It all came down to one game for the Joel Barlow High hockey team as far as its chances of making the state Division III tournament were concerned.

Needing one more with to make it and with only one game left to qualify the Falcons had to beat Housatonic Valley on Monday. After a close first period the Falcons stepped up their offense as well as defense the rest of the way, shutting down the competition 6-1 at the Hotchkiss School.

Barlow had the chance to qualify for states last Friday when they took on New Milford. It was a battle until the last minute with the Green Wave holding on for a 3-2 win at the South Kent Arena.

After a long and shaky bus ride, the Falcons suited up and readied themselves for an opponent they had previously beat 3-1 in Danbury. However, the Green Wave came out with a quick first goal.

Barlow answered after Justin MacDougall won the face-off back to Ryan McGowen on the point, the latter taking a hard slap shot off the post and in the net.

The 1-1 score froze until the third period when a New Milford forward would pick up a puck strangely deflected off a Barlow defenseman and put it in the cage. With just under three minutes remaining, the Green Wave obtained a penalty and Barlow went on the man up looking for the tying goal. The score would come as MacDougall hustled on the forecheck, putting the puck down low to Michael Mattson who put it through the legs of a defender and over the shoulder of the New Milford goaltender.

With 0:59 left to play, Barlow had a face-off inside the Green Wave zone. The puck was dumped in the zone and quickly broken out by New Milford as it went down the other way on a 3-on-1, on which they capitalized.

Gordon Loery made his 23rd and 24th stop of the game on that play, but the third shot slipped by. The Green Wave ended its 2010-11 season with a 3-2.

The next game was all or nothing for the Falcons, knowing during the entire bus ride to Hotchkiss that if they won they were going to states. Housatonic Valley was the team to beat and Barlow captain Adam Jacobs would single-handedly put the Falcons up 1-0 with a shot to the top left corner.

Soon after that Housatonic tied the score at 1-1, stealing Jacobs�€™ style and roofing the puck the same way.

After a wake-up call in the first period, Barlow came out of the intermission with a new sense of urgency for its season. Loery kept Housatonic out of the net as the offense went to work. Patrick Mimms moved the puck to Mattson, who brought the puck in the zone, curled and passed to MacDougall, who shot it through the legs of the opposing goalie.

Barlow�€™s next goal came when Mattson kicked the puck to Tim Eng on the breakout. Eng took it the length of the ice and scored with a hard shot on the ice. Mimms assisted Michael Mattson on the next goal as Mattson took the puck in and finished with a backhanded shot to the top shelf.

McGowen hooked up with alternate captain Paul Camomilli, who put the next puck in the net with a snap shot that ricocheted off the goalie�€™s stick, post, and into the back of the net.

Mattson scored the last goal of the game as he roofed the puck off a rebound from Patrick Mimms�€™ shot.

Besides making the state tournament, the Falcons accomplished other things in the win. Alex Dolcimascolo saw his first minutes as a high school goaltender, as did Nina Levison at forward. Mattson broke the Barlow hockey all-time scoring record for goals in a season, netting 24 times in 18 games, surpassing the one set two years ago by Kyle McCann.

The Falcons take on Bethel/Brookfield/Danbury in the South-West Conference semifinals at the Danbury Ice Arena today (Thursday) at 7:10 p.m.