The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team picked up a pair of big wins at Bennett Rink this weekend, defeating Wonderland, 9-0, on Saturday and South Windsor A, 4-3, on Sunday.
In the first game, the Blue Devils were led by the offensive firepower of forwards Cameren Lipford (5 goals) and Gavin Coady (1 goal, 2 assists), and the defensive trio of Andrew Grillo and brothers Aedan and Kyle Guarino, who stymied the Wizards of Bridgeport from the opening faceoff.
The shutout was the second of the season posted by Westies goaltender Alex Werle, who played lights out with 10 saves.
Against South Windsor, the Blue Devils clawed their way back from a three-goal deficit, scoring four unanswered goals, including the game-winner by forward Dhruva Garani, on their way to a hard-earned victory.
Lipford had a hat trick and Werle made 26 saves to lead the Westies.
West Haven’s effort in the contest was augmented by the defense of the Guarino brothers and Grillo, and the spectacular goaltending of Werle, whose quick glove and well-timed poke checks in key moments helped notch the team’s fifth win of the season.
The West Haven Peewee AA travel hockey team opened the weekend on the road in CHC action at The Gunnery against NorthWestern Peewee A and came away with a 7-1 victory.
John Donohue put West Haven ahead early with an unassisted goal. Gabe Locklear added to the lead off assists from Billy Mascari and Thomas Porto, before NorthWestern got on the board to cut West Havens lead in half.
The Blue Devils ran away with the game as they scored five more times in the contest. Timmy Donohue scored two unassisted goals, Brody DiNuzzo found Nicky Stevens in front for a goal, Zach Goetze did the same shortly after setting up Stevens again. West Haven’s final goal of the game came when Mascari set up Timmy Donohue for the hat trick.
Tyler Donroe started in net, before handing it over to Nate Kempton up 4-1 as the goaltending was outstanding.
The Westies hosted the Rhode Island Jr Blues AA in EJEPL action at Bennett Rink on Sunday afternoon and posted a 5-2 victory.
Locklear,and DiNuzzo made it 2-0.
After the Blues tacked on two goals to even the contest two, West Haven took the lead for good at 11:41 in the second period when Nick Salzano let a wrister go from point, deflecting off a Blues defenseman and in to put the Blue Devils on top 3-2.
The score remained the same until Locklear gave his team a 4-2 advantage. DiNuzzo scored seconds later to make it 5-2.
Kempton started the game, before exiting with his team up 3-2. Donroe closed the game without allowing a goal. Cooper Deko, Salzano, Beckett Stenz and Jack Aloi provided solid defense.
The West Haven Peewee A hockey team split a pair games over the weekend and now stand at 5-6-0 overall on the season. The Blue Devils dropped an 8-1 decision to CT Jr. Whalers and then rebounded to defeat Western Major, 5-2.
On Saturday morning at the SoNo Ice House, the Westies got on the board first in the opening period. Ronnie Mastroni took Brady Price’s pass and found the back of the net. The Whalers then pulled away for the 8-1 win.
The Blue Devils returned home Sunday morning to host Western Major. Mikey Page put West Haven ahead midway through the opening. Greg Galasso was sharp in goal for the Westies throughout the period.
Western tied the game early in the second, but the Westies grabbed the lead back 44 seconds later. Dylan Bosworth buried his breakaway for a 2-1 lead. Price then made it 3-1 with a short-handed goal. Western scored again and it was a one-goal game after two periods.
Page scored again five minutes into the third. Sean Studley finished the scoring when he buried an empty-net goal in the final minute with assists to Mastroni and Ryan Pniewski. Galasso and Jacob Silva combined for 22 saves in net in the 5-2 victory.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team fell in its only contest of the weekend Saturday morning against Ridgefield AA. Despite two goals from Cam Delvecchio and two assists from Cade Simone, West Haven lost, 3-2.
Despite a hard-played opening period, Ridgefield took a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the final 2:10 of the period, including the second with just 33 seconds remaining in the period.
West Haven cut the deficit in half when Simone set up Delvecchio for a short-handed goal with 11:40 remaining in the middle period. The two were at it again with 2:42 remaining in the game as Simone fed Delvecchio for the equalizer.
The lead was short-lived as Ridgefield rallied with a goal just 31 seconds later for the 3-2 victory.
The West Haven Bantam B travel hockey team played to a win and a tie this weekend, topping Southeastern B, and knotting Yale.
On Saturday, the Westies traveled to Norwich to avenge an early season loss against the Southeastern B team and came away with a 5-0 victory. The Westies started the scoring in the first period on a goal by Matt Wright off an assist from Taylor Alfano.
Zack Fonda added a goal in the second period from Ashley Welch and Alex Kurowski. Fonda, Welch and Kurowski connected again for Fonda’s second tally of the game. Yousaf Ullah and Kevin Gardner added goals with under two minutes left. After saving all 21 shots he faced, Austin Fruin recorded the shutout.
Sunday brought a tough rematch with Yale A1 and the teams played to a 2-2 tie. Yale scored first at 3:31 in the first period, but Ullah tied the game with an unassisted goal at 1:27 in the first. Alfano’s unassisted goal put the Westies up 30 seconds later.
Yale tied the game in the second period and the score held to the end of the game. With the tie, the Westies improved to 6-4-3 on the season, heading into the Haunted Shootout tournament in Marlborough.