The Winter Classic at Greenwich Skating Club is an event Greenwich High School’s girls varsity ice hockey team especially looks forward to each year and for good reason.

Not only does the Winter Classic give the Cardinals and their opponent the opportunity to play outdoors, the annual event usually has Greenwich producing one of its best performances of the season each year.

Friday, the Cardinals continued their run of perfect at the Winter Classic.

Freshman Aliza Torop recorded two goals and junior forward Aubrey Roth registered one goal and one assist in Greenwich’s 8-6 win over Ridgefield-Danbury-Immaculate in the 2023 Winter Classic before a big crowd at Greenwich Skating Club’s outdoor rink.

With the victory, the Cardinals are now 5-0 in the Winter Classic at Greenwich Skating Club, also winning in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022. The triumph against the Tigers on Friday, marked the Cardinals’ first win of their 2023-2024 campaign. They began the season with a tie against Ridgefield-Danbury-Immaculate and losses to Trumbull/St. Joseph, West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy, Stamford/Staples/Westhill and Wilton/Norwalk-McMahon.

“It was a great game, it was our best effort of the season,” Greenwich second-season coach Doug Jebb said of his squad. “Everything that we worked for, they came out and did. Last year, we came into the Winter Classic without a win and then we ripped off four straight, so hopefully, we can do that again. It’s unbelievable to the confidence of these young skaters.”

Greenwich (1-4-1) held a 3-1 lead on Ridgefield following the first period, then extended its advantage to 6-1 after the second period under mild December weather conditions at Greenwich Skating Club.

“I thought we worked really hard today, we really wanted to win and I thought we deserved it,” said Roth, a junior tri-captain/forward. “We discussed making this game the turning point of our season, so it was essential that we got this game so we can get more wins in the future.”

Friday’s hockey matchup between FCIAC rivals Greenwich and Ridgefield was similar to the 2022 Winter Classic at Greenwich Skating Club’s outdoor rink. Last season, the Cardinals built a seemingly comfortable lead, before the Tigers finished strong, before GHS posted a 6-4 victory.

On Friday, Greenwich bolted out to a 7-1 lead, then Ridgefield responded with four straight goals in the third period to close to within 7-5. The Cards, held on though, behind strong goaltending down the stretch from sophomore Sophia DiPietro and key plays in the final minutes.

“The girls came back, we tried to put a good third period together and leave here on a good note,” Ridgefield coach Peter Bafundo said. “We almost scored to pull to within one. I’m happy with the fact that they never gave up.”

Greenwich scored Friday’s first goal, courtesy of Mackenzie Newi. Converting a shot from the wing, Newi, a senior forward, gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with 12:46 remaining in the first period.

“It was the first time that we started out scoring first in the game and we had joke – a little McDonald’s treat for the girl that scored the first goal and that was Mackenzie Newi,” Jebb said. “She did a great job, so grabbing the lead was very important.”

Exactly one minute later, junior forward Stella Buddy put the puck past Ridgefield junior goalie Ashley Collin, giving the host Cardinals a 2-0 edge. The Tigers (1-4-1) made it a one-goal game when senior left wing Delaney Sheppard scored at the 10:08 mark of the opening period.

Receiving a pass from senior defender/tri-captain Lindsay Allen, Torop snapped home a shot from the left faceoff circle, putting GHS on top, with 1:49 to go in the opening period.

Roth started the Cards’ impressive second period, finishing in front off a feed from freshman forward Eleanor Fine, making it 4-1 at the 8:40 mark of the second period.

“Eleanor Fine did a great job of getting it in front of the net and I was right there, so I just tapped it in,” Roth said of her goal.

Junior Lexi Carino, who along with Allen (two assists), helped sparked Greenwich’s defensive effort, tallied with 6:43 to play in the second period, giving the hosts a 5-1 advantage.

“I saw the puck, I took it up the ice, I went around the girl and then I shot from the top of the red circle and it went in top left,” Carino said of her tally.

