Newtown Hockey Falls Short In 2-1 Loss To New Fairfield

By Jake Burg

The season opener was a hard one to swallow for the Nighthawks hockey team. They played well in the first two periods of the game, but then the New Fairfield Rebels put up two quick goals in the opening minutes of the third period to win the game 2-1.

The game began back and forth, with each team spending time on the other’s side of the ice. Senior captain Braden Conlan played particularly well on defense in the first period for the Nighthawks. Each team got nine shots on goal, but none found their way in between the pipes.

The second period began much like the first ended. New Fairfield and the Nighthawks traded the puck back and forth. When the Rebels got the puck they were met by a stout Newtown defense led by Conlan and senior Peter Griffiths.

At one point Newtown senior Graham Moller skated away from New Fairfield defenders to get on a fast break, but he couldn’t capitalize on that advantage. That wound up being the story for most of the second period for both squads.

With only 24 seconds left in the period, Ryan Lasher assisted to Max Beitel for the Newtown score to put the Nighthawks up 1-0.

Then the third period came, and with it came trouble for Newtown. Within 45 seconds of the start of the period New Fairfield’s Ryan Doyle slipped it passed junior Mitch Bloomberg to tie the game at one apiece. Then, only 46 seconds later, New Fairfield scored yet again to go up 2-1 on the Nighthawks.

Within a matter of two minutes from the end of the second to the start of the third periods, a 0-0 defensive struggle turned to a 2-1 game. From that point on Newtown had trouble finishing when key opportunities presented themselves.

In a thrilling last 45 seconds of the game, Newtown looked like it might pull off a last second score to tie the game, but they were shut down by New Fairfield’s defense.