The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team came back to force a 3-3 tie against the Wonderland Wizards A1 at the Wonderland of Ice on Saturday. Zach Goetze redirected in a Dylan Link shot from the point with just 1:25 left in the game for the tying tally. West Haven is now 27-10-3 on the season.
Down 1-0 in the first period, Thomas Porto passed to Brady Price who found Goetze on the doorstep for a tap-in. The score knotted it at 1-1 with 38 seconds left in the period.
Four minutes into the second period, Goetze picked the pocket of a defender and crashed the net to make it 2-1 in favor of the Westies.
The Wizards scored a pair of third period goals within two minutes of each other to regain the lead. Ethan Kelly then drew a penalty with 1:30 left in the game to set up the Blue Devils.
After a timeout, the Westies pulled the goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. Porto won the faceoff to Link, and Goetze finished off his hat trick with some nice stick work. Jacob Silva had 13 saves in net for the Westies.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team moved to 25-13-5 with a split of two road games this weekend. West Haven opened with a win over Greater New Haven before falling to Northwestern.
The Westies opened the week on Saturday with a hard fought 6-1 victory over Greater New Haven at the Northford Ice Pavilion. Brendan Smith was the story of the game as he made 33 saves, including 15 in the first period.
Dante Hardt led the offense with two goals, while Jayden Spreyer and Nolan Cole each had a goal and an assist.
Spreyer gave the Westies a 1-0 lead 5:02 into the game when he scored off assists from Bruno Martone and Michael Madera. Greater New Haven evened the game 2:33 later, but the Westies took over in the second period.
Hardt scored the first of his two goals with an unassisted tally for a 2-1 lead with 9:50 remaining in the middle period, before West Haven’s special teams took over in the third period.
Killing off a penalty, the Westies scored two goals for a 4-1 advantage. Mickey Dowd came off the left wing and scored 6:46 into the third, and Dave Brown followed with a laser 35 seconds later off an assist from Smith.
West Haven put the game away with two goals in the final 5:57. Cole scored off an assist from Kyle Droney, and Hardt capped the scoring off assists from Spreyer and Cole.
The Westies traveled to the Gunnery Sunday morning to take on the fifth-ranked team in the state. In what was a tight contest until the final eight minutes, West Haven fell, 7-2.
After a scoreless first period, Cole gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 5:48 into the second when he forced a turnover and raced in for an unassisted goal. Northwestern evened the game 2:47 later, then took a 2-1 lead on a two-man advantage with 4:19 left in the second.
The game remained a one-goal contest until Northwestern scored another power play goal early in the third. West Haven again got within a goal as Dowd sent in Brown on a breakaway to get within 3-2 with 10:20 to go.
Any momentum West Haven had quickly faded when Northwestern scored 26 seconds later for a 4-2 lead. Northwestern put the game away with three goals in the final five minutes.