The Newtown-New Fairfield co-op high school hockey team battled hard but saw its season come to a close in a 5-2 loss to the Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury (BBD) team in the first round of the Division III State Tournament, at Brewster Ice Arena in Brewster, N.Y., on March 7.

Goaltender Markus Paltauf, who blanked the Nighthawks’ last two regular-season opponents, extended his shutout streak for another period-plus, and — with 123 consecutive shutout minutes — sits second all-time behind Assistant Coach Pat McLaughlin (173 minutes) in program history for that category of stymieing the opposition, according to the Newtown program website’s records category at newtownhockey.com.

Seeded 13th in the bracket, the Nighthawks took on the No. 4 seed, a familiar conference foe that had beaten them by the same 5-2 score earlier this campaign. After a scoreless first period in the playoff clash, BBD broke the ice in the middle stanza on a second rebound opportunity. The Nighthawks responded less than a minute later on the first of Alex Schmidt’s two goals. Cam Gouveia and James Celentano had the assists. The score remained deadlocked at 1-1 through two periods of play.

BBD scored twice in a span of less than ten seconds in the opening five minutes of the third period to seize a 3-1 lead. The Hawks got to within a goal when Schmidt (assisted by Sebastian Cilia and Gouveia) scored on a beautiful shot over the BBD goaltender’s shoulder from the left faceoff circle on the power play. It was a 3-2 contest with 7:14 remaining.

After skating coast-to-coast, Ronan McAllister blasted a shot that rang off the post with just under six minutes remaining. The IceCats scored for a 4-2 lead with just under five minutes to play. The Hawks had late power play and pulled Paltauf for the extra attacker for two-man advantage; BBD, however, sealed the win with an empty-netter.

Shots in the game were 30-24 in favor of BBD. Paltauf, who already holds the Nighthawk record for saves in a season with 795 (2019-20) registered another 624 this winter. He had a .915 save percentage and 3.07 goals against average.

Coach Paul Esposito’s Nighthawks will lose Paultauf, Celentano, McAllister, John O’Sullivan, and Wiley Harris to graduation.

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