3-13 Fieldston clinches cup victory

A day or two before the first puck dropped for the wonderfully frenetic, annual Fieldston Cup hockey tournament, Eagles’ veteran coach Kirk Jackson wasn’t terribly optimistic about his team’s chances.

“Our kids have really put in the effort but we’ve had kind of a rough season.”

Jackson wasn’t kidding. Though they had won three of their school’s Fieldston Cup tourneys in four years, the Eagles’ regular season record this year was a modest 3-13. After years of playing as an independent team and amassing nearly 100 wins, it was Fieldston’s first season playing in the Fairfield Athletic Association (FAA), a competitive Prep School League.

“We also have a very young team,” said the coach.

As Jackson, or any other hockey expert will attest to many a hockey team in history has ridden hot goaltending — along with some extra effort and good bounces — all the way to a championship. And that is exactly what these young Eagles did last week, with a dramatic 4-0 win over Riverbank, to secure their school’s annual hockey tournament.

Fieldston actually finished the tournament with the same record as both Holy Cross and Poly Prep, with 1 win and 2 ties, but secured the title with more overall goals in the tournament, by virtue of the 4-0 win over Riverbank.

“Our goaltenders were definitely our MVPs,” said Jackson, referring to sophomores Ben Pruzan, who played two of the games for the Eagles and Keith Brandner.”

Since the Fieldston tournament is only one night, the structure of the games is quite different than hockey’s traditional 3-period format. Each of the four teams plays one 25-minute period against each other. The teams play running time until the last two minutes of these power periods, or “mini games” as they are formally called.

“You have to be ready to go as soon as the puck drops, because you are not going to have two more periods to make up for any mistakes,” said Jackson. “And you have to be flexible because you may play three teams in the same night that all have different styles.”

To add to its shutout of Riverbank, the Eagles tied Poly Prep 2-2 and Holy Cross at a goal.