(September 9, 2018) - The West Haven Youth Hockey Squirt A travel hockey team opened the 2018-19 season against Hamden on Saturday as part of the "Opening Faceoff" event at Edward L. Bennett Rink.  Seven different players scored goals and nine skaters had at least one point for the Westies as they defeated the Green Dragons 10-5.
West Haven opened the scoring 5 minutes, 44 seconds into the first period when Leo Mazuroski carried into the zone and fed Aiden Guarino.  Guarino's initial shot was saved but he pounded in the rebound for a 1-0 lead.  Less than two minutes later, Sean Studley stole the puck in the Hamden high slot and found Ethan Kelly who deked and scored for a 2-0 lead.  
West Haven erupted for six goals in the second period to take over the game.  Cameren Lipford scored just 21 seconds into the period with Ethan Kelly assisting, before a deflected shot snuck past Westies' goaltender Maddox LaFountain to make the score 3-1. 
Kelly then scored on a tremendous individual effort, weaving through three Hamden defensemen. Kelly fed Studley for a one-timer that was saved, but Lipford gathered the rebound and fired top shelf. 
Matthew Kelly scored from the left point off an assist from Mazuroski,  Studley fired over the goalie's shoulder in the slot with Ethan Kelly tallying another assist, and Gavin Coady capped the second period onslaught with a goal in front assisted by Lucas Iversen and Guarino.
Hamden scored a pair of goals to make the score 8-3 in the third period, before Ethan Kelly notched his hat trick by pouncing on the rebound of a Lipford shot. Jonathan Charbonneau scored the Westies' final goal with a laser from the point. 
Ryan Pniewski played well on defense for the Blue Devils and Rafi Treat skated hard on the wing.  LaFountain finished with 18 total saves in notching the win in net for West Haven.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team got off to a slow start on the season, losing to Hamden and Central AA this weekend.
On Saturday, the Westies played Hamden as part of the Opening Faceoff and fell to the Green Dragons 5-3. West Haven trailed 3-1, rallied to tie the game late, but Hamden scored twice in the final two minutes to top the Westies.
Michael Madera scored all three West Haven goals, while Zach Goetze had two assists in the loss. Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva both played well in goal in the loss.

​

Zach Goetze against Hamden, September 8, 2018. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera. 
Hamden took a 1-0 lead 3:24 into the game, before the Westies tied the game with a power play goal by Madera off an assist from Goetze with 4:05 left in the opening period.
Hamden jumped on the Westies quickly with two goals in the first two minutes of the second period for a 3-1 lead, before West Haven cut into the deficit when Goetze set up Madera with 6:57 remaining in the middle period.
West Haven pressured and finally tied the game with 2:53 left in the third when Madera scored off an assist from Martone. The celebration was short-lived as Hamden scored 1:01 later, then added an empty net goal with six seconds to go.
The Westies then played hard, but a valiant effort fell short in a 6-3 loss to Central AA on Sunday. Madera led the scoring with two goals, Mike Page added one goal, and Goetze had two assists. Mickey Dowd added one assist in the loss.
The Westies were hurt by taking eight penalties in the game and trailed 2-0 after one period of play. Madera got the team within 2-1, scoring off an assist from Goetze just 1:17 into the middle period, before Central scored twice in two minutes for a 4-1 lead after two.
Madera, off assists from Goetze and Dowd, and Page scored 2:20 apart in the third period, but two goals by Central in the final 5:35 ended West Haven’s comeback attempt.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team began its season strong against rival Hamden, with a 7-1 victory in the Opening Faceoff kickoff event for the 2018-19 season.
The team came out of the gate ready to play, scoring on its very first shift. Matt Morgan scored first for the Blue Devils, with Anthony Peschell getting the assist. After a strong first period, the Westies began the second period scoring in the first two minutes, with Peschell scoring, Sean Bosworth and Luca Ubaldi picked up the assists.

​

Matt Morgan scores against Hamden, September 8, 2018. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera.
Adrian Fielosh scored the next goal just three minutes later, with Joe D’Aurio getting the helper, and Dante Hardt scored the next two goals, both by being in the right place in the right time in front of the net. Hardt’s second goal was quite impressive, knocking it out of mid air with his stick. Cade Simone, D’Aurio, Ubaldi and Morgan all assisted on Hardt’s tallies.
Peschell and Fielsoh scored the next two goals, each of them getting their second goal of the day, with Ubaldi and Morgan getting the assists. Nolan Cole, David Brown, Joey Honcz and Jayden Spreyer all played well in the opening contest of the season. Michael Andreesen and Brendan Smith split time in goal, both making some key saves. 
On Sunday, the Westies fought a hard battle and tied the Junior Whalers 3-3 at the SoNo Ice House in Norwalk. Morgan scored two goals with Peschell getting the other.
Penalties hurt the Westies in the second and third periods of the contest. Ryan Bernardi, Mike Alfano, Colin Deane, Justin Pniewski, and Carl Murgo all played hard as forwards in the tied contest. Matt Wezenski was impressive on defense. Smith kept West Haven in its second game of the season, playing a complete game in goal.

(September 16, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team improved to 3-0-0 on the season with a pair of wins this weekend.  The Blue Devils defeated Southern Stars A1, 7-2, on Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink.  On Sunday, the team traveled to Enfield Twin Rinks and defeated the Enfield Eagles A, 7-3.
In Saturday's game, the Westies took a 1-0 lead as Aiden Guarino jumped on the rebound of Ryan Pniewski's shot and found the net with Ethan Kelly also assisting.  The Westies made it 2-0 just over a minute later when Leo Mazuroski found Cameren Lipford with a pretty cross-ice pass.  Lipford's rising wrist shot from the left circle went just under the cross bar.
In the second period, the Westies turned up the pressure.  Pniewski's shot from the point was redirected by Sean Studley and Lipford tapped the puck into the open net 27 seconds into the period.  Studley came down the slot and wristed one home after Ethan Kelly's shot was saved at the 4:46 mark. 
West Haven scored a power play goal at 7:43 when Ethan Kelly put back Lipford's initial shot.  Just 25 seconds later, Ethan Kelly roofed a backhander for a 6-0 lead. Southern got on the board late in the period.
Lipford earned a hat trick when he deposited a nice cross-ice feed from Studley on a power play early in the third period.  Southern scored in the final minute to make the final score 7-2 in favor of the Blue Devils. Maddox LaFountain recorded the win in net by registering eight saves.
On Sunday, the Enfield Eagles scored first on a breakaway 5:27 into the game for a 1-0 lead.  Ethan Kelly took the ensuing faceoff right to the net and roofed a back hand shot to even the score.  Pniewski made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone with under three minutes left in the period.  Studley grabbed the puck and fed Lipford for a wrist shot and the Westies went up 2-1.
Gavin Coady's one-timer from Guarino made it 3-1 in favor of the Westies half way through the second period.  A minute later, a West Haven giveaway led to an Enfield breakaway and the Eagles closed to 3-2.  On the ensuing puck drop, Ethan Kelly hit Studley and the winger drove to the net and snapped the puck home to quickly regain the two-goal advantage.
The Westies made it 5-2 with a power play goal 3:47 into the third period as Guarino swept in the rebound of an Ethan Kelly shot.  Lipford made it 6-2 when he rammed in a loose puck in front at 6:37. 
Lipford later fed Matthew Kelly from behind the Enfield net and Kelly skated in and roofed a laser for a 7-2 lead.  Enfield tallied in the final minutes to make the final score 7-3. LaFountain got the win in net by making ten saves.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team rallied in both games this week to play to a pair of ties, moving its record to 0-2-2.
Traveling to Norwalk Saturday afternoon, the Westies rallied from two goals down to tie the Connecticut Jr. Whalers 06 team 4-4. Mickey Dowd led the offense with two goals, while Zach Goetze added three assists.
Trailing 3-1 in the second period, the Westies got within a goal when Mike Page took the puck out of the corner, circled in front of the net and scored with 3:53 remaining. The Westies evened the game 2:50 into the third when Goetze sent a pass back to Bruno Martone at the point and Martone blasted a shot home.
The Whalers scored a short-handed goal with 2:06 remaining to take a 4-3 lead, but the Westies did not quit. Winning a faceoff, Michael Madera fed Goetze, who hit Dowd in front with 4.4 seconds remaining for the equalizer.
Goaltenders Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva played well with Silva coming up big early, and Hong making several outstanding saves in the third period. Dowd had given the Westies a 1-0 lead with 7.1 seconds remaining in the opening period when he scored off an assist from Goetze.  
West Haven returned to action Sunday morning against the Wonderland Wizards. Trailing 4-0 after two periods, the Westies rallied for four goals in the third period, including three in a span of 1:15 to rally for a 4-4 tie.
The line of Madera, Dowd, and Goetze combined for eight points, with Dowd and Madera each scoring twice and adding an assist, and Goetze picking up two assists.
The Westies got within 4-1 just 53 seconds into the third period when Goetze sent a perfect pass to Dowd, who did the rest in front. The Westies then evened the game with three goals in one shift.
Dowd scored his second straight goal when Madera hit Goetze, and Goetze sent another perfect pass to Dowd in front to get the Westies within two goals with 10:08 remaining.
Just 12 seconds later, Goetze hit Madera in front and Madera got the Westies within a goal as he scored in traffic. The Westies were not done as they evened the game 1:03 later.
Martone kept the puck in the zone and sent a  pass in front to Dowd. Dowd quickly found Madera in front to even the game at four with 8:53 to go.
After the goaltending of Hong kept the Westies in the game early, Silva closed the game with some big saves down the stretch. Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Ray Heenie, Dylan Bosworth and Martone were stellar defensively in the final 15 minutes.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team had its most challenging games so far in their first two weeks of the 2018-19 season this past weekend.
The Westies began a tough weekend at home tying the Southeastern Seahawks of Norwich 3-3. West Haven got the scoring started in the first period from Luca Ubaldi, with Anthony Peschell getting the assist. The Westies had a challenging second period, having to kill off a 5-on-3 in the middle of the period. They were able to keep the Seahawks off the board for the 1:40 they were down two players.
Just before the second period ended, Matt Morgan scored to put the Blue Devils up 2-0, with Peschell getting the helper. The Westies began the third period uneasy, giving up two goals in the first three minutes.
Morgan answered by scoring his second goal of the game at the 7:29 mark of the period, with Peschell getting his third assist of the afternoon. Southeastern was able to score with two minutes left in the game, with Brendan Smith doing everything he could to keep the puck out of the net. Smith played the whole game in goal in the tie, putting up a strong effort.
Kevin Gardner played his first game of the year, having two hits. Matt Wezenski, Sean Bosworth, Nolan Cole and Carl Murgo played well in the game for the Blue Devils.
Sunday brought West Haven to Ingalls Rink, the home of Yale University, to take on the Yale Bulldogs AA team. West Haven posted a 4-0 victory.
Michael Alfano had two goals back to back in the span of one minute for the Westies in the first period. Morgan scored in the second period with help from Murgo. The Blue Devils were able to add on another goal in the last five minutes of the contest as Peschell got in the goal column on the scoresheet, with Morgan getting the assist.
Those four goals proved to be enough, with the Blue Devils coming out on top David Brown, Cade Simone, Jayden Spreyer and Colin Deane all played well in the contest. Justin Pniewski did well after being asked to adjust to playing defense during the middle of the game.
Ryan Andreesen got the shutout in goal, his first complete game shutout of the season.​​

(September 23, 2018) - The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team had a solid weekend with a pair of wins. The two victories allowed the Westies to improve to 2-2-2 on the season.

Danny Johnson helped lead the West Haven Peewee A team to a win over the Riverhawks A1, Saturday, September 22, 2018. Photo courtesy of Marie Price.
West Haven opened the weekend against the Riverhawks A1 team and posted a 9-2 victory. Michael Madera led the way with four goals and two assists, Zach Goetze added two goals and one assist, and Mickey Dowd had a goal and an assist.
Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva played well in goal, while the defense of Bruno Martone, Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Ray Heenie, and Dylan Bosworth was stellar throughout the contest.
Trailing 1-0, West Haven took the lead for good with four unanswered goals to close the first period. Madera opened the scoring off an assist from Goetze 2:19 in, Goetze, scored off assists from Madera and Dowd 3:08 later, Brady Price scored on a backhander in front off an assist from Chris Consorte with 4:06 left, and Madera set up Goetze with 1:45 left in the period for a 4-1 advantage.
West Haven put the game away in the second period, scoring twice in the first 33 seconds on unassisted tallies by Dowd and Madera. Cody Rocchio scored off an assist from Connor Moriarty for a 7-2 lead 6:13 in.
The Westies won their second straight contest with a 6-5 comeback victory over New Rochelle Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.
Trailing 3-0 in the first period, the Westies got within a goal when Goetze scored off an assist from Madera with 7:52 remaining, and Dowd converted a rebound of a Madera shot 3:20 later.
West Haven took a 4-3 lead in the second period when Alling sent Dowd a perfect pass and Dowd converted for a shorthanded goal 11 seconds in.  Just 4:26 later, West Haven scored again while a man down as Madera sent Goetze on a breakaway and Goetze niftly converted for West Haven’s first lead of the game.
The Westies took a 5-3 lead 47 seconds into the third period when Martone blasted a shot in from the point off assists from Dowd and Ray Heenie. Dowd’s unassisted goal 2:59 in gave West Haven a 6-4 advantage.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team started off the weekend rough, but ended on a strong note.

​West Haven Bantam A. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera.
In a rare Friday night contest, West Haven hosted the Wonderland Wizards at the Bennett Rink and fell 5-1. The Blue Devils got on the board first, scoring about 12 minutes into the first period with a goal by David Brown off assists from Ryan Bernardi and Michael Alfano. The Westies were unable to get any other goals in the contest, falling to a talented Wizards team. Penalties kept the Westies in the box and played a role in the outcome, having six penalties in the game.
Ryan Andreesen played two solid periods in goal, with Brendan Smith coming in the third period and doing a great job coming in cold. Sean Bosworth, Matt Wezenski and Justin Pniewski all played well on defense. Colin Deane, Kevin Gardner and Carl Murgo played exceptional on forward.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils found themselves on the road to the Terry Connors Rink in Stamford to take on the Stamford Sharks, where West Haven came out on top with a 7-3 victory.
Anthony Peschell got the scoring started in the first period, and Alfano scored just a minute and a half later, with the assist coming from Bernardi. In the second period, Joey Honcz dangled the goalie in front all alone and scored the third goal for the Westies. Jayden Spreyer gave Honcz a great pass from the corner to get the assist.
Luca Ubaldi scored later in the period, with Peschell scoring his second of the game just a minute later. Murgo was credited with the assist on Peschell’s goal.
The Sharks came out strong in the third period, scoring three goals in the first five minutes of the period to make it 5-3. After a West Haven timeout, Ryan Brenardi stopped the Sharks momentum by scoring a nice one-touch goal in front of the net, with Adrian Fielosh feeding him perfectly in front from the corner to get the assist on the goal. Matt Morgan put the game away with the Wesites final goal with a minute left, Peschell got the assist on Morgan’s goal and his third point of the game.
Smith played well in goal, playing a complete game. Dante Hardt, Cade Simone and Nolan Cole all played well at forward. The Blue Devils had a strong defensive effort from Brown, Fielosh and Ubaldi.

