The first half of the season is over for the Greenwich High School boys hockey team and though it doesn’t have the record it was hoping for, coach Jack Duffy’s squad enters the second half of the season with plenty of optimism.

The reasons for the positive feelings stem from how the team has played in recent games. On Tuesday, the Cardinals hosted a formidable La Salle Academy team from Rhode Island at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink and gave the visitors all they could handle in a tough, 2-1 loss. The next night on Wednesday, Greenwich skated against Trumbull in a road matchup and earned a 6-4 victory – its second win of the season.

Today, Greenwich hopes to make it two victories in a row, as it faces Fairfield Warde on the road.

“We just told the boys, we are ready for the second half of the year and our record doesn’t look great, but we’re starting to look a lot better and we’re going to start to win some hockey games,” coach Duffy said following the Cardinals’ matchup against La Salle Academy.

In the Cardinals’ 2-1 loss versus La Salle Academy forward Heath Jervis registered a goal for GHS off an assist from Joe Lewis in the third period. Senior Nick Sinisi was outstanding in goal for the Cardinals, registering 27 saves.

Sinisi did a great job in net, our defensemen played very well,” Duffy said. “If you can hold a team like La Salle to two goals that’s impressive.”

The Cardinals’ netminder faced and stopped, shots from all directions in the first period. Sinisi’s first period featured 15 saves.

“I was trying to not think about anything else, just make that save,” Sinisi said. “The defensemen have been getting better and better every practice and every game.”

La Salle struck first, taking a 1-0 lead with 5:01 remaining in the opening period. Forward Marcello Martinelli snapped a shot home from close in off a pass from JD Plante for La Salle’s first goal. It remained a 1-0 game up until the 2:57 mark of the second period, as the Cards played strong defensively, led by Kyle Allen, Mikey Gilbride and Boden Farmer.

With 2:57 to go in the second period, forward Ronan Peterson tallied off a feed from Tyler Garofalo, giving visiting La Salle a 2-1 advantage. Some of Greenwich’s best moments came in the third period, as it began generating more shots on goal.

On a power play, the Cardinals cut La Salle’s lead in half, getting a goal from Jervis with 9:02 left in the third period. Sinisi stopped eight shots in the second period, then made four third-period saves.

For Greenwich, Jervis registered three shots on goal, as did Farmer. Gilbride, forward Teddy Johnson and Gilbride each had two shots on goal for the Cardinals. Forward Mike Orrico, Trent O’ Neil (forward), Allen and forward Hayden Odefelt each had a shot on goal for the Cards. Odefelt took four faceoffs, while Allen took three and Joe Lewis took a pair of faceoffs for the home team.

“That was a very good La Salle hockey team, a team that has done well against some of the better teams in the state of Connecticut,” Duffy noted. “We kind of weathered the storm the first 10 minutes and then we played good hockey after that.”

“They are a really good offensive team over there and our boys weathered the storm,” Duffy continued. “We got a little better defensive structure as the game went on. I think the shots may have been even in the third period and we got better as the game went along.”

Said Sinisi: “That was a lot better performance than we’ve has in the past, we’re getting there. I think our next game tomorrow, we’re going to get a win.”

The Cardinals did just what Sinisi said, posting their second win of the season on Wednesday, topping Trumbull, 6-4.

“Our record doesn’t reflect who we are,” Sinisi said. “We showed tonight that we have some heart, we almost got it done, things just didn’t go our way. Our progress is going to show soon.”