DANBURY — Trailing by a goal with time winding down, the Newtown-New Fairfield high school hockey team pulled its goaltender for the extra attacker, tied things up, and went on to win in overtime. A 6-5 thriller over the visiting Housatonic co-op team to begin the season, at Danbury Ice Arena on December 15, was an exciting way to get out of the gate for the Nighthawks.

Cam Gouveia scored the winner, unassisted, after James Celentano forced OT scoring with just over a minute left in regulation. Alex Schmidt and Sebastian Cilia assisted the tying tally.

“It was a great start,” Newtown Coach Paul Esposito said. “The kids were really excited. Just being back with fans it was pretty fun.”

In last winter’s coronavirus-impacted season, Newtown did not have the student fan support allowed this season. Esposito said this was the loudest, most enthusiastic fan support he has seen since the team’s 2014 state championship run.

The Nighthawks built a 4-1 lead before Housatonic scored four unanswered goals. Celentano, assisted by Cilia, opened the scoring, and Wiley Harris was set up by Eddie Faircloth for 2-0 lead. Newtown-New Fairfield answered a Housatonic goal with the next two, both off the stick of Ronan McAllister. Celentano and Gouveia assisted the first and the second was unassisted.

Newtown-New Fairfield was home to take on Guilford on December 18 and fell 5-1. After falling behind 3-0, Celentano was set up by Gouveia in the second period. It was 3-1 going into the third and the Nighthawks put some pressure on the visitors but couldn’t break through. Guilford put the game away with a pair of late goals. Esposito said Harris and Ryan Anderson had strong games. The coach said his team did a little too much puck-watching in the first period but picked up the pace as the game went on.

The Newtown-led co-op team returned to game action on December 20 and fell 5-0 to Watertown-Pomperaug, also at Danbury Ice Arena.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.