(October 1, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team was back in action this week and split a pair of games.  On Saturday, the Blue Devils shut out ECHO A, 7-0, at Edward L. Bennett Rink.  On Sunday, they traveled to West Hartford but lost 6-4 to the Wolves A team.  The Westies are now 4-1-0 on the season.
In Saturday's victory, the Blue Devils offense was led by Cameren Lipford and Sean Studley.  Lipford scored four goals and now has a team-leading 12 goals on the season.  Studley added a goal and four assists and leads the team with 10 assists. Ryan Pniewski tallied a goal and an assist, with Jonathan Charbonneau also scoring a goal for West Haven. Maddox LaFountain earned the shutout in goal with 10 saves.
On Sunday, West Hartford had a 4-0 lead in the second period when the Westies offense got going.  Studley fed Lipford to make the score 4-1. Matthew Kelly scored an unassisted goal and it was 4-2 after two periods. Studley made it 4-3 in the third when he tipped in Leo Mazuroski's shot from the point. 
After the Wolves scored, Ethan Kelly converted a pass from Mazuroski to make it 5-4.  West Hartford added one more in the final minute for the 6-4 final. LaFountain had 21 saves in net for the Westies.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team had a rough weekend, losing both games it played.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 7-3 loss in Greenwich against the Greenwich Blues. Michael Page, Zach Goetze and Michael Madera each scored once for the Westies.
After Greenwich scored twice in six seconds to take a 2-0 lead, Page scored an unassisted goal 31 seconds later to cut the deficit in half. The Westies then tied the game when Madera set up Goetze in front. Dylan Bosworth also assisted on the goal.
West Haven never went in front as Greenwich took a 5-2 lead after two periods of play. Madera scored an unassisted goal 1:43 into the third, but West Haven never got closer.
The Westies then hosted Southern A on Sunday and were thumped 9-0. After a scoreless first period, Southern scored four times in the second and five more in the third to post the victory.
In their only contest of the weekend, the West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team welcomed the Wallingford Hawks to the Bennett Rink, where the Westies came out on top with a 2-0 win. 
After a back and forth first and second period, Justin Pniewski got West Haven on the board for the first time with eight minutes left in the third period, scoring a great goal in front of the net.  Matt Morgan fed Pniewski in front to get the assist.
Luca Ubaldi scored in the final two minutes to seal the win for the Westies, with Ryan Bernardi getting the assist. 
Pniewski, Carl Murgo, Nolan Cole and Michael Alfano all played well at forward. Ubaldi, Matt Wezenski and David Brown all played well on defense.
Michael Andreesen got the shutout and complete game in goal for the Blue Devils, playing exceptionally well in the crease. 

(October 8, 2018) - The West Haven Youth Hockey league represented well in the Hershey Columbus Day weekend tournament as all five teams played in the tournament finals. The Bantam A squad took home the title, while the Mite A, Squirt A, Peewee A and Peewee A1 teams all fell in the championship games.

West Haven Bantam A. First Place at the Hershey Shootout, October 8, 2018.  
The West Haven Squirt A hockey team advanced to the championship game of the Hershey (PA) Columbus Day Shootout, where it fell 8-3 to the West Point (NY) Jr. Knights.  The Blue Devils went 1-2-1 in the Shootout and are now 5-3-1 overall on the season.
The Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period before the Westies battled back.  Cameren Lipford zipped a wrist shot under the cross bar midway through the second to make it 5-1.  Ryan Pniewski then fired a laser from the blue line on a power play with assists to Sean Studley and Ethan Kelly for a 5-2 score at the break. 
Studley fed Lipford for another dazzling wrist shot in the third period but it was not enough.  Maddex LaFountain made 22 saves in net for the Blue Devils.
Over the four games, the Westies were led by Lipford's ten goals and three assists.  Ethan Kelly scored three goals and added six assists.  Studley chipped in three goals and five assists. Pniewski had two goals and two assists. Aedan Guarino and Matthew Kelly each scored a goal. Leo Mazuroski had two assists while John Charbonneau and Zach Melchiore each had one assist.  Rafi Treat and Lucas Iversen played well as centermen.
West Haven advanced to the finals by going 1-1-1 in round robin play.  The Westies tied Woodbridge (NJ) Wolfpack, 4-4 on Saturday afternoon. They lost 11-6 to the West Point Jr. Knights on Sunday morning. 
West Haven knocked off the Piedmont (VA) Predators 6-0 on Sunday evening and the shutout earned the team the extra point needed to put West Haven in the finals.
In game one, the Westies got two short-handed goals to even the score 2-2 at the first intermission.  Pniewski fired from the high slot after Lipford's face off win and Studley buried Ethan Kelly's rebound with 14 seconds left in the period. 
Kelly scored a power play goal in the second and a short-handed goal with two minutes left in the game, but Woodbridge tied it in the final minute.  LaFountain registered 12 saves as the Westies outshot the Wolfpack 37-16.
In game two West Haven got down 3-0 only 3:15 into the game before mounting a gritty comeback.  Matthew Kelly scored first for West Haven, Lipford ripped a laser on the power play, Studley banged in a rebound, and Ethan Kelly redirected one through the five-hole for a 4-3 lead at the break.  Lipford added a pair of goals in the second for a hat trick, but the Knights were too much down the stretch.  LaFountain made 20 saves.
In game three West Haven needed a shutout to assure their place in the finals and the defense stepped up.  Lipford registered four goals, while Studley and Aedan Guarino also tallied for the Blue Devils.  Pniewski, Charbonneau, Mazuroski and Matthew Kelly dominated on defense, and LaFountain added 10 saves and was clutch all game.
The Peewee A team opened the tournament strong, went to a shootout in the semifinals, before running out of gas later that day.
Michael Madera (8 goals, 5 assists), Mickey Dowd (7 goals, 5 assists) and Zach Goetze (2 goals, 7 assists) led the offense during the tournament, while Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva were outstanding in goal.
The Westies opened the tournament Saturday evening with a 5-3 victory

​

West Haven Peewee A. Second Place at the Hershey Shootout, October 8, 2018.  

over the Hatfield Ice Dogs. Silva and Hong both played well in goal, making numerous big saves throughout the contest.
Offensively, Madera led the way with three goals and one assist, while Dowd had one goal and one assist, and Goetze added two assists. The defense was led by the play of Haygen Axelrod and Bruno Martone.
Madera gave the Westies a 1-0 lead 3:11 into the contest off an assist from Goeze, before Dowd scored a power play goal 1:50 later for a two-goal advantage. Leading 2-1, Cody Rocchio sent a perfect pass to Brady Price with four minutes to go for a 3-1 lead.
The Westies sealed the contest in the third period. Madera scored a short-handed goal 1:15 into the period off a rebound of a Dowd shot, before Madera iced the game with his third goal of the contest with 7:16 to go. 
The Westies won their second straight to open the tournament with a 4-3 victory over Carolina. Dowd led the offense with two goals and two

assists, while Madera had a goal and two assists, and Goetze added one goal and one assist.
The Westies jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Madera scored with 6:30 left in the first off assists from Goetze and Dowd, before Goetze scored off assists from Dowd and Ray Heenie 4:29 later.
After Carolina evened the game, Madera set up Dowd for a 3-2 lead just 28 seconds after Carolina got the equalizer. The Westies made it 4-2 when Madera raced up the right wing and had his shot denied, but Dowd popped in the rebound with 6:12 remaining.
West Haven suffered its first loss of the tournament when it dropped a 6-2 decision to the Exton Kings Sunday evening. Trailing 1-0, Danny Johnson got the equalizer with a tremendous effort which resulted in a wrap-around goal off an assist from Axelrod.
Exton put the game away with three goals in 56 seconds for a 4-1 advantage, before Dowd scored off assists from Goetze and Madera.
The two wins put the Westies in the semifinals where they again met Exton. With the game even at three after regulation and overtime, West Haven won the game in a shootout as Madera and Mike Page scored and Hong stopped four Exton attempts.
Trailing 1-0, West Haven evened the contest 1:12 later when Goetze scored off an assist from Dowd. Madera scored twice in the second period, the second off an assist from Goetze, to give West Haven a 3-1 lead, but Exton forced the overtime with the tying goal with 1:24 left in regulation.
West Haven advanced to the finals against the New York City Skyliners and fell 7-4. Dowd led the way with three goals and an assist, Madera had a goal and an assist, and Goetze finished with two assists.
Dowd evened the game at one off an assist from Madera in the first, before he got West Haven within a goal at 3-2 with 2:05 left in the first.The Skyliners increased the lead to 5-2, before Madera scored off assists from Dowd and Goetze, and Dowd scored off an assist from Goetze with under a minute to go in the second. New York City iced the title with two power play goals in the third period. 

(October 16, 2018) - The West Haven Youth Hockey league represented well in the Hershey Columbus Day weekend tournament as all five teams played in the tournament finals. The Bantam A squad took home the title, while the Mite A, Squirt A, Peewee A and Peewee A1 teams all fell in the championship games.
The West Haven Squirt A hockey team advanced to the championship game of the Hershey (PA) Columbus Day Shootout, where it fell 8-3 to the West Point (NY) Jr. Knights.  The Blue Devils went 1-2-1 in the Shootout and are now 5-3-1 overall on the season.
The Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period before the Westies battled back.  Cameren Lipford zipped a wrist shot under the cross bar midway through the second to make it 5-1.  Ryan Pniewski then fired a laser from the blue line on a power play with assists to Sean Studley and Ethan Kelly for a 5-2 score at the break. 
Studley fed Lipford for another dazzling wrist shot in the third period but it was not enough.  Maddex LaFountain made 22 saves in net for the Blue Devils.
Over the four games, the Westies were led by Lipford's ten goals and three assists.  Ethan Kelly scored three goals and added six assists.  Studley chipped in three goals and five assists. Pniewski had two goals and two assists. Aedan Guarino and Matthew Kelly each scored a goal. Leo Mazuroski had two assists while John Charbonneau and Zach Melchiore each had one assist.  Rafi Treat and Lucas Iversen played well as centermen.
West Haven advanced to the finals by going 1-1-1 in round robin play.  The Westies tied Woodbridge (NJ) Wolfpack, 4-4 on Saturday afternoon. They lost 11-6 to the West Point Jr. Knights on Sunday morning. 
West Haven knocked off the Piedmont (VA) Predators 6-0 on Sunday evening and the shutout earned the team the extra point needed to put West Haven in the finals.
In game one, the Westies got two short-handed goals to even the score 2-2 at the first intermission.  Pniewski fired from the high slot after Lipford's face off win and Studley buried Ethan Kelly's rebound with 14 seconds left in the period. 
Kelly scored a power play goal in the second and a short-handed goal with two minutes left in the game, but Woodbridge tied it in the final minute.  LaFountain registered 12 saves as the Westies outshot the Wolfpack 37-16.
In game two West Haven got down 3-0 only 3:15 into the game before mounting a gritty comeback.  Matthew Kelly scored first for West Haven, Lipford ripped a laser on the power play, Studley banged in a rebound, and Ethan Kelly redirected one through the five-hole for a 4-3 lead at the break.  Lipford added a pair of goals in the second for a hat trick, but the Knights were too much down the stretch.  LaFountain made 20 saves.
In game three West Haven needed a shutout to assure their place in the finals and the defense stepped up.  Lipford registered four goals, while Studley and Aedan Guarino also tallied for the Blue Devils.  Pniewski, Charbonneau, Mazuroski and Matthew Kelly dominated on defense, and LaFountain added 10 saves and was clutch all game.
The team won two exciting games over the weekend and remain undefeated at Edward L. Bennett Rink this weekend. The Westies are 5-0-0 at home and 7-3-1 overall after wins over South Windsor A (8-7 on Saturday) and Southeastern A (6-4 on Sunday).
On Saturday morning, Studley opened the scoring against South Windsor when he redirected Pniewski's shot just 1:18 into the game. After the Knights took a 2-1 lead, Studley evened the score with a tremendous individual effort skating through four defenders and shooting through the five-hole.  South Windsor regained the lead before Studley tied at again at 3-3 by going top shelf with Ethan Kelly's pass.
West Haven went up 4-3 on the power play midway through the second period when Studley tipped Pniewski's shot to Lipford who buried it.  South Windsor scored twice to take a 5-4 lead at the second intermission. 
Lipford's rising wrister from Studley tied it again in the opening minute of the third period, before the Knights pulled ahead again a minute later. Lipford tied the game at 6-6 with a breakaway goal with 6:23 left to play. The Blue Devils made it 7-6 when Melchiore picked the puck from a defender and slid it to Aedan Guarino, who fired through the five-hole.  Ethan Kelly scored an unassisted goal for an 8-6 lead before, South Windsor scored a 5-on-3 power play goal with a minute left.  The Westies killed off the remaining power play and earned the 8-7 win.  LaFountain made 15 saves in net for West Haven.
On Sunday afternoon, West Haven and Southeastern traded two goals apiece in the first period for a 2-2 score at the break.  Lipford scored both Westie goals with Ethan Kelly assisting on the first and Studley assisting on the second. After the Seahawks scored in the second period, Lipford fed Studley for a shot and then Lipford banged in the rebound for his second hat trick of the weekend.  Ethan Kelly then went the length of the ice and cashed in a backhand shot short-handed giving the Blue Devils a 4-3 advantage. Southeastern tied it at 4-4 as the teams went to the third period.
Off the opening faceoff, Ethan Kelly found Lipford in the slot and his shot deflected off a stick and in giving the Blue Devils the lead again. The teams skated back and forth throughout the period but LaFountain was up to any challenge and kept the Seahawks off the board. Lipford scored his fifth goal of the game (he now has 29 goals in 11 games) with assists to Ethan Kelly and Studley to cap the scoring and the West Haven defense shut down the Seahawks for the 6-4 victory.  LaFountain finished with 17 saves.
The Peewee A team opened the tournament strong, went to a shootout in the semifinals, before running out of gas later that day.
Michael Madera (8 goals, 5 assists), Mickey Dowd (7 goals, 5 assists) and Zach Goetze (2 goals, 7 assists) led the offense during the tournament, while Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva were outstanding in goal.
The Westies opened the tournament Saturday evening with a 5-3 victory over the Hatfield Ice Dogs. Silva and Hong both played well in goal, making numerous big saves throughout the contest.
Offensively, Madera led the way with three goals and one assist, while Dowd had one goal and one assist, and Goetze added two assists. The defense was led by the play of Haygen Axelrod and Bruno Martone.
Madera gave the Westies a 1-0 lead 3:11 into the contest off an assist from Goeze, before Dowd scored a power play goal 1:50 later for a two-goal advantage. Leading 2-1, Cody Rocchio sent a perfect pass to Brady Price with four minutes to go for a 3-1 lead.
The Westies sealed the contest in the third period. Madera scored a short-handed goal 1:15 into the period off a rebound of a Dowd shot, before Madera iced the game with his third goal of the contest with 7:16 to go. 
The Westies won their second straight to open the tournament with a 4-3 victory over Carolina. Dowd led the offense with two goals and two assists, while Madera had a goal and two assists, and Goetze added one goal and one assist.
The Westies jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Madera scored with 6:30 left in the first off assists from Goetze and Dowd, before Goetze scored off assists from Dowd and Ray Heenie 4:29 later.
After Carolina evened the game, Madera set up Dowd for a 3-2 lead just 28 seconds after Carolina got the equalizer. The Westies made it 4-2 when Madera raced up the right wing and had his shot denied, but Dowd popped in the rebound with 6:12 remaining.
West Haven suffered its first loss of the tournament when it dropped a 6-2 decision to the Exton Kings Sunday evening. Trailing 1-0, Danny Johnson got the equalizer with a tremendous effort which resulted in a wrap-around goal off an assist from Axelrod.
Exton put the game away with three goals in 56 seconds for a 4-1 advantage, before Dowd scored off assists from Goetze and Madera.
The two wins put the Westies in the semifinals where they again met Exton. With the game even at three after regulation and overtime, West Haven won the game in a shootout as Madera and Mike Page scored and Hong stopped four Exton attempts.
Trailing 1-0, West Haven evened the contest 1:12 later when Goetze scored off an assist from Dowd. Madera scored twice in the second period, the second off an assist from Goetze, to give West Haven a 3-1 lead, but Exton forced the overtime with the tying goal with 1:24 left in regulation.
West Haven advanced to the finals against the New York City Skyliners and fell 7-4. Dowd led the way with three goals and an assist, Madera had a goal and an assist, and Goetze finished with two assists.
Dowd evened the game at one off an assist from Madera in the first, before he got West Haven within a goal at 3-2 with 2:05 left in the first.
The Skyliners increased the lead to 5-2, before Madera scored off assists from Dowd and Goetze, and Dowd scored off an assist from Goetze with under a minute to go in the second. New York City iced the title with two power play goals in the third period.
West Haven opened this weekend with a 5-0 home victory over East Haven. Five different goal scorers were on the board for the Westies as Heenie, Price, Page, Madera, and Dylan Bosworth found the back of the net.
Dowd led the way with three assists and Jacob Silva was solid in goal, making several big saves to post the shutout. Axelrod, Heenie, Martone, Bosworth and Alling all played well defensively.  
The Westies closed the week with an 11-2 defeat against South Windsor. West Haven got as close as 4-1 on a second period goal by Madera, off assists from Goetze and Martone, before Goetze scored an unassisted goal late in the game. 
The West Haven Peewee A1 travel hockey team advanced to the finals of the Columbus Day Shootout in Hershey, Pennsylvania last weekend, before falling to the New Jersey Red Devils. The Westies were 2-1-1 in the tournament.
In the opener against the Ramapo Saints, West Haven posted a 5-0 victory. Daniel Lavallee assisted on Tyler McColgan goal to open the scoring. Two minutes later, Yousaf Ullah scores a goal from the blue line, assisted by Gavin Fanelli.
West Haven took a 3-0 lead 6:10 into the second period as Ullah scores on a breakaway. Lavallee made it 4-0, before McColgan assisted on Ullah’s third goal of the game. Oliver Sawitsky fends off all the Saints attempts for a West Haven shutout.
The Westies played the Red Devils in the second game and won 4-2.
Nate Pipeling gave West Haven a 1-0 lead, assisted by Viscuso. Ullah scored the second goal off an assist from Lavallee, and did the same for West Haven’s third tally. Ullah iced the game with 1:03 remaining.
The Westies tied the West Point Black Knights 2-2 in the third game of the tournament. Ullah and J.J. Hall scored for the Westies.
West Haven faced the Red Devils in the final and fell 4-1. Gavin Fanelli scored the lone West Haven goal.
Its been a busy two weeks for the West Haven Youth Hockey Bantam A Team. Last weekend, the Westies brought home the championship at the Columbus Day Shootout in Hershey, PA.
The tournament started on Saturday with 7-0 win over the Piedmont Predators. Anthony Peschell scored the first goal of the tournament for West Haven. Justin Pniewski and Carl Murgo scored in the second period, with assists coming from David Brown and Peschell.
In the third period, Joe D’Aurio scored the fourth goal of the game and first of four in the third period. Jayden Spreyer got the assist on D’Aurio’s goal. Ryan Bernardi, Luca Ubaldi and Peschell all scored in the third period as well, with assists coming from Brown, Ubaldi and D’Aurio.
The second game of the tournament was a close one, with the Westies coming out with a 3-3 tie against the West Point Knights. Brown started the Blue Devils scoring in the second period. Peschell scored later in the period, Ubaldi received the assist. Matt Morgan scored the go-ahead goal with 2 minutes left in the game, but the Knights scored in the final minute to tie the game.
For the third game in the Columbus Day Shootout, the pressure was on for the Westies to get points to be able to move on to the championship, which they did, beating the NYC Skyliners 3-0.
Mike Alfano scored midway through the second period to get West Haven on the board. Murgo scored early In the third period with Peschell getting the helper. Spreyer scored the game-sealer with an empty net goal from 150 feet away.
On Monday afternoon, the Blue Devils moved onto the tournament championship game, facing off against the West Point Knights for the second time in the tournament.
Morgan scored the first goal of the contest early in the first period. Ubaldi scored shortly thereafter, with Morgan getting the assist. Morgan scored his second of the game midway through the second period, with assists coming from Peschell and Adrian Fielosh.
The Knights scored once in the second period, but were never able to catch up. The Blue Devils took the championship home with a 3-1 victory over the Knights. Brendan Smith and Michael Andreesen split time in goal the entire weekend, with both giving outstanding efforts to keep the other team off the scoreboard.
This past weekend, the Blue Devils came back to West Haven for two home games. On Saturday, the Westies fell to Northwestern Youth Hockey by a score of 4-2.
Bernardi got the Westies on the board halfway through the second with a nice redirect goal. Ubaldi then scored four minutes later short-handed.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils won with a dominant 8-2 win over New Canaan. D’Aurio scored the first goal early in the first period, with Pneiwski getting the assist. Spreyer scored later in the first with helpers coming from Cade Simone and Matt Wezenski. Spreyer then scored again to start the second period, with an assist coming from Kevin Gardner.
Peschell scored halfway through the period, Morgan got the helper. Colin Deane scored with 4:56 remaining in the period as Alfano and Ubaldi were credited with the assists. Peschell scored his second of the game just a minute later, Joey Honcz and Ubaldi got the assists. Alfano scored the final goal of the second period, with Morgan getting the final goal with 4:50 left in the third period.
Smith played superb in goal, playing full games in both contests this weekend. Dante Hardt, Sean Bosworth and Nolan Cole all made positive contributions over the past two weekends.

