Sports

The West Haven Mite C team traveled to Hamden Saturday morning to take on the Green Dragon Mite C’s, with the Blue Devils coming away with a resounding 10-1 win. 

Evan Harrison was stellar in goal, supported by Julius Stokes on defense.  Jax Guarino and Kyle Johnson both played strong games, as did Ben Trenchard, who picked up two assists.  Logan Minio, Brady Salkins, Tony Parise, and Joey Mondo all scored in the win.

The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team went 2-1 in Connecticut Hockey Conference play this weekend, including a 3-2 barnburner over the Connecticut Junior Whalers A squad at Norwalk’s SoNo Ice House on Saturday morning.

Forward Cameren Lipford scored all three goals — all in the opening period — while goaltender Alex Werle stopped a whopping 37 shots — his best game of the season — to lead the Blue Devils past the Whalers in an impressive CHC win. The Westies avenged a 6-2 loss to the Whalers on Oct. 5.

Lipford netted the contest’s first three goals to put the Blue Devils up 3-0. At 10:31 of the first, he fired a wrist shot high to the blocker side on a play set up by forward Ryan Walsh. Just over a minute later, Lipford deked his way into his offensive zone and backhanded a shot high to the glove side. At 6:25 of the period, he ripped a wrister from inside the left faceoff circle that bounced off the goalie’s shoulder and trickled across the goal line. Center Grady Schulte assisted on the play.

With under two minutes left in the first, Werle made an exceptional glove save to prevent a breakaway goal, followed by another extraordinary glove save in the closing seconds to hold the Whalers scoreless after one.

The Whalers played catch-up in the second, making it a one-shot game after netting two straight at 8:55 and 6:40 of the period. For the rest of the contest, however, the Whalers used Werle for target practice, which the first-year Squirt welcomed with an unbeatable determination. Werle staved off more than two dozen shots, including a remarkable kick save at 3:12 of the second and a sensational glove save at 1:41 of the third to preserve the Westies’ hard-fought victory.

On Sunday afternoon, West Haven extended its winning streak to seven games by stinging the Yellowjackets of East Haven 8-2 at Veterans Memorial Ice Rink in East Haven.

Thanks to Lipford’s four goals and one assist, the Blue Devils’ scoring chances came often against the Easties, with forward Aedan Guarino contributing two goals and two assists. Werle made 25 saves to anchor the team’s defense.

At 8:01 of the first, Lipford rebounded Aedan Guarino’s shot to make it 1-0. The Yellowjackets answered 19 seconds later and pulled ahead 2-1 at 6:31 of the period. Lipford, on a breakaway, tied it on a top-shelf wrist shot from Aedan Guarino with 2:45 remaining in the first.

At 11:49 of the second, Aedan Guarino put his team up for good, backhanding a shot off the faceoff for a power-play goal. Defenseman Gavin Coady then nabbed the puck in his defensive zone, skated past multiple defenders in the neutral zone, and wristed a shot high to the glove side at 8:43 of the period to put the Westies up 4-2. Lipford made it 5-2 less than 30 seconds later.

At 8:32 of the third, Lipford scored on a shot to the upper right-hand corner to give the Blue Devils a four-goal lead. Schulte assisted on the play. Aedan Guarino then rebounded Lipford’s shot to make it 7-2 at 5:11 of the period. With just over two minutes left in regulation, Westies center Tyler Silva netted a power-play goal on a rebound from defenseman Andrew Grillo.

Defensive trio Kyle Guarino, Coady and Grillo complemented Werle, who made tremendous glove saves at 10:03 of the second and 4:34 of the third, to keep the Easties at bay.

On Sunday night, West Haven came up short versus Darien A, falling, 3-2, at Bennett Rink.

Aedan Guarino scored the Blue Devils’ two goals, both in the third period — at 8:39 and 4:07 — and both assisted by Lipford. Werle maintained his high level of play for three periods, making 37 saves — and tying his save total against the Whalers — to keep his team in the hunt.

