Jr Colonials Pee Wee A Hockey Team Tops Capitals And IceDogs

The Western Connecticut Jr Colonials Pee Wee A hockey team continued it’s winning ways with two more victories on February 14 and 15.

On Saturday, the Jr Colonials defeated the Central Connecticut Capitals 4-1, with forward Frank Haklits having a hand in all four goals. In the first period, the Jr Colonials struck first when Haklits made a pass to center Liam Smith who fired a one-timer into the net. Later in the period, the Jr Colonials were in the midst of a line change when Haklits jumped off the bench, found a loose puck and scored on a breakaway wrist shot to make the score 2-0. The Jr Colonials could not light the lamp in the second period, while the Capitals got one of their own to cut the lead in half. But, in the third period, Haklits struck once again, this time with assists going to Smith and Steven Almeida. Several minutes later, Haklits made a strong bid for a hat-trick when he had a clean breakaway and went for a backhand finisher. The Capitals’ goalie made an excellent save but Newtown forward Justin Corsello was following Haklits hard to the net and cashed in the rebound to make the score 4-1, with Haklits getting the assist.

Sunday’s game against the Northwestern CT IceDogs was highlighted by the forward line of Tyler Trombetta centering Newtown wingers Justin Corsello and Dan Harrison, with those three players involved in five of the six goals the Jr Colonials scored in their 6-2 victory. In their first shift of the game, this newly formed line held the puck in the offensive zone for an extended period of time and found the back of the net when Corsello roofed a nice shot from in close off of a nice centering pass by Harrison. Later in the period, Newtown center Cooper McLean took a pass from forward Matt Hooker and scored on a low, hard shot from the top of the face-off circles to make the score 2-0. In the second period, the IceDogs began to find their stride and Newtown goaltender Patrick McLoughlin had to be sharp as the Northwestern team began getting shots through. Newtown defenseman Brian Gregory was also on top of his game, blocking several IceDogs passes and cutting off a potential breakaway as he hustled back from offense to defense. The IceDogs finally solved McLoughlin, but Trombetta answered back for the Jr Colonials when he took a Harrison pass and connected on a shot from the low slot. Another IceDogs goal made it 3-2 after two periods, but the Jr Colonials proceeded to score three unanswered goals in the third to end the game. Gregory took a hard shot from the right point and the puck careened to Harrison who scored on a wrist shot from the left circle. It was then Trombetta’s turn again, as he took a pass from McLean and fired wrist shot past the IceDogs goalie to make the score 5-2. Then, Corsello got back into the thick of things when he made a strong move between the offensive circles and split two IceDogs defenders. As he was hauled down from behind, the puck found its way into the crease, where Harrison neatly tucked it in for his second goal of the game.

The Jr Colonials will jump up to play two Tier 2 Connecticut Hockey Conference opponents this coming weekend, the East Haven Hornets on Saturday and the Ridgefield Lions on Sunday.