(October 23, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team opened the weekend with a strong win over Yale A on Saturday morning before losing a pair of games to Northeastern A and Greenwich A on Sunday.  The Westies are now 8-5-1 overall on the season.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies hosted the Yale Bulldogs A team.  At the end of an evenly played first period, West Haven's Ryan Pniewski passed to Jonathan Charbonneau for a shot from the blue line.  Ethan Kelly redirected the puck past the goaltender for the 1-0 lead.  Yale tied it half way through the second period, before Sean Studley went five-hole on a breakaway with Cameren Lipford assisting to give the Westies a 2-1 lead. 
Lipford was later denied on his own breakaway, but Ethan Kelly buried the rebound and West Haven led 3-1 going into the third period.  Just 14 seconds into the third, Studley's backhand redirection of Leo Mazuroski's point shot made it 4-1.  Yale made it 4-2 with a short-handed goal, but the Blue Devils capitalized on the power play when Studley found Lipford in front for a wrist shot.  Maddex LaFountain made the lead stand up and finished with 15 saves to earn the win between the pipes for West Haven.
The Blue Devils headed to Storrs on Sunday morning to face the Northeastern Huskies on the UConn campus.  UConn assistant coach and West Haven native Joe Pereira arranged for a tour of the UConn Huskies locker room before the game.  Northeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, before Studley hit ahead to Lipford who coolly cashed in the breakaway to cut it to 2-1.  The Huskies scored the only goal of the second period, but Ethan Kelly took the opening faceoff of the third period directly to the net and jammed it home to make the score 3-2.  Northeastern scored a power play goal later in the game and the Westies could not find the back of the net again and fell 4-2.  LaFountain made 18 saves in the game.
The Westies returned home to face Greenwich on Sunday afternoon at Bennett Rink. The speedy Greenwich team opened a 7-0 lead through two periods before West Haven got on the board.  Lipford ripped a wrist shot with Studley assisting to make it 7-1.  Studley scored off a scramble in front of the Greenwich net and later added another goal with Ethan Kelly assisting, but Greenwich was too much and skated to the 8-3 win.  LaFountain recorded 13 saves in net for the Westies.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend. The Westies fell to ECHO in Bolton on Saturday, before rebounding to defeat Greenwich Skate Club at home Sunday morning.
On Saturday, after a scoreless first period, ECHO took control of the game with six second period goals on its way to a 7-4 victory over the Westies. Mickey Dowd led the way with three goals, while Zach Goetze added two assists.

West Haven Peewee A against Greenwich Skate Club, October 21, 2018. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera. 
Dowd get West Haven on the board with an unassisted goal to start the third period, before Haygen Axelrod scored off an assist from Ray Heenie. Goetze set up Dowd twice in the final three minutes, but the comeback fell short.
West Haven rebounded with a 7-3 victory over Greenwich Skate Club Sunday morning in West Haven. Goetze led the way with three goals, Mike Page scored twice, Michael Madera had one goal and three assists, and Dowd added one goal and two assists.
Trailing 1-0, Page evened the contest with an unassisted goal with 4:26 remaining in the first period. Dowd gave the Westies the lead for good when he scored off an assist from Madera 1:48 later.
Goetze scored a power play goal off an assist from Madera 2:07 into the second for a 3-1 lead, before the same combination connected again as Goetze’s second goal gave the Westies a 4-1 lead.
Goetze scored his third straight goal, this one short-handed, for a 5-1 lead 3:54 into the third. Dowd set up Page, and Madera scored West Haven’s final goal, both in the final five minutes for a 7-2 advantage.
Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva were stellar in goal, while Heenie, Bruno Martone, Dylan Bosworth, Axelrod and Jason Alling played solid defensively.
The West Haven Youth Hockey Bantam A travel hockey team won both games it played this weekend, knocking off both their opponents in their two games of the weekend. 

West Haven Bantam A, October 21, 2018. Photo courtesy of Pat Fielosh. 
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the Putnam Panthers and skated to a 9-0 win.
Mike Alfano got the scoring started early in the first period with an unassisted goal. Anthony Peschell netted one shortly after with Carl Murgo getting the helper. Later in the first, Alfano scored his second of the contest with Luca Ubaldi getting the assist.
Matt Morgan scored a minute later to bring the score to 4-0 at the end of the first period. Morgan scored again to start the second period, with an assist coming from Joe D’Aurio. Cade Simone got an unassisted goal just 30 seconds later and Joey Honcz buried the puck in the back of their net with an assist from Ubaldi two minutes later.
Nolan Cole scored his first goal of the year to make it 8-0 as Sean Bosworth got the assist. Ubaldi got the final goal for the Westies to make it 9-0 on an unassisted tally. Brendan Smith and Michael Andreesen split time in goal for the combined shutout. Matt Wezenski and Colin Deane both has strong efforts in the contest. 
On Sunday, the Westies took a trip down I-95 to Norwich to take on the Southeastern Seahawks and skated to a 6-1 victory.
After the Seahawks scored early in the first three minutes, Alfano scored late in the first for the Blue Devils to get the game started.
After a scoreless second period by both teams, it was all West Haven the third period. Alfano scored his second goal of the game and his fourth of the weekend with 9 minutes left in the third. Peschell scored four minutes later with Ubaldi getting the assist, and Murgo scored an unassisted goal just a minute later.
Dante Hardt scored a nice goal from a great pass from Adrian Fielosh to make it 5-1. Jayden Spreyer scored the final goal for the Westies on an unassisted tally.
Andreesen and Smith split time again in the game in goal, combining to only allow one goal and keep the Blue Devils in the game. Justin Pniewski, Ryan Bernardi and Kevin Gardner all played well in the win.

(October 30, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend and now stands at 9-6-1 overall on the season. The Blue Devils knocked off Watertown A, 7-2, before losing to Greater New Haven A1, 5-3.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink the Westies took on the Watertown Red Wings and scored four goals in the third period to pull away for the win. Cameren Lipford led the way with four goals while Ethan Kelly scored twice and had two assists.
Down 1-0 early in the game, Lipford scored from behind the net with a ricochet off the goaltender. He later went bar down from the right dot with Kelly assisting and West Haven led 2-1 after one period. 
The Wings had a 5-on-3 early in the second until Kelly came out of the box, stole the puck, went to the net, deked and scored. Watertown converted on another power play later in the period and the Westies led 3-2 going into the final period.
Ethan Kelly scored a backhand goal, Lipford redirected a Ryan Pniewski shot, and Lipford then flipped a backhand over the goalie with Sean Studley assisting to break the game open midway through the period. Lucas Iversen capped the scoring with a one-timer in the slot from Kelly.  Maddex LaFountain made 14 saves in goal for the Westies. 
On Sunday afternoon, the Blue Devils faced the Warriors of Greater New Haven A1 at the Northford Ice Pavilion.  Ethan Kelly had two goals and an assist, while Studley added a goal and an assist, but it was not enough as the Westies lost by a pair of goals.
Kelly got West Haven on the scoreboard first when he took Studley's breakout pass and wristed a shot off the goaltender's mask and in with four minutes left in the opening period.
With the score tied 1-1, Kelly won the opening faceoff of the second period and rushed the net. His shot was saved and then it dropped between the goalie's pads and trickled in for a 2-1 lead. The Warriors took a 3-2 lead later in the period before Studley tied the game with 2:49 remaining as he knocked in the loose puck after Kelly's initial shot was saved.
The Warriors regained the lead just before the period ended and then scored the only goal of the third period to grab the win. LaFountain made 10 saves in the loss for the Westies.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team struggled to score this weekend, scoring just one goal in two games.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 4-1 loss against Darien Saturday morning in Stamford. Brady Price scored the lone West Haven goal, cutting the team’s deficit to 2-1 with 7:18 to go in the second period. Price’s unassisted tally was all the Westies could manage as Darien iced the contest with a goal in the final 4:52 of the contest.
The Westies played host to Simsbury Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink and were shutout 7-0. 
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team came out on top in its only contest of the weekend, winning a tight game by the score of 3-2 over the Stamford Sharks.
On Saturday, the Westies welcomed the Sharks to the Bennett Rink, and after a back and forth start, the Sharks scored first halfway through the opening period.
The Blue Devils scored their first goal to tie the game with five minutes left in the second off an unassisted breakaway goal by Matt Morgan. Luca Ubaldi scored at the beginning of the third to give West Haven the lead, with an assist coming from Anthony Peschell, but the Sharks answered quickly just a minute later.
Morgan scored once again with another unassisted breakaway goal with five minutes left in the third period, which was enough to give West Haven the win.
Michael Andreesen and Brendan Smith split time in goal to preserve the win. Matt Wezenski, Joey Honcz, Sean Bosworth and Kevin Gardner all played well in the win.

