The Newtown-New Fairfield co-op hockey team rebounded from a 3-1 setback to Tri-Town on Senior Night, February 7, by avenging an earlier-season setback to Masuk of Monroe with a 3-2 win over the Panthers on February 9. Both of these games took place at Danbury Ice Arena.

On Senior Night, the nine seniors were honored and presented flowers to their moms, grandmothers, and sisters. That energy seemed to carry over as NNF struck first when Patrick Moody collected a loose puck in the neutral zone and outraced the chasing Tri-Town defense for a breakaway goal snapping one high and tight inside the right upper corner of the net on the Nighthawks’ very first shot of the game.

After the good start the Hawks got too involved in some chippy play and chirping back and forth. Tri-Town got the equalizer just a few moments later off a faceoff with an unchecked player in front pouncing on a rebound after a Max Browne save. The teams moved to the second period tied at one and then the wheels seemed to come off a bit for the home squad. With the opponents going to the penalty box three times in a row opportunity seemingly was there for the Hawks to seize control. But the opposite happened, and it was the opportunistic Tri-Town capitalizing on the Hawks’ mistakes scoring not one but two consecutive shorthanded goals. The first from the angle with Sebastian Cilia fighting off the onrushing forward but unable to prevent the shot that squeaked through Browne and the second a one on three in which the blast from the top of the circle was aided by a screen.

The third period saw the Hawks pick up the pace and outshoot the visitors by a 12-6 count but unable to crack the scoreboard again. The game was tightly contested throughout with NNF holding the 18-16 shot advantage and Browne making 13 saves in the contest.

The beauty of the ice hockey season is that the teams typically play a few games a week, so bad efforts or losses need to be flushed quickly and that was the case as Masuk came to Danbury two nights later. Masuk is the defending Division III champion, and the Hawks dropped a hard fought 4-2 game earlier in December with the Panthers icing it late on the power play.

There was renewed energy as the NNF team took to the ice more focused and determined seemingly having learned from the loss to Tri-Town two nights prior. Playing with a bit more passion and maybe a bit of reckless abandon it was clearly obvious that there would be more juice this game, NNF coaches said.

Senior assistant captain Ryan Anderson got things started off the transition when goalie Garrett McCollam steered a shot off his pads to the corner boards where Jack Albano was able to fend off and chip the puck away from a Masuk forward to Anderson who scooped up the gratuity and raced up the wall in front of both benches. After gaining the zone he used the Panther defender as a screen and went top shelf on the far post to cleanly beat the Masuk netminder for the lead about halfway through the opening period. Albano and McCollam (a rare occurrence with the goalie getting involved in the offense) picked up assists on the play.

Shortly thereafter it was Alex Schmidt taking a feed from Jack Meade in the neutral zone and gaining the line on the far side of the ice with leverage on the Panther defender. Schmidt smartly drove the net and powered one through the Masuk goaltender’s pads with a strong move to hand the Hawks a two-goal lead. Realizing that the game could quickly get away from them the Panthers used their one and only timeout of the game early to settle the troops. McCollam came up big several times in the first period before and after the timeout setting a tone that seemed to filter thru the entire team. The period ended with the lead intact at 2-0 despite Masuk holding a 10-6 shots advantage.

The second period saw the Panthers turn up the heat and buzz the NNF zone throughout the period with constant movement leading to NNF players losing zone disciple and chasing throughout. This is a no-no in the world of hockey as doing so normally leaves wide open players with good opportunities, NNF coaches noted. McCollam held up his end of the bargain between the iron with a few sensational saves early in the period but Masuk was finally able to get one back. A good shot from in tight beat McCollam cleanly to cut the lead to one with a little more than half to play in the period.

The game remained that way until the speedy Anderson coming off a line change from the bench was able to outrace the Masuk defense to a head-manned puck and cruise into the slot untouched where he buried a quick snapshot ice level through the five hole to restore the two-goal lead. The play developed when Albano and Quinn Harris moved the puck from one side of the ice to the other and gave Anderson a chance to skate ahead and finish the play.

Shortly thereafter the Hawks found themselves on the powerplay with an opportunity to extend the lead but a turnover led to a two-on-none rush and a Masuk goal with less than a second left on the clock. The score going to the third was 3-2 NNF with Masuk continuing to hold a 22–14 shots advantage. The final frame saw Masuk push for the equalizer, but NNF continued to play hard forcing shots to the outside, blocking a number of opportunities, and allowing their goaltender to see the shot if it did come from the inside.

As the last two minutes approached and with two exhausted teams it was NNF using its timeout for coaches to tell the team to play good team defense and for everyone to find someone to mark off the draw. With Masuk pulling the goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker it came down to a battle of wills in the last couple minutes and the NNF boys did a phenomenal job of not allowing one shot to get through to McCollam.

Although the puck remained in the NNF end almost the entire time it was finally popped out of the zone with about 20 seconds left and Harris made sure it stayed out with herculean effort in the neutral zone to get just enough on the puck to force Masuk back into its zone where the Panthers iced the puck looking for the stretch pass. All that remained at the end was a meaningless draw in the offensive end and a sprint back to their goaltender to enjoy one of the most rewarding victories of the season. The Hawks were outshot 29-16 in the contest.

“Lots still needs to be cleaned up in terms of the way we play and execution, but the effort was there tonight,” NNF Coach Paul Esposito said.

The team carries a 12-5 record into its final three games of the regular season.