The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team returned to its winning ways with a pair of victories this weekend. The Westies won a tight game, 4-3, over visiting ECHO A, and then blew out Yale A1, 11-0, on the road. West Haven is now 21-5-2 on the season.
On Saturday morning, the Westies hosted the Stars of ECHO at Edward L. Bennett Rink. With starting goaltender Jacob Silva out sick, the team looked to Squirt B goalie Maddox LaFountain to step up. LaFountain made a tough save in the second minute of the game and the Westies rode the momentum.
ECHO got on the board first with a goal at the 7:01 mark of the opening period. Zach Goetze tied it 3:01 into the second period when he took Thomas Porto’s pass and fired into the top corner.
Just 43 seconds later, Goetze hit Brady Price with a pass and Price snapped home a wrist shot for a 2-1 lead. Price struck again with two minutes left in the period when he buried Goetze’s pass through the crease.
LaFountain made a clutch save on a one-on-none and the Blue Devils led, 3-1, going into the third period. The Stars made it 3-2 at 1:45, but Dylan Link’s laser from the point off an assist from Ethan Kelly at 3:11 pushed the lead back up to two. ECHO scored with under five minutes to go, but the Westies defense clamped down and did not allow another shot the rest of the way. LaFountain was solid and finished with 13 saves.
On Sunday afternoon at the Northford Ice Pavilion, the Blue Devils dominated possession of the puck and cruised past the Yale A1 team with an 11-0 shutout victory.
Seven different players scored goals in the contest. Porto led the offense with a hat trick and a pair of assists. Goetze (two goals and an assist), Sean Studley (goal and two assists) and Matthew Kelly (three assists) all had three points for the Blue Devils.
Link had a pair of goals, while Ethan Kelly scored a goal and added an assist. Price and Connor Moriarty scored goals. Dylan Bosworth and Ryan Pniewski skated hard at both ends of the ice and Jacob Silva returned to the net and earned the shutout with 10 saves.
The West Haven Squirt B travel hockey team posted a win this weekend with a 7-2 victory over the Seahawks. Cameren Lipford had five goals and an assist, while Gavin Coady and J.J. Hall each had a goal as well.
Rafi Treat , Gavin Fanelli, Sean Luxeder, and Tyler McColgan each had an assist. Maddex LaFountain was solid in net for the Westies.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team moved to 18-8-4 with a win and a tie this past weekend. The Westies traveled to Newington and defeated Central on Saturday, before falling to Yale at home on Sunday.
Against Central, Jayden Spreyer scored twice in a 3-1 victory. West Haven took a 1-0 lead with 5:37 left in the first as Kyle Droney set up Spreyer in front. After killing off a 5-on-3 to end the period, West Haven took a 2-0 lead just 2:09 into the second period when Spreyer scored an unassisted goal.
Brendan Smith was solid in goal, protecting the lead, before Colin Deane increased the lead to 3-0 off an assist from Bruno Martone with 9:40 remaining. Central scored with 4:28 remaining, but West Haven held on for the win.
The Westies returned home Sunday morning, but could not get going on offense in a 2-0 loss to Yale. In a thrilling contest, the game remained scoreless until the third period, but Yale scored twice in less than a minute, the first with 9:34 remaining in the game, to take control of the contest.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team hosted Northwestern on Saturday and won, 6-1. On Sunday, the Westies traveled to Darien and lost, 8-0
At Bennet Rink on Saturday morning, the Devils started fast, jumping out to a 4-0 first period lead. Luca Ubaldi opened up the scoring with a shot from the point. Mikey Alafno then ripped a wrist shot past the goaltender off a pass from Andrew Wrzosek. Steven Lewis finished off a goal after a scramble in front that was started by Joe D’Aurio’s shot, then it was Adrian Fielosh who was next to score with the assist going to Joe Honcz.
The game settled down, but the Westies kept up the pressure as Nico Bruneau scored. Anthony Peschell tallied the last goal on a breakaway.
On Sunday, an injury-riddled and undermanned West Haven squad could not muster much of an attack. With three players out with injuries and losing Lewis early in the second period, the Devils never threatened Darien.
The one bright spot was the play of goaltender Joe Crisci, who made several spectacular saves. Without any offensive production, it was all for naught.