In the first meeting between rivals Hamden and West Haven, the Green Dragons controlled play and never let West Haven get going in a Hamden victory. The Westies were looking for a different tune on Saturday.
With an old-time rivalry feel, the Westies received goals from five different players and blanked the Green Dragons, 5-0, at the Edward L. Bennett Rink.
West Haven controlled play from the start to win its third straight contest and fourth in five games. The Westies improved to 11-7 on the year.
Mike Madera led the way with one goal and three assists, Jayden Spreyer had a goal and two assists, and Marcus Burrows and Brody DiNuzzo each had a goal and an assist. Justin Bruno also scored for the Westies.
Javed Ullah and Matt Rasile combined on the shutout with Ullah making 19 saves, and Rasile coming in during the third period to make six saves.
The first period saw numerous scoring opportunities by both teams, but only Bruno found the back of the net off assists from Burrows and DiNuzzo with 1:22 left in the opening period.
The Westies took control of the game in the second period. Holding a 15-4 shot advantage, West Haven scored twice to take a 3-0 advantage.
DiNuzzo ripped home a shot from the slot 2:33 in off assists from Spreyer and Madera, before Madera took a pass from Spreyer and deposited a shot in the back of the net from the slot with 9:17 left in the second.
West Haven continued the pressure and took a 4-0 lead 3:30 into the third as Madera’s pass from behind the net found Spreyer in front for a one-timer and a 4-0 lead.
Rasile then came up big for the Westies as he helped kill an extended Hamden power play with numerous saves in a span of four minutes.
Madera then fed Burrows in front, where Burrows scored for a 5-0 lead with 1:31 remaining in the game.
In yet another close game, West Haven fell to Westhill/Stamford, 2-1, in overtime at home.
The loss dropped West Haven to 8-7 on the year. It was West Haven’s sixth loss by two goals or less, and fourth by one goal.
Max Zelikman scored off a scramble in front with 2:33 left in overtime to send West Haven to a crushing defeat.
West Haven had its chances in overtime, but the Westies could not capitalize. Madera had the best opportunity in the extra session, but he was denied in front.
Trailing 1-0 in the second period, the Westies scored their lone goal when Brady Price picked up a loose puck and ripped a shot off the right wing for the equalizer 1:37 into the second period.
The Westies looked as if they would take the lead, but Josh Rodrigue’s shot trickled through the crease and off the post 4:36 into the second.
Javed Ullah made 11 saves in the middle period, several in stellar fashion, including a breakaway save with 8:02 remaining in the period.
Haygen Axelrod then saw his point shot denied with 6:05 remaining in the period, and a perfect Spreyer to Madera set up was tipped just over the crossbar by Madera with 2:47 left in the second.
The Westies had just four shots in the third period, with Spreyer’s one-timer denied 2:41 in, and a shot from Madera off the left wing turned aside with 6:27 to go in regulation.
Ullah finished with 25 saves in the loss.
With a few short days to bounce back from an overtime loss, West Haven had the perfect formula. That formula consisted of scoring early and late, and also playing a sound contest in between.
The end result was a 2-1 victory over St. Dominic Academy of Maine at the Bennett Rink. With the win, West Haven improved to 9-7 on the season.
Justin Bruno proved to net the game-winner as he scooped up a loose puck off a St. Dominic skate, and he fired home the go-ahead goal from in front with 1:53 to go in the third period.
Bruno’s tally came after West Haven dominated play in the final period with a 16-5 shot advantage. West Haven could not find the back of the net until that point as Spreyer and Price rang shots off the post minutes apart, while attempts by Madera, Thomas Porto, and Burrows were denied.
DiNuzzo came up big in the final moments when he thwarted a 2-on-1 rush by St. Dominic’s with a perfectly executed play on defense.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead just 27 seconds into the contest when Madera streaked down the left wing and slid a perfect pass in front to Spreyer for a shot to the top corner of the net.
With the game even at one, Price and Madera were each denied in front in the final two minutes of the opening period.
An evenly played second period failed to produce any goals, setting up the dramatic third period.
With four games in seven days, West Haven won its second in a row and third during the four-game stretch with a 5-0 victory over Branford at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.
Spreyer led the way with three goals, Madera had three assists, and Porto added a goal and an assist in the win. Javed Ullah made 19 saves to record his second shutout of the season.
Spreyer scored the first three West Haven goals and gave the Westies a 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Madera and scored in front with 3:09 left in the opening period.
After two attempts by Madera were denied in front, Madera fed Spreyer for a one-timer in the circle for a 2-0 lead. Porto then set up Spreyer for a 3-0 lead 1:53 later.
West Haven (10-7) held a 51-19 shot advantage in the game, including 15 shots in the middle period. JJ Alling was denied from the point with 9:18 left, Madera was stopped twice in front with 7:52 to go, and DiNuzzo was turned aside from the slot with 4:53 to go.
Bruno scored an unassisted goal for a 4-0 lead with 1:38 left in the middle period.
Porto capped the scoring with 8:52 remaining in the game when he scored off an assist from Madera.
The West Haven / Sacred Heart Academy girls hockey team dropped its third game in a row and fifth in six games with a crushing 2-1 overtime loss against at home.
After the Westie Sharks evened the game with 5:19 remaining in regulation on a wrist shot by Geena Montano, Montano had another opportunity, but was denied in the final two minutes.
Looking to leave the game with a tie, the game turned when Hamden’s Raquel Garcia scored with 0.1 seconds remaining in overtime for the game-winner.
Evelyn Twarowski made 35 saves in the loss, including 15 combined in the third period and overtime.
Taylor Alfano had an opportunity to put the Westie Sharks up 1-0 four minutes into the second, Geena Montano was stopped one minute later, and Juliana Gonzalez was denied from the right wing with 3:22 left in the second.
Julianna Montano was turned aside from the faceoff circle with a glove save four minutes into the third as was Heather Fonda with 2:07 left in the third.
In a hard-fought contest, the West Haven boys basketball team improved to 12-6 with a 58-45 victory over North Haven on Senior Night at West Haven High.
Michael Singleton led the way for the Westies with 27 points and five assists, Bernett Scott added 19 points and five rebounds, and Jayce Perry had a big game with six points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
The Westies trailed 15-13 after one quarter as Scott connected for eight points, hitting on four of the only five field goals West Haven drained in the opening eight minutes.
West Haven used the play of Singleton and Scott in the second quarter to take a 28-24 lead as Singleton had 10 points and Scott finished with five.
Singleton scored 10 of his team’s 15 third quarter points for a 43-36 lead, before the Westies sealed the game with seven free throws in the final minutes.
The West Haven swim team was looking for its first team win of the season. Unfortunately for the Westies, they were just points behind.
Winning four events, West Haven did not have enough to defeat cross-town rival Notre Dame as the Green Knights prevailed, 91-79, at West Haven High Tuesday afternoon.
The 200 free relay team of Jeffery Flores-Copa, Johnny Chen, Andrew McLarty, and Benjamin Proano won in 1 minute, 53.85 seconds.
Nate Charron won the 100 back in 1:01.72, Johnny Chen was victorious in the 100 breast in 1:34.79, and the 400 free relay team of Proano, Charron, Chen, and Brandon Sihaphong was victorious in 4:21.93.
West Haven fell, 97-68, at East Lyme Wednesday afternoon. West Haven’s lone win came in the 400 free relay where Flores-Copa, Proano, McLarty, and Charron were victorious in 4 minutes, 12.82 seconds.
For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.