Youth swimming

The West Haven Wizards won their final meet of the season against the New Milford Barracudas, 361-311. With the win the Wizards are now 4-1 and they are division champions. This was also Coach Sean McCauley’s 100th meet as head coach of the Wizards. Over his 15 years as head coach, the Wizards have 175-25 record.

The 8-and-under girls were particularly dominant against New Milford. They swept the opening medley relay. They won each of their individual events and finished strong taking 2nd and 3rd in the freestyle relay. Ari Rose and Brooklyn Loehfelm won 1st and 2nd in the 25-yard freestyle; Rose, Ella Sutton and Camilla Procino swept the 25-yard butterfly. Sophia DeLauri, Procino and Vanessa Chen also swept the 25-yard backstroke.

In the 100-yard individual medley, Sophia DeLauri earned 1ast place and Heady Flores-Copa beat out her competition to take 3rd. DeLauri and Procino came back strong to win 1st and 3rd place in the 25-yard breaststroke. Then the 8-and-under girls swept their final individual event of the meet in the 50-yard freestyle.

At the end of the last home meet of each season, it is the Wizards tradition to honor their graduating swimmers with a “Last Lap” ceremony. Girls can swim with the Wizards through their senior year of high school, but boys graduate from the Wizards at the end of their 8th grade season because the high school season conflicts with the Wizards’ season. This year the Wizards have six graduating swimmers. Theyhave a combined total of 34 years on the Wizards. Jeffrey Flores-Copa and Gavin Falcigno have both been on the Wizards for three years, Jacob Collette has been with the team five, Carly Weber has been with the team for seven and Collin Charron and Morgan Falanga have both been on the Wizards for eight.

The Wizards next meet will be Yankee League Trials on Feb. 15-16.

For more information on the West Haven Wizards please visit our website at www.westhavenwizards.org.

The West Haven Wizards won a close meet against division rival Bristol Splash by a score of 352-316. The Wizards are now 3-1 on the season and have clinched their 15th straight winning season. “The Clash with the Splash,” as this meet is affectionately known, lived up to its name. The Wizards came out strong, taking first place in 5 of the 8 age groups for the opening medley relays.

The West Haven Wizards’ focus on hard work, effort and person improvement, helped the squad in the tight races.

To score points in an event, a swimmer must win first, second, or third place. In a close meet such as this one, every point matters. During this meet many close races for third place were decided by just fractions of a second.

For the 8-and-under boys, Mayenmen Ngoh earned third place in the 25-yard freestyle by less than .6 of a second. Also, Marvin Castillo battled for third place in the 25-yard butterfly, just missing by .5 of a second. Nathan Charron beat out his competitor to win third by only .3 in the 11/12 boy 50-yard backstroke. Emma Dorjee battled for third place in the 9/10 girls 50-yard breaststroke finishing in fourth by only .04 of a second. Also for the 9/10 girls, Gianna Cassone beat out her competition to earn a third by .07. For the 11/12 girls, Carly Cassone raced to a rare fourth-place tie, missing third by only .6. Kelly Aspras finished strong to beat out her competitor by .5 of a second in the 13/14 girls 50-yard freestyle.

Collin Charron, meanwhile, broke the team record for the 13/14 boys 100-yard backstroke.

The final regular season meet of the season will be Saturday against the New Milford Barracudas.

For more information on the West Haven Wizards please visit our website at www.westhavenwizards.org.

The West Haven Mite C hockey team played New Canaan at home Saturday morning, and picked up a big win against a talented New Canaan team that beat them earlier in the season. 

Brady Salkins opened the scoring for the Westies, and found two more goals to get the hat trick. Kyle Johnson and Logan Minio both picked up hat tricks of their own. Tony Parise netted twice, his second a hard fought goal as he battled off two defenders to tap the puck in, and Evan Harrison and Joe Mondo both picked up their first career goals. 

Ben Trenchard rounded out the scoring as he put in a back hand shot off a Johnson rebound. Jax Guarino played a strong game, making passes and breaking up New Canaan attacks. Julius Stokes was stellar in goal, leading his team to the win with several key stops.

The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team posted its 13th victory of the season on Saturday, winning 5-4 over Northwestern Connecticut A1 at Bennett Rink.

Forward Cameren Lipford powered the Blue Devils’ offense with four goals, and goaltender Alex Werle anchored the team’s defense with 24 saves.

