On Saturday morning, the West Haven Mite C hockey team hosted the Hamden Dragons Mite C’s. The Westies came out on top by a score of 12-4.
Logan Minio and Brady Salkins each picked up a hat trick, and Julius Stokes, Jax Guarino, and Anthony Parise also scored. Ben Trenchard played a great game in goal, picking up 16 saves in the win for the Blue Devils.
The team played in the Mite Jamboree at Taft in Watertown on last Sunday, going an impressive 3-1-1 on the day against five B travel teams.
In the opening game of the day, the Blue Devils took on the Simsbury Mite C team, falling 6-2. Trenchard made his debut in goal, making 21 saves to try to keep his team in the game. Logan Minio scored both goals, and Joe Mondo played well defensively.
In game two, the Mite C’s took on the Hamden Mite B team, and in a tough back-and-forth game, the Westies won, 5-4. Anthony Parise, Minio (two), Kyle Johnson, and Minio scored for West Haven. Evan Harrison played great in goal to help the Mite C’s picked up their first win of the day.
In game three, West Haven played the Watertown Mite B Redwings. West Haven came up with a big 10-2 win. Minio continued his scoring streak, as Trenchard continued to find him and get him the puck. Stokes and Johnson also assisted on Minio goals. Johnson picked up his second goal of the day, as Trenchard picked up another assist. Brady Salkins scored a nice goal as Jax Guarino beat a Redwing and put the puck in front of the net for Salkins to bang home.
In game four, the West Haven played rival Greater New Haven Mite B. The Westies tied 3-3 against New Haven, and played one of their best games of the season. The Trenchard-Minio connection continued, as Minio netted twice off of Trenchard assists. Johnson picked up the third goal. Mondo and Guarino were both great defensively, and Harrison made several big stops to preserve the tie.
In game five, the Blue Devils took on the Wallingford Hawks Mite B team. It was a tense game, as Harrison and the Wallingford goalie both made several big saves. Parise, Stokes and Mondo were big on defense, as Trenchard put the pressure on the other team and forechecked hard. Guarino, Johnson and Minio cut off Hawk passes and got the puck deep in their end to create scoring chance. As the seconds ticked away, the score remained 0-0 until Salkins broke through on a breakaway and buried the puck into the back of the goal to give West Haven the 1-0 win.
Despite a good effort, the West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team lost, 5-3, to Avon A at Bennett Rink on Saturday.
After falling behind 1-0 just 56 seconds into the game, Westie center Cameren Lipford tied the game on a wrist shot from the slot at 5:38 of the first. Forward Aedan Guarino assisted on the play.
The Panthers went up 2-1 three minutes later, but Lipford tied it once again — this time rebounding defenseman Kyle Guarino’s shot from the right point and backhanding the puck past the goaltender with 50 seconds left in the period.
At 4:24 of the second, Lipford then rebounded forward Grady Schulte’s shot from the slot and fired a wrister that deflected off the goalie’s blocker into the net to put the Blue Devils up 3-2. The Panthers clawed their way back, however, to tie it at 3:13 of the period.
It was all Avon from there.Andrew Grillo and Kyle Guarino played well defensively for West Haven, while goalie Alex Werle stopped 25 shots.
West Haven won, 6-2, over the Connecticut RiverHawks at Bennett Rink last Saturday. Gavin Coady, Tyler Silva, off an assist from Michael D’Aiuto, Cameren Lipford (two goals), D’Aiuto, off an assist from Ryan Walsh, and Walsh all scored.
Werle stopped 17 shots and Andrew Grillo, Brooklynn Maher and Kyle Guarino played well defensively.
The West Haven Pee Wee A hockey team faced the IceHawks of Northwestern A1 in a home-and-home series over the weekend. The Blue Devils came away with a win and a tie and have an overall record of 23-24-2 on the season.
On Saturday morning at O’Neill Arena on the campus of Canterbury School, the Westies got four goals and three assists from Brady Price in the 8-8 tie.
