The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils defeated Enfield 4-3 at Bennett Rink, avenging a 4-3 loss to the Eagles on Sept. 29.
Forward Cameren Lipford scored a hat trick, Gavin Coady tallied a goal and an assist, and goaltender Alex Werle saved 17 shots to lead the Westies to their sixth win of the season.
After a scoreless first period, the Blue Devils trailed 2-0 before Lipford fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle at 2:06 of the second to make it a one-shot game. Less than a minute into the third, Lipford tied it on a top-shelf backhand in front of the net.
Coady put the Westies up 3-2 at 10:02 of the third, banking a shot off the Enfield goaltender’s pads from the right side of the net. The Eagles answered with a tying goal, but the Blue Devils never wavered, thanks to strong defense by Andrew Grillo and solid goaltending by Werle.
With 3:00 left in regulation, Lipford scored on a wrister from the right faceoff circle on a beautiful pass from Coady to seal the victory for the Westies.
On Sunday, West Haven fell 7-4 to Connecticut Ice Cats A at Stamford Twin Rinks. Lipford scored all four goals for the Blue Devils, one of which was assisted by forward Tyler Silva and the other by defenseman Kyle Guarino. Werle stopped 15 shots against the Darien-based Ice Cats.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team earned a win and a tie this weekend in its pair of games. The Blue Devils are now 6-9-1 on the season.
On Saturday night, the Westies headed to “The Whale”, Yale’s Ingalls Rink, to face Yale 2008A. Five different players scored goals in a balanced attack as the Westies won, 6-4. Dylan Bosworth netted two goals, Connor Moriarty had a goal and assist, while Alex Bowery, Mike Page and Ronnie Mastroni scored a goal apiece.
Greg Galasso started in goal and made seven saves while Silva turned away nine shots in relief.
On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies faced off with Mid-Fairfield Girls 12U Major 1. In an entertaining game the teams skated to a 0-0 tie. Silva started and made 9 saves. Galasso finished up and posted 11 saves, including one on a breakaway in the third period and another when he denied the rebound attempt. West Haven’s defensemen Leo Mazuroski, Ryan Pniewski, Matthew Kelly and Jonathan Charbonneau were solid throughout the game.
The West Haven Peewee AA travel hockey team looked to extend its seven-game win streak over the weekend as they traveled to Ridgefield to face off against Ridgefield Peewee AA’s and posted a 5-3 victory.
With 11:34 left to play in the first period, Billy Mascari scored for a 1-0 lead. Ridgefield would answer a minute later, before Nicky Stevens found Nick Eberhart who gave WH a 2-1 lead at 7:46 in the first. Even at two, Gabe Locklear scored with 56 seconds left to play in second period for a 3-2 lead. With the game even at three, Locklear took matters into his own hands scoring on a breakaway and providing the game winner. Nick Salzano scored into an empty net for the final.
Nate Kempton played the entire game in goal and made a huge sequence of saves to preserve the lead late in the third period.
On Sunday, the team traveled to Cromwell to face Peewee AAA Jr Wolfpack. The Blue Devils dominated the game from start to finish in a 6-0 win.
Tim Donohue got the Devils on the board with help from Billy Mascari and Jack Aloi. Cooper Deko capitalized on a pass from Stevens to Salzano in front as Salzano redirected the puck and Deko sent it to the back of the net. Locklear found a loose puck in the neutral zone and went the rest of the way unassisted followed by Eberhart. Mascari added another assisted by Locklear and Donohue. The final goal of the game was scored by Locklear, his second of the game assisted by Mascari.
Goaltender Tyler Donroe was outstanding while earning another shutout.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team posted a victory in its lone contest of the week, defeating Avon 3-2 at Avon Old Farms Sunday afternoon.
Bryan Hong was stellar in goal, turning aside 23 shots, including six in the third period. After surrendering an early goal, Hong made nine saves in the opening period.
Trailing by a goal, Dave Brown scored off an assist from Cam Delvecchio to even the game after one period.
The Westies took the lead for good 19 seconds into the second when Brown sent Cade Simone in for a 2-1 advantage.
West Haven increased the lead to 3-1 just 15 seconds into the third on a goal by Mickey Dowd off an assist from Jayden Spreyer.
Avon answered 3:16 later, but could not get the equalizer.
With only one contest, the West Haven Bantam B travel hockey team faced off against Simsbury B Sunday afternoon and posted an 8-1 victory.
In his first game, interim goalie Javed Ullah would be put to the test against a hard skating Simsbury team. The Westies found the back of the net first when Cody Rocchio scored from Deklan Loehfelm halfway through the first. Simsbury answered back and Youssef Ullab made it 2-1 at the end of the first period.
The Westies built their lead in the second period with goals from; Yousaf Ullah (Ashley Welch), Ashley Welch (Max Ginsberg and Zach Fonda), Taylor Alfano (Rocchio) and Yousaf Ullah up complete his hat trick.
Going into the third period with a 6-1 lead, the Westies looked to limit shots against, keep the pressure on Simsbury and added goals from Yousaf Ullah, Ginsberg (Ashley Welch). The Westies nailed down the 8-1 win for Javed Ullah’s first win as interim goalie in which he turned all shots but one away.