Youth hockey teams get back to regular season

The West Haven Mite B hockey visited Norwalk against a tough Junior Whalers team and had some great plays. Goals were scored by Jack Weiss, J.P. Beebe, Landon Alling, Austin Picard, Kiera Harrison as well as Finn McLaughlin. 

The Westies then traveled to Darien. Many attempts and great puck passing were done by all players, helping Beebe score some goals on the day. West Haven had many great saves from goalie Moriah Frost.

The West Haven Mite C hockey team hosted the CT Chiefs at Bennett Rink on Saturday. In net for the Blue Devils was Brayden Gagliardi, who made many great saves during the matchup.

Multiple goals were scored by Jackson Ford, with Maddy Bruder also scoring a goal. Shots on net were made by Ava Healy, Caleb Ford, Quinn Uscilla, Ryan Shannon and Wesley Morazzini.

The West Haven Mite C hockey team traveled to Wallingford to take on the Wallingford RiverHawks on Saturday. Ava Healy was in net for West Haven, making many great saves during the matchup.

Maddy Bruder scored multiple goals, with a goal each also coming from Ryan Shannon, Jackson Ford and Brayden Gagliardi. Shots on net were made by Caleb Ford, Quinn Uscilla and Wesley Morazzini.

On Sunday, the Westies traveled to Norwich to play the Southeastern Seahawks. Healy was in net once again and made more great saves.

Multiple goals were scored by Gagliardi, Caleb Ford, Jackson Ford, Bruder, Uscilla, Shannon and Morazzini.

The West Haven Squirt AA hockey team topped Ridgefield AA, 11-4, as Nick Ciccosanti opened the scoring by going top shelf right off the opening tip. The Westies had a balanced scoring attack with goals from Alex Jenei, Colby Cushing, Dylan Spreyer, Cody Young, Peyton Berlepsch, Jeremiah McGrath and Charlie Gunning.

Danny Moll, AJ Farrell and Henry Strada provided solid defensive play. Michael Paone and Gabe Calabrese combined for the win in net.

The Westies travelled to Albany and dropped two games to the Troy Titans AAA. In the opener, the Westies got two goals apiece from Cushing and Gunning but fell, 6-4. Assists in the game came from Ciccosanti, Dane Walsh and Jenei.

In the second game, the Westies fell behind early and cut the lead to one before falling, 7-3. Spreyer, Gunning and Cushing notched goals.

The Westies hosted the New Hampshire Avalanche AAA for two games and won both contests. Calabrese pitched a shutout in net in the opener as the Westies won, 5-0. Gunning scored two goals, and McGrath, Walsh and Jenei added goals in the win. Young, Walsh and Moll had assists.

The Westies then posted an 11-3 win over the Avalanche. Ciccosanti and Gunning each posted a hat trick, and Young and Spreyer combined for four goals. Assists on the day came from Farrell, Strada and Berlepsch, while Paone got the win in goal.

The Westies finished the weekend by dropping a 7-4 contest to Mid Fairfield. Belepsch, Farrell, Gunning and Spreyer found the back of the net. Paone and Calabrese shared the duties in net.

The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team got back into the swing of things after its impressive second place finish at the Haunted Shootout Tournament in Marlborough.

The Bridgeport Islanders hosted the young Westies at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport where the Westies skated to a 6-1 win over the Wonderland Wizards Squirt A team.

Logan Stackpole started the scoring off in the first period off an assist from Colton Bruneau. The duo teamed up for a second goal in the first period as well with another assist by Bruneau for Stackpole’s second goal. 

In the second period, JJ Charbonneau scored two goals a few minutes apart. The first was off an assist by Logan Minio and the second off an assist from Bruneau. Late in the second period Brady Salkins found the back of the net off an assist by Colin Whelan. At the end of the second Bruneau scored off an assist by Charbonneau.

Goalies Evan Harrison and Alex Ciccarella split time between the pipes, holding the Wizards to their single goal in the third Period. 

The Blue Devils played a doubleheader. In their morning game, the Westies fell 2-1 to the Ridgefield Lions Squirt A team. Ridgefield’s talented goalie stopped an onslaught of some very well-placed shots by the Blue Devils.

Stackpole scored the lone goal for the Devils off an assist from Bruneau in the first period. Harrison once again locked things down in net with support from Kyle Johnson, Joey Mondo, Ryan Schempp, and Conner Owens, who all played solid defense during the game, holding the Lions to only two goals.

Egg Parise was the player of the game for the Devils thanks to his hustle and toughness playing against the physical Ridgefield team.