Greg Galasso made four saves in the first period. Jacob Silva came on in relief and made ten saves the rest of the way. West Haven outshot Northwestern 41-22 for the game.
The rematch was Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink. The Westies went up 1-0 in the opening minute when Bowery fed Kelly in the high slot for a wrister. Northwestern tied it four minutes later.
Penalties mounted on both sides during the second period. The IceHawks scored a power play goal to lead 2-1. The Westies were on a man advantage when a delayed penalty was called. Dylan Bosworth skated on as the extra attacker and pounced on a rebound of Pniewski’s shot to knot it at 2-2. Still on the power play, Bowery hit ahead to Price who roofed a backhand shot a minute later for a 3-2 lead.
Despite controlling most of the play (West Haven outshot Northwestern 41-18), the home team yielded an early goal in the period and it was tied again. Bowery’s breakout pass to Price led to the winning goal. Price slid the puck to Kelly and he cashed in to make it 4-3. Solid defense and goaltending (Galasso made 15 saves in between the pipes) over the final four minutes earned West Haven the win.
The team split a pair of close games last weekend. The Blue Devils controlled play against East Haven A1 in a 4-2 victory on Saturday, before dropping a 5-4 decision to Wonderland A on Sunday.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team won its only game of the weekend with a 6-4 victory over Western A at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Saturday morning. Cam Delvecchio led the way with two goals and two assists, while Matt Stevens had four assists.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead just 28 seconds into the contest when Delvecchio scored an unassisted goal. Western evened the game 29 seconds later, before West Haven took a 3-1 lead after one.
Jayden Spreyer gave the Westies a 2-1 lead off an assist from Stevens 3:16 in, before Delvecchio’s second of the game off another assist from Stevens increased the margin to 3-1 with 59.2 seconds left in the first.
Western got within 3-2, but Michael Madera scored a power play goal off assists from Delvecchio and Stevens for a 4-2 lead 3:21 into the second.
West Haven added two more goals in the second for a 6-2 lead. Mickey Dowd scored off assists from Delvecchio and Stevens, and Matt Wezenski scored off an assist from Spreyer 2:27 apart.
West Haven won the Jimmy Welch tournament in Berkshire, Massachusetts last weekend. The Westies played four games and outscored their opponents 32-2.
Behind strong defensive play from Matt Wezenski, Haygen Axelrod, and Jason Alling, Bryan Hong posted three shutouts in the tournament.
Cam Delvecchio led the way with three goals and nine assists, Jayden Spreyer had five goals and three assists, Dante Hardt had three goals and five assists, Matt Wezenski had a goal and seven assists, Mickey Dowd added six goals and one assist, Michael Madera had five goals and two assists, and Will Giaquinto scored four times and added two assists.
West Haven advanced to the finals with a 7-0 victory over the Berkshire Bruins Saturday evening. Madera and Dowd led the offense with two goals and an assist apiece, Hardt scored twice, Wezenski had three assists, and Delvecchio added a pair of assists. Hong was solid in goal in posting the shutout.
The Westies took home the title with a 6-0 victory over the Berkshire Bruins on Sunday. Delvecchio led the way with a goal and two assists, Dowd scored twice, Hardt had a goal and an assist, and Wezenski and Stevens each had two assists.
In its only game last weekend, the West Haven Bantam B travel hockey team played New Canaan Winter Club at Bennett Rink Sunday afternoon and posted a 4-1 victory. After going down 1-0 in the first, the Westies bounced back in the second with three goals.
Alex Kurowski got the first goal off assists from Ashley Welch and Matty Wright on the power play. Still on the power play, Wright would then connect 36 seconds later from Yousaf Ullah. Shortly after, Kurowski (unassisted) netted his second of the game while short-handed. The Westies added a goal in the third period from Ullah with a top corner shot from the point. The goal was unassisted and the score would remain 4-1 for the Westie win.