Continuing West Haven Youth Hockey’s 50th anniversary tour, the West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team beat ECHO A, 7-5, in a barnburner at Bennett Rink on Saturday.
Forward Cameren Lipford had five goals and two assists and goalie Alex Werle made 27 saves to lead the Blue Devils past the Stars of the Bolton-based Eastern Connecticut Hockey Organization.
The Westies scored first on a short-handed goal by Lipford with 1:36 left in the first period. The Stars answered with three consecutive goals.
Trailing 3-1 late in the second period, the Blue Devils fought their way back with three straight goals by Lipford, including a power-play goal, to take a 4-3 lead.
The Stars scored twice to go up 5-4 with 3:11 remaining in regulation before Westies forward Ryan Walsh tied the game on a rebound from Lipford with 1:57 left. Seconds later, forward Gavin Coady netted the game-winner for the Blue Devils.
Werle’s rock-solid goaltending staved off multiple scoring attempts by the Stars late in the contest and Lipford added an empty-netter, his second in two games, to secure the 7-5 victory for the Westies, the team’s third of the season.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team dropped a pair of games this weekend. The Westies were denied, 6-4 by Stamford, and 4-1 by Wallingford.
On Saturday morning, West Haven traveled to Stamford to face the Sharks at Terry Conners Rink. Stamford scored the only goal of the opening period on a 5-on-3 advantage and led 1-0 at the first break.
Goaltender Greg Galasso was sharp and turned away eight shots in the period.
Down a man just two minutes into the second period, West Haven was able to tie the game at one with a short-handed tally. Sean Studley’s one-timer snuck inside the right post.
It was back-and-forth with Stamford coming out with the win. The Westies pulled their goalie and won the faceoff with a minute left, Stamford scored an empty net goal to escape with a 6-4 win. Galasso and Jacob Silva split time in goal and made 12 saves apiece.
On Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Blue Devils hosted the Wallingford Hawks. The visitors took the lead in the opening minute, but Silva was clutch and kept the game at 1-0 the rest of the period.
Penalties again slowed the West Haven offense in the second period and the Hawks eventually made it 2-0 on a man advantage halfway through the period. The Blue Devils eventually cut the lead in half as Mastroni carried the puck through the zone, held off a defender, and slid the puck to Ethan Kelly for a tap-in goal.
Wallingford added a pair of goals in the third period for the 4-1 win. Silva finished with 12 saves and Galasso added nine in relief.
The West Haven Peewee AA is off to a good start after beginning the season on Aug. 23. The Blue Devils were on a roll, winning the first three games, but came up short against thde Red Bank Generals in West Haven’s fourth game in two days.
The Peewee AA team resumed EJ action this weekend on the road against the Montclair Blues AA in New Jersey. Getting the Blue Devils on the board was Mascari, assisted by Gabe Locklear, followed by Brody DiNuzzo shorthanded, and again later, assisted by Mascari, in the contest to give West Haven a 3-0 lead. The Blue Devils hung on to win 4-2. Nicky Stevens found the back of the net for West Haven’s fourth goal.
Peewee AA returned home on Sunday to face the Ramapo Saints AA. The Blue Devils outscored Ramapo, 14-2.
Stevens got the Devils started in the first when he put a rebound off the stick of Cooper Deko into the back of the net. Nick Eberhart, Salzano and Mascari each had a goal and an assist. Stevens finished with a goal and two assists. Deko and Thomas Porto each had two assists.
DiNuzzo finished with two goals and two assists, Locklear was outstanding with two goals and an assist, Beckett Stenz and Tim Donohue each had two goals, Drew Kaufman added a goal, and Zach Goetze tallied three assists. Jack Aloi had an assist and anchored the defense.
West Haven stands at 7-1 in EJ play, while looking ahead to this Saturday when the Westies begin CHC action against New Canaan.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team fell to 1-2-1 on the year as it dropped a pair of contests this weekend.
The Westies opened the week with a 6-1 loss to Darien AA Saturday morning in West Haven. Darien scored three times in the opening period and never looked back.
West Haven’s lone goal came in the second period when Cam DelVecchio picked up a rebound of a Haygen Axelrod shot and scored with 3:36 gone by. Chris Adkins also assisted on the goal.
Darien added another goal in the second and two more in the third for the 6-1 final. West Haven fell to 1-1-1 with the loss.
The Westies then traveled to Wesleyan University and fell to Yale 05AA, 7-0 Sunday evening. Yale took a 3-0 lead in the first period, before extending the margin with four more goals in the second.
Bryan Hong made 26 saves and Brendan Smith made five saves in the loss for the Westies.
On Sunday, at Bennett Rink, the Bantams faced a tougher opponent and tied the visiting Riverhawks. Both goaltenders kept shutouts going until late in the third period when the Westies gave up a goal with 4:36 left. A double minor put the Westies, who had been plagued with penalties all game, back on the penalty kill.
The Devils battled hard but not until Youssef Ullah saw a short-handed opportunity to go end to end to tie the game did the Devils break the shutout at the 1:41 mark. Despite a valiant effort with the goalie pulled in the final seconds of the game, West Haven was unable to pull out a win.
On Saturday, the Bantam B team traveled to Newington to play a tough Central A1 team who handed the Devils their first loss of the season.
Central won 5-1.
On Sunday, they faced off against Southeastern B. The Westies would take another defeat after a slow start, costly penalties and giving up two of four goals while on the power play.