Just eight seconds into the contest, Lipford nabbed the puck off the opening faceoff from center Tyler Silva, skated it into his offensive zone, and drilled a wrist shot low to the glove side to put the Westies up 1-0. Northwestern, based in New Milford, tied it at 8:02 of the first and took the lead at 3:47 of the period. A minute later, the Icehawks went up 3-1 before Lipford fired a wrister high to the glove side to make it a one-shot game.

At 8:19 of the second, the Icehawks made it 4-2. Lipford then scored from the right side of the net at 6:31 of the period on a play set up by defenseman Andrew Grillo and Silva. At 1:18 of the second, with the puck in his offensive zone, Westies center Grady Schulte exploded to the net and rebounded Silva’s shot to tie the contest.

Lipford netted the game-winner from forward Aedan Guarino at 7:23 of the third, wristing a shot from between the hash marks. In the final minutes, Werle made multiple saves, including blocking a shot with his skate at 3:51 of the period, to preserve the victory for the Blue Devils.

On Sunday, West Haven lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to South Windsor A at the South Windsor Arena.

Werle was a warrior in net, fending off a flurry of shots, and Lipford had a hat trick to lead the Blue Devils.

At 8:16 of the first, Lipford put the Westies up 1-0 on a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle assisted by Silva. Werle held the Knights scoreless in the period.

Lipford made it 2-0 at 10:43 of the second, launching a wrister from the right hash marks high to the blocker side. Aedan Guarino assisted on the play. The Knights, however, answered 24 seconds later to cut it to 2-1.

At 7:17 of the third, the Knights tied it before scoring two straight to pull ahead 4-2. Schulte made it a one-shot game at 1:55 of the period, netting a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle high to the glove side.

Werle finished the contest with 26 saves, including seven stellar saves in the third to keep his team in contention.

The West Haven Peewee AA travel hockey team returned from the holiday break Friday night against fifth-ranked Wallingford at Choate. The Devils controlled possession early and often in the contest and won 6-0.

Thomas Porto got it going in the first period, putting West Haven up 1-0. Gabe Locklear would add on two more goals, with assists coming from Brody DiNuzzo and Billy Mascari. DiNuzzo tacked on two more goals, assisted by Jack Aloi and Porto to expand the lead to 5-0.

Locklear collected the hat trick with his third goal assisted by DiNuzzo, giving WH a 6-0 victory over Wallingford. Nicky Stevens, Nick Eberhart and Nick Salzano played well. Beckett Stenz and John Donohue provided solid defense. Nate Kempton and Tyler Donroe combined for another shutout. The duo have 15 shutouts combined so far this season.
West Haven traveled to Simsbury Farms to square off against third-ranked Simsbury and posted a 7-4 victory. The Westies found themselves in unfamiliar territory as Simsbury not only scored the game’s first goal, but it also came short-handed a few minutes into first period.

With 10:46 remaining in the first, Stevens sent a pass to Porto across the slot who sent it right back to Stevens for the goal. Simsbury answered with a power play goal, but with seven seconds left in the first period, Mascari evened the game, assisted by DiNuzzo.

Stevens added his second of the game four minutes into the second period off a Mascari rebound to put West Haven up 3-2. Later in the second, DiNuzzo sent a pass from his goal line connecting with Locklear as he was breaking the blue line to send him in on a breakaway. Locklear finished the play for a 4-2 lead. Just 1:28 later, Locklear fed DiNuzzo down low who redirects puck to Connor Benz for the tap in goal and a 5-2 lead.

John Donohue opened the third with a goal to give the Westies a 6-2 lead. Simsbury got within 6-4, but with 4:37 remaining in the game, DiNuzzo sent a pass to the front of the net that was tapped in by Locklear for a 7-4 advantage.

Kempton and Donroe split the game and were outstanding.

The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend.  The Westies went on the road to upend Yale 2007A, 8-4, and dropped a home game to Wonderland A, 7-5.  The team is now 16-15-0 in CHC league play.

On Saturday afternoon at Northford Ice Pavilion, Yale went up 1-0 in the opening minute. The Blue Devils tied the game on a power play when Alex Bowery found Brady Price who lifted in a backhander. The Westies took a 2-1 lead 12 seconds later when Chris Consorte grabbed the faceoff and converted a backhander of his own. Yale made it 2-2 after one period.