The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team played to a 3-3 tie in its only contest of the week. Cam Delvecchio led the West Haven offense with a pair of goals.

Trailing 1-0, Delvecchio picked up a rebound of a Haygen Axelrod shot and found the back of the net with 4:27 gone by in the opening period.

The Westies took a 2-1 lead at the 14:39 mark of the second when Michael Madera picked up a loose puck, circled behind the net and fed Delvecchio in front for a 2-1 lead. Jason Alling also assisted on the goal.

Watertown scored the next two goals and led 3-2 in the final four minutes. West Haven fought back and evened the contest when Matt Wezenski fed Mickey Dowd, who scored to the top right corner for the equalizer with 3:35 remaining.

The West Haven Bantam B travel hockey team traveled to Darien to play New Canaan on Saturday and posted a 1- 0 victory.

A tough, back and forth game remained at zero until late in the third period when an open Cody Rocchio would put the puck past the goalkeeper on a pass from Yousaf Ullah. Austin Fruin and the Westies closed the door for the 1-0 shutout win.

On Sunday, the Westies hosted the Wonderland Wizards at Bennett Rink and posteda 3-0 victory. The Westies put pressure on the Wizards from the start and finally collected their first tally at 4:17 in the first when Alex Kurowski, off assists from Ashley Welch and T.J. Levenduski, scored. Kurowski added another goal at 4:03 in the second with helpers from Zack Fonda and Taylor Alfano.

In the third period. Matt Wright redirected a shot from Levenduski to put the Westies ahead 3-0. The Westie defense buckled down and shut the door for Fruin’s second shutout of the weekend and 12th on the season. 

The West Haven Mite C team hosted the Greater New Haven Mite B team Saturday morning, falling, 10-2, to the older and more experienced team.  The Westies played well and showed how much they have improved throughout the season. 

Anthony Parise made some great saves in the goal, while Ben Trenchard and Julius Stokes broke up New Haven attacks and played well defensively.  Logan Cole and Brady Salkins both scored, while Kyle Johnson and Jax Guarino pushed the puck up the ice and back-checked hard to help out the defense.  Joe Mondo worked hard on both sides of the puck for the Blue Devil Mite C’s.

The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won, 4-3, over Watertown A1 at Taft School’s Mays Rink in Watertown on Sunday to improve to 18-12 in Connecticut Hockey Conference competition.

Forward Cameren Lipford (3 goals) put the Blue Devils on the scoreboard first at 10:55 of the opening period. Center Grady Schulte slid a pass across the crease from the right side of the net to a waiting Lipford, who fired a textbook one-timer to make it 1-0. The Red Wings answered and tied it up with just over three minutes left in the first.

Lipford then rebounded a shot by forward Aedan Guarino at 9:00 of the second to make it 2-1. At 3:05 of the period, Aedan Guarino grabbed the puck in the neutral zone, exploded into his offensive zone, and launched a wrist shot from inside the right faceoff circle high to the glove side to give the Westies a two-goal lead.

At 11:16 of the third, Lipford netted a wrister from inside the right faceoff circle high to the blocker side to put the Blue Devils up, 4-1. Westies goaltender Alex Werle made several outstanding saves in the period to protect the lead, including a tremendous glove save while momentarily losing his stick with 3:37 left in regulation. Werle, who finished with 25 saves, was once again supported by the defensive prowess of Andrew Grillo and Kyle Guarino.

In the closing minutes of the contest, however, penalties and miscues nearly derailed the Blue Devils’ otherwise strong team performance. The Red Wings pounced on the disadvantaged Westies, cutting it to 4-2 with 1:58 remaining before making it a one-shot game on a power-play goal with under a minute remaining.

The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team opened play in the inaugural CT Ice Tournament with a pair of games on Sunday at the Milford Ice Pavilion.  The Blue Devils lost the opening game to Hamden A, 9-2, then rebounded to trounce Riverhawks A, 9-0.

