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.