The West Haven Mite A hockey team had an intense weekend of hockey, kicking it off on Saturday against the Central A team. Everyone from Mite A played hard, with Austin Picard, Maddy Bruder, and Jack Weiss leading the way on offense with multiple goals each.
Also scoring for the Westies were Landon Alling, JP Beebe, Brayden Gagliardi and Gabriella Jenei. Ava Healy and Quinn Uscilla had multiple shots on net, and Finn McLaughlin fought hard between the posts.
The Mite A team played Echo A team on Sunday. McLaughlin had another solid showing in net with strong defensive support from Weiss, Uscilla, Bruder, Healy and Jenei.
Weiss, Uscilla, Jenei, and Alling all had multiple shots on goal, with Picard and Gagliardi getting the Westies on the board.
The West Haven Mite B hockey team hosted the Southern Stars A1 team at Bennett Rink. The Westies played an outstanding game on both ends of the ice.
Scoring was plentiful, with Luke Salkins, Blake Bova, and Chase Liston each scoring three plus goals. Defensively, the Westies were led by Callen Tagliatela in net, who was tough as nails in shutting down the Stars’ attack. In front of Tagliatela, Parker Vitelli played a strong defensive game and helped set up numerous goals.
Mite B hockey team hosted New Canaan at Bennett Rink on Saturday. The Westies had a great showing, with goals coming in bunches.
Salkins paced the Westies offensively with many goals. Bova and Liston each tallied multiple goals.
Rylan Jacob scored an additional goal, while Dean Azano also scored on an assist from Liston. Defensively, Vitelli led the way in net with several clutch saves.
The West Haven Mite C Blue hockey team traveled to Northford to take on Wallingford Hawks Mite C. In net for the Blue Devils was Mena Paredes, who made her goalie debut, and made many excellent saves. Multiple goals were scored by Sebastian Malangone and Connor Gaul, with one goal each also coming from Joseph Gaul and Chloe Kendall.
Mite C Blue traveled to play Darien Ice Cats 8U Red on Sunday. In net for Mite C Blue was Kaden Kendall, who had another great game between the pipes. Multiple goals were scored by Chloe Kendall, with a goal also from Paredes. Joseph Gaul had many shots on net as well during the matchup.
The West Haven U18 Midget team continued to play well. The Westies picked up a hard-fought tie and a win over the weekend.
West Haven opened the weekend with a 3-3 tie against Southern at the Edward L. Bennett Rink. The Westies got on the scoreboard first when Dante Hardt scored off an assist from Eli Gregory 1:41 into the game. With the game even at one, Cam Delvecchio scored off an assist from Will Delvecchio with 18 seconds left in the first for a 2-1 advantage.
Southern evened the game in the second, before West Haven took a 3-2 lead with 6:42 remaining in the game as Gregory poked in a loose puck off an assist from Haygen Axelrod. Southern evened the game with 2:10 remaining.
West Haven traveled to play the Riverhawks Sunday evening and posted a 3-0 victory. Axelrod scored twice, and Jason Gherlone and Javed Ullah combined on the shutout.
Axelrod gave West Haven a 1-0 lead with 7:14 left in the first period off a rebound of a shot by Jayden Spreyer, before Hardt made it 2-0 less than three minutes later off assists from Ryan Kelly and Owen Zaharawicz. The lead would remain at two goals until 4:17 remained in the second when Mike Madera set up Axelrod for a 3-0 advantage.
West Haven split a pair of contests with Greater New Haven this weekend. West Haven lost, 4-2, at Northford Saturday afternoon, before following with a win at West Haven on Sunday.
The Westies trailed 3-0 in the third on Saturday, before Spreyer scored off an assist from Zack Fonda with 3:11 remaining. Less than a minute later, Jason Alling scored off an assist from Hardt to get within 3-2, but an empty net goal by Greater New Haven sent West Haven to its first defeat of the year.
West Haven rebounded to post an 8-5 victory over Greater New Haven Sunday afternoon at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Madera and Cam Delvecchio led the offense with two goals and an assist apiece, Gregory scored twice, and Spreyer added a goal and two assists in the win.
West Haven jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead as Madera scored off an assist from Spreyer 4:12 into the game, and Delvecchio scored off an assist from Alling two minutes later. Delvecchio increased the lead to 3-1 off assists from Axelrod and Will Delvecchio, before Yousaf Ullah scored of an assist from Spreyer for a 4-2 lead.
With the game even at four, Spreyer scored a short-handed goal off an assist from Madera, before the two teams went to the third period even at five.
Gregory scored twice for a 7-5 lead, with assists going to Connor Bunnell and Will Delvecchio, before Madera scored on a breakaway with 4:53 to go.
For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.