The West Haven Mite B hockey team took on a strong Central B team Saturday morning. The Blue Devils jumped to an early lead behind Jax Guarino’s goal, but fell behind despite the solid play of Evan Harrison in goal.
Logan Minio scored the only other goal for the Westies, and Brady Salkins and Tony Parise saw numerous shots on goal turned away by the Central netminder. Ryan Schempp continued his strong play defensively, and Joe Mondo and Ethan McGrath worked hard to win the puck back. Connor Owens and Kyle D’Agostino battled hard against the aggressive Central team in the corners for the puck, and Ben Trenchard broke up passes and blocked shots in his effort for the Blue Devils.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team earned its first two wins of the season this weekend. The Blue Devils thrashed Mid Fairfield Girls 12U, 11-0, on Saturday and then battled Greater New Haven B Red for a 2-1 win Sunday morning. Both games were played at Edward L. Bennett Rink.
Saturday night marked the first career youth hockey coaching win for head coach Evan Mink and his brother/assistant coach Adam Mink. Both Mink brothers are former WHYH players.
On Saturday night, seven different players scored goals as the Westies dominated Mid Fairfield. Zach Melchiore scored the opener on a power play off a rebound of Cameren Lipford’s shot. Aedan Guarino jammed home Jonathan Charbonneau’s point shot, and Rafi Treat fired a laser off a long outlet pass from Lucas Iversen to make it 3-0 after one period.
In the second, the Westies came out firing. Sean Studley scored from the slot and Lipford cashed in a breakaway in the opening minute. Studley and Melchiore fed Lipford for a tally four minutes later. Mikey D’Aiuto then popped in his own rebound for a 7-0 lead after two periods.
In the opening minute of the third, Studley deked and scored on a wraparound, before Melchiore one-timed Lipford’s feed. Guarino assisted on Eddie Thomas’ goal, and Lipford closed out the scoring with a tap in from Studley.
West Haven outshot Mid Fairfield, 49-23. Goaltenders Cedrik Roy (11 saves) and Kai Lupa (12) combined for the shutout in net.
On Sunday morning, Greater New Haven and the Westies battled hard for the full 45 minutes. Studley put West Haven up 1-0 just 3:57 into the game. Melchiore slid the puck to Lipford for a shot that was blocked. Off the ensuing scramble, Melchiore tipped a pass that bounced out front where Studley whacked it home. The Warriors tied it four minutes later.
The Blue Devils regained the lead with a power play goal eight minutes into the second period. Leo Mazuroski picked up a loose puck and fired a low, hard shot just inside the far post. With three minutes remaining in the second period, Lupa stoned a breakaway with his blocker to keep West Haven in front.
West Haven’s defense of Charbonneau, Mazuroski, Ryan Pniewski and Gavin Coady was solid down the stretch. The goaltending was strong as well as Roy made 11 saves, while Lupa made 14 in net.
The West Haven Bantam AA travel hockey team won both of its games this weekend at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, topping Suffolk Pal (NY) AA on Saturday and Ridgefield AA on Sunday.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 7-2 victory over Suffolk. Behind the solid goaltending of Tyler Donroe, West Haven never trailed in the game, leading 3-1 after one period and 6-1 after two periods of play.
Brady Price led the West Haven offense with two goals and one assist, while Nick Eberhart and Ben Gilbert each scored twice, and Robert McCarthy had two assists.
Price scored twice in 24 seconds, the first off assists from Ronnie Mastroni and McCarthy, for a 2-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first period. Gilbert extended the lead to 3-0 off an assist from Price with 3:25 remaining in the first, before Suffolk answered 53 seconds later.
Eberhart sandwiched goals around a tally from Matt Stevens for a 6-1 lead, with McCarthy assisting on the first Eberhart goal and Anthony Ursini helping on the second. Thomas Porto picked up the helper on the goal by Stevens. Gilbert capped the scoring with an unassisted tally in the third.
West Haven won its third straight contest with a 4-2 victory over Ridgefield Sunday morning. Mickey Dowd led the way with two goals, while Porto added a goal and an assist. Bryan Hong played well in goal for the Westies.
Trailing 1-0, Porto evened the contest off an assist from Stevens with 2:50 remaining in the second, before West Haven scored three times in the third to pull out the victory.
McCarthy gave West Haven the lead for good with an unassisted goal with 9:40 remaining, before Dowd scored twice in the final 8:52, the second off an assist from Porto.
In its only contest of the weekend, the West Haven Youth Hockey’s Bantam A team welcomed New Canaan A1 to the Bennett Rink and came out with a 2-1 victory.
After a very back and forth first period, West Haven struck first in the second period when a shot from the point by Mark Torre deflected in off the post. Yousaf Ullah was credited with the assist on Torre’s opening goal.
The Blue Devils were able to keep the score at 1-0 throughout the second period and into the third. New Canaan tied the game with six minutes remaining in the game off a bouncing puck, but the Westies answered just two minutes later to take the lead.
Torre ripped a puck on net, where Alex Kurowski was able to bury the rebound by standing in perfect position in front of the net. West Haven ended up closing out the game with a well-deserved victory, bringing its season record to 2-1.
Theo Diakomis, Brody Elam and Chris Consorte played well at forward. Haygen Axelrod, Javed Ullah and Joe DiGioia all contributed on defense in the win.
In goal, John Kennedy played the first two periods with some key saves to keep the Blue Devils in the game. Greg Galasso came in the third period and made some spectacular saves to seal the deal for the victory.