Generals finish the season at No. 7 in final state top 10 poll

Kyle Kadziolka (5) celebrates with teammates Matthew Arena (11) and Jake Percival (29) after another goal in Friday night’s Division II championship game win over Guilford.

The Farmington Valley Generals co-op hockey team, which won their first state championship as a co-op with a victory over Guilford in the Division II title game, finished the season ranked No. 7 in the final New Haven Register/GameTime CT top 10 state poll.

The Generals (22-3-1, 11-1 CCC North) were the only Division II team in the top 10 and they spent all 11 weeks of the season in the top 10. Their seventh place finish and 49 votes is among their highest of the season. The Generals were also ranked No. 7 with 49 points after the regular season

Fairfield Prep (22-2-1) went 17-0 against Connecticut teams this winter and was the unanimous selection among the poll’s 13 voters as the No. 1 team in the state. Fairfield Prep beat Greenwich, 4-2 in the Division I championship game. Greenwich finished at No. 2 with Ridgefield finishing at No. 3.It was the 17th state title in Prep’s history.

Farmington Valley scored the first seven goals of the game in a 7-3 win over Guilford in the Division II final at Ingalls Rink on the campus of Yale University.

Senior Tim Arena (Farmington) was the team’s leading scorer this winter with 92 points (41 goals, 52 assists) and his goal and assist against Guilford in the championship game gave him 200 career points (112 goals, 88 assists) in 73 games.

Eric Schweitzer (Avon) had 53 points this winter with 26 goals and 27 assists. He had a goal and an assist in the final against the Indians to reach 100 points on his career.

Owen Lacourciere (Lewis Mills) finished the year with 45 points (21 goals, 24 assists). He was one of six Generals to score goals in the championship game.

Farmington Valley’s Tim Arena had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 7-3 win over Guilford to win the state championship. Arena finished with eight goals in six postseason games.

The Generals are made up of players from Avon (11 players), Farmington (7), Lewis Mills (3) and Windsor (1). The co-op was formed in 2012 with Mills joining the co-op three years ago in 2016.

The Generals won the CCC North championship, too, with an 11-1 record before getting upset in the conference tournament final by Northwest Catholic, 3-2 in overtime.

2018 Top 10 state hockey poll