Basketball, Including a Record, and Hockey

Ludlowe's Cooper Dailey and team after setting single game scoring record. 

I had something similar to what I am going to write about planned, but the events of the day changed it somewhat. 

Today is FCIAC quarterfinal Saturday for boys basketball. Also known as "Super Saturday." It's the four quarterfinal games all at Fairfield Warde. It's always a fun day of basketball, one of my favorite days of the high school sports year. 

However, I had a decision to make. Ludlowe boys basketball was playing Maloney in the regular season finale as it was a makeup from a game that was postponed due to snow in January. 

Well, I did think briefly, but my loyalty to my Ludlowe guys won out. I was disappointed to miss the FCIAC games, but felt I should be at the Ludlowe season finale, as I'm around all season helping out. 

Well am I happy with my decision! 

Not only did Ludlowe win the game, but senior Cooper Dailey, in his final high school game, set a new school record with 38 points. The previous high was set by Kevin Bentivegna, who had 35 points against New Canaan as a senior during the 2010-2011 season. 

Dailey had 20 in the first half, just two in the third quarter, and then 16 in the fourth quarter. He was able to get to the rim and convert. A lot of that off the dribble, but some off of off-ball cuts to the hoop and great passes from his teammates. 

As I mentioned, this game was the senior finale for Ludlowe. Best of luck to the seven seniors, Cooper Dailey, Charlie Began, Matt Vivona, Lucca Iannone, Michael Loya, Stephen Keating and Ronny Labraciano, as well as senior manager Blake Kleinberg. Great kids who have bright futures ahead of them. 

In the FCIAC games, Westhill defeated St. Joe's and Wilton took down Danbury in the early games. In the nightcap, Warde edged Staples and Ridgefield beat Greenwich. 

Westhill will play Wilton in the FCIAC semifinals on Tuesday at 6pm at Wilton. Warde and Ridgefield will face off in the later game at Wilton at 7:45. The games can be seen on Local Live. 

Cooper Dailey sets the new @LudloweHoops school record with 38 points. The previous high was 35 set in 2010-2011 season. #ctbb @GameTimeCT @DaveRuden @double5 pic.twitter.com/sL6LMe6UyI

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) February 26, 2022

My nightcap consisted of the Fairfield/Stamford FCIAC boys hockey quarterfinals. Fairfield won by a 4-1 score. 

The Mustangs got on the board first with a goal by Charlie Swanson. Stamford tied it up at one after the first period. Fairfield got a goal back in the second on a power-play goal by Noah Kingsly to take a 2-1 lead heading to the final period. The Mustangs added two insurance goals in the third, both by Matt Jankovsky. 

Fairfield will be back in action on Wednesday as they host New Canaan in the FCIAC semifinals at 7:30pm at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. 

Coming Together for a Cause

Saturday night's Fairfield co-op vs Greenwich boys ice hockey game at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport was a special one for the team and the community. 

The Fairfield program honored one of their own, former Fairfield goalie, Charlie Capalbo who is battling cancer for the fourth time. 

There was a good turnout from the community, both adults and students. There were a number of items for Capalbo Strong night. All proceeds from the game went to Charlie and his family. 

• The admission charge went to the family
• There was a silent auction 
• There were Capalbo Strong items to purchase

Prior to the game, there was an pre-game ceremony to acknowledge what the night meant. 

Around the rink, there were also a number of Capalbo items. 

There were cutouts of Charlie and his family sitting in the stands. 

There was Charlie's No. 30 jersey with a sign that said "Capalbo Strong - Playing for Charlie" along with the Capalbo Strong logo which includes a hockey goalie mask. The jersey and sign were at mid-ice during the ceremony and then moved to the Fairfield bench when the game began. 

A #CapalboStrong sign hung in the left corner of the rink, near the Fairfield bench. 

During the game, the students from both The Nest (Ludlowe's student section) and The Stampede (Warde's student section) (with it being a co-op team), started a "Play for Charlie" chant. 

Hopefully a lot of money was raised for the family, and even more importantly hopefully Charlie beats this awful disease once and for all very soon! 

Everyone talks about how the hockey community is a special one when it comes to supporting one of their own. This was shown Saturday as well and has been shown though out Charlie's battle. 

Fairfield as a town has had many situations over the last number of years where a member or members of the community needed support, often is being a young person. This town has always stepped out to support their own. 

Continued prayers for Charlie and the entire Capalbo family. 

Super Bowl LVI

Another Super Bowl in the books. Congrats to the Rams on the victory. 

I really didn't care a whole lot who won. I thought it would have been cool to see the Bengals win since they haven't won and have not been good recently, but I also had reasons for wanting the Rams to win.  

I'm happy for Matthew Stafford. A very good quarterback who dealt with a lot of tough seasons in Detroit. 

Cooper Kupp is a star. 

Defensively, Aaron Donald is a beat on the defensive line.  

From a local standpoint, former Giant, Odell Beckham Jr. gets a ring. 