For the afternoon game, the Devils traveled to the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport and skated to a 7-3 win over the CT. Jr Rangers AAA Squirt team.

In the first period, the Jr. Rangers netted the first goal of the game, however their lead did not last long as Whelan scored the first goal of the game for the Devils one minute later off an assist from Salkins. Then, four minutes later, player of the game Kyle D’Agostino was able to find the back of the net off the rebound from a shot by Jax Guarino. 

Whelan then scored his second goal of the game, winning the faceoff and skating the puck up the ice for an unassisted goal. Salkins scored the fourth goal of the first period off an assist from Whelan.

Two minutes into the second period, Bruneau scored off an assist from Schempp. The Jr. Rangers started showing signs of a comeback, scoring with seven minutes left in the second period and then at the beginning of the third period to narrow the Devils lead to just two goals.

Stackpole scored off an assist from Charbonneau, and just three minutes later, Charbonneau secured the Devils win, scoring an unassisted goal. 

Cicarella had a phenomenal game between the pipes for West Haven, stopping some very well-placed shots by the Jr. Rangers.

The West Haven Squirt B hockey team opened the weekend with a win against Wallingford on Saturday.

The Blue Devils struck the first blow against the Hawks early on a goal from Julius Stokes off an assist from Jameson Schempp, who in turn went on to score later in the first off an assist from Stokes.

Stokes went on to finish the day with two more unassisted goals and two assists. Tyler and Trevor Gyllensten had a multi-point game as well for the tenacious duo with Tyler scoring three goals (2 unassisted) and Trevor scoring two of his own.

Other contributors to the game were Olivia Persico, Alex Jones, Mason MacDonald and Sarah Mastroni, each scoring a goal which helped the Blue Devils extend their undefeated streak to eight games.

Netminders Ethan McGrath and Matteo Kenworthy were able to account for nine of the 11 shots they faced. 

The young Devils faced their toughest challenge of the season yet and subsequently their first loss against the South Windsor Knights, 8-5. West Haven came back from 4-1 deficit, but it was not enough.

Stokes again led off the scoring for the Blue Devil’s with and unassisted goal in the first and went on to gain another unassisted goal, and an assist on Schempp’s second period goal.

The Gyllensten Brother’s went on to gain a point each with Trevor assisting Tyler’s third period goal. Carter Liston got West Haven’s last goal of the game off a steal, which led to his breakaway goal. 

McGrath and Kenworthy put on a valiant effort between the pipes, with 14 saves. 

West Haven closed the weekend with a 5-2 win over the Greenwich Cardinals. Stokes again was the first on the board off an assist from Kenworthy.

Stokes went on to get another unassisted goal in the second, as did Tyler Gyllensten and Schempp. Trevor Gyllensten closed the scoring with his own unassisted goal in the third period.

McGrath and Kenworthy combined for nine saves.  

The West Haven Peewee AA team went 3-0 in a solid weekend of play. The Westies took on the Riverhawks Peewee A Major team at Bennett Rink on Saturday and posted a 4-2 victory.

Rocco Kelly started things off for the Westies with a goal in the first period with help from Alessandra Picard and Colin Dempsey. Sophia Locklear added goal number two to the scoreboard with an unbelievable shot in the second period. David D’Aiuto and Jaxon Troyer assisted on the play. Andrew Lacasse had another incredible snipe with a pass from Troyer to conclude the second period scoring. Alessandra Picard took control of a pass from Kelly in the third period and added the final tally for the Westies. Kyle Guarino was tough on defense and Max Barbara was solid in net.

On Saturday night, West Haven headed to Stamford to play Darien A and posted a 3-2 victory. Quinn Smith was strong in net for the Westies.

TJ Russo got the Westies on the board with an assist from Guarino in the first period. The second period followed with an amazing shot from D’Aiuto after a pass from Locklear. Darien tied the game at two with five minutes left in the third period, but Lacasse scored the winning goal with two minutes left in play.

Andrew Grillo also got an assist in the period. Drew Bereski, Santino Desantis and Tyler Persico also played exceptional on defense.

West Haven closed the weekend with a 7-0 victory in Danbury against the Western Peewee A team. Barbara and Smith shared time in net and finished with a shutout.

Rocco Kelly scored the only goal of the first period when he struck first with 35.4 seconds left. Colin Dempsey assisted on the goal and also on two more goals in the second period.

The second started off strong with three goals in less than two minutes. Two goals were scored by Jaxon Troyer and one by Bereski, who would also assist on a goal in the third. D’Aiuto gathered an assist and a goal to finish the period.

