As the regular season winds down, the Newtown-New Fairfield co-op hockey team has been looking to find its stride and enter into the Division III State Tournament. The Nighthawks won three of four games and improved to 8-10 overall to qualify for the postseason.

The Nighthawks edged the visiting Housatonic co-op 2-1 at Danbury Ice Arena on February 8. Ryan Anderson had a goal and assisted on Jack Albano’s first varsity net-finder, the game winner. Patrick Moody and Meghan DeBellis each had an assist.

Goaltender Chris Liguori had 15 saves on 16 shots before departing with an injury. Max Browne was called upon and stopped all 17 shots he faced to help seal the win.

Newtown-New Fairfield hosted Masuk of Monroe in Danbury on February 11. The Panthers’ high-powered offense staked the visitors to a 4-0 lead. Alex Schmidt gained the offensive zone with speed and ripped a shot over the shoulder of the Masuk goalie to get the Hawks on the board, but the Panthers used a quick-answer tally to close out the first period with a 5-1 lead.

Browne battled (10 saves on 15 shots) and was relieved by Garrett McCollam to start the second period. McCollam pounced on some rebounds in an effort to slow down the attack but penalties led to two of Masuk’s three power play goals and a 7-1 advantage through two periods of play.

Schmidt had an unassisted goal, but Masuk responded with another goal to cap the scoring. McCollam was solid and stopped 19 of 22 shots, making a couple big quality saves on Masuk’s top line. The Hawks were a bit shorthanded not only in terms of man power on the ice with those penalties but also on the bench, and could not keep up with a 14-win Masuk lineup.

This was the Nighthawks’ fundraiser game in honor of Collin George Whitmore, who passed away suddenly in 2016 at the age of 8 from a condition known as Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). The Newtown hockey program, throughout the years, has supported the Collin George Whitmore Foundation, founded in an effort to raise awareness of AVM, provide financial support for AVM research, and to provide financial aid to individuals in order to participate in youth hockey and golf programs (visit collingwhitmore.org for information).

The Newtown-New Fairfield co-op had a makeup game against Fox Lane of New York two days later, and the Hawks jumped back into the win column as Hawks distributed the scoring throughout the lineup — eight players scored a goal each en route to an 8-3 triumph.

Schmidt had a goal and two assists; Gio Cucco, Cam Gouveia, Blake Ballard, and Gavin Mone each had a goal and assist; and Anderson, Quinn Harris, and Eddie Faircloth all lit the lamp. Evan Kliczewski notched two assists and Ashton Albert, Antonio DiBiase, DeBellis, and Adrian Wadhawa each recorded an assist. McCollam made 31 saves on 34 shots.

The Nighthawks visited Mt Everett of Massachusetts on February 16 and won 4-0 to clinch a state playoff spot. McCollam posted the shutout in net. There will be more coverage of the game in the February 24 print edition of The Bee.

The Hawks will take on Bethel-Brookfield-Danbury in a road tilt on familiar ice in Danbury on Tuesday, February 21 at 3:15 pm. The Hawks close out the regular slate at Shepaug-Litchfield-Thomaston-Nonnewaug at the Frederick Gunn School rink in Washington on Friday, February 24 at 8:30 pm. Newtown-New Fairfield previously lost a 2-1 overtime nail-biter when these teams squared off in Danbury.

On the junior varsity ice, the Newtown-New Fairfield skaters traveled to Washington to take on the Shepaug Spartans on February 10 and earned a 7-1 victory. Defenseman Andrew Sanchez led the way scoring a hat-trick and adding an extra goal for good measure. Sanchez took charge early scoring only a few minutes into the game. He was assisted on three of the four by Patrick Moody.

Also scoring for the Hawks were Albano, Jackson Mollison, and Jared Ku who capped the night with a late tally. Jake DeBellis logged two assists and Atilla Balla added one assist. Even the goaltender got in on the offense as Browne had an assist.

Browne started in goal and Garrett McCollam finished in a designed plan. Neither was tested regularly with the boys combining to stop 13 of 14 shots; the Hawks outshot the Spartans 44–14 to improve to 2-4-1 with a few games remaining.