Fairfield Prep's Matt Sather Wins 200th Career Game

A power outage lasting about an hour in the vicinity of the Wonderland of Ice briefly delayed the start of Wednesday's hockey game between Fairfield Prep and Amity.

After the lights came back on, the Jesuits' power play provided some electricity of its own.

Conor Peterson and David White scored power-play goals in the second period and backup goalie Matt Beck made 18 saves as the Jesuits defeated the Spartans 3-1 to give coach Matt Sather his 200th career victory.

"Milestones are times to kind of reflect back on what you do and why you do it," said Sather, who is generally loathe to talk about personal achievements. "I've done it this long because I'm blessed with a good school, great people, and a lot of loyalty around me.

"You're only as good as the people you surround yourself with. I think Fairfield Prep does a great of surrounding itself with really good people."

A standout player at Fairfield Prep in the early 1990s, Sather improved his career mark to 200-79-13. He replaced the legendary Marty Roos, the winningest high school hockey coach in state history, late in the 1998-99 season.

"I am very proud of Matt," Fairfield Prep athletic director Steve Donahue said of Sather, who has guided the Jesuits to seven state championships. "What I'm most proud of is the way he handles himself and the way he handles the team.

"He's very humble, but he is a great representative of Fairfield Prep, not only his accomplishments on the ice but the way he holds his players accountable. He is an incredible representative of our Jesuit mission."

A 1993 graduate of Fairfield Prep, Sather is in his 13th year, meaning he is averaging more than 15 wins per season.

"It's a big day," said White, who sealed the victory with an empty-netter with 10 seconds remaining. "(Sather) won't talk about it that much, he's very modest. It's great to have a coach like him. To give him such a great accomplishment is always great to be part of."

Sather's 200th win wasn't exactly how he would have drawn it up. Despite outshooting the Spartans 47-19, Sather felt the Jesuits (7-2) spent too much on the perimeter, especially in the first period, which ended scoreless.

"We were a little content with moving the puck on the perimeter and not really being aggressive," Sather added. "Then their goaltender started getting hot and that can be frustrating."

With Amity unable to generate much offense, netminder Nikolas Nuzzolo  kept the Spartans in the game with 45 saves. After the first period, the Jesuits talked about getting more pucks to the net.

"That was a big emphasis because their goalie was playing awesome," White added. "We tried to get as many shots as we could, figuring that if we got (a lot of) shots one of them would eventually go it."

The Jesuits peppered Nuzzolo with 20 shots in the second period and at one point had a 15-0 edge in the stanza, but they only beat him twice.

At 5:23, Nuzzulo stopped Patrick Hayes' shot, but Peterson pounced on the rebound to give the Jesuits the lead. Then at 12:35, White beat Nuzzulo with a snap shot from the high slot.

Local product Nyjahwahn Walker scored Amity's only goal at 7:04 of the third, beating Beck from low in the right faceoff circle.

Walker is best friends with Fairfield Prep's Liam Ferguson, whose father works at the Wonderland of Ice.

"Nyjahwahn scoring the goal for them is nice," Sather said. "He's a kid we're real familiar with around here at Wonderland. Seeing him bury that one must have put a little smile on my face - a little nervous at the time. There's poetry there, I think."

Just over a minute later, Amity went on the power play with a chance to tie the game, but the Jesuits allowed no shots, then clamped down defensively, yielding just four in the period.

NOTES: The Fairfield junior varsity team actually was on the ice playing Delbarton (N.J.) when the power failure hit, causing their game to be cancelled midway through the second period.