Thirty-seven year-old New Haven Police Sgt. Herb Johnson still looked up to locate his mom in the stands. It was the third period. Fire was up three goals to zip.
“Get going!” Jean Johnson (pictured) yelled.
“I know, I know,” shouted back the NHPD’s left wing.
“Hockey moms are the craziest,” remarked Johnson with affection, and then got back to work.
Mom’s exhortations notwithstanding, The Bravest ultimately prevailed over the Finest four goals to none in the 14th annual “Chief’s Cup” benefit hockey game between the city’s two uniformed forces Saturday afternoon. That evens the series 7 to 7.
Of course, everyone was a winner, as the fundraising contest drew 2,500 to 3,000 people to Yale’s Ingalls Rink at approximately $20 a seat. The proceeds went to Detective Rafael Segarra, who is strugging with diabetes; and, on the NHFD side, East Rock Magnet third-grader Liamel Suero, who is fighting a daunting genetic disorder.
Johnson, whose mom got him into the pads at age five, horsed around with Fire’s John Twohill right before the game began. He said the police strategy would be to keep the puck from Fire’s big shooters — some of whom, like Twohill, have semi-professional hockey experience.
“We got a lot of pressure on us,” said the NHFD’s Mike Pomichter, who played semi pro hockey in Chicago and Toronto himself with the American Hockey League. Fire had lost the cup to Police for the last two year, he noted.
His squad’s strategy was going to be to bear down, “try not to be fancy, and shoot.”
Pomichter promptly did just that, scoring unassisted on a fast break on the right side within three minutes of the first period. At the six-minute mark, Brian Leddy scored another goal, with an assist from, yes, John Twohill.
“They’re not doing so good now,” said Jean Johnson.
The exclamation point on that came when Twohill scored the third goal of the first period. Fire 3, Police 0.
NHPD goalie Joey Woznyk was spending a lot of time horizontal on the ice.
In the second period, the PD’s Eric Goclowski executed an energetic weaving drive down the left wing and delivered a hard shot. But Fire’s goalie Pat Cannon smothered it. Otherwise, the second period was a lackluster affair for the police, which, as any hockey mom knows, the NHPD squad could ill afford after so much scoring from the opposition.
Johnson stretched when a new line came in, but did not look up again at his mom Jean, or wife Julie, or kids Jenna, Danny, and Sage, or sister Kelly, or dad Herb, or any number of other relatives rooting for him and the NHPD.
“One more chance,” said Jean Johnson. “They have to come out swinging.”
As the public address system pumped out “Suzy Q,” the whole noisy crowd seemed to be rooting for the police at least to erase the goose egg, The Police delivered two hard shots on goal. But Cannon was on top of them, and his buddies swarmed in front of the net to protect the rebound.
Johnson skated hard down the center and hung around the goal hoping to flick in the first PD goal, but no luck: The puck was not passed to him. Mike Torre had a shot on goal, and so did Danny Sacco (pictured). Their attack was dispersed; no cigar.
By the middle of the third period, the shots on goal were remarkably close for both teams, 24 for Police, 22 for Fire, but those first quick Fire goals were proving daunting. The Police were making their last push.
Fire’s Curt Manseau got hold of the puck, then took a long hard shot from outside. It looked as if it was on target. Goclowski lunged for it with his stick and skate both extended. He went down hard; the shot went wide. Still momentum was ebbing away from the PD once again.
That’s about just when Mike Pomichter’s second score smothered the PD’s sparks.
What could Jean Johnson say to her son after the game?
The same encouraging message she has been conveying to him on a thousand sidelines since he was 5 years old and he had asked her to dress him in those strange pads.
“You played a good game,” she said. “You did the best you could. You had some moments. It just wasn’t their day.”
Johnson’s wife Julie sighed. She was not so sanguine as mom. “It usually makes for a miserable year. They wait all year for revenge,” she said.
The players of the game were the stalwart and long suffering goalies: Pat Cannon for the NHFD and Joey Woznyk for the NHPD.
Acting Police Chief Stephanie Redding said the Chief’s Cup had been sitting proudly in her office for two years. “I love [Fire] Chief Grant, but I don’t want to give him that cup back,” she said before the fateful third period. Now she’d have to, until next year.
Honored during the between-period ceremonies were Fire Marshall Joe Cappucci, as firefighter of the year; and Lt. John Velleca, who heads the newly formed narcotics unit, as police officer of the year.