West Haven will face Yale on Tuesday night in the last preliminary game.  The top two teams of the four will face off for the CT Ice championship on Sunday at Webster Bank Arena prior to the CT Ice college championship games.

Against Hamden, the Westies outshot the Dragons 10-2 in the opening period but trailed 1-0 at the first intermission. After Hamden made it 5-0, Chris Consorte roofed his shot with Brady Price assisting to get the Blue Devils on the scoreboard.

Price took Ryan Pniewski’s pass and snapped in a wrist shot to make it 5-2 early in the third period.  Hamden then pulled away late.  Greg Galasso started in goal and made 4 saves.  Jacob Silva made 11 saves in relief.

Later in the day, the Westies faced a Riverhawks team that beat them, 9-5, four weeks ago. This time, the Westies jumped all over their opponent with five first period goals and dominated the action in a 9-0 win.
Price opened the scoring when he roofed a tough angle shot from Alex Bowery.  Sean Studley centered to Price who tipped it to Mike Page who jammed it in. Bowery was denied in front, but skated behind and scored on a wraparound.  Ethan Kelly drilled one through the five hole and Price roofed another wrist shot for a 5-0 lead.

Price earned a hat trick when he converted Bowery’s pass to open the second period. In the third period, Studley fired one off the goalie and in, Price converted yet another Bowery feed, and Ryan Pniewski ripped a slap shot from Ethan Kelly to cap the scoring.

Silva was very sharp and notched the shutout with 22 saves.  Pniewski, Leo Mazuroski, Matthew Kelly and Jonathan Charbonneau were also terrific on defense.

The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team suffered a loss and earned a tie this past weekend.

The Westies opened the week with a 6-3 loss to Wallingford Saturday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Michael Madera led the offense with two assists.

Trailing 3-0, West Haven got within two goals on a goal by Jayden Spreyer off an assist from Madera. Matt Wezenski got West Haven within 3-2, before Wallingford again took a three-goal lead. Trailing, 5-2, Madera sent a nice pass in front to Matt Stevens, who made it a 5-3 game, but the Westies never got closer.

West Haven traveled to Greenwich Sunday morning and played to a 2-2 tie. Wezenski led the way with a goal and an assist.

Wezenski gave West Haven a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal, then set up Mickey Dowd for a 2-1 lead with 11:17 left in the second. Greenwich scored a lot goal to pull out the tie.

Jason Alling, Wezenski and Haygen Axelrod all played well defensively for the Westies, while Bryan Hong was stellar in goal. Dante Hardt, Will Giaquinto and Kyle Dtoney played well on offense.

On Saturday, January 18, the West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team traveled to Choate to play Wallingford. Cody Rocchio (unassisted) started the scoring for the Westies in the first period. In the second period, Matt Wright connect from Zack Fonda to put the Westies up, 2-1. Yousaf Ullah (unassisted) extended the lead early in the third and the Westies held on to win, 3-1.

On Sunday, Stamford came to Bennett Rink for a rematch against the Westies.West Haven won 3-2. Yousaf Ullah (unassisted) put the Blue Devils up in first period but the Sharks answered back and went up 2-1. Ullah tied the game at two and then Nate Chiappetta redirected a shot from Ullah to put the Westies up, 3-2. 

The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won all four Connecticut Hockey Conference games this weekend, including three on the road.

On Saturday, the Blue Devils won by forfeit against Wonderland at Bennett Rink — the team never showed for the CHC-scheduled contest — and 6-3 over the Wizards at Bridgeport’s Wonderland of Ice.

On Sunday, the Westies won 10-2 against Pawling at Trinity-Pawling School’s Tirrell Rink in Pawling, New York, and 8-1 over Wonderland at Wonderland.

In the games played, forward Cameren Lipford led the Blue Devils in scoring (11 goals, 3 assists) while goaltender Alex Werle made 56 saves en route to the team’s 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th victories of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Westies also received noteworthy contributions from centers Grady Schulte (5 goals, 1 assist) and Tyler Silva (2 goals, 5 assists) and forwards Aedan Guarino (3 goals), Ryan Walsh (2 goals), Michael D’Aiuto (2 assists) and David D’Aiuto (1 assist).

