The West Haven Youth Hockey opened the season with a Winter Classic as all teams faced Hamden at the Bennett Rink on Sunday.
In West Haven Squirt A action on Opening Faceoff weekend against Hamden, West Haven posted a 5-3 victory. The Westies fell behind 2-0 after the first period, but Zach Goetze scored an unassisted goal 1:24 into the second period to get the Blue Devils on the scoreboard. Two minutes later, Thomas Porto scored on a power play to the the game at two and Goetze gave the Westies the lead at 7:37 of the period with Porto getting the assist.
West Haven goaltender Jacob Silva made a nice pad save and then a sparkling glove save to keep the home team in front at the second intermission. Hamden eventually evened the score at three 4:05 into the final period on a breakaway. Goetze gave the Westies the lead again with a nifty backhand goal on a power play with Brady Price assisting. Porto helped round out the scoring when he fed Goetze for a breakaway goal with just over one minute to play to seal the 5-3 victory for West Haven.
The West Haven Peewee A hockey team opened its season with a 9-1 victory over Hamden. Ten different players got into the scoring column in the win, Brendan Smith made 10 saves in goal, and the defense of Bruno Martone, Sean Bosworth, Jason Alling, Haygen Axelrod and Dave Brown kept the Green Dragons off the scoreboard.
Jayden Spreyer led the offense with four goals, Nolan Cole had two goals and an assist, Colin Deane had three assists, Cade Simone had a goal and two assists, and Bosworth and Michael Madera each had a goal and an assist.
Hamden opened the scoring with a power play goal six minutes into the game, but West Haven scored the next two in the period and nine overall. Spreyer started his big day with a goal off assists from Cole and Deane with 3:32 left in the first, before Bosworth scored a power play goal off assists from Axelrod and Shane Repetto.
The Westies increased the lead to 7-1 with five more goals in the second. Madera made it 4-1 with a goal off assists from Simone and Mickey Dowd, Cole scored an unassisted goal 3:30 later, and Simone made it 6-1 off assists from Madera and Bosworth. Just 12 seconds later, Spreyer scored an unassisted goal for a 7-1 lead.
Simone set up Spreyer for a shorthanded goal, and Cole scored his second of the game off assists from Dante Hardt and Deane. Kyle Droney also played well for the Westies in the win.