Jr Colonials’ Pee Wee A Hockey Team Wins Shutouts

The Western Connecticut Jr Colonials Pee Wee A hockey team took over sole possession of third place in the Connecticut Hockey Conference this past weekend with two impressive victories that featured offense, defense and stellar goaltending.

On Saturday, the Jr Colonials faced off against the West Hartford Wolves at the Danbury Ice Arena and dominated from start to finish in a 4-0 win. The Jr Colonials almost tripled the Wolves’ shot total by with a 35-12 advantage. Forward Matt Hooker started the onslaught on the first shift of the game with an unassisted goal on a shot from  a tight angle and then followed up later in the period with a high slot shot that was assisted by Kevin Keiser and Steven Almeida. The third goal of the game was an all-Newtown affair with forward Cooper McLean skillfully deflecting a point shot from defenseman Owen Sandercox and forward Dan Harrison slamming the rebound home from the top of the crease. After a scoreless second period, forward Frank Haklits passed the puck in front of the net to Harrison, who then skimmed a pass to McLean who promptly deposited the puck into the back of the net to cap the scoring.

On Sunday, the Jr Colonials faced a key challenge against the ECHO Stars at the Bolton Ice Palace. The Stars had handed the Jr Colonials a bitter defeat on December 20 and stood tied with the Jr Colonials for third place in the CHC. The Jr. Colonials played one of their finest games of the year and prevailed 1-0. In the third period, the Jr Colonials killed off a long 5-on-3 ECHO Stars power play and finally broke through with a goal when Newtown forward Heydan Savoia found the puck in the crease off of a wild scramble in front and buried a shot with 3:50 remaining in the game. From there, it became “The Patrick McLoughlin Show” with the Newtown goaltender making two spectacular glove saves, one on a vicious wrist shot through a maze of bodies and another off of a scramble in tight with less than a minute left in the game to seal the victory. McLoughlin deservedly ended the weekend with two shutout victories and now sports a CHC goals-against average of 1.94 for the season. The Jr Colonials’ CHC record is now 13-4-1, only one point behind Simsbury and Hamden, who are in a tie for second place. Up next for the Jr. Colonials is a CHC home game against Greater New Haven on Saturday at the Danbury Ice Arena.