Although the fifth-seeded St. Joseph High School boys hockey team gave it all they had in the semifinals of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament, top-seeded Greenwich High was just too strong down the stretch, scoring four times in the third period to take the 5-1 victory.
• Hersam Acorn Video: Watch this game on demand
The Cardinals will face No. 2 Darien, who earlier Wednesday beat No. 3 New Canaan, 2-0.
The championship is at 3:30 on Saturday at Terry Conners Rink. The last time Darien and Greenwich faced each other, the game ended in a 3-3 tie.
The first two periods of Wednesday's FCIAC semifinal game ended with a 1-1 tie. But Greenwich opened it up just 41 seconds into the third period on a Matthew Lodato goal.
It took the Cardinals just five more seconds to get on the board in the first period. Colin Kelly scored just 46 seconds into the game to put St. Joseph on the ropes.
But the Cadets had their chances. Greenwich killed off a power play with 10 minutes left in the first period.
Another two Cardinal penalties led to a 5-on-3 power play for St. Joe's, in the 11th minute of the first frame. It was Adam Usinger who scored the goal. He also scored in the quarterfinals against Ridgefield, won by St. Joe's in overtime, 2-1.
But overtime was not in the cards for the Cadets this time.
After Greenwich took the lead in the third, things fell apart for St. Joe's.
The Cardinals made it 3-1 with power play goal by Kristian Cunningham. Tommy Feda and Kelly added the final two goals for Greenwich.
Of note: The FCIAC semifinals were the first live video event presented by Hersam Acorn, owner of the GreenwichPost.com and The Trumbull Times. You can read more about HAN's new live video streaming here.
The other semifinal game is also on with live audio and video. Archived video of first game is available on the NFHS Network. The Greenwich-St. Joe's game is available here.