The West Haven Mite B travel hockey team played a home-and-away series with Ridgefield. On Saturday, the Westies were the hosts with both teams playing strong offensively. Logan Minio and Anthony Parise both picked up hat tricks. Ethan McGrath scored a great goal after a passing sequence involving Ben Trenchard and Brady Salkins.
Evan Harrison came up big in goal a few times, especially late in the game with a big kick save. Harrison was helped by Kyle D’Agostino, who blocked a shot in the dying seconds of the match.
The two teams were back in action Sunday morning, this time in Ridgefield. Harrison was even stronger in-between the pipes, only allowing three goals.
The team passed well on Sunday, scoring a few goals after connecting multiple passes. Connor Owens scored a hat trick, with Minio and Salkins getting assists. Minio and Salkins both scored as well, with McGrath setting up Minio with a great pass through two defenders.
D’Agostino, Schempp and Guarino would also find goals. Trenchard and Mondo were superb on defense, blocking shots, cutting off passes, and working hard to win the puck back and start the Blue Devil counter attacks. Parise also had an assist in the game.
The West Haven Mite B travel team hosted the Wonderland of Ice Wizards on Saturday. The Westies jumped out to an early lead behind two goals from Minio, and they never looked back.
The Blue Devils moved the puck well and were aggressive defensively. Minio picked up his third goal from a beautiful pass from McGrath. McGrath picked up another assist when he helped set up a Salkins goal. Schempp also picked up the hat trick, with Mondo and Parise picking up assists on two of his goals.
The West Haven Mite C team faced off against the East Haven Hornets Mite B team in what turned out to be a nail-biter.
The Devils gained some ground off the bat with an unassisted goal by Tyler Gyllensten 25 seconds in. His goal was answered right back by East Haven which set the tone of the game. Henry Seslar was the next Blue Devil to get one on the board, followed by Seslar’s. The first period was wrapped up, with yet another Tyler Gyllensten goal assisted by Mason MacDonald.
MacDonald managed to get one of his own on the board with an unassisted goal at 12:33 in the second. Keegan Jackson was short to follow McDonald’s lead by getting his second unassisted goal of the day at 16:18. Seslar capped off the day with a touch to the back of the net on an assist from Matteo Kenworthy at 21:07.
Jameson Schempp had a red-letter day between the pipes and was the quintessential example of resilience when he took a shot off the helmet only to bound back and hold the Hornets at bay.
The West Haven Mite C team played against the Wallingford Hawks on Saturday. The game began with a goal by Landon Silverman followed by two goals from Tyler Gyllensten, another by Seslar and another by Gyllensten. The period continued with a goal by Trevor Gyllensten, with another goal from Tyler Gyllensten and more goals from Seslar. The first half ended with a second goal from Silverman.
The second half started off with two goals from Seslar, a goal by Noah Silverman and two more goals from Seslar. Tyler Gyllensten, and a goal by Jones. Noah Silverman then scored twice, followed by another goal from Tyler Gyllensten and a goal by Jackson. Lastly, Noah Silverman ended the game with a final goal for the Mite C team.
The West Haven Peewee A hockey team played four exciting games in just two days last weekend. The team went 1-2-1 in the four games and have an overall record of 8-11-2 in CHC league play.
Playing their fourth game in roughly 28 hours, the Westies took the ice at the SoNo Ice House on Sunday afternoon for a rematch with the Jr. Whalers A1. The Whalers had topped the Blue Devils, 6-4, earlier in the day in a hard-fought contest. When the home team scored 15 seconds into the game and pushed itslead to 3-0 later in the opening period, things did not look good for West Haven.
Eddie Thomas got the Westies on the scoreboard with an unassisted tally to make it 3-1 after one period. Cameren Lipford made it 3-2 early in the second period with assists from Sean Studley and Zach Melchiore. Kai Lupa made several outstanding saves in net for the Westies, but a Whalers goal made it 4-2 at the end of the second period.
Studley then began the Westies’ third period comeback with an unassisted goal. Less than a minute later, Thomas weaved his way through the Whalers and fired in to tie the game at 4-4 with 10:58 left in the game.
Studley then blocked a shot and pounced on the puck leading to a breakaway. His wrist shot found the back of the net and the Blue Devils led 5-4 halfway through the third.
The Whalers went on a power play looking to tie but Studley slid a backhand pass to Melchiore, who banged it home for a 6-4 lead. Then, with 1:21 left, Studley completed his second hat trick of the weekend with an empty-net tally.
Lupa finished with 23 saves in the 7-4 comeback victory. Leo Mazuroski, Johnny Charbonneau, Ryan Pniewski and Aedan Guarino, who switched from forward to defense earlier in the day, shut down the Whalers offense in the third period.
On Saturday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the team hosted Hamden A1. The Green Dragons took a 2-0 lead after one period. Melchiore got the Westies on the scoreboard 11 seconds into the second when he jammed home Thomas’ feed from behind the net.
Hamden then scored a power play goal, but Studley got the goal right back when he took the ensuing faceoff straight to the net and fired in a wrist shot. Hamden scored another power play goal and added another score to lead 5-2 after two periods. Studley scored to make it 5-3, and then scored the next to make it 5-4. Less than a minute later, Lipford picked the puck from a defender and dropped a pass to Studley who dropped it to Melchiore for the tying goal with a wrist shot. Lupa made 15 saves in net for the Westies in the 5-5 tie.