(November 6, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team went 3-0 on the weekend with all three wins by the same score of 4-1.  The Westies posted a pair of wins on Saturday against West Hartford A and Southern A1.  On Sunday, the Westies knocked off South Windsor A. The Blue Devils are now 12-6-1 on the season. 
On Saturday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies took on the West Hartford Wolves in a rematch of a game won 6-4 by the Wolves at the end of September.  This time, the West Haven defense of Leo Mazuroski, Matthew Kelly, Jonathan Charbonneau, and Ryan Pniewski was terrific and led the team to a 4-1 win.  The Westies are now 8-1 on home ice this season.
Cameren Lipford scored the only goal of the first period when he went top shelf with 2:51 left on the clock.  Ethan Kelly started the play from behind the net with a pass to Matthew Kelly at the point and Matthew found Lipford in front of the goal.
Maddex LaFountain stopped a breakaway one minute into the second and Mazuroski cleared the loose puck off the goal line.  Matthew Kelly found Lipford again on a 4-on-4 for a 2-0 lead two minutes later.  Sean Studley held off a defenseman and wristed home Ethan Kelly's pass for a 3-0 advantage.  Pniewski closed the West Haven scoring with a laser from the point with Ethan Kelly assisting.  LaFountain made 12 saves in net for the win.
On Saturday afternoon at the Milford Ice Pavilion, the Blue Devils posted their second 4-1 win of the day, this time over the Southern Stars.
Studley found the net first for West Haven when he deposited Lipford's pass into the lower left corner five minutes into the game.  Ethan Kelly made it 2-0 when Mazuroski's shot deflected to his stick and he fired it home.
Matthew Kelly jammed in his own rebound midway through the second period before a breakaway goal by the Stars made it 3-1 heading into the final period.  Ethan Kelly's unassisted backhander was the only goal of the third period.  LaFountain turned aside 11 shots in goal for the Westies.
On Sunday morning at the South Windsor Arena, the Westies dominated the opening period against the South Windsor Knights. Lipford scored first with a power play goal set up by nice passing from Studley and Ethan Kelly two minutes into the game. Lipford found Studley who wristed it home to finish off a pretty two-on-one to make it 2-0. Mazuroski weaved through traffic and fired on net while Iversen slammed in the rebound for a 3-0 lead at the break.
Lipford led Studley with a pass into the Knights' zone and then tapped in Studley's return pass for a 4-0 lead in the second period. South Windsor broke through for a breakaway goal with a minute left in the game to make the final score 4-1. LaFountain capped off the undefeated weekend by making 15 saves for the Blue Devils.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this past weekend, topping Watertown on Saturday and falling to the Riverhawks on Sunday.
Against Watertown in Shelton Saturday evening, the Westies posted a 6-0 victory. Mickey Dowd and Michael Madera led the offense as Dowd scored four times and Madera picked up three assists. Cody Rocchio also added two assists in the win.
West Haven took control of the game with five goals in the opening period. Dowd gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 6:53 into the game off an assist from Madera, before Bruno Martone scored off an assist from Rocchio 2:51 later.
Dowd and Madera hooked up for the next two goals as Dowd scored twice in 40 seconds, both off assists from Madera. Dylan Bosworth gave the Westies a 5-0 lead with six seconds left in the opening period off an assist from Rocchio.
West Haven added one more goal in the win as Dowd scored off an assist from Zach Goetze 1:41 into the second. Bryan Hong started and made three saves for the Westies, while Jacob Silva made 12 saves to complete the shutout.
Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Martone, Bosworth and Ray Heenie all played well defensively in the win for the Westies.
In what was a close contest for most of the game, West Haven fell to the Riverhawks 6-2 Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead 3:30 in when Dowd scored off an assist from Martone. The Riverhawks evened the game at one less than five minutes later, then scored twice in a span of 2:44 in the second for a 3-1 lead.
Trailing 4-1, the Westies cut the deficit in half with 11:36 to go when Goetze scored off an assist from Martone. The Westies mounted the pressure over the next eight minutes, but could not get closer. The Riverhawks sealed the game with two goals in t a span of 2:04 in the final 3:33.  
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team had two games this past weekend and came out on top in both games. The Westies go into this week with a six-game winning streak.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the Yale Bulldogs AA team. Yale scored first in the game with five minutes remaining in the first period. West Haven answered just 30 seconds later off a goal from Anthony Peschell as Carl Murgo was credited with the assist.
Murgo scored midway through the second period to give the Westies the lead, with an assist coming from Matt Morgan. The Blue Devils took a two goal lead off an unassisted goal from Justin Pniewski with 3:42 remaining in the second.
After a back and forth third period, the Bulldogs pulled within one with two minutes left after a redirected goal off of three different players. West Haven was able to maintain their lead and close out the game with a 3-2 victory. Michael Andreesen played a full game in goal for the Westies. Joey Honcz, David Brown and Jayden Spreyer all played well in the victory.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils traveled to Avon Old Farms Prep School to take on the Avon Panthers, coming out with a 7-0 victory.
West Haven got the scoring started early off a goal from Ryan Bernardi in the first minute of the game, with Nolan Cole getting the assist. At the 9:56 mark of the first, Cade Simone scored the next two goals within 20 seconds of each other, Dante Hardt and Sean Bosworth were credited with the helpers on the goals.
Morgan scored an unassisted goal three minutes later. Pniewski scored three minutes later to finish up a five-goal first period for the Westies. Adrian Fielosh got the assist on Pniewski’s second goal of the weekend.
Cole scored two goals in the second period to seal the deal for the Blue Devils. Matt Wezenski was credited with an assist on Cole’s second goal, his third point of the day.
Brendan Smith played a full game in goal for the Blue Devils, getting credit for the win and a shutout. Kevin Gardner, Colin Deane and Jojo D’Aurio all played well in the game and the weekend.

(November 13, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A hockey team split a pair of home games this weekend and now have an overall record of 13-7-1.  The Blue Devils knocked off Northwestern A1, 5-0, and dropped an 8-3 decision to the Potomac (VA) Patriots.
On Saturday morning at Edward L Bennett Rink, the Westies took on the Northwestern Icehawks and dominated the action in a 5-0 win.  Leo Mazuroski had a pair of goals while Ethan Kelly added a goal and three assists. 
Mazuroski scored from the high slot off Kelly's pass to open the scoring 3:12 into the game.  Cameren Lipford's long range wrist shot with Kelly assisting made it 2-0 four minutes later.
Kelly tapped in a loose puck two minutes into the second period to make it 3-0.  Zach Melchiore buried one after Ryan Pniewski's shot deflected to his stick for a 4-0 advantage. Mazuroski capped the scoring when he took Kelly's pass and ripped a laser from the slot.  Maddex LaFountain made just three saves as the Westies outshot the Icehawks 35-3.
On Sunday afternoon, the Westies hosted the Potomac Patriots, who were visiting the area from Virginia, and lost 8-3.  Sean Studley led the offense with a goal and two assists. 
Down 1-0 midway through the first period, Lipford tied the game for West Haven when he took Studley's pass and scored with a wrist shot from above the right circle.
Potomac had a 5-1 lead in the second period when the Westies mounted a comeback. Studley tipped a pass to Ethan Kelly, who beat the goalie over his shoulder with a wrist shot. 
West Haven made it 5-3 in the third when Jonathan Charbonneau found Studley on the doorstep for a wrist shot.  The Patriots were ultimately too much down the stretch and pulled away.  LaFountain made 21 saves for West Haven. 
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team won three games this weekend, topping Yale 06 on Saturday and New Canaan and Northwestern on Sunday.

West Haven Peewee A. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera.
Against Yale at the Northford Ice Pavilion, Michael Madera led the way with three goals and an assist, while Zach Goetze added a pair of assists. Bryan Hong was stellar in goal, making numerous outstanding saves, while Dylan Bosworth, Jason Alling, Bruno Martone, Haygen Axelrod and Ray Heenie were solid on defense.
West Haven got going quickly as it scored twice in the first 41 seconds for a 2-0 lead. Mickey Dowd scored just 12 seconds into the contest off assists from Madera and Goetze, before Madera scored off an assist from Goetze 31 seconds later.
Leading 2-1, West Haven put the game away in the third period. Madera re-directed a shot by Martone with 8:09 to go, then scored from in front off an assist from Heenie 1:34 later.
The Westies won their second game with a 3-1 victory over New Canaan Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Goetze led West Haven with a pair of goals and an assists, and gave West Haven a 1-0 lead when he scored off an assist from Dowd 3:11 into the game.
With the game even at one, Goetze scored an unassisted goal 2:27 into the second for a 2-1 advantage. Goetze then picked up his third point of the game when he set up Madera in the slot for a 3-1 lead 1:51 into the third with Bosworth also picking up a helper.
Jacob Silva played well in goal, with several timely saves. Danny Johnson, Chris Consorte, Connor Moriarty and Cody Rocchio all played well in the win.
The Westies closed the weekend sweep with a 5-2 victor over Northwestern at Canterbury Prep Sunday afternoon. Mike Page led the way with two goals and an assist, while Goetze added two assists.
Dowd gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 2:14 in when he deked for a goal off an assist from Goetze. Madera increased the lead to 2-0 3:31 in when he re-directed a perfect pass from Goetze into the back of the net.
Leading 2-1, Page took over. His pass to Brady Price set up Price’s goal with 1:19 left in the first for a 3-1 advantage. Page scored a short-handed goal 3:41 into the second period with an unassisted effort for a 4-1 lead, then gave West Haven a 5-2 lead with a goal off an assist from Axelrod with 6:22 to go.
Silva and Hong both played well in the win for the Westies. 

West Haven Bantam A. Photo courtesy of Pat Fielosh. 
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team had a very challenging weekend of play, coming out with a tie and a win.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the CT Riverhawks to the Bennett Rink and played to a 4-4 tie. West Haven got the scoring started early in the first period with an unassisted goal by Michael Alfano. The Riverhawks would get a goal in the final five minutes of the first period to even the score at one. Neither team scored until the final minute of the second period, where the Riverhawks scored with 25 seconds remaining in the period, but the Westies answered with just a second left on the board to even the score at 2, off of a goal by Justin Pniewski, David Brown was credited the assist.
West Haven took the lead at the beginning of the third, off of a goal from Cade Simone in front, with Colin Deane feeding Simone from behind the net for a beautiful goal. Matt Morgan scored two minutes later, with assists coming from his line mates Anthony Peschell and Carl Murgo, making the score 4-2. The Riverhawks scored two goals to tie the game, with the game ending in a 4-4 stalemate. Michael Andreesen played a complete game in goal, making key saves to keep the Westies in the game. Joey Honcz, Jayden Spreyer and Sean Bosworth all played well in the contest. 
On Sunday, West Haven made the trip north to the Northford Ice Pavilion to take on the Yale Bulldogs A team and posted a 5-2 win.
After being down 2-0 in the first period, the Westies rallied and never looked back in the second and third periods. Morgan scored two goals back to back to even the game at two, with assists coming from Peschell and Jojo D’Aurio.
Ryan Bernardi netted one with less than 30 seconds remaining in the second, with Pniewski and Adrian Fielosh credited with the helpers. Brown scored in the first 30 seconds of the third off an assist from Alfano.
Peschell finished the scoring for the Blue Devils to seal the win by the score of 5-2. Morgan got the assist on Peschell’s goal, his fourth point of the weekend. Brendan Smith played a complete game in goal in the West Haven win. Matt Wezenski, Dante Hardt and Kevin Gardner all played well in the win.

(November 20, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend.  The Westies lost to Avon A, 7-2, and defeated ECHO A, 4-3.  West Haven is now 14-8-1 on the season.
On Saturday morning at Edward L Bennett Rink, the Westies took on the Avon Panthers and fell 7-2.  Zach Melchiore got West Haven out to a 1-0 lead when Matthew Kelly's shot deflected to Aedan Guarino who passed to Melchiore and Melchiore knocked the puck into the back of net.  Avon then scored the next four goals for a 4-1 lead after one period. 
Ethan Kelly converted on a breakaway with his brother Matthew assisting midway through the second period to make it 4-2.  The Blue Devils were shut down the rest of the way as Avon won by five.  Maddex LaFountain made 19 saves for the Westies.
The Blue Devils traveled to the Bolton Ice Palace on Sunday morning to face the ECHO Stars.  Sean Studley led the Blue Devil offense with a hat trick and an assist in a 4-3 win.
After ECHO took an early lead, Studley banged home a loose puck when Ethan Kelly's initial shot was saved to tie the score at 1-1.  The Stars regained the lead two minutes later and led 2-1 at the first intermission. 
Kelly found Studley for a one-timer on a two-on-none two minutes into the second period to tie it again at 2-2.  West Haven then took its first lead of the game with a power play goal midway through the period. 
Cameren Lipford fired home a backhander after Studley's wrister was saved and the Westies led 3-2.  But less than a minute later ECHO tied it and the teams remained knotted at 3 skating into the third period.
West Haven controlled most of the action in the third period, but could not find the back of the net until Studley made a hustle play with six minutes remaining.  Studley stole the puck from a defenseman and wristed a shot that was saved.  He gathered the loose puck, eluded a defenseman, circled behind the net and fired home the game-winning goal.  LaFountain only needed to make four saves in goal for West Haven as the Westies outshot the Stars 33-7.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team went 1-2 this weekend, falling to the Ct Junior Whalers 06 and Southern, before rebounding with a win over East Haven.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 7-1 loss against the Ct Jr. Whalers Friday evening at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Trailing 1-0 in the opening period, Michael Madera evened the contest off assists from Zach Goetze and Mickey Dowd.
Despite controlling play in the opening period, West Haven trailed 2-1 and allowed two more goals in the second period. West Haven never got closer despite additional pressure throughout the contest.
Brady Price, Mike Page, and Connor Moriarty played well offensively in the loss.
The Westies then traveled to play Southern at the Milford Ice Pavilion Saturday evening. Despite a brilliant effort in goal by Bryan Hong, West Haven fell 5-2. Trailing 2-0 in the third period, the Westies rallied to tie the contest, but a late goal gave Southern the lead for good.

Bryan Hong of the West Haven Peewee A against Southern, November 17, 2018. Photo courtesy of Mike Madera.
Down by two goals and killing a penalty, Ray Heenie sent a pass up to Madera along the boards. Madera skated up the left wing and wristed a shot home to cut the deficit in half 23 seconds into the third period.
West Haven continued to mount the pressure and got the equalizer with 9:12 to go. Dowd sent pass to Goetze who fed Madera for the tying goal. West Haven played well, but Southern scored the go-ahead goal with 5:37 to go, then added an empty-net tally with 21 seconds left and another goal in the final seconds for the 5-2 defeat.
Danny Johnson, Brady Price, Dylan Bosworth and Chris Consorte played well offensively in the loss. Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Bruno Martone, and Heenie played well defensively.
The Westies closed the weekend with a 4-3 victory over East Haven Sunday morning in West Haven. Dowd led the offense with two goals and an assist, while Madera added one goal and three assists, and Goetze also scored.
Trailing 1-0, Goetze evened the contest off an assist from Madera with 6:09 left in the opening period. East Haven took the lead late in the first period, but the Westies took the lead for good in the second period.
Dowd scored off an assist from Madera with 7:44 to go in the period to even the contest, before the pair hooked up again as Dowd picked up a rebound of Madera’s shot for a short-handed tally and a 3-2 lead with 3:18 to go in the middle period.
West Haven increased the margin to 4-2 with 9:18 left in the third period as Madera scored in front off an assist from Dowd. East Haven got closer with a goal with 2:10 remaining, but the Westies held on for the win.   
Hong and Jacob Silva each played well in goal for West Haven.
The West Haven Bantam A team had its toughest weekend of the season this past weekend, going 0-2 after not losing in its previous eight games.

Jayden Spreyer of the West Haven Bantam A against Greenwich Skate Club, November 17, 2018. Photo courtesy of Pat Fielosh. 
On Saturday, the Greenwich Skating Club came into the Bennett Rink and came out on top with a 2-0 win. It was a very back and forth matchup, but the Skate Club was able to come out with the win. Carl Murgo, Justin Pniewski and Matt Morgan played well on forward. David Brown, Jojo D’Aurio and Sean Bosworth played well on defense.
Sunday morning brought the Westies to the Wonderland of Ice In Bridgeport to take on the Wizards A1 team, but left with a 4-1 loss. Joey Honcz scored an unassisted goal in the second period, working hard on the forecheck in the corner and then brought the puck in front of the net and scored between the goalie’s pad and the post.
The tally by Honcz was the only goal the Blue Devils were able to net the entire weekend. Jayden Spreyer, Nolan Cole, Dante Hardt and Ryan Bernardi played well in the contest on forward. Matt Wezenski, Luca Ubaldi and Adrian Fielosh played well on defense.
Michael Andreesen and Brendan Smith split time in both games in goal. While they came out with two losses, the Blue Devils made a lot of positive plays and worked hard in both contests. 

