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Staff Writer

A popular high school hockey player and recent graduate of Westhill High School was killed early yesterday when he lost control of his car and careened into a wooded embankment about a mile from his Stamford home.

Richard Stoeppelwerth, 18, of 2132 Long Ridge Road, was heading south on Long Ridge Road at about 1:34 a.m. when his green 1998 Acura Integra skidded on a curve near Hunting Ridge Road and veered into the northbound lane. The car hit three trees and flipped, ejecting Stoeppelwerth, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Friends and family gathered at Stoeppelwerth's home yesterday to console his parents, Ron and Laurie.

"He was my best friend besides being my only son," his mother said. "I don't know what I'm going to do without him."

The cause of the crash is under investigation, but speed is believed to be the primary factor, said Stamford Police Sgt. Andrew Gallagher, supervisor of the major accident squad. Police also are investigating whether alcohol might have been involved, he said.

Stoeppelwerth, who was not wearing a seat belt, was the only occupant of the car, police said.

Shortly before the crash, Stoeppelwerth had been dropped off at his home by a friend and then got into his own car.

John Licursi, a close friend and former Westhill classmate, said Stoeppelwerth was heading to see him when the crash occurred and had called on a cellular phone to let Licursi know he was on the way.

Licursi assumed Stoeppelwerth had changed his mind and returned home when he failed to arrive at Licursi's house on Westwood Place.

"I didn't think much of it last night," Licursi said. "I still can't believe it."

Family and friends described Stoeppelwerth as a bright, fun-loving person who had a knack for computers. The athletic, 6-foot, 200-pound youth played hockey at Westhill until his junior year, when he joined the Connecticut Junior Wolves, a junior B team based in New Haven.

At age 10, he had been selected to participate in a pee-wee hockey team representing the United States. He traveled to Germany, where the team won a bronze medal.

Stoeppelwerth, who graduated from Westhill in June, was taking courses at the Stamford campus of the University of Connecticut. He had recently gotten a part-time job at Abercrombie & Fitch at the Stamford Town Center and was scheduled to start work today, Laurie Stoeppelwerth said.

She sobbed remembering how her only child saved her life during a fire that ravaged the family's home on Westhill Road in January. She was asleep when "Ricky" saw smoke and rushed her and the family cat out of the house.

Another cat and a dog died in the New Year's Day blaze, but she chuckled briefly, recalling how Ricky stashed the surviving cat in a garbage can and secured the lid to keep it from running back into the burning house.

Licursi, who lived a few blocks from the family's old home, was one of two close friends with whom Stoeppelwerth had played hockey since childhood. Licursi happened to be home for the weekend from Eastern Connecticut State University and had invited Stoeppelwerth along with a few other friends to visit.

White chrysanthemums and a line of scarred trees mark the scene of the crash on Long Ridge Road. The two-door hatchback Acura Stoeppelwerth was driving had been a graduation gift from his grandmother, Licursi said.

Funeral arrangements had not been completed as of late yesterday afternoon.