A pair of goals to cut the deficit in half and a late-stanza power play that carried over into the third period had Newtown High School’s hockey team seemingly in position to make things tight in the third period. But the Joel Barlow of Redding co-op team killed off the remainder of the penalty and scored 59 seconds into the third period and twice more in the first four minutes of the final stanza en route to an 8-3 victory at Danbury Ice Arena on January 26.

This was the annual Warrior Cup Game to benefit Wounded Warrior Project (check back for related coverage on February 2) between the foes, both of whom call the Danbury rink their home. Although they share the ice surface and join forces for a good cause off the ice, things were not so friendly in the contest, laden with penalties. There were a whopping 20 infractions, including a pair of five-minute majors against Barlow.

Newtown continues to lead the Warrior Cup Series four games to two, but Barlow, assisted by its partnership with Weston and Abbott Tech of Danbury this winter, has been a high-scoring machine since the opening puck drop in mid-December.

The Nighthawks, coming off a 5-0 loss to Sheehan of Wallingford on January 23 that ended a four-game unbeaten stretch, fell to 6-6-1, and the Falcons improved to 7-3, having scored 78 goals along the way. Barlow finished the game with a 40-24 shots on goal advantage.

The Falcons jumped out to quick 1-0 lead with a net-finder just 20 seconds into the contest. It was 2-0 at the midpoint of the opening period before Michael McCann, assisted by James Celentano, answered just 34 seconds after Barlow’s second goal. But the Falcons scored twice in a span of 36 seconds late in the period and carried a 4-1 lead into the second.

The advantage grew to 5-1 before goals off the sticks of Matthias Paltauf and Andrew Gardner pulled Newtown to within 5-3. Gardner assisted Paltauf’s tally, and David Brestovansky and Celentano had the helpers on Gardner’s net-finder.

Phil Makris was stopped on a breakaway, but his effort led to an offensive-zone faceoff, and the Hawks kept the puck inside the blue line, which led to Gardner’s goal.

“We came into the game knowing they had a potent offense,” Newtown Coach Paul Esposito said.

But the Nighthawks did not move the puck out of their zone well enough, or pass the puck well enough to limit the Barlow team’s chances, Esposito said.

“You can’t be slow to make a decision against a team that is that aggressive,” Newtown Associate Coach Karl Boswick added.

Esposito was encouraged to see that his team competed. “We have to fine-tune a lot of little things,” Esposito said.

The Nighthawks were scheduled to visit Masuk of Monroe at The Rinks At Shelton on Wednesday but the game was postponed. The Hawks will host New Milford on Saturday, February 1, beginning at 9:10 pm.