As the season winds down, the West Haven Mite B travel team played two games. On Saturday, the Westies took on the CT Junior Whalers.
The Westies jumped to an early lead when Ben Trenchard stripped the puck away and tapped the puck to Logan Minio, who went in alone on the goalie and scored. Trenchard fed Minio for another goal, and Trenchard picked up one of his own when Jax Guarino hit a perfect pass to Trenchard in front of the goal to hit home on the one-timer. Brady Salkins, Connor Owens, Joe Mondo and Kyle D’Agostino added goals in the win.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils opened the day early at the Northford Ice Pavilion, taking on the Wallingford Hawks. The Westies picked up the early lead, this time behind two goals from Tony Parise on his first shift.
Parise picked up the hat-trick later in the game when he tipped in a Salkins shot. Salkins also scored a goal of his own, and D’Agostino, Trenchard, Ownes and Minio added to the scoresheet.
Ethan McGrath was solid throughout the game, making several key stops, and Ryan Schempp was the defender of the game, helping Evan Harrison get the shutout in the win.
The West Haven Peewee A hockey team went 2-1 over the weekend with a win over Riverhawks A and a loss and a win against Greater New Haven Red. The Blue Devils are 13-14-2 overall in CHC league play.
After dropping a hard-fought 8-5 decision to the Greater New Haven Red team on Sunday morning, the Westies headed to Northford Ice Pavilion for the rematch a few hours later. The Warriors held a 4-3 lead heading into the third period, but the Blue Devil defense clamped down and the offense took control. Leo Mazuroski fired a wrist shot that was saved and Sean Studley corralled the puck behind the net where he banked a shot off the back of the GNH goalie to tie the game at four.
One minute later, Eddie Thomas took the puck into the Warriors’ zone and fed Matt Molnar for a one-timer and a one-goal lead. GNH came right back and had a breakaway looking to tie the game, but Kai Lupa, who had 20 saves in the game, made a terrific pad save to keep the Westies in front.
With 4:43 remaining in the game, Thomas had a tap-in goal and the Blue Devils led 6-4. Thomas won a faceoff and hit Molnar for another laser, and Studley iced the game with an empty-net tally in the closing seconds for the come-from-behind 8-4 win.
At the start of the game, the Westies came out flying and earned a power play. Studley fed Zach Melchiore for a wrist shot and the Blue Devils led 1-0 only 44 seconds into the game. Just 17 seconds later, Thomas took Mikey D’Aiuto’s pass and went five-hole for a 2-0 advantage.
GNH scored three straight goals before the Westies tied it at 3-3 late in the first. Cameren Lipford buried the rebound of a Ryan Pniewski shot with seven ticks left on the clock. GNH scored the only goal of the second period, setting up the West Haven comeback.
On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies faced Greater New Haven. With GNH up 1-0, the Westies tied the game with a power play goal. Aedan Guarino shot on goal and Lipford tapped in the rebound with a backhand.
Gavin Coady gave the Blue Devils the lead at 2-1 when he knocked home a pass from Studley, but GNH tied the game at two in the final minute of the first period.
West Haven came out flying again in the second. Melchiore slid the puck to Lipford who took his time and roofed a shot, giving the Westies a 3-2 lead 1:17 into the second. The Warriors tied the game at three, but Studley fed Lipford who went five-hole for a short-handed score and a 4-3 lead. GNH came back and tied it less than a minute later and then pushed it to 5-4 late in the second period.
GNH scored a power play goal early in the third, but West Haven showed no quit. Jonathan Charbonneau’s wrister went through a screen and found the net to make it 6-5 with 2:59 remaining.
The Westies kept coming and Studley’s potential game-tying shot rang off the crossbar. GNH scored twice late, one an empty netter, and took the 8-5 win. Lupa made 20 saves in the game.
On Saturday afternoon at the Rinks at Shelton the Westies started out slowly against Riverhawks A. Trailing 2-0, Molnar passed to Thomas for a shot and D’Aiuto slammed home the rebound to jumpstart the offense.
Twenty-one seconds later, Studley snared the puck in the neutral zone, burst past two defensemen and ripped a wrist shot through the five-hole to tie the game. Less than a minute later, Lipford chipped the puck ahead to Studley who sniped one in the upper right corner. Thomas then cashed in a breakaway with Guarino assisting to complete the scoring barrage of four goals in less than two minutes.
The Riverhawks scored a power play goal, but the Westies responded in the closing minute of the second period. Off a shot from the point, Lipford deflected the shot in and the Westies led 5-3. Thomas scored three goals in the third period, with D’Aiuto and Guarino garnering assists, as the Westies pulled away for the 8-3 victory. Kai Lupa was solid once again in net with 21 saves.
The postseason run for the West Haven Bantam AA team was a short one. Falling behind by a pair of goals in the opening minutes of the contest, West Haven fell on the road to West Hartford 7-1 Saturday morning.
West Hartford scored early in all three periods in a convincing win. The hosts took a 2-0 lead with goals 14 seconds in and 2:30 into the contest, and extended the lead to 3-0 2:32 into the second. West Hartford took a commanding 5-0 lead 1:18 into the third, before Zach Goetze scored West Haven’s lone goal, which was unassisted.
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