The New Canaan Rams won the  FCIAC Championship game on Saturday night with a 6-1 win over the Ridgefield Tigers at the Terry Conners Rink in Stamford.

The Tigers made it into the championship game with a 3-2 upset win over second seed Greenwich, and for two periods against New Canaan they were in position to pull off another one. But the Rams would have none of it, and with a 2-1 lead after two periods, the Rams put together a four-goal final period for their win. 

The Rams scored two short-handed goals in the third (three in the game) and two more goals at even strength.

"The two goals they scored short-handed in the third period were a killer," said Ridgefield coach Sean Gallagher, reviewing the Rams team. "They're a good team with speed, and those goals were nice work on their part."

In the fast paced, board-rattling, physical first period, neither team could score until David Crandall got New Canaan on the board with less than four minutes remaining. Crandall, with a helper from Bo McGinniss, put one past T.J. Zandri for the only score of the period.

It didn't take very long for the Tigers to tie the game in the second period. On a well-executed two-on-one, Terry Guider scored past Tim Nowacki, who played another excellent game, to tie it at 1-1. The Rams untied it a little over two-minutes later when Andrew Leslie made an outstanding play deep in the Ridgefield zone. He picked the puck off a Ridgefield stick and fed Tim Robustelli, who wasted no time in sending the puck into the back of the net for a 2-1 Rams lead.

"Leslie made a terrific play when he caught the guy coming out of the corner, made a nice stick check, got it to me and I finished," Robustelli said, describing the setup by his teammate. 

It was 2-1 at the second intermission. 

"We decided things were a little too close for comfort," Leslie said. "We  [decided] to move our feet more and break this game open and we did."

The Rams turned it on big time and ran away—skated away—from the Tigers in the final period. 

Once again, the Rams' depth paid off with three lines contributing along with four and five defensemen. Just 1:37 into the period, Henry Corcoran started the roll. With assists from Sam Stanton and Kris Nugent, who were named co-MVPs  in the game, Corcoran gave the Rams a 3-1 lead. Midway in the period, with the Rams on a penalty kill, Nugent  skated out with the puck from behind the Tigers net, spotted Stanton in front, who buried it for a 4-1 lead. 

The next two  goals were also textbook variety. The Rams were still on the same penalty kill when Stanton, deep and on the side of the net, was bumped and spinning  as he was falling to the ice, but was able to control the puck just enough to send a perfect pass to Nugent for another goal and 5-1 lead. (Apparently, Stanton does well when he's falling to the ice. In the semi final game against St. Joseph he managed to get the puck to a teammate for a goal as he executed a perfect push pass as he fell.)

New Canaan's final goal was also the result of a well-executed play. Robustelli, from deep, saw Leslie cutting to the goal from the high slot, put the puck right on the tape where Leslie wristed it in  for the sixth and final goal.

The horn sounded, the gloves and sticks went flying and New Canaan had the championship.