Gavin Coady (1 goal), Andrew Grillo and Kyle Guarino supported their goalie with a robust defensive showing in all contests to ensure the team victories.

On Saturday night, the Blue Devils defeated the Wizards behind Schulte’s hat trick, Lipford’s two goals and two assists, and Werle’s 21 saves.

On Sunday, West Haven continued its offensive and defensive dominance. In the morning, the Blue Devils crushed the Badgers of Pawling behind Lipford’s six goals and Werle’s 20 saves. In the afternoon, the Westies routed Wonderland behind Lipford’s hat trick, Silva’s one goal and three assists, and Werle’s 15 saves.

The West Haven Peewee AA hockey team traveled to Stamford Twin Rinks to face fourth-ranked Darien AA on Saturday and came away with a 5-1 victory. West Haven got on the board first when Gabe Locklear picked up a loose puck, went to the slot, released a wrister that would rebound and deflect in off a Darien defender.

Less than 2 minutes into second period, John Donohue sent a pass to Locklear down low and Locklear released a hard, low shot on net which Tim Donohue was there to tap in the rebound for a 2-0 advantage. The lead increased to three goals with 7:55 remaining in the second as Nick Eberhart scored on a wrister assisted by Thomas Porto and John Donohue.

Darien got within 3-1, before Becket Stenz released a wrister from the point and Nick Salzano tucked in his rebound. The score remained the same until 36 seconds left in the game when Brody DiNuzzo scored the final goal.

West Haven hosted ninth-ranked Northwestern A at Bennett Rink on Sunday. The Westies proved to be too much as they tallied 12 goals in a 12-3 victory.

Zach Goetze returned to action with two goals and put West Haven on the board first. Brody DiNuzzo scored three goals and added an assist, Salzano picked up two goals and two assists, Connor Benz and Nicky Stevens each had a goal and an assist, while Jack Aloi and Billy Mascari each had an assist.

Stenz had a pair of assists, Porto and Eberhart each had a goal. And John Donohue finished with a goal and two assists.

Tyler Donroe and Nate Kempton split time over the weekend and both played well throughout as the duo continues to lead the team during a 10-game win streak. 

The West Haven Pee Wee A travel hockey team showed off its offense and swept both games this weekend.  The Westies dominated Greater New Haven A1, 10-3, and then won a spirited game against Stamford A, 8-7.  The Westies have won five of their last six games and now stand at 18-15-0 in CHC league play.

On Saturday afternoon at the Northford Ice Pavilion, the Blue Devils jumped all over the Greater New Haven Warriors right from the initial puck drop. On a power play, Alex Bowery fed Jonathan Charbonneau for a point shot that Brady Price deflected through the five-hole. The Westies scored another power play goal when Ronnie Mastroni fed Connor Moriarty from behind the net for a one-timer.  Mike Page jammed in a loose puck and it was 3-0 less than seven minutes into the game.  Price buried a rebound of Ethan Kelly’s initial shot later in the frame and it was 4-2 after one period.

Early in the second, Kelly fed Price for a breakaway and Price neatly deked and scored to record a hat trick.  Chris Consorte fed Sean Studley for a wrister in the slot and Page popped in the rebound.  Later in the period on a power play Ryan Pniewski found Mastroni for a shot and Price again banged in a rebound for a 7-3 lead at the second intermission.

The Westies thoroughly controlled the action in the final period and cruised to the 10-3 win. Mastroni ripped home a wrist shot with an assist to Price. Studley knocked in a one-timer with Bowery and Kelly assisting.  Mastroni closed out the scoring barrage when Ethan Kelly, who had lost his stick, kicked him the puck and he found the net. Greg Galasso was solid in net with 14 saves.  The Westies outshot GNH, 33-17.

On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Blue Devils faced the Stamford Sharks in a back-and-forth game of two evenly matched teams. Stamford led 2-0 halfway through the first period when the Westies’ offense came alive. 