Carino recognized the significance of the victory.

“I’m very excited, it’s our first win in a while, so it feels really good,” Carino said.

Generating eight goals was a welcome sight to the Cardinals, who were searching for consistency offensively, through most of their first five matchups.

“Communicating and picking our head up and finding each other on the ice – those were the keys for us,” Carino noted. “We had a lot of good puck movement, so we were able to get some good goals as a team.”

An aggressive forecheck enabled GHS to create scoring opportunities.

“Sometimes we have played a little too passively and what we’ve found is that if we pressure the other team, it puts more pressure on them to make the right play,” Jebb noted. “More often than not, our pressure resulted in a turnover of the puck.”

Meanwhile, as Greenwich was adding on to its lead on Ridgefield-Immaculate-Danbury, DiPietro excelled in goal for the Cards, making numerous second-period saves. This is DiPietro’s first season as a goalie as well as playing ice hockey.

“I thought the first and second periods were really good, I thought we really wanted it,” DiPietro said. “The third period was a little stressful, but we came through.”

Said Jebb: “We played aggressively in our defensive zone, we protected well. Sophia DiPietro made great first saves and we minimized the number of rebounds and we put pressure on them all 200 feet.”

DiPietro is enjoying her first season as a goalie.

“It is a little hard, but I like it a lot,” she said. “It feels really good to win this game, it’s our first win of the season. I thought our defense was really good.”

Torop tallied off an assist from Roth with 1:28 to go in the second period, extending Greenwich’s advantage to 6-1.

“We discussed coming out hot and making sure we put our foot on the gas and not let up and we ended up doing that,” Roth noted. “We capitalized on our opportunities with a lot of goals.”

Greenwich defeated Ridgefield at the 2023 Winter Classic, held at Greenwich Skating Club on December 29, 2023.

Freshman Mady Jones opened the scoring for GHS in the third period, tallying at the 13:26 mark, with the Tigers’ Casey Rosenberg in goal (she replaced Collin near the midway point of the second period).

The Ridgefield-Danbury-Immaculate began its run, scoring four consecutive goals to close to within 7-5. Freshman forward Kelsey Gotti tallied three times for a hat trick, while Bancks added one goal during the Tigers’ spurt. Bancks’ goal with 2:57 left to play made it 7-5.

“With all these teams, there’s just no quit in them,” said Jebb, whose captains are senior Lila Fulton, Roth and Allen. “Congratulations to Pete Bafundo and his group, because they hung in there and made it a really good game. They were tough, they responded to our pressure and they never quit.”

Bafundo and the Tigers knew they needed a faster start to prevail in the Winter Classic.

“We were just not sharp,” Bafundo said. “Our energy was not there today, we haven’t been on the ice during Christmas break as much as we wanted and it showed. We just weren’t sharp in the first two periods.”

Fine scored off an assist from freshman Carlyn Duffy with 2:10 remaining in the final period, giving Greenwich an 8-5 lead. The final goal of the game came from Gotti with 47.9 seconds left. Gotti had three assists to go along with her three goals.

DiPietro made a number of saves in goal for Greenwich, which plays again on Jan. 4 against Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde at Sacred Heart University.

“She played really well, without her the score would have been a lot different,” Carino said of DiPietro. “We wouldn’t have had such a great advantage. This is the confidence-boost we needed and we’ll take it into the next couple of games.”

Jebb was pleased with the spirt and energy his squad showed throughout.

“It’s important in FCIAC hockey to keep the pressure on,” he said. “Ridgefield got a little momentum in the third period and all of a sudden, it’s a two-goal game. We only have four seniors, so we have a lot of new skaters, so it’s important for them to get the confidence that winning gives them.”

Indeed, it was another Winter Classic to remember for the Cardinals, who remained unbeaten in the special game held outdoors.

“I grew up playing here, so it’s really fun to be back and playing at my home rink,” Roth said.