The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of close games this weekend. The Blue Devils lost, 5-4, to the Riverhawks A on Saturday, before rebounding to defeat Greater New Haven Warriors A1, 6-4, on Sunday. The Westies are now 24-8-2 on the season.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils traveled to the Rinks at Shelton to face the Riverhawks A squad. West Haven trailed 4-0 in the first period, came back to make it a one-goal game in the third, but eventually lost 5-4. Brady Price scored two goals and Sean Studley added a goal and an assist to lead the Westies offense.
Trailing 4-0, Ryan Pniewski got the Westies on the board when his wrist shot went five-hole. Studley passed ahead to Ethan Kelly who found Pniewski in the right circle.
In the second period, the Westies defense clamped down and Blue Devils goaltender Jacob Silva made some quality saves. Ethan Kelly and Studley combined for the only tally midway through the period as Kelly dug the puck off the boards and centered to the slot. Studley outhustled a defender to the puck and swept a one-timer inside the far post to make it 4-2.
With 6:28 to go in the game, Zach Goetze found Price streaking down the right side and Price roofed his wrist shot for a power play goal that cut the Riverhawk lead to 4-3. The Riverhawks scored their own man-advantage goal with just over three minutes to play to regain the two-goal lead. With 1:35 on the clock, Matthew Kelly passed ahead to Goetze who found Price again. Price’s wrister went five-hole to make the final score 5-4. Silva was solid in between the pipes with 22 saves.
On Sunday morning, at Edward L Bennett Rink, the Westies scored three third period goals to pull away from the Warriors and post a 6-4 victory. Zach Goetze recorded a hat trick and Jacob Silva made 24 saves to lead the Blue Devils.
Goetze tapped in a loose puck, with assists from Price and Thomas Porto, to score the only goal of the opening period and give West Haven a 1-0 lead. The Warriors tied it early in the second period, but Goetze carried the puck the length of the ice, deked right, and scored left to make it 2-1. Greater New Haven later scored a power play goal to tie it again at 2-2.
West Haven then killed off a critical two-man advantage, with Silva making a couple of clutch saves, before the top line gave the Westies the lead for the third time. Price scored with 31 seconds left in the period, with assists to Porto and Goetze, after they applied heavy pressure throughout their shift.
Pniewski slid one five-hole just 25 seconds into the third period with assists to Ethan Kelly and Studley.
Midway through the period, Porto fed Goetze for a short-handed breakaway making it 5-2. GNH scored off the next puck drop just 15 seconds later, but Studley scored on a spinning back-hand shot from Ethan Kelly 21 seconds after that to regain the three-goal lead. The Warriors scored once more, but Silva was clutch down the stretch to finish off the win.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team improved to 23-10-4 with a sweep of weekend action. The Westies opened with a victory over the Huskies and followed with another win over the Western Massachusetts Wizards.
Against the Huskies Saturday afternoon at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven, the Westies took a 1-0 lead 23 seconds into the game when Dante Hardt scored off an assist from Jayden Spreyer. The Huskies evened the contest 47 seconds later, and took the lead nine seconds after the equalizer.
The lead held up for the Huskies until the third period when Nolan Cole scored off assists from Mickey Dowd and Dave Brown with 11:38 remaining. West Haven scored the go-ahead goal when Cade Simone tallied with 5:48 left in the game.
The Westies capped the sweep with a 2-0 victory over the Wizards Sunday in West Haven. Brendan Smith was solid in goal and the Westies received a solid defensive effort.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead in the second period when Spreyer scored off an assist from Hardt. The Westies got an insurance goal 2:37 into the third when Colin Deane scored off an assist from Brown.