On Saturday afternoon at The Rinks at Shelton, the Blue Devils faced the Mid-Fairfield Stars Girls 12U-1 team. Melchiore banged home a rebound and the Westies led 1-0 just 30 seconds into the game. The Stars tied the game only 21 seconds later.
Studley found the net when his wrist shot sailed over the goalie’s shoulder for a 2-1 lead.
The Stars tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period and then gradually pulled away with three more goals in taking a 5-2 win. Lupa had 22 saves in goal.
On Sunday morning at the Bennett Rink
The Westies kept coming hard but ultimately yielded a late power play tally and lost, 6-4. Lupa stopped 20 shots in goal for West Haven.
The West Haven Peewee A faced Mid-Fairfield Girls 12U-2 and dominated the action. Twelve different players scored at least one point in a 12-1 rout.
Zach Melchiore led the team with a goal and six assists, Cameren Lipford scored a hat trick and chipped in three assists, Sean Studley scored four goals and had an assist, Ryan Pniewski had three assists, while Eddie Thomas scored a pair of goals. Rafi Treat scored a goal and Johnny Charbonneau had a goal and an assist. Mikey D’Aiuto, Matt Molnar, Lucas Iversen, Gavin Coady and Leo Mazuroski all had assists. Kai Lupa had 11 saves for the Westies.
On Sunday morning, the Westies hosted Whalers A at Bennett Rink. West Haven broke open a 2-2 game with eight unanswered goals in a 10-2 win.
The Westies opened the scoring 5:49 into the game when Thomas spun and fired through the five-hole for a 1-0 lead. The Whalers tied it before a West Haven power play goal made it 2-1 when Lipford went five-hole as well after receiving Mazuroski’s nice outlet pass.
The visitors tied the game again at 2-2, before the Westies seized control. Lipford went five-hole yet again for a 3-2 lead in the final minute of the first period.
Lipford took Studley’s pass, pushed it through a defenseman’s legs and then roofed his backhand for a sweet goal to start the second period. The pair combined again late in the period with Studley passing from behind the net to Lipford for a one-timer and a 5-2 lead. It was Lipford’s second four-goal game of the weekend.
D’Aiuto, Studley three times, and Coady capped the scoring. Melchiore had nine assists. Lupa made 19 saves in a solid performance in between the pipes for West Haven.
The West Haven Bantam AA team suffered a loss and posted a tie in two contests this weekend.
West Haven opened the weekend with a 3-2 loss at Bridgeport against the Wonderland Wizards.
West Haven trailed 1-0 after one period, but evened the game in the second when Ben Gilbert scored off an assist from Jack Aloi. The Westies trailed 2-1 entering the third and were down a pair when Brady Price scored off an assist from Nikolas Allan with 6:46 remaining. West Haven never got closer and fell in the weekend opener to Wonderland.
The Westies were then in good position to get back on the winning track as they hosted the Northwest Icecats A team Sunday afternoon at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.
West Haven led 3-0 entering the third period, but could not hold on in a 3-3 tie. The Icecats scored three times in a span of 2:04 of the third period, including twice on the power play, to tie the game in the final period.
The West Haven Bantam AA team won a pair of games this weekend, topping the Connecticut Jr. Whalers, 9-1, Friday evening, before defeating Darien AA at home Sunday afternoon.
Porto led the way with three goals and two assists, Zach Goetze and Dowd each had three assists, Stevens had two goals, and Price had a goal and an assist. Aloi and Schroeder also had assists in the contest. Tyler Donroe and Jacob Silva combined in goal for the win.
In a hard-fought game at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Sunday afternoon, West Haven topped Darien AA, 3-1.
Trailing 1-0, Allan evened the contest when he scored from the right faceoff circle off an assist from Gilbert at the 6:55 mark of the second.
The score remained even until Porto score a short-handed goal with 5:15 left in the third. Goetze added an empty-net tally in the final seconds to seal the win.
Hong played well in goal, making several key saves behind the defense of Aloi, Goodmaster, Allan and Schroeder. Ursini and Nick Eberhart played well in the win.
The West Haven Youth Hockey Bantam A team won its only contest of the weekend, beating the Wonderland Wizards, 4-1, at the Bennett Rink Saturday morning.
The Westies jumped out to an early lead off a tip-in goal in front by Connor Moriarty, deflecting in a perfectly placed shot by defenseman Joe DiGioia from the blue line. Later in the first period, DiGioia dumped the puck into the offensive zone from center ice, where the Wizards goaltender had trouble containing the rebound, leaving Alex Bowery a wide open portion of the net to bury the rebound to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
Midway into the second period, Wonderland was able to get on the board. Shortly after, Theo Diakomis was able to pick up the loose puck and bring it into the Wizards zone, where he used a Wonderland defensemen as a screen to score an unassisted goal and give West Haven a 3-1 lead.
The score would remain the same until five minutes left in the 3rd period, where Alex Kurowski was able to pick up a Wonderland turnover and snipe bar down to make it 4-1.
John Kennedy played a full game for the Westies in goal, where he was able to make some key saves to help preserve the victory.
Mason Maiocco played well at forward, with Dylan Bosworth making a strong defensive effort. Brody Elam and Chris Consorte both played well for their team as well, playing both forward and defense when called on.
For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.