(November 27, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team tied the Greater New Haven A1 Warriors, 0-0, in its only game of the weekend. The Blue Devils' record is now 14-8-2 on the season.
West Haven goaltender Maddex LaFountain made 19 saves in the game. The defense of Leo Mazuroski, Ryan Pniewski, Jonathan Charbonneau and Matthew Kelly was terrific throughout.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend, falling to South Windsor Saturday afternoon, before rebounding to top Western 06 Sunday morning.
The Westies opened the weekend with an 8-3 loss to South Windsor. In a game which was close throughout, South Windsor put the contest away with three goals in the final 1:38 of the game.
Trailing 1-0, West Haven evened the contest just 41 seconds later when Brady Price scored off assists from Bruno Martone and Mike Page. South Windsor led 2-1 after one period and 3-1 after two periods of play.
After South Windsor score twice in a span of 1:05 for a 5-1 advantage, the Westies again fought back with two goals in 24 seconds. Price scored an unassisted goal for his second of the game, and Mickey Dowd scored off an assist from Haygen Axelrod to get the Westies within a pair of goals with 4:31 to go.
Despite constant pressure, the Westies could not get closer and South Windsor iced the game in the final 98 seconds, including two goals in the final 11 seconds. Bryan Hong played well in goal despite the loss.
The Westies got back in the win column Sunday morning with a 5-3 victory over Western 06 at the Edward L. Bennet Rink in West Haven. Zach Goetze and Dowd led the offense with one goal and one assist apiece, while Jason Alling added a pair of assists.
West Haven took a 1-0 lead 3:29 into the contest when Dowd scored a power play goal in front off assists from Axelrod and Alling. With the game even at one, Goetze, stepped in front of a Western pass while short-handed and scored on a breakaway for a 2-1 lead with 4:29 left in the opening period.
Western scored twice in 22 seconds early in the second period for a 3-2 lead, but the Westies got the equalizer 4:52 into the period when Michael Madera scored off assists from Goetze and Dowd.
Page gave the Westies the lead for good with 4:19 left in the middle period. Off a perfect pass from Price, Page scored on a 2-on-1 break, with an assist also going to Alling.
Cody Rocchio gave West Haven some breathing room when he scored 2:31 into the third period. Jacob Silva played well in goal for the Westies.  
Chris Consorte, Connor Moriarty, and Danny Johnson all played well on offense, while Ray Heenie and Dylan Bosworth played well defensively.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team got back to its winning ways this weekend, going 2-0 in the games it played.
The weekend started with an 8-0 win over the Wallingford Hawks at the Edward L. Bennett Rink on Saturday. The Westies started with a goal in the first five minutes of the first period by Luca Ubaldi. Michael Alfano scored two unassisted goals within 30 seconds of each other at the six minute mark of the first period, and Adrian Fielosh then scored a minute later, off a pass on the blue line from Ubaldi.
West Haven scored again midway through the second period, off a nice passing play by all three forwards on the ice, Dante Hardt scored the goal in front, with Jayden Spreyer and Joey Honcz getting the helpers.
Matt Morgan scored 40 seconds later with an assist from Alfano. Ubaldi then scored his second of the game unassisted with 3:19 remaining in the second. Anthony Peschell scored the Blue Devils’ final goal at the beginning of the third period off of a breakaway. 
Brendan Smith played two periods in the contest, with Michael Andreesen coming in the third period, as the two combined for the shutout. 
Kevin Gardner, Sean Bosworth and David Brown all played well in the win.
Sunday brought the Blue Devils to South Kent Prep School to take on the Northwestern Icehawks, where the Westies came out on top 4-3. 
Justin Pniewski scored in the opening minute with an unassisted goal to get the game started. The score would not change until midway through the second period, where the Icehawks tied the game at one. The Westies went up 3-1 within the first five minutes of the third period. Carl Murgo scored the second goal, with Morgan getting credit for the assist. Morgan then scored 43 seconds later with an unassisted goal.
Northwestern pressured the Blue Devils by scoring to make the game 3-2, with Alfano answering 15 seconds later for a 4-2 West Haven lead. Fielosh got the assist on Alfano’s goal.
Northwestern made a last ditch effort and was able to make the score 4-3, but could not overcome the Blue Devils. Andreessen played the first two periods in goal, with Smith coming in for the third. 
Ryan Bernardi, Joe D’Aurio and Matt Wezenski all played well in the win.
The Bantam A coaching staff would like to congratulate and wish the best of luck to the players on the team who are leaving to go and play on their respective high school teams. 

WHYH Peewee A - Lake Placid (CanAm) First Place.

WH YOUTH HOCKEY 2018

(December 4, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team went 1-2 over the weekend.  The Westies defeated Enfield B, 9-1, before losing 5-1 to Greenwich A and 2-1 to Ridgefield AA.  The Blue Devils are now 15-10-2 on the season. 
On Saturday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies dominated Enfield as seven different players scored goals.  Cameren Lipford opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game with Ethan Kelly assisting.  Jonathan Charbonneau then knocked in his own rebound. Sean Studley converted on the doorstep from Kelly who then scored on a breakaway.  Rafi Treat made it 5-0 when he jammed home the loose puck after Aedan Guarino's initial shot was saved.
The Westies tacked on two more in the second as Leo Mazuroski fired from the slot with Kelly assisting, and Studley found Lipford who knocked it home.  Zach Melchiore zipped in his own rebound and Charbonneau went five-hole in the third period to complete the scoring.  Maddex LaFountain made 10 saves in net for the Blue Devils. 
On Saturday evening, the Westies played Greenwich at the Chelsea Piers Rink in Stamford.  West Haven had lost convincingly to Greenwich six weeks ago, but this time they played a much tighter game.
Ethan Kelly scored the lone Blue Devils goal when he skated through a hook and slid the puck inside the far post midway through the second period.  Guarino created a couple of quality chances and Lucas Iversen just missed a goal but the Westies could not convert.  LaFountain made 20 saves in goal.
On Sunday evening at the Danbury Ice Arena, the Westies played Ridgefield AA closely and actually outshot the Tigers 19-14 but could not find the equalizer in the 2-1 loss.
Studley one-timed Ethan Kelly's feed to convert a two-on-one rush a minute into the second period to tie it 1-1.  Treat was robbed in the second period and Gavin Coady narrowly missed the tying goal in the third period.  LaFountain made 17 saves for West Haven. 
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team dropped a pair of decisions this weekend, losing on the road against Ridgefield and at home against Yale.
The Westies traveled to play Ridgefield Saturday evening and despite controlling play for much of the game, fell 3-2.
After a scoreless first period, West Haven took a 1-0 lead less than 2:30 into the middle period when Zach Goetze scored off an assist from Mickey Dowd. Ridgefield scored the next two goals, but Michael Madera set up Dowd for the equalizer with 52 seconds remaining in the period.
Ridgefield scored 2:37 into the third for a 3-2 advantage. Despite numerous opportunities, the Westies could not get the equalizer in the one-goal loss. Danny Johnson, Brady Price and Mike Page all played well in the loss on the offensive side, while Jason Alling, Haygen Axelrod, Bruno Martone, Ray Heenie and Dylan Bosworth were all solid on defense.
The Westies dropped their second of the weekend with a 6-2 loss against Yale 06A Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.
West Haven got on the board quickly when Dowd deflected Heenie’s point shot in just 18 seconds into the game. Yale answered with the next four goals, including three in the opening period for a 4-1 lead. Goetze scored an unassisted goal 1:25 into the middle period, but West Haven never got closer with Yale icing the contest with a pair of goals in the final 4:55 of the contest.   
The West Haven Bantam A team tied its only contest of the weekend with a 4-4 tie against the Yale Bulldogs Bantam A team.
In a very back and forth contest, West Haven went up 2-0 in the first period, the first goal coming from Carl Murgo, off assists from Matt Morgan and Justin Pniewski. Jayden Spreyer then scored with four minutes left in the period, with Morgan getting the helper.
The Bulldogs scored in the first two minutes of the second period to make the score 2-1, but the Westies answered shortly after off a goal from Morgan, picking up his third point of the contest. Murgo was credited with the assist.
Yale scored again to make the score 3-2, before Joey Honcz scored a goal off a nice move to dangle the Yale goaltender. Spreyer was credited with the helper.
Yale scored the final two goals in the 4-4 tie.
Brendan Smith played a full game in goal, making several key saves. Pniewski, Dante Hardt and Matt Wezenski all played well in the contest.

(December 11, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend and now stands at 16-11-2 overall on the season.  The Blue Devils lost 5-2 to Pawling A and shut out Wallingford A, 5-0.
On Saturday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies hosted Pawling in a battle of two evenly matched teams.  Pawling jumped on top midway through the opening period, but West Haven tied the game two minutes later when Sean Studley redirected Ryan Pniewski's shot through the five hole and it was 1-1 after one.
In a back-and-forth second period, the Westies outshot Pawling but the visitors got a goal with a minute to go for a 2-1 lead.
Pawling scored twice more for a 4-1 lead in the third, before Cameren Lipford tipped another Pniewski shot over the goalie and in.  West Haven pulled its goalie and had a few opportunities, but Pawling converted an empty net goal for the final margin of victory.  The Westies outshot Pawling 19-15 for the game with Maddex LaFountain making 10 saves for West Haven.
On Sunday morning at Remsen Arena on Choate's campus in Wallingford, the Westies bounced back in a big way with a 5-0 win over the Wallingford Hawks.  LaFountain posted a shutout and made 20 saves to lead the way.
Zach Melchiore got West Haven on top 2:32 into the game when Gavin Coady dumped the puck in and Melchiore took possession behind the net.  Melchiore turned and jammed the puck in to make it 1-0.
The score remained 1-0 with both teams unable to capitalize until a West Haven penalty in the final minute of the second period.  Studley corralled the puck in his own end, burst through a pair of defenders, and drilled home a short-handed, breakaway wrist shot with only 13 seconds on the clock.
The Westies rode the momentum through the third period and pulled away.  They executed perfectly on the power play when Ethan Kelly won the draw to Lipford, who quickly passed to Matthew Kelly at the blue line.  Studley screened the goalie and Kelly's laser went five-hole.  Melchiore's second goal of the game made it 4-0 when he one-timed Ethan Kelly's feed to convert a two-on-one rush.  Matthew Kelly capped the scoring with a long-range, empty net tally from his own defensive zone.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend, falling to Greater New Haven A, before rebounding to top Central A.  
The Westies opened the weekend by falling to Greater New Haven 9-1 at the Northford Ice Pavilion Saturday morning.  In what was a close game, Greater New Haven broke the contest open with five goals in a span of 2:50 in the second period. 
West Haven's lone goal came in the third period when Michael Madera set up Ray Heenie for a power play goal.
The Westies rebounded to defeat Central 4-1 at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven Sunday morning. 
Mickey Dowd led the way with two goals, Madera added a pair of assists, and Zach Goetze had a goal and an assist. 
West Haven jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period and never looked back. Mike Page gave the Westies a 1-0 lead just 2:56 into the game off an assist from Brady Price, and Goetze scored with 3:52 to go in the period for a 2-0 lead. 
Leading 2-1, the Westies increased the advantage to a pair of goals once again when Madera found Dowd in front with 4:18 remaining in the second.
West Haven capped the scoring in the third when the passing of Madera to Goetze to Dowd in front gave the team a 4-1 lead with 6:37 left in the game. 
Jacob Silva and Brian Hong were stellar in goal as Silva made several big saves early and Hong kept Central at bay with some solid stops. Heenie. Bruno Martone, Jason Alling, and Haygen Axelrod all played well defensively.  
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team suffered two heartbreaking losses over the past weekend.
On Saturday, the Westies welcomed the Greater New Haven Warriors to the Bennett and fell 5-4. After going down 4-0 to start, the Blue Devils came back to even the score 4-4.
Justin Pniewski scored the first goal for the Westies with just 11 seconds left in the second period, with Matt Morgan getting the assist. After GNH took a five-minute major penalty for boarding, West Haven capitalized on the power play.
Matt Wezenski scored at the beginning of the third period for the first goal on the power play as Carl Murgo was credited with the helper. Morgan scored the second goal on the Warriors major penalty, with Pniewski getting the assist.
Pniewski then got his second goal of the day to even the score after being down four goals, Cade Simone made the pass to Pniewski who buried the tying goal. The Warriors scored the game-winning goal with five minutes left in the game, with the Westies unable to answer. 
Kevin Gardner, Joey Honcz, Jayden Spreyer and Wezenski had valiant efforts in the loss.
On Sunday, the Westies traveled up I-91 to take on the West Hartford Wolves, where they left with a 3-1 loss. Pniewski scored the only goal for the Blue Devils on the day.
The entire game was a back and forth battle, but the Westies were unable to capitalize on the chances they had. David Brown, Nolan Cole, Colin Deane and Dante Hardt all played well in the loss.
Brendan Smith played well in goal the entire weekend for the Westies.

(December 18, 2018) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team earned a win and a tie over the weekend to push its record on the season to 17-11-3.  The Blue Devils knocked off Hamden in the second annual "Winter Classic" to complete a sweep of the Dragons on the season.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies took on the Huskies of Northeast A in a back-and-forth game that eventually ended in a 5-5 tie.  Cameren Lipford led the offense with a hat trick. 
Northeast came out fast and took a 2-0 lead after one period.  West Haven got on the board 4:02 into the second period when Sean Studley won a battle for the puck along the left boards.  He sent a backhand pass to Lipford, who roofed a wrist shot to make it 2-1.  The Huskies regained the two-goal advantage just 18 seconds later. 
West Haven came right back when Studley found Ethan Kelly on the breakout.  Kelly hit ahead to Lipford who skated in and wristed home another laser to make it 3-2.
Just over two minutes into the third period, the Westies tied it.  Leo Mazuroski blocked a shot and skated the puck all the way into Huskies territory.  He slid it to Rafi Treat who wristed it off the far post and in. 
A minute and a half later the Blue Devils took their first lead.  Ryan Pniewski fired from the blue line and Studley tried to tip it.  While falling, he nudged the puck over to Lipford who slid it under the goalie to complete his hat trick.
Northeast tied it again less than a minute later.  West Haven continued to battle and retook the lead at 5-4 when Ethan Kelly finished off a tremendous individual effort with 3:17 to play.  Northeast forced the tie when they scored with 1:45 left in the game.  Maddex LaFountain made 15 saves in net for the Westies.
West Haven traveled to Louis Astorino Arena early Sunday morning for part two of the West Haven-Hamden "Winter Classic" series.  The Blue Devils jumped on the Dragons early and skated to a 5-1 win, led by Studley's pair of first period goals. 
Lipford fought to win a puck off the boards and centered to Studley for a one-timer and a 1-0 lead 1:23 into the game.  Midway through the period, Ethan Kelly skated behind the net, flipped the puck out front, and Studley buried it for a 2-0 advantage.  Pniewski worked the puck off the boards and scored from the high slot to give West Haven a 3-0 lead after one period.
The hustle of Zach Melchiore led to a 4-0 lead four minutes into the second.  Melchiore forechecked and battled against the boards, won the puck, and centered it to Ethan Kelly who snapped it home.  Hamden began to pressure the Westies, but LaFountain was up to any challenge in net, including a tough save on a breakaway.
Mazuroski fired through traffic to complete the scoring for the Blue Devils later in the third period.  The Dragons converted a breakaway in the final minute to make the final score 5-1.  LaFountain made 14 stops in the game.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team lost a pair of contests this weekend. The Westies were blanked by second-ranked Simsbury on Saturday, then fell to Hamden 8-3 Sunday morning in Hamden. Michael Madera and Zach Goetze each had a goal and two assists, while Mickey Dowd added a goal and an assist.
Trailing 5-0 against the Green Dragons, the Westies tried to come back with three goals in 4:18 to get within 5-3 in the second period. Goetze fed Madera, who scored from in front for the first tally. Madera and Dowd set up Goetze 3:37 later and Dowd scored off assists from Madera and Goetze 41 seconds after Goetze’s tally, but the Westies never got closer.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team went 2-0 on the weekend, where it did some great things as a team playing two great games.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the Western CT Jr. Colonials to the Bennett Rink, where they came out on top 4-0. Sean Bosworth got the scoring started on a short-handed unassisted goal from the point in the first three minutes of the game. After going the rest of the first period and the first twelve minutes of the second period scoreless, Matt Morgan then scored two unassisted goals in the final three minutes of the second period. Justin Pniewski scored the fourth and final goal of the game early in the third period, with Joey Honcz getting the assist. 
Colin Deane, Carl Murgo, Bosworth and Dante Hardt all played well in the contest.
On Sunday, the Westies went and visited their rivals, the Hamden Green Dragons, where they went home with a 10-1 victory. 
After going down a goal in the first thirty seconds, David Brown answered for West Haven less than a minute later and the Westies never looked back. Bosworth and Hardt got the helpers on Browns tally. Morgan then scored with six minutes left in the first, with Brown and Pniewski getting the assists. The Blue Devils would then score four goals in the second, the first coming off Hardt, with Honcz getting credit with the assist. Jayden Spreyer then scored an unassisted goal with 2:47 left in the second. Brown scored his second of the day a minute and a half after Spreyer’s goal, with Nolan Cole getting the helper. Cole then scored his own goal just 11 seconds later.
West Haven then went on to score four in the third, scoring two goals in the first four minutes, with both goals coming from Pniewski. Morgan and Cole got the assists on Pniewski’s goals. Cole then scored his second of the game with six minutes left off an unassisted goal. Cade Simone scored the final goal of the game with five minutes left, with Cole getting the assist, his fifth point of the game.
Kevin Gardner, Matt Wezenski and Brown all played well in the game. 
Brendan Smith played phenomenal in net in both contests over the weekend, getting a shutout in Saturday’s game.  

