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New Canaan's Tony DelCarmine (19) and Darien's Alex Levey (28) battle for the puck during a boys ice hockey game at the Darien Ice House on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (Dave Stewart/Hearst Connecticut Media)
DARIEN - The New Canaan boys ice hockey team has been committed to focusing on the little details of games as it barrels toward the postseason.
Those little details led to a big victory in the regular-season finale.
The Rams jumped out to a two-goal lead on a pair of goals by Will Ericson and held the advantage the rest of the way for an impressive 6-2 win over Darien in a battle of the top two teams in the GametimeCT Poll on Saturday at the Darien Ice House.
No. 2 New Canaan (18-2) won its 10th straight game, while No. 1 Darien (16-4) had its 14-game winning streak come to an end.
New Canaan locked up the top seed in both the FCIAC and CIAC Division I tournaments, with Darien as the No. 2 seed in both. Last year, the Rams won the FCIAC championship, but the Wave defeated New Canaan 4-1 in the Division I final.
"We might see each other in the playoffs depending on how it turns out," said Ericson, who scored his goals in the first and second periods. "They're a good team over there and it's helpful being able to see them in the last game of the season, see how they play and their structure. We fully intend to keep playing our game and see how everything turns out."
Darien and New Canaan have been the only two teams to earn the No. 1 ranking in the GametimeCT Top 10 Poll this season. The Wave was the preseason No. 1, the Rams took over for three weeks in January, and now the Wave has held that spot for the past four weeks.
The next poll will be released on Tuesday.
New Canaan scored a pair of power play goals against Darien, the biggest coming with 2:20 remaining in the second period, less than four minutes after the Wave cut the Rams' lead in half at 2-1.
Nine seconds into the advantage, Drew Harmon threaded a pass to Jack Crowell rushing in on the far side, and Crowell one-timed a shot into the net to boost the lead back to two goals.
"Harmon has been sick all week so we haven't been able to practice that power play," Crowell said. "But with him coming in, looking at me (at the back door), it was a great pass and I just put it in."
Rogan Lowe netted a goal early in the third period and, after Darien's Jack Marisca scored the Wave's second goal, Walker found an empty net and Lowe scored his second for the final tally.
"We were very opportunistic," New Canaan coach Clark Jones said. "When the opportunity came, we pounced. Our compete level,our battle for pucks and our quickness to pucks was the difference-maker. When we can get the puck in deep on teams and win the foot races, we're pretty good."
Darien kept the shots even at 26-26, but New Canaan's Blake Pozatek, who Crowell called "the best goalie in the state," collected 24 saves to hold back the Wave.
"We knew we were going to have a helluva battle on our hands," Darien coach Mac Budd said. "New Canaan's obviously a great team and for one reason or another we were a step behind the entire way. You can't have that against a team like that. They move the puck fast, they take advantage of their opportunities and they did all of that tonight."
The two rivals have now met 16 times since the 2020-21 season and New Canaan has a slight advantage overall, winning eight times to Darien's five. There have been five OT games with three ending in ties.
Player of the game
Will Ericson, New Canaan:The Rams had a host of stars with points, but Ericson's two goals set the tone and established a lead New Canaan never relinquished.
Quotable
"This is the time and it's what we're looking for. It's the end goal. Coming up short the past two years, we've always had that chip on our shoulders." - New Canaan junior Jack Crowell on the playoffs
New Canaan 6, Darien 2
NEW CANAAN 1 2 3 -6
DARIEN 0 1 1-2
NC-Will Ericson 4:06
NC-Ericson (Cody Jones, Brooks Walker) 13:23
D-Teddy Baum (Jack Marisca) 5:59
NC-Jack Crowell (Drew Harmon, Rogan Lowe) 2:20
NC-Lowe (Cam Lyden) 11:01
D-Marisca (Baum) 5:00
NC-Walker (EN) 2:04
NC-Lowe (Lyden)
Shots: New Canaan 26, Darien 26
Saves: NC-Blake Pozatek 24, D-Schafer Repsher 20
Team records: New Canaan 18-2; Darien 16-4
This article originally published at No. 2 New Canaan rolls over No. 1 Darien in showdown of top two teams in the GametimeCT poll.
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