From behind the net, and on his back side, Bowery shoved the puck to Price who cashed in a wraparound to get West Haven on the board. Two minutes later Studley corralled the puck at his own blue line and sped over the Stamford blue line.  His wrister banged off the post and in to tie the game at two. In the waning seconds of the period, with the Blue Devils on a power play, Price flicked the puck out front and Bowery slammed it home with :00 on the clock for a 3-2 lead at the break.

Both defenses were strong in the second period with Leo Mazuroski’s tough play leading the Westies. The Sharks then scored two goals in just over 30 seconds to take a 4-3 lead.  Price quickly tied it when he carried into the zone, made a move, and then roofed a backhander for a goal.

West Haven goalie Jacob Silva made three consecutive saves with two minutes to go in the second period to keep the contest tied. West Haven then regained the lead as Price pushed the puck toward the net where Ethan Kelly jabbed at it. Bowery then swooped in and fired home the loose puck for a 5-4 lead heading into the third period.

With the game even at five, Studley made a play two minutes later to put the Westies back on top.  He carried the puck down the right wing and fired it onto Bowery’s tape for a laser of a shot that found the net.  Then, on a penalty kill, Kelly passed ahead to Price to give the Westies their first two-goal lead at 7-5. 

With the game even at seven, Kelly won a faceoff and Price took the puck into the Stamford zone.  His shot rang off the right post and the puck was knocked back to the point.  Dylan Bosworth got off a slap shot and Kelly redirected it just inside the right post for the game-winner. Silva made 18 saves in the game and West Haven earned the thrilling 8-7 win.

The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team had a win and a tie in a pair of contests this weekend, defeating Yale on Saturday, and tying Southeastern on the road on Sunday.

The Westies opened the week with a 7-3 victory over Yale 05A at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Saturday morning. Jayden Spreyer led the offense with two goals and two assists, Michael Madera had one goal and three assists, and Cam Delvecchio finished with a goal and an assist.

Haygen Axelrod, Matt Wezenski and Matt Stevens were solid on defense to support the stellar goaltending of Bryan Hong. Dante Hardt played well offensively.

West Haven jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period as Madera scored 16 seconds into the contest off an assist from Mickey Dowd. Dowd gave West Haven a 2-0 lead off an assist from Stevens with 8:36 left in the opening period.

With the game even at two, Matt Wezenski made some nice moves in and out of traffic, before scoring with 10:36 left in the second for a 3-2 lead. Yale evened the game with under three minutes left in the second, before West Haven pulled away with four goals in the third.

Just 1:19 into the final period, Delvecchio put the Westies on top for good off assists from Spreyer and Madera, before Delvecchio set up Spreyer 1:20 later for a 5-3 lead.

West Haven increased the lead to 6-3 just 24 seconds later when Madera fed Spreyer on a 2-on-none break. Axelrod also picked up an assist on the goal.

The Westies capped the scoring with 1:20 left as Madera sent a pass to Spreyer, who fed Kyle Droney in front for the four-goal lead.

West Haven had to battle from a two-goal deficit twice on Sunday to play to a 4-4 tie with Southeastern. Spreyer led the offense with two goals, while Madera added a goal and an assist.

Trailing 2-0, Madera cut the deficit in half with 7:31 remaining in the opening period with an unassisted goal from a sharp angle. Southeastern closed the scoring in the period with another tally with 2:38 remaining for a 3-1 lead over the Westies.

Dowd scored with 4:26 remaining in the second to get West Haven within 3-2, and the score remained that way until the third period.

On the power play, Wezenski fed a perfect pass to Spreyer who found the back of the net with 10:04 to go to even the game at three.

In a period dominated by the Westies with a 13-3 shot advantage, Madera found Spreyer in front for a 4-3 lead with 2:38 remaining in the contest. Southeastern fought back and got the equalizer 1:15 later, ending the game in a 4-4 tie.

Jason Alling played well defensively for the Westies.