RMS Beats Hall/Southington in First Round of CIAC Hockey Tournament

The Rockville/Manchester/Stafford United hockey team scored twice in the first two minutes against Hall/Southington on Monday en route to taking a 4-2 contest in the opening round of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Division III tournament at the Bolton Ice Palace.

Angus Deane converted a feed from John Sellew just 34 seconds after the opening face-off to make it 1-0. J.R. Piretti then scored from Deane at 1:56 for United's second goal.

Jim Wardi scored from Dylan Roach and Cody Backus at 8:13 to make it 2-1 at the end of the first period.
 
In the second, Chris Stauder scored unassisted for RMS at 9:39 and 26 seconds into the third period, Piretti scored from Ryan Hasselberger and Deane for the fourth RMS goal.

For HS, Chris Anderson scored from Sam Sloan and Owen Kantor at the 12:13 mark of the third
 
RMS goalie Matt Roy had 21 saves and HS goalie was John Gradante had 34 saves.

RMS hit four posts in addition to scoring four goals.

RMS, ranked eighth at 9-11, will play Newington/Berlin on Thursday at Trinity College at a time yet to be determined. Newington/Berlin is 18-2 and outscored RMS 13-0 in two regular season meetings.

"The kids are happy for the challenge," RMS coach Christian Stevenson said. "They look at the game as a way to extend their season and have more fun."