NHS Hockey Team Enjoys Early Success, Strives To Get Even Better

By Andy Hutchison

Coming off a 3-0 win at Windsor-East Granby (at Loomis-Chaffee Ice Rink) on January 3, the Newtown High School hockey team skated into this weekend having won three of its last four games to post a better-than-respectable 3-2 record.

Head Coach Paul Esposito, in his second year of his second stint with the Nighthawks (he first coached the team 2001–04) has his team over the .500 mark for the first time since coming back and is mostly pleased with the start to the campaign.

“We’re doing well, but we have to keep raising the bar for the kids,” said Esposito, adding that the team will have to cut down on some mistakes to have success come playoff time.

Did somebody say playoff time? Newtown hockey has not been in the state postseason mix since the 2003 season. The program was established in 2001 and has endured its share of growing pains as interest in youth hockey begins to grow but hopes are high for the team to compete in the Division III state tournament come March.

Esposito scheduled a mix of tough teams, such as Division I foe East Haven, to open the campaign, and comparable-to-the-Hawks D-III teams, throughout the season. He wants his team to have success, but not at the expense of not improving. In addition to facing the South-West Conference opponents Newtown always sees (including the Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury triteam, Joel Barlow, and Masuk) nonconference D-II opponents Branford and Enfield await as possible postseason tune-up counterparts in late February. In the meantime, there is plenty of hockey to be played and Esposito would like to see his team progress.

Thus far, Newtown has faced a variety of D-III teams, including a physical Shelton-New Haven group (NHS prevailed 4-3) and some weaker and stronger teams. Despite a 5-0 loss to East Haven on opening night, Esposito was proud of how his team hung in there against a D-I team. On the flip side, the coach was hoping for a little more success in the form of goals in the 3-0 win against Windsor-East Granby. Newtown did muster 44 shots but “we made the goalie’s job pretty easy on Saturday,” said Esposito, adding that the Hawks need to get better quality shots on goal in upcoming games.

The coach would like for his players to break out of the defensive zone more quickly and for the defensemen to more effectively “quarterback” the players during even strength scenarios. It is early in the season and that the new and returning players are still getting a feel for each other on the ice.

“A lot of these kids are learning how to gel together — who’s the goal-scorer, who’s going to do the grunt work in the corners,” the coach said.

Esposito is happy with his goaltending and the instantaneous success of newcomers, including freshmen defensemen David Landau and Alex Kelly, who have complemented returning blue-liners Rocco Guaragno and Ryan Lasher, senior and junior, respectively. “Their play is surprising,” Esposito said of the freshmen. Landau is a 5-foot-10 and provides rare size for a ninth-grader and Kelly is a sound player who plays at a mature level for a first-year high-schooler, Esposito said.

Another freshman, Josh Branchflower, has helped spark the offense. Branchflower, who scored in the January 3 win, has six goals and three assists already.

Senior Christian Beitel, who scored twice in the January 3 game, leads the team with seven goals — this despite fighting through an injured hip flexor. His four goals sparked a six-goal third-period comeback in a 7-3 win against Bolton-Coventry-Lyme.

Senior Mike Poeltl has emerged as an aggressive player up front, Esposito said.

In goal, Mitch Bloomberg, who stopped all 14 shots he faced against Windsor-East Granby, and Dylan Deselin have played well.

Newtown was scheduled to visit the Norwalk-Brien McMahon co-op team at Darien Ice Rink on Wednesday but the icy conditions cancelled school and afternoon/ evening activities that day. So, after a week-long game layoff, NHS will lace up the skates again on Saturday for a date with Newington-Berlin in Newington.

“Having won our last two games, especially the six unanswered goal comeback against Bolton-Coventy-Lyme, we’ve recognized that as long as we keep moving the puck with confidence and being aggressive we will win games,” Beitel said. “Right now we’re working towards capitalizing on and creating good scoring opportunities from a strong breakout.”

Beitel added that keeping penalty minutes down, sharing the puck to generate assisted goals, and establishing a faster transition game in upcoming games will be the best indicators that the rest of the season will continue to be successful.