The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won its only game of the weekend by posting a 3-1 victory over Ridgefield Lions AA on Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink. The Blue Devils are now 25-16-4 overall on the season.
Westies goaltender Maddex LaFountain was sharp in the first period as Ridgefield controlled most of the play. LaFountain made 17 saves in the period. The Lions did take a 1-0 lead with 36 seconds left before the break.
West Haven settled in and started creating more chances on offense in the second period. The Blue Devils finally tied it after applying sustained pressure in front of the Ridgefield net.
Cameren Lipford gathered in Sean Studley’s pass and fired home a wrist shot with three minutes left to make it 1-1. Then, in the final minute of the period, Ethan Kelly carried the puck into the Lions’ zone, slid it over to Studley, and Studley went bar down from inside the right circle to give West Haven a 2-1 lead.
The Westies defense held the Lions to only a few chances in the third period and LaFountain turned aside each shot to finish with 25 total saves. The goalie even earned an assist when he passed to Jonathan Charbonneau who fed Ethan Kelly before Kelly weaved through the Ridgefield defense and scored through the five-hole with four minutes left in the game to finish off the 3-1 win.
The West Haven Peewee A team swept its weekend games this past week with victories over New Canaan and Watertown.
The Westies opened the weekend with an 8-4 victory over New Canaan in Shelton Saturday evening. Mickey Dowd led the offense with three goals and three assists, Michael Madera had two goals and two assists, and Zach Goetze added a pair of goals and an assist.
West Haven overcame a 2-0 deficit with four straight goals, then broke a 4-4 tie with the last four goals of the game. Trailing 2-0, Madera cut the deficit in half off an assist from Dowd with 6:05 left in the first, before Dowd scored an unassisted goal with 1:25 left in the opening period to even the contest.
Madera scored off an assist from Dowd with 7:53 left in the second, and Dowd scored 20 seconds later off assists from Goetze and Bruno Martone for a 4-2 lead.
After New Canaan evened the game at four, the Westies took the lead for good 49 seconds into the third when Danny Johnson scored off an assist from Jason Alling. Dowd increased the lead to 6-4 with 7:43 to go, and Goetze capped the scoring with two goals in the final 1:57, the first off assists from Madera and Dowd, and the second off an assist from Madera. Bryan Hong played well in goal for the Westies, while Haygen Axelrod and Ray Heenie played well defensively.
The Westies capped the weekend with a 7-3 victory over Watertown Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink. West Haven never trailed in the contest and was led by Madera with two goals and two assists, Dowd with two goals and one assist, and Goetze with one goal and three assists.
Madera opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the game off assists from Dowd and Goetze, before Brady Price increased the lead to 2-0 off an assist from Martone. Leading 2-1, Dowd scored off assists from Goetze and Madera with 12 seconds left in the first for a 3-1 lead.
West Haven took a 4-1 lead six seconds into the second when Dowd scored off an assist from Madera, before Goetze scored off an assist from Madera 21 seconds into the third for a 5-1 lead. Leading 5-2, Alling went the length of the ice for a 6-2 advantage, before Madera scored off an assist from Goetze with 3:56 left for a 7-2 lead.
Jacob Silva was solid in goal for the Westies, Dylan Bosworth played well defensively, and Mike Page, Connor Moriarty, Chris Consorte, and Cody Rocchio all played well on the offensive side.