For the Bengals, it's a tough loss, but they should be good for years to come. They have terrific, young offensive talent in quarterback Joe Burrow and  receiver in Ja'Marr Chase. 

The officiating was questionable. There were only three penalties for the majority of the game. However, there was one non-pass interference call that led to a Bengal touchdown. 

Then, late in the game, there were three penalties called on consecutive plays as the Rams were driving for the eventually game-winning score.  

In terms of the NBC broadcast, we know there will be changes coming to the National Broadcasting Company's football coverage next year. 

How drastic will those changes be. Will Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth be back. Will they go somewhere else? Will one be back? Will Al retire? Lots of questions to be answered. 

It's going to be an interesting off-season for the NFL. Personally, I'm very intrigued to see what happens with Aaron Rodgers. I get the feeling he's returning to the Packers but won't be confident until it happens.  

Normally, when the Super Bowl is over we turn our attention to baseball season. Well, will be have a baseball season? I am pretty confident that we will. When will it start? That's a better question. 

Major League Baseball and the Players Association can't seem to get on the same page to get a deal to end the lockout. Hopefully something gets figured out soon. 

Ludlowe/Warde Basketball

Ludlowe's Matt Vivona waits for a pass during the boys game

Friday night was the annual Ludlowe vs Warde basketball doubleheader. The 2021-2022 edition was held at Ludlowe. It was great to have a packed gym as capacity was allowed to be 100%. 

Last year, only parents of players were allowed and the games were split, with the girls playing at Warde and the boys playing at Ludlowe. 

Both games were very good, close games. The girls played first with the Ludlowe coming away with a 37-35 victory. In the nightcap, the Warde boys defeated Ludlowe 48-36. 

In the girls game, Ludlowe held an 18-13 lead at half. In the third quarter, Warde outscored the Falcons 16-9 to take a 29-27 lead after three. Ludlowe got the lead back early in the fourth, but could never pull away and the game came down to Ludlowe hitting foul shots and Warde with a shot at the end to win the game. 

In the boys game, Ludlowe held the lead after the first quarter, 10-6. Then in the second quarter, Warde doubled up Ludlowe, outscoring then 14-7 to take a 20-17 lead at half. The game remained tight throughout the second half, with Warde holding onto a five point lead with five and a half minutes to go, before the Mustangs were able to increase their lead a bit. 

Both games were hard fought and what the town rivalry is all about. 

Having the student sections at the game is what makes the atmosphere so great. Both student sections, The Stampede and The Nest, were large and loud. 

The rivalry games also bring out a lot of town people and just basketball people, in addition to the parents and other people who always come to Ludlowe or Warde games. 

It didn't seem like there were as many town people there, but Ludlowe's gym is not that big, so maybe, due to COVID, certain people who might normally come, decided not to. 

In the sub-varsity games, the Ludlowe JV girls won earlier on Friday afternoon, while the Warde boys scored with under 10 seconds to play to win the JV boys game on Friday. 

On Saturday in the freshman games, Warde came away victorious in both. 

Personally, and I know I Tweeted this, I am happy these games are over. When I was in high school and then still around after that, I loved these games. Once I started to work at both schools, they are still exciting, but days I dread. Having to play both sides and get comments from so many people is interesting. Plus, there's so much that goes into these games that is more than just the games and I get way too stressed out (mostly for no reason). 

It's just one game on the calendar and there are more games to be played this season for all the teams. 

Two Sport Saturday

It was a two-sport Saturday for me today with the high school sports world. The results were split. 

It began with Ludlowe boys basketball's game at Stamford High and ended with Fairfield boys Co-Op Hockey's game against the Stamford-Westhill co-op at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. 

In the basketball game, Ludlowe fell to Stamford by a 66-53 score. Before that meant watching the end of the freshman game an then watching/helping with the JV game. During the varsity game, I often do the scorebook, which I did today. 

Even though I Tweet score updates, I felt the reporter in my as we were on the way down to Stamford was police activity on I-95 so I felt the need to Tweet it with the CT traffic hashtag. Did I need to Tweet it? No. But the reporter in me felt I should. I was on the bus, so I felt I could. 

In the nightcap, Fairfield boys hockey came away with a 5-2 win on senior night. 

It was fun to watch the hockey. Even though for my job, I don't have to go to games, the sports person in me feels like I should go to more than just basketball when I can. Hockey also works well since it's a co-op I cover both Ludlowe and Warde by going to those. I'm sure Warde people say I should come to more Warde games (basketball, etc). 

However, another large reason I was there, was to supervise the student section as a co-advisor of The Nest, the Ludlowe student section. Overall, the students were pretty well behaved. There weren't as many students there as I anticipated. 

From what I've heard, a lot of the previous games, both home and away, have had a lot of student fans. The hockey team is having a terrific season, sitting with a record of 11-3. Hopefully they are able to make a run in the FCIAC tournament.*

*They are not eligible for the state tournament due to co-op rules. It's a longer story that's not worth getting into. There has been a lot of talk about this the last couple weeks from players, parents, fans, etc.