Local Youth Hockey Player to Represent CT at USA Hockey Nationals

Jake Connelly of Farmington and his teammates from the Central CT Capitals will have the honor of representing Connecticut at the upcoming USA Hockey Nationals in San Jose, CA, home of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

The Capitals punched their ticket to the Tier 2 Pee Wee 12 & under national championship tournament by winning their recent Connecticut Hockey Conference state championship tournament. Moving on to the Nationals is typically a once-in-a-lifetime event for the players and is a great promotion of youth hockey in Connecticut.

The Capitals entered the state championship tournament as the No. 2 seed, by compiling a 14-5-1 regular season conference record in a very competitive and balanced division. After a disappointing performance in the round-robin qualifying games, the Capitals were fortunate to sneak their way into the semi-finals by virtue of a tie-breaker formula.   

The Capitals took advantage of their good fortune and upset the No. 1 seed Darien by a score of 2-1, with the game-winning goal coming by way of a penalty shot. The championship game was no less exciting with the Capitals holding on for a 4-3 victory over the Wonderland Wizards of Bridgeport, to whom they had lost in the opening round.

The Capitals have an overall record of 37-17-3 on the season, including non-conference opponents from Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.   

The Capitals success required a total team effort from the forwards: Nic Caiaze, Jarod Florian, Catriona Hong, Nicholas Lachaine, Justin Proteau, Austin Reid, Brett Reid, Shane Ward, Adam Yaeger; from the defense: Nick Alzugaray, Jake Connelly, Connor Frauendorf, Hunter Frayne, Evan Gauvin, Bryce Gomez; from the goaltender, Jared Guidobono; and the coaches, Gordon Reid, Steve Gomez and Tim Hong.

With only a couple of weeks of planning time, the team is now working on the difficult logistics of getting themselves and their equipment to California while at the same time looking for individuals/companies to help sponsor this exciting adventure.

The Central CT (Capitals) Youth Hockey Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing boys and girls throughout Connecticut with the opportunity to learn and play the game of hockey. The Connecticut Hockey Conference consists of 37 youth hockey organizations throughout Connecticut.