Colonials Split In Pair Of Close Contests

The Western Connecticut Jr Colonials Pee Wee A hockey team took a step up and played play two strong teams from the Connecticut Hockey Conference Tier 2 level during the weekend of February 21-22.

On Saturday, the Jr Colonials took on the East Haven Hornets and were forced to call up two players from the Jr Colonials Pee Wee B team to fill the void left by the absence of forward Matt Hooker and defenseman Kevin Keiser, who was out with the same flu bug that has hit many of the Jr Colonials in recent weeks. The Jr Colonials fell to East Haven 3-2.

Trailing 1-0, the Jr Colonials tied the score when Newtown forward Justin Corsello battled for the puck at the right faceoff circle and got it over to linemate Steven Almeida, who quickly fired a shot into the Hornets’ net.

The Jr Colonials continued to play well, but the Hornets struck again and the period ended with the Hornets up 2-1. In the second period, the Jr Colonials faced a scary moment when Almeida had to be taken to the hospital for X-rays after being struck by a Hornets slapshot. Fortunately, the injury ended up being only a deep bone bruise, but the Jr Colonials lineup was further depleted for the remainder of the game. The Hornets then scored another goal at 5:01 to make the score 3-1. In the third period, the Jr Colonials continued to play hard and were in the midst of killing off a five-minute major penalty, when forward Frank Haklits battled two Hornets players in the offensive corner, came out with the puck and scored a short-handed goal to make the score 3-2. The Jr Colonials pressed hard for another goal, came close several times but couldn’t score the equalizer.

On Sunday, the Jr Colonials faced the Ridgefield Lions, who had beaten the same East Haven team on February 7 by a score of 7-2. The Jr Colonials skated away with a 4-3 win. The Lions took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on a goal from in close off of a scramble. The Jr Colonials answered when Corsello gathered the puck at the Jr Colonials’ blue line and hit Liam Smith with a pass in stride at the center ice line. Smith gained the offensive zone and then passed the puck to Almeida, who fired a top-shelf wrist shot to tie the game at 1-1. The second period play belonged to the Jr Colonials as they outskated the Lions and struck for two unanswered goals. Four minutes into the period, the Jr Colonials passed the puck around the Lions zone until center Tyler Trombetta deposited a perfectly-placed wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle into the top corner of the Lions’ net, with assists going to Newtown defenseman Owen Sandercox and fellow defenseman Jake Ryan. Then, with 3:50 left in the period, the Jr Colonials’ line of Newtowner Hayden Savoia, Matt Hooker and Haklits charged the Lions net and peppered the goalie with several quick shots before Hooker shot the puck in from the top of the crease to make the score 3-1. In the third period, the Lions came out roaring and lit the lamp twice in the first five minutes to tie the score at 3-3. The Lions did not let up and Newtown goalie Patrick McLoughlin kept the score tied with several difficult saves. The game then turned in the Jr Colonials’ favor when the Lions got themselves into penalty trouble, leading to a five-on-three power play that the Jr Colonials quickly cashed in on when the power play unit of Haklits-Almeida-Smith got the puck to the Lions net and Haklits slammed it home to make the score 4-3. McLoughlin then came up big again when he dipped his right pad to block a quick shot from in close with 44 seconds remaining in the game to seal the victory. The Jr Colonials will face another Tier 2 team on Saturday when they face-off against Avon in their final tune-up game before the CHC playoffs start on March 5 in Cromwell.