Dempsey added a goal to his three assists on the day and started the third period scoring with help from Kelly and Guarino. D’aiuto scored his second goal of the day to finish the scoring for the Westies.

The West Haven Peewee AA hockey team started off this weekend with a big 2-1 win against the Whalers AA at Bennett Rink. Barbara was solid between the pipes with a total of 50 saves.

The first period was scoreless with amazing defense by Persico, Guarino, Desantis, Bereski and Grillo.

The Whalers scored on a power play with 3:59 left in the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but the Westies answered right back in less than a minute when Troyer got a pass from Persico and went bar down for the equalizer.

The second goal for West Haven came just two minutes later from defenseman Bereski with a rocket from the blue line.

The Peewee AA team traveled to Cromwell and came up short, 1-0, in a rematch with the Whalers AA. Smith was solid in net with 23 saves.

The West Haven Bantam AA Major hockey team split a pair of games against Darien teams. The Blue Devils topped Darien A, 7-1, on Saturday, then lost 5-1 to Darien AA on Sunday.  The Westies are now 12-3-1 on the season and 6-2-1 in league play.

At Twin Rinks in Stamford, Sean Studley put West Haven up 1-0 just 1:01 into the game off a pass from Ethan Kelly. The Westies then blew open the game in the second period.
Ian Brezac scored back-to-back goals with Sam Malangone assisting on the second one to put West Haven up 3-0. Mike Madonick made it a 4-0 game off an assist from Will Hamre.

In the third period, Studley notched another goal with Brezac assisting. Matt Molnar and Nick Shefter sandwiched goals around a Darien tally to make the final score 7-1. Bryce Upson was solid in net and gained the win for the Westies.

At Edward L. Bennett Rink, Darien AA quickly went ahead 1-0 but the Westies tied the game one minute later. Charlie Strada gave the puck to Nick Shefter who got off a backhand shot that was saved. Molnar swooped in on the rebound for the goal.

Darien scored a short-handed goal late in the first period. The teams skated back-and-forth into the third period with both squads creating opportunities. 

Upson stacked his pads to make a clutch save with ten minutes to play to keep it a 2-1 game, but Darien proved a bit too much down the stretch and pulled away for the win.

West Haven shut out the Greater Springfield Aces, 2-0, this Sunday at Edward L. Bennett Rink. Studley wristed home the game-winner with 1:48 to play, giving the Westies the hard-fought win. West Haven is 13-3-1 on the season.

Matthew Kelly pushed the puck to Studley on the right boards and the winger shook off a defender, cut toward the slot, and fired through traffic to break the scoreless tie.

The Blue Devil defense of Leo Mazuroski, Brezac, Joel Goodman, Jack MacNiven and Matthew Kelly was terrific in front of Upson in goal. Upson made 20 saves to record the shutout.  The Westies outshot the Aces 37-20.

With the Aces net empty and the puck in the Westies’ zone, Ethan Kelly won a clutch faceoff back to his brother and Matthew Kelly flipped the puck the length of the ice to make it 2-0 with 13 seconds left to play.

The West Haven Bantam AA Minor team traveled to Maine this weekend to face Maine Evolution and Maine Moose.

Saturday brought the Westies two wins against Maine Evolution. The Blue Devils were victorious in the first game with goals from Enzo Plano, Eddie Thomas and Dylan Dicioccio.

Aedan Guarino and Benjamin Brown led the wall of defense. Benny Pikul was exceptional in net with over 40 saves between both games, while Keegan Dobratz, Zach Melchiore, Cameren Lipford, Peter Aurora, Michael D’Aiuto, Mark Vere and Ian Olzewski also played well.

Isaac Mann, Jackson Heyn, Lucas MacNiven and Ayden Troyer followed suit with strong defense as the Westies finished on top with a 3-1 victory.

The second game brought more superior skating and teamwork with two more goals by Plano to secure a 2-1 victory over Maine Evolution.

The Westies took on the Maine Moose 14U and fell 2-1 in overtime. Kai Lupa was right at home in net stopping incredible shots and breakaway attempts. With less than three minutes left in the third period, Michael D’Aiuto came off the bench and put West Haven on the board and tied the game at one.

The second game on Sunday was another tough 3-1 loss to the Maine Moose, despite incredible effort. The Westies were down by two at the start of the third period, but with four minutes left to play, Lipford received a pass from Thomas and skated the puck up ice to get West Haven on the board.

Maine scored its third goal on an empty net to send the Blue Devils home without the win.

For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.