HOCKEY: No fairy tale ending for this No. 16 seed

By Robert Gullo Special

to the Record-Journal

SHELTON There was an upset special in the first round of the CIAC Division III ice hockey state tournament on Monday. It just didn’t belong to Southington-Coginchaug-Westbrook.

On a night that saw the No.

15 Rocky Hill Co-op take down No. 2 New Milford, the No. 16 Southington Co-op fell to top-seeded Masuk 8-3 at the Sports Center of CT.

Senior Kyle Suftin led the Panthers with a hat trick.

Nicholas Kondub, Angelo Michetti, Christian LaBella, Luke Kondub and Colin

Deering added single goals as Masuk improved to 18-1-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals to face No. 9 Hall (12-9-0).

Senior Drew Nafis led the Blue Knights with two goals. His twin brother Jake also scored as Southington’s season came to a close at 6-15 after an 0-11 start.

Both Nafis brothers scored in the second period to cut a 4-0 deficit in half before Masuk regained control in the third period.

“We expected to come out on top,” said Southington coach Bob Allan. “We’re a lot better team than our seed showed. I think we showed that in the second period, coming back in the game, narrowing the gap to two goals.

“Our guys didn’t quit,” Allan added. “We played against the top team and just weren’t able to overcome their fast start.”

Indeed, the Panthers wasted

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