In its regular season finale, the West Haven Mite C hockey team took on the Wallingford Hawks Mite C’s. The two teams played a series of competitive games this year, and this one was no different as West Haven posted the victory.
West Haven went up 1-0 early on a Logan Minio goal, as he received a pass from Kyle Johnson and finished past the Hawk’s goalie. The two combined again to put West Haven up 2-0, and Minio finished the hat trick after he scored from a pass from Ben Trenchard. Trenchard and Minio would assist on a Johnson goal.
Trenchard added one himself after he put pressure on a Wallingford defenseman, forcing him to cough up the puck which Trenchard picked up and took in on a breakaway and put through the 5-hole for the goal. Jax Guarino added the final goal for West Haven, scoring a great back-hand shot after Brady Salkins gave him a nice pass.
The Pee Wee A team hosted Western Major at Edward L. Bennett Rink on Sunday morning. Western came away with a 4-3 win after an evenly played game.
The Westies dominated early and controlled played throughout the first period but Western got on the scoreboard first and led 1-0 at the first break. West Haven outshot Western, 12-6, in the period.
Just over a minute into the second period the Blue Devils tied the game. Ronnie Mastroni picked up a loose puck, skated to the net, and deposited a backhand. Two minutes later, Mike Page carried over the blue line and hit Ethan Kelly with a pass. Kelly went right back to Page who roofed the shot for a 2-1 lead. Western tied the game midway through the second and it remained tied into the third period.
Western scored in the first minute to regain a one-goal lead. It looked worse when the Blue Devils went down a man for four minutes. The team rallied to kill off the penalties and then immediately tied it. Page corralled the puck and hit ahead to Brady Price leading to a breakaway. Price buried the chance and it was tied 3-3 with 3:57 to play.
Western came back and won the game with a goal 1:21 later. The Westies pulled their goalie but could not get the equalizer.
Greg Galasso started in net and stopped 9 shots. Jacob Silva played the second half of the game and had 12 saves. Western outshot West Haven 25-23 for the game.
The Westies are the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Pee Wee Tier 4 state championship and begin play Wednesday, March 4 at the Newington Ice Arena. Western Major is seeded fifth.
West Haven Peewee A split a pair of games last week as the Blue Devils lost to Wallingford A , 8-3, before knocking off the Darien 12U girls team, 5-2.
On Saturday morning on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall, the Westies took on Wallingford A. The home team controlled the play early and led 5-0 after one period. Matthew Kelly, Alex Bowery, and Mastroni scored for West Haven. Silva (10 saves) and Galasso (9) split time in goal for the Westies.
On Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Blue Devils hosted the Darien IceCats Tier 1 girls. The IceCats took an early 1-0 lead 3:15 into the first, before Page found the puck and snapped in a wrist shot to tie the game at 1-1 less than a minute later. Later, Page dug the puck off the boards where Bowery buried the loose puck and the Westies led 2-1 after one period.
Page scored the only goal of the second period when he chipped the puck ahead to himself and snapped in a wrist shot that snuck through the five-hole. Mastroni made it 4-1 with a power play goal four minutes into the third period and he capped the scoring for the Westies when he took Sean Studley’s faceoff win, split two defenders, and roofed his shot.
Galasso went the distance in net for West Haven and made 19 saves. The Westies outshot the IceCats, 28-21.
The goal for the West Haven Peewee AA travel hockey team at the beginning of the season was to win the Tier 2 state championship. Mission accomplished.
The state tournament began on Thursday as West Haven faced a tough Yale 07 AA team. The Westies finished with a 3-1 victory.
On Saturday, West Haven shut out Northwestern 2-0, and later in the day finished in a 2-2 tie with Wonderland, moving on to the semifinals on Sunday as the top seed.
The Westies battled Greater New Haven Warriors and played like a team that would not be denied a bid for a shot at the state championship. Collectively, West Haven peppered GNH, resulting in a 5-2 victory, moving on to the last step in completing the goal of winning the state championship.
