The West Haven Mite A travel team went 1-1 on the weekend, playing against two tough opponents as the season winds down.
On Saturday, the Westies hosted Elite, taking the win with a 7-4 score. Brady Salkins, Logan Minio, and Jax Guarino picked up two goals apiece, and Keegan Jackson scored one as well.
Caden Minio picked up two assists on the day, with Emmett Hemming and Jameson Eid playing well on the wings. Cooper Owens had a strong overall game, and Jameson Schempp was solid in goal.
On Sunday, the young Blue Devils traveled to West Hartford, but fell 12-8. Logan Minio got the hat trick, and picked up two assists as well. Salkins and Guarino picked up two goals each again, and Keegan Jackson once again contributed and added one goal, getting the assist from Salkins.
Schempp was again strong in goal, as Owens, Eid, and Henry Seslar worked hard to try to get their squad back into the game.
West Haven ended its season on a high note, downing the Elite Mite A squad, 8-4.
Going down 1-0 early in the game, Jameson Schempp made a beautiful kick save, and Salkins picked up the rebound. Salkins then took it the length of the ice and netted the tying goal.
Eid scored the next goal for the Westies, getting the assist from Seslar. The Guarino-Minio connection continued to produce, as Logan Minio got a pass from Caden Minio, then found Guarino open in front of the net to bury the one-timer. Logan Minio would go on to score two of his own, and Salkins added to his tally to, one of which came from a nice defensive play when Ben Trenchard and Salkins double teamed an Elite player in the center of the ice, winning the puck for Salkins to put into the back of the net.
Trenchard and Cooper Owens played lock down defense the rest of the way, helping Schempp preserve the win.
The West Haven Mite C’s faced Ridgefield at Bennett Rink for their last game of the season on Saturday. In net for the Blue Devils was Caleb Ford, who made many great saves during the matchup. JP Beebe, Jackson Ford, Carter Liston, and Landon Alling scored multiple goals, and Kiera Hemming also contributed a goal. Shots on net were also made by Abby Hemming and Sarah Mastroni.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team ended the season with a dynamic run to the semifinals of the CHC Bantam Tier 3 State Tournament. The Blue Devils were the 11th seed (of 12) and played solid hockey over four days at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
Ten different players scored goals in the tournament for the Blue Devils and eleven players had at least one point. Goaltender Trevor Cathey was brilliant at times and an anchor behind a steady, hard-working defense.
The Blue Devils faced Jr. Bulldogs 2007 A in the semifinal match-up on Sunday evening. The Bulldogs scored 1:47 into the game, with two seconds remaining in the first period, and again 55 seconds into the second to open a 3-0 lead. West Haven would not quit and made a team effort to get back in the game.
After a scoreless second period, two third period goals by the Westies within 12 seconds of each other made it a game again. Parker Guarnieri weaved through the Bulldog defense and fired a shot that was kick saved. Sean Studley rammed in the rebound to get the Westies on the board. Joey DiGioia gathered in the puck after the faceoff, drove it into the zone and snapped in a laser of a wrist shot to make it 3-2.
The Bulldogs scored twice more but the Westies kept battling. Alex Bowery found Studley who roofed the puck to give life to the team with 3:19 left in the game. The boys battled to the final whistle and their furious rally came up a little short.
The Blue Devils faced Central AA in the quarterfinals Sunday morning and went down 1-0 after 7:44. The Westies tied the game early in the second as Gio Ferrrucci won a faceoff and his shot was saved, but Zach Melchiore jumped on the rebound and banged it home.
Three minutes later, the Westies grabbed the lead. Guarnieri won a faceoff to Theo Diakomis who quickly roofed his shot.
In the first minute of the third, Guarnieri scored a power play goal off a scramble in front with bodies flying. DiGioia added an empty-netter for the hard-fought 4-1 win.
The Westies earned the top seed (via tiebreaker) in the American bracket despite coming in as the #11 seed. They knocked off second-seeded West Haven AA, 2-1, on Thursday evening. Then they defeated sixth-seeded Stamford A, 3-1, on Saturday morning, before losing, 6-4, to third-seeded Ridgefield AA on Saturday evening.
In the highly-anticipated West Haven vs West Haven match-up on Thursday, the AA team took a 1-0 lead in the first period. The A team tied it late in the second period on a counterattack. Leo Mazuroski grabbed the puck at his own blue line, carried into the AA zone, skated around a defenseman and slid it in front where Studley knocked in the one-timer to even the game at one.
Both teams had chances in the third period. Cathey made a save, and the AA squad had a seemingly empty net off the rebound, but Jack MacNiven came up with a huge block to deny the shot.
Soon after, Bowery made the play of the game. He intercepted a pass in the high slot and zipped home a rising wrist shot for the game-winner with just 1:36 remaining.
In game two, the Westies came out flying against Stamford. MacNiven’s point shot was deflected in by Tanner Walsh for a 1-0 lead after one minute. In the first minute of the second period, MacNiven hit Bowery who fed Walsh for a slap shot to the back of the net.
Leading 2-1 in the third, Gio Ferrucci and Studley came in on a two-on-none. It went Ferrucci to Studley back to Ferrucci, who scored to cap the 3-1 win.
The defense was led by Brody Elam, Mazuroski, DiGioia and MacNiven. In game three, the Westies got goals from Bowery (MacNiven), Mazuroski (unassisted), Melchiore (Elam) and MacNiven (unassisted), but two late goals by Ridgefield led to the 6-4 loss.
For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.