Hockey Team Hopes Paying For Extra Ice Time Pays Dividends, Shoots For Playoffs

By Andy Hutchison

Hockey may be the only high school sport, at numerous high schools, in which players legitimately practice their game just a couple days each week. At Newtown High School this winter, however, the Nighthawks will lace ‘em up and take to the ice for practice four times each week with hopes of making great strides. This is twice the ice time from when the program began in 2001.

The extra ice comes at a cost, though, since more practice time means more money. The players, even with fundraising efforts and the school contributing to salaries of coaches and for the cost of game officials — given the many expenses for equipment, ice time, and travel to Danbury Ice Arena — will pay $1,500–$1,700 apiece to skate this winter. Just up the road, New Fairfield canceled its program due to the high cost to play.

Win, lose, or draw, the Nighthawks can be happy they are going to be on the ice so much, but competitiveness prevails. Newtown Head Coach Paul Esposito has high expectations for this year’s team, and not only because of the increased time on the ice. He has been encouraged with what he’s seen in preseason scrimmages and a round robin jamboree this past weekend. Returning players and seasoned-from-youth-travel-hockey freshmen provide promise as NHS seeks to make a turnaround and qualify for the conference and state playoffs.

“That should give us a chance to get some chemistry going between the lines,” senior captain Christian Beitel said. “We should be very competitive in the South-West Conference and in [the Division III State playoffs].”

At The Helm: Esposito is in his second stint with NHS and in his fifth year of coaching the team since 2001.

Last Year: Newtown went 5-13 and missed out on the SWC Division II and State’s D-III playoffs. Several close losses doomed the Hawks.

Skates To Fill: Among the eight graduates were leaders Francis Oggeri and Matt Wright.

This Year’s Captains: Senior forwards Beitel and Tucker Grose, along with senior defenseman Rocco Guaragno.

Other Players To Watch: Goaltenders Mitch Bloomberg (senior), Dylan Deselin (junior), and Mike Allwein (freshman). Grose is on a forward line with seniors Mike Poeltl, Robbie Brautigan. Beitel will skate with freshman Josh Branchflower and sophomore Hunter Dolyak. The third line comprises junior Sean Kennedy, sophomore Matt Vitti, and freshman Ted Benoit. On the blue lines, in addition to Guaragno, junior Ryan Lasher and freshmen Alex Kelly and David Landau will be key defenders.

Strengths: “We have an overall good nucleus — we have size, we have speed, we have some guys who can really shoot the puck this year. We have some very physical players. Our goaltending is strong,” said Esposito, adding that the freshmen add depth to the lineup. Many of the players are familiar with Esposito from his having coached youth hockey in Danbury.

And, of course, the increased practice opportunity bodes will for success.

“Extra practice time gives you a leg up on the competition and we have some good talent in our freshmen class,” Grose said.

Question Marks: Esposito hopes his team can be more consistent and resilient than it was a year ago. Will the extra ice time equate to enough wins to qualify for the postseason?

Coach’s Goals: To win the SWC D-II title and go deep in the state playoffs. “We have a team that can be very competitive this year,” the coach said.

“I think it’s a realistic goal,” Guaragno said of at least reaching the postseason. “We already look like a team and we’ll go as far as we can take each other. As long as we play like a team we’ll go pretty far.”

Circle It On The Schedule: Among the nonconference tough games put on the slate is one with Division I opponent East Haven (that is how the season was scheduled to begin yesterday, after The Bee went to press). Esposito wanted to get his players exposed to tough competition right off the bat.

The home opener is Saturday against Shelton at 4 pm. Some D-II teams on the schedule are Branford, Enfield, and Guilford.

Tough in-conference competition should be provided by Masuk along with the Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury team.