The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend. The Westies lost to Avon A, 7-2, and defeated ECHO A, 4-3. West Haven is now 14-8-1 on the season.
On Saturday morning at Edward L Bennett Rink, the Westies took on the Avon Panthers and fell 7-2. Zach Melchiore got West Haven out to a 1-0 lead when Matthew Kelly’s shot deflected to Aedan Guarino who passed to Melchiore and Melchiore knocked the puck into the back of net. Avon then scored the next four goals for a 4-1 lead after one period.
Ethan Kelly converted on a breakaway with his brother Matthew assisting midway through the second period to make it 4-2. The Blue Devils were shut down the rest of the way as Avon won by five. Maddex LaFountain made 19 saves for the Westies.
The Blue Devils traveled to the Bolton Ice Palace on Sunday morning to face the ECHO Stars. Sean Studley led the Blue Devil offense with a hat trick and an assist in a 4-3 win.
After ECHO took an early lead, Studley banged home a loose puck when Ethan Kelly’s initial shot was saved to tie the score at 1-1. The Stars regained the lead two minutes later and led 2-1 at the first intermission.
Kelly found Studley for a one-timer on a two-on-none two minutes into the second period to tie it again at 2-2. West Haven then took its first lead of the game with a power play goal midway through the period.
Cameren Lipford fired home a backhander after Studley’s wrister was saved and the Westies led 3-2. But less than a minute later ECHO tied it and the teams remained knotted at 3 skating into the third period.
West Haven controlled most of the action in the third period, but could not find the back of the net until Studley made a hustle play with six minutes remaining. Studley stole the puck from a defenseman and wristed a shot that was saved. He gathered the loose puck, eluded a defenseman, circled behind the net and fired home the game-winning goal. LaFountain only needed to make four saves in goal for West Haven as the Westies outshot the Stars 33-7.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team went 1-2 this weekend, falling to the Ct Junior Whalers 06 and Southern, before rebounding with a win over East Haven.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 7-1 loss against the Ct Jr. Whalers Friday evening at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Trailing 1-0 in the opening period, Michael Madera evened the contest off assists from Zach Goetze and Mickey Dowd.
Despite controlling play in the opening period, West Haven trailed 2-1 and allowed two more goals in the second period. West Haven never got closer despite additional pressure throughout the contest.
Brady Price, Mike Page, and Connor Moriarty played well offensively in the loss.
The Westies then traveled to play Southern at the Milford Ice Pavilion Saturday evening. Despite a brilliant effort in goal by Bryan Hong, West Haven fell 5-2. Trailing 2-0 in the third period, the Westies rallied to tie the contest, but a late goal gave Southern the lead for good.
Down by two goals and killing a penalty, Ray Heenie sent a pass up to Madera along the boards. Madera skated up the left wing and wristed a shot home to cut the deficit in half 23 seconds into the third period.
West Haven continued to mount the pressure and got the equalizer with 9:12 to go. Dowd sent pass to Goetze who fed Madera for the tying goal. West Haven played well, but Southern scored the go-ahead goal with 5:37 to go, then added an empty-net tally with 21 seconds left and another goal in the final seconds for the 5-2 defeat.
Danny Johnson, Brady Price, Dylan Bosworth and Chris Consorte played well offensively in the loss. Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Bruno Martone, and Heenie played well defensively.
The Westies closed the weekend with a 4-3 victory over East Haven Sunday morning in West Haven. Dowd led the offense with two goals and an assist, while Madera added one goal and three assists, and Goetze also scored.
Trailing 1-0, Goetze evened the contest off an assist from Madera with 6:09 left in the opening period. East Haven took the lead late in the first period, but the Westies took the lead for good in the second period.
Dowd scored off an assist from Madera with 7:44 to go in the period to even the contest, before the pair hooked up again as Dowd picked up a rebound of Madera’s shot for a short-handed tally and a 3-2 lead with 3:18 to go in the middle period.
West Haven increased the margin to 4-2 with 9:18 left in the third period as Madera scored in front off an assist from Dowd. East Haven got closer with a goal with 2:10 remaining, but the Westies held on for the win.
Hong and Jacob Silva each played well in goal for West Haven.
The West Haven Bantam A team had its toughest weekend of the season this past weekend, going 0-2 after not losing in its previous eight games.
On Saturday, the Greenwich Skating Club came into the Bennett Rink and came out on top with a 2-0 win. It was a very back and forth matchup, but the Skate Club was able to come out with the win. Carl Murgo, Justin Pniewski and Matt Morgan played well on forward. David Brown, Jojo D’Aurio and Sean Bosworth played well on defense.
Sunday morning brought the Westies to the Wonderland of Ice In Bridgeport to take on the Wizards A1 team, but left with a 4-1 loss. Joey Honcz scored an unassisted goal in the second period, working hard on the forecheck in the corner and then brought the puck in front of the net and scored between the goalie’s pad and the post.
The tally by Honcz was the only goal the Blue Devils were able to net the entire weekend. Jayden Spreyer, Nolan Cole, Dante Hardt and Ryan Bernardi played well in the contest on forward. Matt Wezenski, Luca Ubaldi and Adrian Fielosh played well on defense.
Michael Andreesen and Brendan Smith split time in both games in goal. While they came out with two losses, the Blue Devils made a lot of positive plays and worked hard in both contests.