The road warriors of the West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won their seventh game of the season on Sunday.
The Blue Devils defeated ECHO A, 9-6, at the Bolton Ice Palace behind forward Cameren Lipford’s five goals and goaltender Alex Werle’s 23 saves. Forwards Grady Schulte and Tyler Silva contributed two goals each for the Westies.
The Blue Devils worked hard and played well, outskating the Stars of the Eastern Connecticut Hockey Organization from the drop of the puck and taking advantage of scoring opportunities on their way to a convincing victory.
Just over a minute into the contest, Schulte put the Westies on the scoreboard first on a shot that bounced over the ECHO goaltender. The Stars tied it two minutes later before briefly pulling ahead 2-1 at 8:30 of the first period. Lipford answered for the Blue Devils at 6:19 of the first, scoring on a rebound from defenseman Andrew Grillo. Schulte then made it 3-2 on a power-play goal from the left faceoff circle to close out the period.
The Westies opened the floodgates in the second, notching five goals. Lipford started the offensive juggernaut at 11:50 of the period, launching a wrist shot from inside the right blue line to make it 4-2. At 9:27 of the second, Silva backhanded a rebound past the ECHO goaltender to put the Blue Devils up 5-2.
After the Stars cut the Westies’ lead to 5-3, Lipford answered with a short-handed goal from the right faceoff circle to make it 6-3 with defenseman Kyle Guarino assisting on the play.
At 4:55 of the second, Lipford caught a pass from Grillo and wristed a shot high to the blocker side to put the Blue Devils up 7-4. Silva made it 8-4 at 2:24 of the period, scoring in front of the net on a pass from forward Aedan Guarino.
Midway through the third, Lipford scored from the right faceoff circle to make it 9-5 and preserve the win for the Westies.
On Saturday, West Haven fell, 9-2, to Stamford A at Terry Connors Rink. Lipford and Silva scored for the Blue Devils.
The West Haven Peewee AA team was in action Friday night, hosting the Jr Wolfpack AAA at Bennett Rink where the Westies posted an 8-2 victory.
Brody gave the Westies a 1-0 lead with 11:58 left in first. Just minutes into the second period, Thomas Porto found the back of the net after Nick Eberhart led Nicky Stevens in the offensive zone with a pass.
With 9:01 remaining, DiNuzzo beat the goalie on a wrister for a 3-0 advantage. The Westies tacked on five more goals, scored by Porto, Jack Aloi, Billy Mascari, Nick Salzano and Tim Donohue. Gabe Locklear was outstanding assisting on multiple goals and Zach Goetze played very well.
Strong defense from John Donohue, Cooper Deko and Beckett Stenz played a key role in West Haven posting the win. The goaltending was split by Tyler Donroe and Nate Kempton, who both played very well in net.
On Saturday, the Westies hosted South Windsor in CHC action in Hamden. West Haven proved to be too much for the Knights as the team peppered South Windsor in a 12-0 victory.
Deko got the Westies going as he sent a shot from the point past the goaltender. The flood gates opened as John Donohue, Locklear, and Connor Benz each tacked on two goals. Tim Donohue added one goal, but it was Porto who stole the show with a four-goal game.
Kempton and Donroe combined for the shutout as they were solid between the pipes. With the win, West Haven extended its win streak to 11 straight games.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team pushed its undefeated streak to four games with two wins this weekend. The Blue Devils defeated Ridgefield A, 3-1, and blitzed Watertown A, 10-3. West Haven is now 8-9-1 overall and 7-5-0 in CHC league play.
On Saturday evening at the Winter Garden Ice Arena, the Westies got a pair of goals from Mike Page and a couple of brilliant saves from Jacob Silva down the stretch to knock off Ridgefield, 3-1.
Ridgefield took an early 1-0 lead before the Blue Devils settled in and took control of the game. Matt Kelly passed to Sean Studley who fired a stretch pass that split the defense to Ronnie Mastroni. Mastroni deked and scored to tie it 7:12 into the game. With three minutes left in the first period, Brady Price skated around a defender and left a drop pass for Mikey Page’s one-timer. The goal gave West Haven a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
Early in the second period, Jonathan Charbonneau flicked a pass to the front of the goal where Page jammed it home giving the Westies a two-goal lead. Silva, who ended with ten saves, made a pair of crucial kick saves in the third period to ice the win. Greg Galasso started in net and posted nine saves.
On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies scored six goals in the second period, including three by Mastroni, to drop the Watertown Red Wings by a final score of 10-3. Chris Consorte and Alex Bowery each scored twice in the victory.
The Blue Devils spent much of the first period killing penalties but managed a 2-1 lead at the break. Matt Kelly passed to Ryan Pniewski for a shot from the point and Studley jammed home the rebound to open the scoring. Bowery then converted Price’s pass from behind the net.
Mastroni scored on two breakaways to open the second period with assists from Bowery and Connor Moriarty. Mastroni then took Bowery’s pass and went between his legs for a goal through the five-hole to earn his hat trick.
Zach Melchiore cashed in Consorte’s pass followed by goals from Bowery and Page to give the Westies an 8-2 lead after two periods. Consorte scored two goals twenty seconds apart, one from Moriarty and one unassisted, to complete the scoring in the third period. Silva and Galasso combined for 14 saves in goal.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend, falling to the Riverhawks and topping Stamford.
West Haven opened the weekend with a 7-3 loss against the Riverhawks Saturday afternoon at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Cade Simone led the offense with two goals, Cam Delvecchio added a goal and an assist, and Dave Brown and Sean Bosworth also had assists.
Simone gave West Haven a 1-0 first period lead off an assist from Brown, but the Riverhawks closed the period with three straight goals. Delvecchio set up Simone 3:35 into the second to get the Westies within a goal, but the Riverhawks again answered with three more tallies for a 6-2 lead.
Delvecchio then scored off an assist from Bosworth with 1:50 remaining, but the Westies never got closer.
West Haven got back on the winning track with a 5-1 road victory over Stamford Sunday evening. Bosworth and Mickey Dowd each scored twice, while Jayden Spreyer and Michael Madera each had a pair of assists.
Bosworth opened the scoring for the Westies with a tap-in of a Brown pass in front, before Stamford evened the contest 3:47 in. Bosworth gave West Haven a lead it would never relinquish when he tapped in a pass from Colin Deane 2:25 into the second period. Delvecchio increased the margin to 3-1.The Westies had a 4-1 lead when Dowd scored in front. The trio was at it again with 3:57 remaining in the game when Spreyer and Madera set up Dowd in front for the 5-1 final.
Brendan Smith played well in goal, making several key saves in the second period. The defense of Brown, Axelrod, Jason Alling, Matt Wezenski, Bosworth, and Josh Gyolai was solid in the victory.