Newtown High School’s hockey team, with an 8-5 triumph over the visiting Eastern Connecticut Eagles at Danbury Ice Arena on December 28, won its third game of the season in four outings to begin the campaign.

Scott McLean netted a hat-trick (plus one) to lead the scoring barrage. In addition to McLean’s four tallies, Cole Bepko, Jack Hanley, Devin Marsh, and David Brestovansky scored. Two of Newtown’s goals came while shorthanded.

Domenic Cartelli had the role of playmaker, assisting on four of the goals; and Sean Ferris, Matthew Pelisson, and Brestovansky also had helpers.

Goaltender Kyle Murphy, who played the first period and a bulk of the second stanza, made 30 saves, and Nicholas Chaloux stopped 15 shots in a period-plus of action between the pipes.

“We were obviously happy with the win,” said Newtown Coach Paul Esposito, adding that he saw some areas for improvement, including a need to cut back on bad penalties, be more disciplined, and stick with the team systems put in place at practice.

“I told the guys, ‘If we’re going to have success down the road against some of the stronger teams we’re going to face, everybody needs to buy into the system,’” Esposito added.

This triumph came two days removed from a lopsided loss, and Newtown’s bounce-back effort may have been the result of a learning experience as much as its talent. After getting half as many wins as they did all of last winter in just two games to begin this campaign, the Nighthawks were riding high heading into a December 26 clash with Hall-Southington. But the Nighthawks fell behind and never recovered in a 7-1 loss at Danbury Ice Arena.

“We came out flat-footed,” Esposito said. “We were on a high from our first two victories and I don’t think we were mentally prepared for this game. It’s a good lesson for these guys to learn.”

Esposito said after the defeat that he wanted his team — which didn’t lose any players to graduation a year ago but is still young with a majority of the roster comprising underclassmen — to move on past wins and refocus on the next game as the season unfolds.

Credit Hall-Southington for bringing speed and energy to the ice — “They were beating us to pucks,” Esposito notes — but this game could have been a different story, at least much closer, if the Nighthawks were prepared, the coach believes.

Newtown’s lone goal was a pretty one, and it came on the power play. McLean skated into the low slot and one-timed a pass from Marsh, who skated the puck behind the goal line before setting up his linemate. Hanley earned the secondary assist on the goal which, at the time cut the deficit to 5-1 late in the second period.

Newtown is scheduled to put its new move on from win/focus on next game mindset to the test when Joel Barlow of Redding skates into Danbury Ice Arena on Wednesday, December 30, beginning at 5 pm.