Over-Timek: Senior forward helps send Sheehan to D-II semifinals, scoring Titans’ last three goals, including the game-winner in sudden death

 

By Bryant Carpenter
Meriden Record-Journal
March 8, 2008

Tyler Timek celebrates his game winning goal in OT versus North Branford in the Division II Quarterfinals.

 

WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - Steam was still wafting off the slender shoul­ders of Tyler Timek a good 10 minutes after all was said and done Friday in the CIAC Division II ice hockey quarterfinals.

Somewhere in the locker room, the Sheehan senior’s stick was probably smoking, too.

Timek scored his team’s last three goals, including the game­winner 6:05 into overtime, to lift the No. 3 Titans to a 6-5 victory over No. 6 North Branford in a shootout that turned Bennett Rink into the O.K. Corral.

Friday night public skating had to wait until Timek collected a pass kicked ahead by linemate Brendan Kane and knifed in from the right side. With a forehand shot, the left-hander went top-shelf and the Titans, pour­ing off the bench, went hog-wild.

“I put it right where I wanted; I couldn’t believe it,” Timek said. “When I saw it, there was maybe a two, three-inch opening. When it went right where I wanted it to, I was just ecstatic.”

“He’s got a real good shot and he’s real confident that he can do it,” remarked senior Bryan Sidwell. “I was ready to jump off the bench and just flip out.”

It was odd that Sidwell was on the bench for Timek’s clincher, since he and Vinny Nguyen and Mike Busillo were the only defensemen Sheehan used all night. Coach Ralph Shaw, his team thinned by injury and school sus­pension, also used just seven forwards.

And yet the Titans owned OT, outshooting the Thun­derbirds 10-2 before Timek torched twine.

The way Shaw and the Titans see it, being on a mis­sion has a way of pumping adrenaline into weary legs. After making first-round exits in each of the last three years, Sheehan was determined to reach the Final Four and play at Ingalls Rink in New Haven.

On Monday, that’s exactly where the Titans (17-6) will be, facing No. 7 Fairfield (12-9-1).

“A goal of ours all season long was to make it down to Ingalls and it’s something we didn’t give up on even though we had some injuries,” said Shaw.

“I always went to Ingalls and watched the semifinal and final games,” Timek said. “I always looked at it as so hard to get to. Ingalls, Ingalls: That’s all we wanted. Coming into this game, we knew this was our chance and that’s what we went out there and accomplished.”

For a while, Sheehan aspirations wavered on a tightrope. The Titans established a lead on three occa­sions only to see North Branford rally.

Freshman winger Nick Capozzi knocked in a loose puck out front and Sidwell hammered a shoulder-high shot home from the left point to put Sheehan up 2-0 mid­way through the first period. North Branford senior David Corvi, who would finish with a hat trick, evened things up before the frame was through.

The shootout was just getting started.

“It was an evenly matched game going in,” said North Branford coach T.J. Schatz, whose team finished at 12-9-1.

“We didn’t expect much different than what happened. We kind of felt it was going to be a high-scoring game.”

The Titans had a territorial edge in the second period, out-shooting the T-Birds 12-6, yet came away in a 4­-3 hole.

After Busillo banged in a rebound, North Bran­ford’s Jim Esposito tied it back up 43 seconds later by beating the Sheehan defense to a loose puck and beating goalie Cameron Sidwell (16 saves) to the far upper cor­ner.

In the final minute of the period, with both teams short a man, Corvi and linemate Matt Iannucci com­bined for the goal that gave North Branford its only lead. “They’re a dangerous group,” Shaw noted. “I was hop­ing we wouldn’t get into a shootout with them, but that’s what it came down to.”

And when it came down to that, well, it was Timek Time. The center scored two goals in the opening minute of the third period to put Sheehan up 5-4.

The first almost seemed to be a misfire from out front, a changeup that snuck past North Branford goalie Pat Bevins (32 saves). The second was artistry. Timek took a pass from Capozzi and whistled a wrister over the net­minder’s left shoulder.

“What can’t you say about the kid?” Shaw later laughed. “He’s been phenomenal for us all year — even last year. He and Brendan Kane are two fabulous players for us. They will be really missed next year. That’s why we’re pushing ahead as far as we can.”

In overtime, Kane was the early candidate for game­winning gunslinger. The wing seemed to be constantly barreling down the right side, testing Bevins. Instead, he would be the set-up man, using his skates along the boards at the right point to send Timek on his way to glory.

“I just had enough reach on the defenseman, came down and just sniped a shot over the goalie’s shoulder,” Timek said. “When it hit the back of the net, I had the biggest smile on my face.”

Timek was still smiling as his teammates, bulky hock­ey bags slung over their shoulders, started filing out of the Bennett Rink locker room. The Titans were heading home. There was laundry to do Friday night, bags to pack anew for Monday.

 

 

 

Timek’s hat trick propels Sheehan past North Branford

 

By Dan Nowak
New Haven Register
March 8, 2008

 

WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - Senior center Tyler Timek, the most prolific scorer in the New Haven area this season for the Sheehan-Wallingford boys’ hockey team, has spent the last three years as a spectator watching the semifinals and final of the state hockey tournament at Yale’s Ingalls Rink.

His dream was to some day play at the storied rink. His ultimate goal and the team’s goal entering this season was to get to Ingalls Rink and play in the Division II semifinals.

Timek made his dream come true on Friday.

He scored a hat trick, including the winning goal with 8 minutes, 55 seconds left in the sudden-death, 15-minute overtime, and added two assists to lead No. 3 seed Sheehan to a 6-5 win over No. 6 North Branford in the Division II quarterfinals at the Bennett Rink in front of an estimated 300.

