I think we battled hard and I don’t think we made too many mistakes. It was more their side making great plays.”

Greenwich will get a home game in the first round of the state tournament beginning Tuesday.

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