This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Segiet's Hat Trick Lifts IceCats Over Falcons

With Segiet leading the way, the IceCats finished unbeaten in SWC playoffs.

On Monday, it was that propelled the Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury IceCats to victory. This time it was his line mate Steve Segiet’s turn.

Thanks to Segiet’s three goals, and a pair of goals from Stephen Hallock, the IceCats beat Joel Barlow 7-2 to finish unbeaten in SWC play, locking up home ice throughout the playoffs.

“I’m happy with this,” Coach Rusty Granacker said. “We ended up 7-0 in the league, and if you had asked me that before the season started, I wouldn’t have imagined that with so many young guys on the team. It’s a great accomplishment for these guys. I think the last time we were 7-0, is 2003 when we won it. Now we’ve got the number one spot through the whole tournament, which is great, you get home ice advantage and last change.”

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Segiet started the scoring for the IceCats when he capitalized on a 2-on-1 break with Kurijaka. He struck again three minutes later, once again assisted by Kurijaka, putting the IceCats up 2-0 early.

“Our defense is good at taking the puck away,” Segiet said. “We transition good into offense, nice breakouts, and it’s just easier to score when you’ve got odd man rushes.”

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While their transition game was certainly on today, Granacker said that hasn’t always been the case this season.

“Early in the season we were really tight on it, nobody wanted to leave the zone early, nobody wanted to get out in transition,” Granacker said. “I think being able to run three lines is able to keep some of the lines more fresh and they’re a little bit faster, it keeps our transition game fast.”

The Falcons cut the IceCats lead in half when Jack Cartafalsa scored on a wrist shot from the slot. The IceCats restored their two goal lead late in the first when Hallock one timed a pass from Nick Melvin.

“They have a good defense, they’re not a high scoring team,” Granacker said. “So it was important to put pucks in the net early, so it wasn’t a one goal game.”

After Cartafalsa scored early in the second to make it a one goal game, the IceCats scored a pair of goals late in the period to put the game away.

First it was Scott Martin, then 20 seconds later Segiet scored his third goal of the game, yet again, Kurijaka was credited with the assist.

“I just took advantage of every opportunity I got,” Segiet said. “My line helped me out a lot, Trevor and Andrew gave me good passes, and I was able to put them home.”

Hallock capped off the scoring when notched his second goal late in the third assisted by Melvin, and Kyle Powers.

Luiz Dibble made the start in net and finished with 12 saves.

“These guys are a real talented group, hopefully the playoffs work out as well as the regular season is working out,” Granacker said. “Anything is possible, you’ve got to play your best, every game could be the last one.”

The IceCats are now 14-2, and their next game is Friday against St. Bernard-Bacon-NFA. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m., and will be played at Norwich Ice Rink.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?