In the second period, penalties mounted on both teams. Yale went up 3-2 with a power play goal. West Haven equalized on a 5-on-3 when Dylan Bosworth hit Leo Mazuroski who fired on net. Bowery cashed in the loose puck.  Yale regained the lead in the final minute of the second period.
The Blue Devils then dominated the third period.  Mazuroski, Bosworth, Ryan Pniewski, Jonathan Charbonneau and Matt Kelly were solid on defense.  Greg Galasso made every save (he finished with 19 total).  Five different players scored goals in the period.

Bowery centered to Ethan Kelly who tapped it to Price for a wrist shot.  Mike Page won the puck on the boards and then banged in his own rebound.  Ronnie Mastroni and Page assisted Sean Studley for a nifty goal while Studley got knocked to the ice.  Bowery fed Bosworth for a laser from the point.  Bowery then one-timed Price’s feed to cap the scoring.

On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies hosted Wonderland in a close battle for the full 45 minutes.  Price fired off the post and Bowery jammed home the rebound to open the scoring.  The Wizards tied at 1-1 after one period.

Penalties hurt the Westies in the second period, but they kept battling.  Down 2-1, Bosworth chipped it to the high slot where Consorte settled it and fired through the five hole to tie the game. Down 3-2, Mastroni won a scrum on the boards and hit Page. He deftly backhanded it to Bowery who rammed it home to tie it again at 3-3.  Wonderland scored on a power play for a 4-3 lead at the second intermission.
The Blue Devils immediately tied the contest again early in the third by scoring on a 5-on-3 when Ethan Kelly won the draw back to Mazuroski. He hit Bosworth who rang it off the post and Kelly sniped it home. The Wizards scored twice but the Westies would not go away.  Studley skated around a defender and fired it in front where it hit a skate and deflected in.

The Blue Devils could not equalize though and Wonderland escaped with the win. Jacob Silva was solid in net for the Westies and finished with 19 saves.

The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team split a pair of home games this past weekend, topping Potomac, Virginia on Saturday, before falling to Yale on Sunday.

Against Potomac, Michael Madera led the offense with two goals, and Cam Delvecchio had a goal and two assists in a 5-3 victory.

The Westies took a 2-0 lead in the first period when Matt Stevens scored 1:27 in off an assist from Matt Wezenski, and Jayden Spreyer scored off an assist from Delvecchio with 8:54 remaining.

Potomac cut the deficit in half to close the opening period, and evened the contest with 8:59 left in the second.

Madera gave West Haven a 3-2 lead 53 seconds into the third off an assist from Delvecchio, before Delvecchio’s unassisted tally 3:50 later built the lead to 4-2. Madera increased the margin to 5-2 off an assist from Will Giaquinto with 8:08 remaining.

Bryan Hong was outstanding in goal, making numerous big saves in the final two periods. Wezenski, Haygen Axelrod, and Jason Alling played well defensively, while Dante Hardt, Mickey Dowd, and Kyle Droney all played well in the contest.

The Westies closed the weekend with a 3-0 loss against Yale. Hong was solid in goal, making several stellar saves throughout, but it was not enough in the loss.

The 2019 defending Yankee League Champion West Haven Wizards went head-to-head against the 2018 Yankee League Champion Trumbull Pisces in the first swim meet of the season. The Wizards came out on top, 339-307.

This meet, affectionately known as the “Rumble with Trumbull,” lived up to its name with lots of fast swims, best times and close races. During this meet, the 9/10 boys were especially strong and successful, taking first place in each of their events. The Relay team of CJ Sutton, Sean Fitzpatrick, Raymond Listori and Ethan Burgard took first in the 200-yard medley relay. CJ Sutton took first place in the 100-yard freestyle, the 50-yard backstroke, and the 50-yard freestyle, Sean Fitzpatrick won first in the 50-yard butterfly, Xander Wight earned a first place finish in the 100-yard individual medley, Raymond Listori took first place in the 50-yard breaststroke and the relay team of Sean Fitzpatrick, Raymond Listori, Xander Wight and Ethan Burgard took the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

During this meet one new team record was set by Collin Charron for the 13-and-over boys 100-yard backstroke, the new record is close to 4 seconds faster than the previous record.

The Wizard’s next meet will be Saturday, Dec. 7, against the Watertown Warriors.

For more information on the West Haven Wizards Swim team please visit our website at www.westhavenwizards.org.