On Sunday evening, the Westies faced Wonderland AA, a team they previously tied, 2-2. To make things more difficult, West Haven would need to beat Wonderland in its own rink.
West Haven was not to be denied, using first period goals by Brody DiNuzzo and Gabe Locklear to take a two-goal lead, before cruising to a 4-0 title-clinching victory. Billy Mascari and Locklear added goals which were more than enough for Nate Kempton, who posted the shutout in goal.
The West Haven Peewee AA team consisted of Zach Goetze, John Donohue, Nick Salzano, Beckett Stenz, Mascari, Nicky Stevens, Kempton, Tyler Donroe, DiNuzzo, Tim Donohue, Thomas Porto, Nick Eberhart, Connor Benz, Locklear, and Jack Aloi.
West Haven will now take its 48-9-4 record to the Regionals, which take place the weekend of March 13 in Rhode Island.
The season has come to an end for the West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team. Playing in the Tier 3 state tournament, the Westies were eliminated in the state quarterfinals last weekend.
The Westies opened the state tournament playing the eventual state runner-up, Putnam. With the game even at one, Putnam scored three short-handed goals in a span of 3:23, on its way to a 12-5 victory.
Mickey Dowd led the offense with three goals, while Cam Delvecchio and Jayden Spreyer each added a goal and an assist. Matt Wezenski, Kyle Droney, Haygen Axelrod and Michael Madera all had assists in the contest.
In the second contest of the tournament, West Haven led late, but watched as Greenwich A scored the equalizer with 18.5 seconds remaining in a 4-4 tie. Dowd had two goals, Spreyer added two goals and an assist, Wezenski added a goal, and Will Giaquinto and Madera each had assists.
Wezenski gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 2:29 into the contest off an assist from Giaquinto, before Greenwich scored the next three goals for a 3-1 advantage.
West Haven got within 3-2 with 4:41 left in the second on a goal by Spreyer, before Dowd evened the contest 40 seconds into the third with a power play goal off an assist from Spreyer.When Dowd scored his second of the game off assists from Spreyer and Madera, West Haven held a 4-3 lead with 7:19 to go.
The season ended with a 4-0 loss to Wallingford in the quarterfinals.
The West Haven Bantam B travel hockey team headed to West Hartford to play in the Governor’s Divisional state tournament.
On Wednesday, the Westies faced host West Hartford B at Loomis Chaffe and after a 45 minute school lockdown, solid goaltending, a goal from Zack Fonda (Javed Ullah assisted) and a game-winner from Yousaf Ullah (Matt Wright assisted), West Haven posted a 2-1 victory.
In Saturday morning’s game against Northwestern A1, Alex Kurowski started the scoring by redirecting a shot from Deklan Loehfelm and got his second of the game unassisted. Yousaf Ullah, off assists from Kurowski and Fonda, added a goal a minute later. Matty Wright added a third period goal to seal the 4-2 win.
In their second game of the day and the final game of the tournament, the Westies took on Ridgefield A. Fonda, off an assist from Cody Rocchio, scored in the second period to open the scoring. Yousaf Ullah added a goal in the third period which would hold to be the game winner in a 2-1 win, sealing a first place seeding for the semifinals.
Early Sunday morning, the Westies had to face Echo A, whom they had previously lost to less than two months ago. Trailing after letting two first period goals in, the Westies fought back and Wright rallied a goal in the second on an assist from TJ Levenduski.
Echo opened the third period with a goal, but the Westies did not quit and answered right back when Fonda, off an assist from Ashley Welch, got the Blue Devils within one. With two minutes left in the game, Danny Johnson, off an assist from Rocchio, tied the game.
With a minute left in the game, Wright put the Westies on top when he got past the Echo defense and scored. Fonda, off an assist from Taylor Alfano, sealed the win with an empty net goal.
In the finals, the Westies had to face a recharged West Hartford team. Despite a first period goal from Yousaf Ullah, the Westies were unable to find the back of the net for the rest of the game and ultimately lost the game, 3-1.