(December 25, 2018)- The West Haven Squirt A hockey team posted two shutouts over the weekend and pushed its record to 19-11-3 overall.  The Blue Devils skated past the Greenwich Blues A, 6-0, and Whalers A, 5-0.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies dominated the Greenwich Blues and posted a 6-0 shutout.  Five different players scored goals for the Blue Devils. 
Just 37 seconds into the game, a pair of defenseman got the Westies on the board.  Leo Mazuroski ripped a shot that was blocked right to Matthew Kelly who fired from just inside the blue line and found the net.  Three minutes later, Ethan Kelly won an offensive face off to Jonathan Charbonneau, who skated in and wristed a rocket over the goalie and in.
The Blue Devils made it 3-0 in the final minute of the opening period when Ethan Kelly centered the puck from behind the net to Gavin Coady.  Coady fired just wide and the puck caromed to Aedan Guarino who wristed it home.
The Westies increased their lead early in the second period.  Ryan Pniewski fired to the net and found Sean Studley.  Studley spun and knocked a backhand shot under the goalie's pads.  Less than a minute later, the Westies' top line connected for a beautiful goal.  Ethan Kelly led a 3-on-1 and hit Studley on the left.  Studley one-timed a pass across the front of the net where Lipford deposited it into the empty net.  Lipford completed the scoring when he pounced on a deflection of Matthew Kelly's shot.  Maddex LaFountain made 10 saves to register the shutout.
On Sunday morning at Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, the Westies controlled the action and won easily, 5-0, over the Whalers.  Studley's hat trick led the way.
West Haven got on the board 1:02 into the game with a goal set up by brilliant passing.  Ethan Kelly hit Lipford who zipped the puck to Studley for a tap in on the doorstep.  Three minutes later Lipford centered the biscuit to Ethan Kelly who fired into the basket.  Studley capped the opening period scoring when he backhanded in a rebound of Zach Melchiore's initial shot. 
Studley made it 4-0 early in the second and earned the hat trick when he sniped home the loose puck after Lipford's shot was saved.  Rafi Treat completed the scoring when he jammed in the puck after Matthew Kelly rang one off the post on a breakaway.  LaFountain needed to make just eight saves in the game. 
The West Haven Peewee A Travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend, losing against New Rochelle,  New York. and defeating Greater New Haven.  
On Saturday, the Westies traveled to Rye Playland and fell to New Rochelle 8-3.
New Rochelle jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the first period and then extended the margin to four goals in the second. 
The Westies got on the board and cut the deficit to three goals when Michael Madera set up Ray Heenie for a power play goal.  
Mickey Dowd got West Haven within 5-2 when he scored off assists from Madera and Zach Goetze.  Madera scored off an assist from Danny Johnson later in the game, but it was not enough. 
Jacob Silva played well in goal, making 45 saves in the loss. 
The Westies closed the weekend with a 6-2 victory over Greater New Haven. Madera led the offense with four goals and one assist. 
Silva and Bryan Hong played well in goal, with Hong making several clutch saves early in the third period. 
Trailing 1-0, Madera evened the game off an assist from Goetze. Down 2-1, Madera set up Goetze for the equalizer with 5:34 left in the opening period.  
The Westies took the lead for good in the second period when Price set up Madera for a 3-2 lead. 
West Haven pulled away in the third period with three goals.  Madera scored unassisted 37 seconds in,  Mike Page followed suit 1:18 in and Madera capped the scoring off an assist from Goetze with 9:56 to go.  Haygen Axelrod, Jason Alling, Bruno Martone, Heenie, and Dylan Bosworth all played well defensively.  Cody Rocchio, Chris Consorte and Connor Moriarty played well offensively.  

(January 1, 2019) - The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team won both of its games this weekend, topping the Long Island Sound Tigers in New York, then defeating the Cromwell Whalers in Hartford.
The Westies opened the weekend with a 5-3 victory Saturday evening over the Sound Tigers at the practice facility of the New York Islanders at the Northwell Ice Center in Long Island.
Mickey Dowd led the way with two goals and two assists, Michael Madera added a goal and an assist, and Zach Goetze, and Mike Page also scored. Trailing 1-0 in the first period, Goetze evened the contest off an assist from Dowd. With the Westies again down a goal, a perfectly executed play with a lead pass from Madera to Goetze, followed by Goetze’s perfect pass to Dowd, set up the equalizer late in the period.
Page gave West Haven a 3-2 lead when he scored off an assist from Brady Price in the second period, but the Sound Tigers again evened the contest. The Westies took the lead for good with 6:06 remaining in the game as Madera scored off an assist from Dowd. Dowd’s insurance goal with 1:56 remaining provided the two-goal victory.  
The Westies then traveled to the XL Center in Hartford and defeated the Cromwell Whalers 7-2 Sunday afternoon. Jason Alling scored his first goal of the year, Madera had three goals and two assists, Goetze added a goal and three assists, and Dowd finished with two goals and an assist in the win.
West Haven never trailed in the game as Alling gave his team a 1-0 lead with a point shot off an assist from Page with 9:43 left in the opening period. The Whalers evened the contest at the buzzer, but West Haven pulled away with five second period goals.
Madera scored an unassisted goal 3:02 in, then set up Goetze 19 seconds later for a 3-1 lead. Ahead 3-2, West Haven again took a two-goal lead when Dowd scored off an assist from Madera with 6:20 to go in the middle period.
The Westies put the game away with two goals in the final 41 seconds of the period.
Goetze assisted both tallies as he set up Madera with 41 seconds to go and Dowd 20 seconds later. Madera capped the scoring with 2:40 remaining in the game off an assist from Goetze.

Alling, Bruno Martone, Dylan Bosworth, Haygen Axelrod, and Ray Heenie all played well defensively throughout the weekend as did both Jacob Silva and Bryan Hong in goal. 
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team came out on top of its only contest of the weekend with a 6-1 win over the Whalers.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the Whalers into the Bennett Rink, where the Westies got the scoring started with three goals in the first period.
Matt Morgan scored the first goal of the game with an unassisted tally within the first 5 minutes. Less than a minute later, Carl Murgo took a shot on net, and Dante Hardt picked up the rebound and deked out the goalie to make it 2-0. Morgan then scored his second of the game with 4:15 remaining in the first, Murgo was credited with the assist.
The Whalers got on the scoreboard midway in the second to make it 3-1. The Blue Devils answered by scoring one goal in the second with less than a minute remaining in the period to make it 4-1, off a nice shot by Justin Pniewski, with Murgo getting his third assist of the game. Morgan scored his third of the game in the first minute of the third period, with Colin Deane and David Brown getting the assists.
Sean Bosworth scored the final goal of the game with two minutes remaining in the third, going bar down from the point, Deane was credited with the helper, his second assist of the game.
Brendan Smith played a complete game, letting in only one goal, while making key saves and keeping the Blue Devils confidence high.
Joey Honcz, Matt Wezenski, Kevin Gardner, Jayden Spreyer and Cade Simone all played well in the win.

(January 8, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team went 1-1 this weekend and now stands at 20-14-3 overall on the season. The Blue Devils lost a close game to Wallingford A, 4-3, and then bounced back to shut out New Canaan A1, 5-0.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies hosted Wallingford.  West Haven dropped a hard-fought contest, 4-3.  Ethan Kelly led the offense with two goals and an assist.
Kelly got West Haven on the scoreboard three minutes into the game when he snapped a wrist shot that went bar down.  Blue Devils goalie Maddex LaFountain made several clutch saves in the first period to keep the score 1-0.
Kelly scored again two minutes into the second period before Wallingford tied it later in the stanza. Ryan Pniewski regained the lead for West Haven when his shot from the right point made it through traffic with Kelly assisting. Wallingford tallied twice in the third period and shut down the Westies' offense to escape with the win.  LaFountain made 12 saves in the game.
The Blue Devils responded a day later when they traveled to the New Canaan Winter Club for a game played on their outdoor rink.  West Haven controlled the game and blanked New Canaan, 5-0. 
Cameren Lipford, Matthew Kelly and Sean Studley all registered a goal and assist in the win.
The Kelly brothers got things started in the opening minute when Ethan fed Matthew for a shot from the point that hit the back of the net. 
The Kelly boys almost struck on the same play in the second period but the shot was saved.  Lipford backhanded home the rebound for a 2-0 lead.  Later, Leo Mazuroski made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone then made a beautiful pass to Studley.  The winger snapped off a wrist shot and quickly knocked in his own rebound for a 3-0 lead.
Ethan Kelly roofed a wrist shot with Mazuroski assisting to open the third period.  West Haven capped the scoring when Lipford passed out of the zone and Studley tipped it to Ethan Kelly.  Kelly scored after a pretty deke.  LaFountain posted ten saves for the shutout victory. 
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team took home the Gold Medal in a trip to Lake Placid this past weekend. The Westies went 4-0 and outscored their opponents 26-3 in the tournament.

​

West Haven Peewee A won the Gold Medal in Lake Placid, New York, January 6, 2019.
Michael Madera led the offense in the tournament with eight goals, Mickey Dowd scored six times, Mike Page had five tallies, Zach Goetze added three goals, and Dylan Bosworth scored twice.
Goaltenders Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva were spectacular throughout the tournament. Hong was perfect as he did not allow a goal over the four days, and also took home the goaltending title in the Skills Competition.
The Westies opened the tournament with an 8-1 victory over the Hartford North Stars from Maryland. Madera, who won the shootout title in the Skills Competition, led the offense with four goals and two assists, while Bruno Martone added three assists, and Dowd had a goal and an assist.
West Haven took a 3-0 lead in the opening period and never looked back. Goetze opened the scoring 1:31 in off an assist from Madera, Page scored off an assist from Brady Price 3:22 later, and Madera scored off an assist from Dowd with 4:14 left in the period.
Madera gave West Haven a 4-0 lead off an assist from Goetze 3:20 into the second, and Dowd scored off an assist from Madera 52 seconds later. Leading 5-1, Madera extended the lead with a goal off an assist from Martone with 3:09 left in the period.
Madera, from Martone and Goetze, and Bosworrth, from Martone, gave the Westies their final goals in the third period. Silva was solid in goal for the Westies, making nine saves.
West Haven won its second straight contest to open the tournament with a 6-0 victory over the New York Lumberjacks.
Madera led the way with three goals and an assist, while Dowd, Page, and Bosworth also scored once apiece. Martone, Price, Haygen Axelrod, and Goetze also had assists in the win, while Hong was stellar in goal, making 10 saves in the shutout.
The Westies improved to 3-0 and advanced to the Gold Medal game with a 5-1 win over the Maine Wild Saturday evening. Goetze and Dowd led the way with two goals apiece, Page added one goal, Dowd and Madera added two assists and Goetze also had a helper.
Page gave the Westies a 1-0 lead off an assist from Price 4:54 into the game, before Goetze scored the first of his two straight goals off assists from Madera and Dowd. Leading 3-1, Goetze set up Dowd with 6:29 left in the third, before Madera and Goetze set up Dowd for the final goal with 2:13 to go.
The Westies took home the title with a 7-1 victory over Hartford in the Gold Medal game Sunday morning. Dowd led the offense with two goals and three assists, Page scored twice, Goetze had three assists, and Madera had a goal and an assist.
Trailing 1-0, West Haven evened the game with 2.2 seconds left in the opening period when Madera scored off assists from Goetze and Dowd. Ray Heenie gave West Haven a lead it never relinquished 3:03 into the second off assists from Dowd and Goetze, before Jason Alling scored a power play goal 42seconds later for a 3-1 advantage.
The Westies iced the game in the third period with four goals. Dowd scored 43 seconds in off assists from Madera and Heenie, and Page sandwiched two unassisted tallies around a goal by Dowd.
Hong and Silva again were outstanding in goal, combining for 16 saves. Connor Moriarty, Cody Rocchio, and Chris Consorte all played well in the tournament. 
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team went 1-1 over the past weekend. Saturday brought the Greenwich Blues to the Bennett Rink in West Haven, where the Blue Devils came out on top 8-1.
The Westies got the scoring started early in the first minute, with Carl Murgo getting the first goal of the day. Dante Hardt was credited with the assist. Justin Pniewski scored with 11 minutes left in the first off an assist from David Brown.
Less than a minute later, Colin Deane scored, with Matt Morgan getting the assist. Morgan then scored two back to back unassisted goals to close out the first period.
Hardt scored the first goal of the second period, with Joey Honcz and Murgo getting the helpers. Jayden Spreyer then scored top shelf to make it 7-0. Cade Simone got the helper on Spreyer’s tally.
Pniewski then scored his second of the game to finish the scoring for the Westies. Sean Bosworth was credited with the helper. The Blues were able to score in the third to make the game 8-1, after West Haven went scoreless in the final period. 
Brendan Smith played an excellent game in goal. Cade Simone, Hardt and Kevin Gardner all played well in the contest.
On Sunday the Blue Devils traveled to the Northford Ice Pavilion to take on the Great New Haven Warriors, where they were sent home with a 4-2 loss.
Pniewski scored both goals for the Westies, the first goal in the first period, and the second goal in the third period. The first goal went bar down from the tops of the circles. Morgan was credited with the assist on Pniewski’s first goal. 
Smith played a complete game and made key saves to keep the score where it was. Nolan Cole and Matt Wezenski played well in the loss.

(January 15, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team played two close games this weekend.  The Westies tied a tough Riverhawks A team, 3-3, before dropping a 5-4 decision to Yale A.  The Blue Devils are now 21-15-3 overall.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies came back from two goals down in the third period to earn a 3-3 tie against the Riverhawks.  Ethan Kelly had a goal and two assists and Sean Studley scored the tying goal to lead the West Haven offense.
The Blue Devils scored the only goal of the first period when Ethan Kelly won an offensive zone faceoff to his brother Matthew, who zipped home a wrist shot from the blue line. The Riverhawks then took control of the game in the second period and went up 2-1 at the second intermission. 
The Riverhawks made it 3-1, before the Westies battled back.  Zach Melchiore worked hard in the neutral zone and drew a penalty. On the power play, Ethan Kelly won a draw back to Jonathan Charbonneau, who quickly passed to Ryan Pniewski.  Pniewski's shot was deflected by Kelly over the goalie and in.  Less than a minute later, Ethan Kelly stole the puck and found Studley in the high slot.  Studley buried the tying goal with a rising wrist shot.
Leo Mazuroski played solid defense throughout the game and Maddex LaFountain made 14 saves in goal for the Westies.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils faced Yale at Ingalls Rink in New Haven.  Studley and Ethan Kelly each scored a pair of goals, but it was not enough as Yale outlasted West Haven, 5-4.
Kelly tallied the only goal of the first period when he stole the puck in Yale's end and roofed it with two minutes left before intermission.  LaFountain made a sprawling save as the buzzer rang to preserve the lead.
Yale tied the score at 1-1 in the first minute of the second period and looked to take the lead with a power play.  But Melchiore chipped the puck against the boards where Studley grabbed it and beat a defender.  His rising wrist shot went upper 90 and the short-handed tally gave West Haven the lead again. 
A minute later Melchiore tipped the puck to Kelly who slid it to Studley.  The winger made an easy deposit in the net and the Westies looked to be in control.
Yale rallied for two goals within 15 seconds of each other late in the second to even it at 3-3.  LaFountain made another clutch save on a breakaway with two seconds remaining to keep it tied.
Yale scored twice more in the third period while Ethan Kelly scored an unassisted goal for the Westies with three seconds remaining for the final margin.  LaFountain made 16 saves in goal.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this week, falling to Southeastern in Norwich, before defeating Yale in West Haven.
The Westies opened the week with a 5-1 loss against Southeastern A.  West Haven opened the scoring when Mickey Dowd scored off an assist from Michael Madera, but that was all West Haven could muster as Southeastern evened the game after one period and had a 3-1 lead after two.
The Westies rebounded with a 6-2 victory over Yale Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven. Madera led the way with two goals and two assists, Dowd had one goal and two assists, and Zach Goetze added a goal and an assist.
West Haven took a 2-0 lead after one period as Goetze scored off assists from Dowd and Madera 4:19 in, and Chris Consorte scored off an assist from Dylan Bosworth with 3:26 to go in the period. After Yale got within 2-1, West Haven scored the next two goals for a 4-1 lead.
Brady Price scored off an assist from Danny Johnson 5:13 into the second, and Madera scored off assists from Dowd and Ray Heenie with 1:54 to go for the three goal lead.
Yale scored 13 seconds into the third to get within 4-2, but Dowd scored off an assist from Madera just over three minutes in, and Madera capped the scoring off an assist from Goetze in the final two minutes. 