On the final play, Sheehan right wing Brendan Kane was trying to control the puck against the boards near the right circle with a pair of North Branford defensemen converging on him. He kicked the puck with his skate to Timek at the bottom of the circle. Timek skated toward the net and sent a rising shot over the shoulder of Thunderbirds goalie Pat Bevins and into the upper right corner to end the game.

“Brendan Kane and I are seniors, and just before the overtime started, we said to each other this wasn’t going to be our last hockey game,” said Timek, who leads the area with 27 goals and 38 assists for 65 points. “As soon as Brendan kicked the puck to me, I went down low and snapped a shot over the goalie’s shoulder.

“As soon as it came off my stick, I had the biggest smile on my face, because I knew it was going in. I’m ecstatic right now. Getting to play at Ingalls Rink is a dream come true. I can’t wait.”

Sheehan will face the quarterfinal winner between No. 2 East Catholic-Manchester and No. 7 Fairfield Warde/Ludlkowe (late game Friday) in the semifinals at Ingalls Rink on Monday at either 5:30 or 7:30 p.m.

“We’ve limped into the postseason with injuries forcing us to use only one and a half lines,” Sheehan coach Ralph Shaw said. “It says a lot about these guys at how hard they worked. North Branford is a dangerous team, and it wasn’t a surprise that it came down to a shootout.

“Timek has been phenomenal all season. When I saw that puck go on his stick (for the winning goal), I said to myself, ‘Please, come on, go in.’ It was a great shot.”

The Titans (17-6) have been a high-scoring team this season, and when they went out to a 2-0 lead midway in the first period, it looked like they were in good shape. But the Thunderbirds set the tone for the game late in the period when Dave Corvi scored at 12:04 and again on a power play with 19 seconds left to tie the game.

In the second period, the teams traded goals. But North Branford (14-9-1) took a 4-3 lead with more late-period heroics. Matt Iannucci scored on a breakaway down the right wing with 21 seconds left to give the Thunderbirds’ their only lead.

All the scoring in the third period happened in the first 1:15. Timek scored his first goal 21 seconds into the period to tie the game at 4 and again at 1:00 for a 5-4 lead. But Corvi got his own hat trick 15 seconds later and tied the game at 5 for North Branford.

Sheehan owned the overtime as it outshot North Branford 10-2.

Bevins put on an exciting show, stopping shot after shot to keep his team in the game. But Timek found just enough space between Bevins’ shoulder and the upper right corner to end the game.

“When we made it 2-2, it was a reflection of how our entire season has been, up and down,” North Branford coach T.J. Schatz said. “We haven’t been a high-scoring team, but we got our goals to stay in the game.

“Our guys did a great job. But a game like this takes a lot out of you. I think we just got a little tired at the end.”
 

 

  

 

Sheehan tops T-Birds

 

By Pete VanderVeer
Branford Review
March 8, 2008

 

WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - Sheehan senior forward Tyler Timek isn't one of the leading scorers in the Greater New Haven area for nothing.

Timek buried a shot past North Branford goalie Pat Bevins with 6:05 gone in overtime to lead the Titans to a wild, 6-5 Division II quarter-final win over the Thunderbirds at the Bennett Rink.

The Titans will now take on Fairfield on Tuesday night as part of a Division II doubleheader which also features Amity Regional of Woodbridge against Trinity Catholic of Stamford.

It will be Sheehan's first trip to the semis and its first game at Yale University's historic Ingalls Rink.

"When I saw him pick up that loose puck in their end, I said, oh yes," said Sheehan coach Ralph Shaw who has re-built the Wallingford school's program in four years. His team four years ago won only four games. "Tyler is the type of kid, that, if you give him, too many opportunities, he can destroy you."

It was Timek's third goal of the game and his team's tenth shot in the overtime period. The Titans gave up only two in the extra session.

"We kept turning the puck over in the defensive zone, and, I felt, sooner or later, it was going to do us in, and it did," said North Branford coach T.J. Schatz. "This was exactly the type of game that I expected. I felt it would be a high-scoring one. Unfortunately, we came up on the short end."

It began very much the way it ended.

Sheehan jumped out to a quick 2-0 before eight minutes of the first period had been played.

Freshman Nick Capozzi made it a 1-0 game at 2:20 when he brought the puck around the back of the net, jabbed at it once, then pushed it in.

Timek's first of three goals came at 7:36 on the power play, giving Sheehan a two-goal edge.

However, the Thunderbirds, who wound up with a 14-9-1 won-lost record, made it a one-goal game at 12:04 when Dave Corvi, who also had a hat trick, finished off a perfect rush with a backhander that eluded Titans' goalie Cameron Sidwell.

Two minutes and 37 seconds later, at 14:41 a Matt Iannucci slap shot blazed its way past Sidwell as the T-Birds evened it at 2-2.

North Branford held the first-period shot edge, 8-7.

Sheehan's Michael Busillo and North Branford's Jim Esposito matched goals early in the second period.

Busillo scored at 6:36, while Esposito, on a pure hustle breakaway, netted his goal at 7:19.

When North Branford went down a man at 14:12 on a tripping penalty called against Joe Prunier, the T-Birds appeared to be in trouble.

Instead, Corvi got his second goal of the game, which he scored at 14:39, to send North Branford into the third period up, 4-3.

Sheehan came out flying in the third, getting two more goals, both from Timek, in the first minutes. The Titans jump-started themselves and began looking like the eventual winner that they became.

"That stretch in the third period killed us," Schatz said. "We go in up, 4-3, and in a minute, we're down, 5-4."

As damaging as it might've looked, the Thunderbirds didn't waste any time.

Corvi got his hat trick, scoring at 1:15, and giving his team another chance which Timek took away in the overtime.

"We were a progress in work all year long," Schatz said. "Early on, I wasn't expecting that much from this team. We just kept working at getting better and better, and we did."