The West Haven Squirt B travel hockey team went 1-1 last weekend, with a tough loss to Wonderland Wizards on Saturday. Despite strong pressure from the offense and solid defense and goaltending, the Westies were unable to get on the board and fell, 2-0.
On Sunday, the Westies played the Shoreline Sharks Green and posted an impressive 7-0 win. The scoring starting early in the first period when Sophia Locklear scored off a rebound from Caty Aloi’s shot. Less than a minute later, Jackson Troyer scored an unassisted goal, followed by Locklear, who scored off a perfect pass from Sydney Reed.
Paul Clini scored later in the first after a back and forth pass from Troyer. Troyer added another goal, unassisted, to end the first period with a 5-0 West Haven lead. Josie Reed and Aloi each added an unassisted goal in the third period to give West Haven a 7-0 lead.
Brendan Silva was strong in the net the entire game and earned the shut out.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team lost a close-fought 5-4 battle with Riverhawks A on Sunday in its only game of the weekend. The Blue Devils are now 5-5-0 in CHC league play this season.
On Sunday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies took a 1-0 lead 6:04 into the game with a short-handed goal as Zach Melchiore won the puck along the left boards and shoveled a pass out to Sean Studley. Studley burst through the neutral zone and flipped in a backhand while being dragged down by a Riverhawks defenseman. The Riverhawks tied it at 1-1 with just 18 seconds left in the period.
The Riverhawks kept momentum through the second period and built their lead to 3-1. With 32 seconds left in the period, the Westies got back in the game at 3-2 when Studley got around a defenseman and slid the puck across the face of the goal where Cameren Lipford tapped the puck home.
The Riverhawks made the score 4-2 6:05 into the third period, but the Westies got the goal right back 29 seconds later. Lipford jabbed the puck out front where Melchiore rammed it in.
Four minutes later, Eddie Thomas drew a penalty when he was tripped on a breakaway. On the ensuing power play, Studley beat two defenders and centered the puck to Melchiore, who one-timed a shot in to tie the score at 4-4 with 4:14 left in the game. The Riverhawks won the faceoff and scored 13 seconds later to make it 5-4.
The Westies pulled their goalie in the final minute and created some chances, but could not find the equalizer. Kai Lupa made 19 saves for the Westies. The Blue Devils outshot the Riverhawks, 32-24, for the game.
The West Haven Bantam AA travel hockey team split a pair of home contests last weekend, falling to the Long Island Gulls 3-2 on Saturday, before topping the Ct. Jr. Whalers 6-1 on Sunday.
In the loss to Long Island, West Haven trailed 1-0 before Ronnie Mastroni scored off an assist from Ben Gilbert with 13:08 left in the second period to even the game at one.
The Gulls scored the next two goals and led 3-1 before Matt Stevens scored off an assist from Robert McCarthy with 1:48 remaining in the contest to get West Haven within a goal. Despite a hard-fought effort, West Haven could not get the equalizer.
Bryan Hong made 27 saves in the loss for West Haven.
The Westies got back on the winning track with an impressive victory Sunday over the Jr. Whalers. Eight different players were in the scoring column with Stevens and Thomas Porto each recording a goal and an assist.
Tyler Donroe was solid in goal, and the defense, led by Jack Aloi, Marco Goodmaster, Nikolas Allan, Max Schroeder, and McCarthy was stellar in the victory.
West Haven struck quickly in the contest as Mastroni deflected in Aloi’s shot from the point 1:40 into the contest. Stevens gave the Westies a 2-0 lead off an assist from Porto 5:21 in, before Gilbert scored an unassisted goal 4:07 into the second for a 3-0 lead. Just 1:23 later, West Haven increased the lead to 4-0 when Michael Madera one-timed a pass from Mickey Dowd in for a goal.
West Haven closed out the contest in the third period with two more goals. Leading 4-1, Goodmaster scored from the slot off an assist from Stevens, before Porto closed the scoring with 5:25 to go off an assist from Dowd.
Zach Goetze, Anthony Ursini, Dominic DiCiooccio, Brady Price, and Nick Eberhart all played well in the win.
West Haven won both of its games this weekend, moving its winning streak to three games.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 5-1 victory over Yale AA Saturday at the Edward L. Bennett Rink as Porto led the way with two goals and Donroe was solid in goal, making several stellar saves.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead with 4:39 left in the first period as Goodmaster scored from the point off an assist from DiCiooccio. Stevens increased the lead to 2-0 2:02 into the second, before Yale got within 2-1.
The Westies then closed the contest out with three goals in the third period. Porto scored off assists from Stevens and McCarthy 2:04 in, then added his second off an assist from Jack Aloi with 3:58 to go for a 4-1 advantage. Dowd added an empty net goal with seven seconds remaining for the Westies.
West Haven traveled to West Hartford Sunday afternoon and came away with a 4-1 victory. Stevens led the way with a hat trick, while Porto and Goetze each had a pair of assists.
Stevens gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 3:30 into the contest off an assist from Goetze, before Gilbert scored off an assist from Price with 2:45 left in the second for a 2-0 lead.
Leading 2-1, Porto and Goetze set up Stevens for a 3-1 advantage, before Stevens scored 29 seconds later for a 4-1 advantage with 5:35 left in the game. Hong played well in goal to pick up the win for West Haven.
Ursini, Mastroni, Madera, and Eberhart all played well as the Westies were short-handed the entire weekend.
Hosting both of its games at the Edward L. Bennett Rink last weekend, the West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team welcomed the Avon Panthers Saturday morning and skated to a 2-2 tie.
After a scoreless first, the Panthers got on the board first in the first minute of the second period. The Blue Devils responded to even the score with four minutes left in the period off a laser from Alex Bowery, with Alex Kurowski getting the helper.
West Haven had a goal disallowed early in the third period off a rebound in front, which would have given the Westies the lead. Avon scored again to go up by one with 8 minutes to go, only to have the Westies respond a minute and a half later off a goal by Kurowski. Bowery was credited with the helper on Kurowski’s game-tying goal, which is how the game finished. Although it was a tie game, West Haven dominated on puck possession and moving the puck in the offensive zone.
Greg Galasso started the game in net, giving his team a dominant performance, with John Kennedy cleaning up in the second half, keeping his team in the game.
Haygen Axelrod, JJ Alling and Dylan Bosworth all played well on defense. Chris Consorte had a stellar showing on offense for the Blue Devils.
On Sunday, the Watertown Red Wings made a trip to West Haven, where the Blue Devils came out on top with a 5-2 victory.
Yousaf Ullah wasted no time netting the first goal of the game in the first 34 seconds of the opening period, with assists credited to Kurowski and Bowery. After a back and forth 7 minutes, Theo Diakomis gave the Blue Devils a two-goal cushion by netting a goal of his own, with Javed Ullah getting the assist. Connor Moriarty scored with 2:30 remaining in the first period off an assist from Javed Ullah. Just 30 seconds later, Diakomis scored his second of the game with an unassisted goal to give his team a 4-0 lead.
Yousaf Ullah scored his second of the afternoon in the first two minutes of the second period to make it 5-0 West Haven. Watertown would go on to score two goals of their own later in the second period. West Haven once again dominated on puck possession and in shots on net, but neither team scored in the third, leading to a 5-2 win for the Blue Devils.
Kennedy started in net with Galasso relieving him in the second half of the game. Each gave up a goal, and both had some spectacular saves to keep Watertown at only two goals.
Brody Elam, Connor Bunnell and Joey DiGioia all played well on defense. Mason Maiocco had a pair of scoring opportunities on offense for the Blue Devils.
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