(January 22, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won its only game of the weekend as it dominated Southern Stars A1, 8-1, on Saturday night at the Milford Ice Pavilion.  Five different Blue Devils scored goals to lead a balanced offensive effort.
Ethan Kelly opened the scoring when he converted a breakaway, using a pretty deke with Leo Mazuroski assisting.  Zach Melchiore made it 2-0 after Sean Studley deflected Cameren Lipford's pass to him and he fired it home.  After a Stars goal, Studley intercepted a pass at the blue line and scored with a wrist shot for a 3-1 lead after one period. 
Lipford opened the second period scoring with a nifty cut move and wrist shot with Ethan Kelly assisting.  Lucas Iversen later won the puck on the boards and fed Melchiore who centered it.  Rafi Treat banged home a backhand for a 5-1 lead.  Ethan Kelly and Studley assisted to Lipford for a wrist shot off the goalie's mask and in.  Kelly and Lipford then fed Studley who roofed it for a 7-1 lead after two periods.
Lipford closed the scoring, and recorded a hat trick, with Ethan Kelly assisting in the third period. Aedan Guarino and Gavin Coady played solid on the wings.  Mazuroski, Ryan Pniewski and Jonathan Charbonneau controlled the defense for the Westies.  Matthew Kelly made his first start in goal and recorded eight saves to earn the victory.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team posted a win and a tie in two games this weekend. The Westies topped Northwestern, and played to a tie with the Greenwich Skate Club.
West Haven opened the week with a 6-1 victory over Northwestern at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Friday evening. Zach Goetze led the way with two goals, Mickey Dowd had one goal and one assist, and Michael Madera added two assists.
Dowd gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 2:40 into the game off an assist from Madera, before Northwestern evened the game at one after one period.
Goetze scored an unassisted goal 49 seconds into the second period, and Price scored off an assist from Mike Page with 5:52 left in the middle period for a 3-1 advantage. West Haven increased the lead 55 seconds later when Bruno Martone scored off assists from Dowd and Madera.
The Westies closed the scoring in the third with two more goals. Dylan Bosworth scored off an assist from Connor Moriarty 1:03 in, and Goetze added an unassisted goal with 10:57 left for the 6-1 final. Jacob Silva and Bryan Hong both played well in goal, while Jason Alling, Haygen Axelrod, Martone and Ray Heenie all played well defensively. Chris Consorte and Dan Johnson had strong offensive efforts in the win.
The Westies then traveled to Boston on Saturday and played to a 3-3 tie against Greenwich Skate Club at TD Garden. Dowd led West Haven with two goals and an assist.

West Haven Peewee A at TD Garden in Boston, January 19, 2019.

West Haven took a 1-0 lead with 30 seconds left in the opening period when Dowd scored off an assist from Martone. The Westies increased the lead to 2-0 one minute into the second period when Madera scored off assists from Goetze and Dowd.
Greenwich scored the next three goals, but Dowd’s tally with 7:45 to go allowed West Haven to even the game at three.
After having last weekend off, the West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team played two challenging games, where it came out with two ties.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed the West Hartford Wolves, where they skated to a 2-2 tie. Joey Honcz scored the games first goal, off of a shot from the top of the circles. Sean Bosworth received the assist on Honcz’s goal.
The game stayed 1-0 until the third period, where the Wolves went up 2-1 midway through the third. The Blue Devils scored with just nine seconds remaining in the game to tie it, after getting the puck to the net, there was a scrum in front where Matt Morgan was credited with the game tying goal. Dave Brown was credited with the assist.
Brendan Smith played a complete game, making some key saves to preserve the tie. Nolan Cole, Kevin Gardner, Dante Hardt and Colin Deane all played well in the win.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils headed to the Darien Ice House to take on New Canaan Winter Club, where they came out with a 3-3 tie.
Cade Simone got the first goal of the game with seven minutes left in the first period as he was able to squeak in the goal through the opposing goalies pads. Jayden Spreyer got the assist on Simone’s goal. After NCWC was able to tie the game, the Westies were able to take the lead off a goal from Brown, as Morgan was credited with the assist. Bosworth scored the third goal of the game, off a beautiful feed from Morgan in front of the net for a 3-1 lead. NCWC was able to score two goals, off of two different tip in goals to tie the game, one of them in the final minute of the game.
Smith played a great game in goal in the tie. Nolan Cole, Carl Murgo and Justin Pniewski all played well in the game.

(January 29, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A hockey team went 1-0-1 over the weekend with a 4-4 tie against Southeastern A and a 6-4 win over Watertown A.  The Blue Devils are now 23-15-4 overall on the season. 
On Saturday morning at Rose Garden Ice Arena in Norwich, the Westies battled the Southeastern Seahawks to a 4-4 tie.  Ethan Kelly, Sean Studley and Cameren Lipford each had a goal and assist to lead the offense.
The Seahawks took an early 1-0 lead, before the Westies tied the game with a power play goal late in the first period.  Leo Mazuroski made a nice cross-ice pass to Lipford for a wrist shot.  Ethan Kelly pounced on the rebound and knocked it in.
The Blue Devils came out strong in the second period.  Kelly hit ahead to Studley who cashed in the breakaway opportunity 1:03 into the period.  Less than a minute later, Lucas Iversen found Rafi Treat for a wrist shot that went five hole and the Westies led 3-1.  Southeastern scored a pair of goals, one on a 5-on-3, to pull even after two periods. 
With five minutes remaining in the game, Studley carried the puck into the offensive zone and flipped a backhand pass to Lipford who went five-hole for a 4-3 lead, but Southeastern tied it again a minute later. The Westies had a few chances in the final minute of the game, but they could not find the net.  Maddex LaFountain was solid in goal for the Westies and posted 22 saves in the game.
On Sunday morning, West Haven rode up to Taft School's Mays Rink and knocked off the Watertown Red Wings, 6-4.  Lipford registered a hat trick and Aedan Guarino scored twice to pace the Westies. 
The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead with only seven seconds left in the opening period.  Studley made a slick pass ahead to Ethan Kelly to get out of their own zone and Kelly tapped it ahead to a streaking Lipford before the winger buried the breakaway.
Just 19 seconds into the second period, Guarino redirected Jonathan Charbonneau's point shot for a 2-0 lead.  A minute later, Studley led Lipford over the red line.  Lipford skated between two Red Wings and buried his backhand shot for a 3-0 advantage.
After Watertown got on the board, Guarino scored with a spin move in the slot and a shot off the post and in as Gavin Coady and Kelly assisted.  Watertown scored again, but Kelly shed a few defenders and found Lipford in the high slot for a rising wrister and a 5-2 lead after two periods.
The Red Wings closed to 5-4 in the third before Ethan Kelly iced the game with a great effort. He weaved through a few Red Wings and converted a wrist shot while falling down to close the scoring.  LaFountain was terrific at times in goal for the Westies and finished with 19 saves in the win.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team split a pair of games this weekend, losing to New Canaan, before topping Darien.
West Haven opened the weekend with a 6-5 loss to New Canaan at the Edward L. Bennett Rink. Zach Goetze led the offense with a pair of goals, while Michael Madera had three assists and Mickey Dowd and Haygen Axelrod each had a goal and an assist.
Brady Price gave West Haven a 1-0 lead 1:25 into the game with an unassisted tally, before New Canaan evened the game with 3:54 left in the opening period. West Haven got the goal right back off the ensuing faceoff as Madera won the draw to Dowd who scored six seconds later.
With the game even at two, Goetze gave the Westies a 3-2 lead with a goal off assists from Madera and Dowd. Goetze increased the lead to two goals 50 seconds later off assists from Madera and Axelrod.
New Canaan stormed back to score the next four goals in the third period, before West Haven got closer on a goal by Axelrod with 1:17 to go.
The Westies rebounded with a 5-3 victory over Darien Sunday in West Haven. Dowd led the offense with two goals and an assist, while Madera added a goal and an assist.
Danny Johnson gave West Haven a 1-0 lead off an assist from Ray Heenie 2:54 in, before Darien evened the contest after one period. Trailing 2-1 in the second period, West Haven took a 3-2 lead when Madera scored off an assist from Dowd, and Goetze scored off an assist from Dylan Bosworth.
Darien evened the game 3:51 into the third, but Axelrod set up Dowd for the go-ahead goal with 1:10 to go. Madera and Dowd broke in on an odd man rush with Madera feeding Dowd for an empty-net tally with 25 seconds remaining.
Mike Page, Connor Moriarty, Cody Rocchio, and Chris Consorte played well offensively, while Jason Alling and Bruno Martone played well defensively. Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva each played well in goal.  
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team won its only contest of the weekend, beating the Southern Stars 6-1 at the Bennett Rink in West Haven.
The Westies scored in the first five minutes and went on a five-goal scoring streak in the first period. Sean Bosworth scored the first goal of the game off a slap shot from the point, with Carl Murgo getting the assist. Justin Pniewski scored less than a minute later off a feed from Nolan Cole. Matt Morgan then scored with seven minutes remaining in the first for an unassisted tally.
Colin Deane scored just 14 seconds later, with Murgo getting his second assist of the game. Bosworth scored the final goal of the period, his second of the contest as Pniewski was credited with the helper. 
After the Stars were able to score at the beginning of the second, Jayden Spreyer then answered for the Blue Devils for the final goal of the game, with Joey Honcz getting the assist. 
Brendan Smith made some outstanding stops to keep the Stars to one goal. Dante Hardt, Cade Simone, Matt Wezenski, Dave Brown and Kevin Gardner all played well in the win.

(February 5, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team split its two games this weekend. The Blue Devils won 4-2 over Whalers A and lost 10-0 to Pawling A. West Haven is now 24-16-4 overall.
On Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink, the Westies faced the Whalers from Cromwell. Sean Studley notched a pair of goals to lead the Westies.
After the Whalers opened the scoring in the first period, the Westies countered when Leo Mazuroski scored from the slot with a wrister. Ethan Kelly provided the assist.
In the second period, Kelly won a faceoff in the defensive zone. Studley gathered in the puck and burst through two defensemen for a short-handed breakaway tally giving West Haven a 2-1 lead. After some nice passing, Studley redirected Jonathan Charbonneau's point shot for a 3-1 lead after two periods.
The Whalers got within a goal in the third before Zach Melchiore's goal iced it for the Westies. Gavin Coady moved the puck behind the net and passed to Aedan Guarino. Guarino fed Melchiore in front for a one-timer and the Westies went on to the 4-2 victory. Maddex LaFountain made 10 saves in goal to earn the win for the Blue Devils.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team won both of its games this weekend, topping Greenwich Skate Club and ECHO.
The Westies opened the weekend with a thrilling come-from-behind 6-4 victory over Greenwich Skate Club in Greenwich Saturday evening. Zach Goetze led the offense with two goals, while Michael Madera added one goal and three assists.
Trailing 2-0, the Westies got within a goal with 8:29 remaining in the opening period when Bruno Martone scored off assists from Connor Moriarty and Madera. West Haven evened the contest with 1:04 remaining in the middle period when Goetze scored off assists from Haygen Axelrod and Mike Page.
Greenwich took a 4-2 lead in the third, but the Westies scored four times in the final 3:02 of the game to pull out the victory. Madera got things started with a goal off an assist from Goetze, before Mickey Dowd scored the equalizer off an assist from Madera 44 seconds later.
Jason Alling then took a pass from Madera and scored the go-ahead goal from the point with 53 seconds to go. Goetze added an empty-net goal to seal the victory.
The Westies won their second game of the weekend, defeating ECHO 6-3 at the Edward L. Bennett Rink Sunday morning. Dowd led the offense with three goals, Madera had a goal and two assists, and Goetze had a goal and an assist.
West Haven never trailed in the game and took a 1-0 lead eight seconds into the contest when Dowd scored off an assist from Madera. With the game even at one, Madera tipped in Bruno Martone’s point shot for a 2-1 advantage with 3:12 left in the first.
The Westies increased the lead to 3-1 when Page scored off an assist from Goetze. Leading 3-2, Dowd gave the Westies a 4-2 advantage off an assist from Alling, before ECHO scored 1:10 later.
Goetze scored an unassisted goal with 1:06 to go for a 5-3 advantage, before Dowd scored into an empty net off an assist from Madera with 34 seconds to go.
Brady Price, Danny Johnson, Chris Consorte, and Cody Rocchio all played well offensively over the weekend, while Ray Heenie and Dylan Bosworth played well on defense. Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva were solid in goal.
The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team finished the final weekend of the CHC regular season strong by winning their final two contests which count towards the standings.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils welcomed Darien to the Bennett Rink, where they skated to a 3-2 victory.
The scoring started in the first period with Cade Simone getting the first goal in the first three minutes of the game. In the second period, Matt Morgan scored a goal off of a feed by David Brown with 5:51 remaining in the period.
Simone then netted his second of the contest in the third, off assists from Joey Honcz and Matt Wezenski. Darien scored two late goals to keep the Westies in check, but West Haven was able to come away with the victory and keep Darien from tying it up. 
Brendan Smith played well in the win, making key saves especially in the last minute to keep his team ahead. 
Kevin Gardner, Sean Bosworth, and Colin Deane all played well in the victory.
On Sunday, the Westies traveled to the Milford Ice Arena to take on the Southern Stars, where the Blue Devils came out on top 4-0.
Justin Pniewski scored the first goal of the game midway through the second period. Jayden Spreyer netted the second goal of the game about three minutes later, with assists coming from Brown and Honcz.
Honcz then scored his own goal from the point in the first minute of the third period as Dante Hardt was credited with the helper. Morgan then scored the final goal with 6:02 remaining in the contest. 
Smith played excellent in the game in goal, getting the shutout and making some spectacular saves to keep the Stars off the scoreboard. Nolan Cole, Carl Murgo and Wezenski all played well in the win. 

(February 11, 2019) - TThe West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team won its only game of the weekend by posting a 3-1 victory over Ridgefield Lions AA on Saturday morning at Edward L. Bennett Rink.  The Blue Devils are now 25-16-4 overall on the season.
Westies goaltender Maddex LaFountain was sharp in the first period as Ridgefield controlled most of the play.  LaFountain made 17 saves in the period.  The Lions did take a 1-0 lead with 36 seconds left before the break.
West Haven settled in and started creating more chances on offense in the second period.  The Blue Devils finally tied it after applying sustained pressure in front of the Ridgefield net. 
Cameren Lipford gathered in Sean Studley's pass and fired home a wrist shot with three minutes left to make it 1-1.  Then, in the final minute of the period, Ethan Kelly carried the puck into the Lions' zone, slid it over to Studley, and Studley went bar down from inside the right circle to give West Haven a 2-1 lead.
The Westies defense held the Lions to only a few chances in the third period and LaFountain turned aside each shot to finish with 25 total saves.  The goalie even earned an assist when he passed to Jonathan Charbonneau who fed Ethan Kelly before Kelly weaved through the Ridgefield defense and scored through the five hole with four minutes left in the game to finish off the 3-1 win.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team swept its weekend games this past week with victories over New Canaan and Watertown.
The Westies opened the weekend with an 8-4 victory over New Canaan in Shelton Saturday evening. Mickey Dowd led the offense with three goals and three assists, Michael Madera had two goals and two assists, and Zach Goetze added a pair of goals and an assist.
West Haven overcame a 2-0 deficit with four straight goals, then broke a 4-4 tie with the last four goals of the game. Trailing 2-0, Madera cut the deficit in half off an assist from Dowd with 6:05 left in the first, before Dowd scored an unassisted goal with 1:25 left in the opening period to even the contest.
Madera scored off an assist from Dowd with 7:53 left in the second, and Dowd scored 20 seconds later off assists from Goetze and Bruno Martone for a 4-2 lead.
After New Canaan evened the game at four, the Westies took the lead for good 49 seconds into the third when Danny Johnson scored off an assist from Jason Alling. Dowd increased the lead to 6-4 with 7:43 to go, and Goetze capped the scoring with two goals in the final 1:57, the first off assists from Madera and Dowd, and the second off an assist from Madera. Bryan Hong played well in goal for the Westies, while Haygen Axelrod and Ray Heenie played well defensively.
The Westies capped the weekend with a 7-3 victory over Watertown Sunday morning at the Edward L. Bennett Rink. West Haven never trailed in the contest and was led by Madera with two goals and two assists, Dowd with two goals and one assist, and Goetze with one goal and three assists.
Madera opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the game off assists from Dowd and Goetze, before Brady Price increased the lead to 2-0 off an assist from Martone. Leading 2-1, Dowd scored off assists from Goetze and Madera with 12 seconds left in the first for a 3-1 lead.
West Haven took a 4-1 lead six seconds into the second when Dowd scored off an assist from Madera, before Goetze scored off an assist from Madera 21 seconds into the third for a 5-1 lead. Leading 5-2, Alling went the length of the ice for a 6-2 advantage, before Madera scored off an assist from Goetze with 3:56 left for a 7-2 lead.
Jacob Silva was solid in goal for the Westies, Dylan Bosworth played well defensively, and Mike Page, Connor Moriarty, Chris Consorte, and Cody Rocchio all played well on the offensive side. 

(February 18, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team advanced to the championship game of the 2019 Ocean State Classic, but dropped a 5-3 result to Darien A1 at the Cranston (RI) Memorial Ice Rink on Monday afternoon.  The Blue Devils went 3-2-1 over the weekend and are now 28-18-5 overall on the season.
In the finals, West Haven took a 1-0 lead early in the second period when Jonathan Charbonneau threw the puck in front of the net from the point and Sean Studley jammed in the loose puck.
Darien rallied and took a 3-1 lead into the third period but West Haven would not go away.  Charbonneau cleared the zone to Ethan Kelly who weaved his way up ice.  Kelly deked and scored while crashing into the post to make it 3-2. 
Darien went up 5-2 before Kelly scored again on another length of the ice charge going top shelf to finish it off.  Maddex LaFountain made 18 saves in the game and the Blue Devils battled to the end, but it was not enough.
Ethan Kelly led the Blue Devil offense with 9 goals and 8 assists in the tourney.  Studley, who scored at least one goal in every game, had 8 goals and 5 assists.  Cameren Lipford tallied 5 goals and 5 assists.  Charbonneau and Ryan Pniewski each had 3 assists and Matthew Kelly had a goal and assist.  Gavin Coady, Zach Melchiore, Aedan Guarino, Lucas Iversen, and Rafi Treat all played valuable minutes on offense on the run to the championship game.
The Blue Devils advanced to the finals in dramatic fashion early Monday morning at Lynch Arena with a 5-4 overtime victory over top seed Providence Hockey Club (PHC) Tier 1 South.  Despite giving up the tying goal with only 1:28 left in regulation, the Westies came out flying in OT.  Pniewski kept the puck in the zone at the blue line and hit Ethan Kelly with a pass.  Kelly found Lipford on the left wing and his rising wrist shot hit the upper corner 1:02 into the extra period to clinch a spot in the championship game.
It was Lipford's second goal of the game while Ethan Kelly scored twice and Studley once.  The defense of Pniewski, Leo Mazuroski, Matthew Kelly and Jonathan Charbonneau made all the adjustments from the night before (a 7-2 loss to the same team) and were tough throughout the entire tournament.  LaFountain was strong in net and made 19 saves in the semifinal.
West Haven earned the fourth seed after going 2-1-1 in round robin play.  The Blue Devils opened with a 2-2 tie against PHC Tier 1 East at Lynch Arena early Saturday morning.  Studley scored both goals, including the tying goal with just 1:04 left in the game.  LaFountain was stellar in between the pipes, posting 25 saves with many clutch stops to keep the Westies within striking range.
In Saturday afternoon's second game at the Smithfield Ice Rink, West Haven posted a 5-2 win over the South Shore Kings from Foxboro, MA.  The Westies trailed 2-1 early in the second period before pulling away.  Ethan Kelly and Lipford each scored twice while Studley added one.
West Haven then faced PHC Tier 1 North on Sunday morning at Schneider Arena on Providence College's campus.  In the 5-1 win, Ethan Kelly and Studley both tallied twice while Matthew Kelly also found the back of the net.
In Sunday's late game, the Westies lost 7-2 to PHC Tier 1 South.  Studley and Ethan Kelly scored goals, but Providence took the top seed and dropped West Haven to fourth, setting up the semifinal rematch.
The West Haven Peewee A travel hockey team ended its postseason by advancing to the CHC Tier 4 semifinals, before losing to eventual champion Hamden.
The Westies advanced to the playoff portion of the tournament by going 2-1 in the preliminary round, defeating Central and Southeastern around a heart-breaking loss to Hamden.
West Haven opened the tournament with a 6-4 victory over Central A. Michael Madera led the offense with four goals and an assist, while Mickey Dowd had one goal and four assists, and Zach Goetze added a goal and three assists.
Madera gave the team a 1-0 lead off a deflection of a Bruno Martone shot 17 seconds into the game, before Central scored the next two goals.
West Haven closed the opening period with the next three goals for a 4-2 lead after one period. Madera evened the game at two off assists from Dowd and Goetze, before Dowd gave the Westies a 3-2 lead off a helper from Goetze. Madera closed the first period scoring with 3:33 left off assists from Dowd and Goetze for a 4-2 advantage.
Leading 4-3, Goetze gave the Westies a two-goal lead off assists from Madera and Dowd, before Madera scored off an assist from Dowd for a 6-4 advantage. Bryan Hong and Jacob Silva each played well in goal for the Westies.
The Westies then played rival Hamden and got off to a strong start, before suffering a 5-4 defeat. Goetze and Dowd led the way with two goals apiece.
West Haven scored twice in each of the first two periods for a 4-0 lead, before Hamden rallied with three goals in the third period, including the winner with 0.6 seconds to go.
Goetze gave the Westies a 1-0 lead off an assist from Chris Consorte, before Dowd scored off an assist from Haygen Axelrod for a 2-0 lead. Madera set up Goetze for the third goal and Martone set up Dowd for the 4-0 lead.
The Westies then needed a win to advance to the playoff round and received that victory Saturday morning by topping Southeastern 4-3. Madera led the offense with two goals, Goetze had a goal and two assists and Dowd added a goal and an assist.
Trailing 1-0, Goetze evened the contest on the first period with an unassisted tally. The Westies trailed 3-1 in the third period before they staged a comeback.
Madera scored off an assist from Dowd 3:50 in to get within one, before Madera evened the contest off an assist from Goetze with 3:04 remaining. Goetze then set up Dowd for the eventual winner 33 seconds later.
Cody Rocchio, Consorte, and Connor Moriarty played well offensively, while Axelrod, Martone, Jason Alling, and Dylan Bosworth were solid defensively, and Silva and Hong played well in goal.
The Westies advanced to the playoff portion and defeated Ridgefield A 3-2 in the quarterfinal round. Madera scored all three goals to lead the offense.
Trailing 1-0, Madera evened the contest in the opening period with an unassisted tally. The Westies then took a 3-1 lead as Madera took a rebound of an Alling shot and scored 4:28 into the second, before Madera’s third of the game off assists from Dowd and Goetze had the Westies up 3-1 with 7:37 left in the second.
Axelrod, Martone, Ray Heenie, Bosworth and Alling all played well defensively, while Brady Price, Danny Johnson, and Mike Page all played well on offense. 
The West Haven run came to an end Sunday morning with a 6-3 loss against Hamden in the semifinals. Dowd led the way with two goals, Goetze scored once and Madera had three assists in the loss.
Hamden jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second period, before Dowd got the Westies within three off an assist from Madera. Dowd scored his second of the game to get within two, before Hamden ended any thoughts of a comeback with two late goals in the third. Goetze rounded out the scoring off an assist from Madera. 

(February 26, 2019) - The West Haven Bantam A travel hockey team played in its Connecticut Hockey Conference Tier 3 State Tournament this weekend at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
In their first game of the tournament on Thursday, the Blue Devils took on the CT Riverhawks and skated to a 3-2 loss. The game went back and forth, with both teams having multiple scoring opportunities.
After a scoreless first period, the Riverhawks got on the board in the first minute and a half of the second period, taking the first lead of the game. The score would stay 1-0 until the beginning of the third, when David Brown scored the first goal of the tournament for the Westies with a short- handed goal after going top shelf from the circle.
Matt Morgan scored a breakaway goal for the first Blue Devil lead of the game after Colin Deane gave Morgan a beautiful feed on the goal. After going up 2-1, the Riverhawks scored two unanswered goals, with the game winner being scored with less than a minute left.
Brendan Smith made some unbelievable saves to keep the Westies in the game, with one phenomenal save on a 2-on-1 going post to post and snagging the puck in his glove late in the third.
Dante Hardt, Joey Honcz and Carl Murgo player well in the loss.
On Friday night, the Blue Devils took on the Stamford Sharks and came away with a needed 5-2 win.
After a sluggish start, West Haven was finally able to get on the board midway thru the first period off an unassisted breakaway goal from Morgan. After getting their first goal of the night, the Blue Devils were able to keep the momentum on their side.
Morgan scored his second unassisted goal of the game with 5:32 remaining in the second. Brown then went to score two of his own goals back to back within two minutes of each other, one of them being a nice tip in in front. Murgo then scored a great goal within the last six minutes of the contest, skating end to end and shooting at his target with his head up.
The Sharks scored two quick goals in the last five minutes of the third after gaining momentum back late, but it was not enough to overcome the Westies.
Smith played spectacular in goal, making some great saves and doing a good job deflecting pucks into the corners. Honcz, Kevin Gardner and Jayden Spreyer all played well in the win.
Saturday brought two games for the Westies at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
The first game was the final contest in round robin play and had the Blue Devils losing a tough game 4-2 to the Southeastern Seahawks.
After going down 2-0, the Westies got on the board after an unassisted Morgan goal midway through the second period. The Seahawks would go on to score two more, but Justin Pniewski was able to get West Haven on the board for their second goal, with an assist coming from Matt Wezenski. After applying pressure the remainder of the game, West Haven was not able to get the score evened up.
Smith did everything he could to keep the Seahawks off the board in goal, giving a valiant effort. Brown, Wezenski and Cade Simone player well in the loss.
After making it into the quarterfinal round by winning a tie breaker, the Blue Devils took on a gritty Greater New Haven Warriors team, coming out with a 4-1 victory in the Warriors home rink, with all four Westie goals coming in the first period. 
Pniewski scored the game’s first goal off a rebound in front of the net, with the assist coming from Sean Bosworth off a shot from the point. Dante Hardt then scored the game’s second goal, with Spreyer getting the assist. Pniewski scored his second of the contest off an unassisted goal. Brown scored a goal off a rip from the top of the circles, with Cole getting an assist. The Warriors were able to get one in the second, but could not get back in the game.
Smith made some great saves while getting pressured in the crease. Pniewski, Morgan, Honcz and Murgo all played well in the game. 
With the win against the Warriors, the Blue Devils advanced to the tournament semifinals, where they lost a nail biter in overtime by a 3-2 score to the Yale Bulldogs.
Cole scored their first goal of the game off a shot in front, and got the Blue Devils the all important first goal lead of the game. After a back and forth second period, the Bulldogs went to score back to back goals within a minute of each other with five minutes remaining in the game.
After pulling Smith for the extra attacker, Brown scored the game-tying goal off a slap shot from the top of the circles with a minute remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime. After the Westies pressured the Bulldogs in their end for the first four minutes of overtime, Yale was able to score the game-winning goal to end the Blue Devils CHC Season. 
Smith played his best game of the tournament, keeping his team in the lead for the majority of the game. Wezenski, Deane and Murgo all played well in the loss. 
The coaches of the West Haven Bantam A team would like to congratulate their players on a great season, and would like to wish the best of luck to the second year players moving up in age group.

(March 5, 2019) - The West Haven Squirt A travel hockey team advanced to the quarterfinals of the CHC Tier 4 state championship, but were eliminated in a 4-0 loss to Western Major on Saturday night at the Newington Ice Arena.  The Blue Devils complete the season with an overall record of 31-19-5.
The Westies went 3-0 in pool play but due to tiebreakers they were the third seed going to the cross-over round.  In the quarterfinal game, the Blue Devils controlled the opening period and outshot Western, 12-3, but could not find the back of the net.  The game was scoreless until midway through the second period before Western began to pull away.
West Haven was strong throughout the playoffs.  The Westies opened play on Thursday night in Newington with a 6-2 win over South Windsor.  Sean Studley opened the scoring for the Blue Devils when he knocked in a rebound of Ethan Kelly's shot just 37 seconds into the game.  South Windsor tied the contest, but the Westies regained the lead when Cameren Lipford dove and tipped the puck to Kelly who centered to Studley who jammed in a one-timer. 
The Westies made it 3-1 in the third period when Jonathan Charbonneau's point shot was deflected by Studley over to Lipford.  Lipford slammed home the loose puck.  One minute later, Studley blocked a clearance pass to Lipford, who fired over the goalie's shoulder.
Ethan Kelly then weaved through traffic and went the length of the ice to deposit one for the Westies.  Studley capped the scoring and earned a hat trick when he skated from his own defensive zone and buried a wrist shot off the far post with just two seconds remaining.  Maddex LaFountain made 18 saves, including a couple breakaway stops, in net for the Westies. 
In game two on Friday night the Westies knocked off New Canaan, 5-4.  West Haven went down 2-0 early, but came roaring back later in the first period.  Ethan Kelly came flying out of the penalty box, stole a pass, and scored with a wrist shot to make it 2-1.  With 1:14 left in the period, Studley netted a wrist shot with Lipford and Kelly assisting.  With nine seconds remaining, Studley tipped a pass to Kelly who slammed it home and gave West Haven the lead.
In the second period, Ethan Kelly drove the puck to the net and fed Studley for a tap in on the doorstep and a 4-2 lead.  New Canaan scored, but West Haven made it 5-3 when Ryan Pniewski took a point shot that Studley redirected to Kelly in the slot.  Kelly spun and fired a wrist shot through the five-hole.
New Canaan made it 5-4 early in the third period, but the West Haven defense, led by Leo Mazuroski, Matthew Kelly, Charbonneau and Pniewski, made the score hold up.  LaFountain was solid and finished with 23 saves.
On Saturday morning, the Westies beat the Wonderland Wizards, 4-1, to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Gavin Coady got West Haven on the board when he won a puck in the defensive zone and carried it along the boards.  Coady knocked a pass to Ethan Kelly who skated in and scored.  The game remained 1-0 into the third period when Kelly passed from behind the net to Lipford in the slot for a wrist shot and a two-goal lead.
The Wizards made it 2-1 and pressured the Blue Devils, but West Haven got strong shifts from Zach Melchiore, Rafi Treat, Aedan Guarino and Lucas Iversen to stay in front.  Studley then won a loose puck, skated around a defender, and buried a rising wrist shot to make it 3-1 with just 1:39 on the clock.  Studley iced it with an empty net goal for the 4-1 final score.  LaFountain made 21 saves in the win.

​​

​​​WHYH Bantam A - Hershey Shootout First Place

WestieBlue

THE HOME OF WEST HAVEN SPORTS