DANBURY — The Newtown-New Fairfield co-op hockey team earned a hard-fought 3-2 win over Newington in the Division III State Tournament’s first round, at Danbury Ice Arena, on March 4.

“It feels great to win a state playoff game,” said Head Coach Paul Esposito, noting that the message at the start of the game was for the players to take advantage of a golden opportunity to extend the season by getting off to fast start.

The Nighthawks did that with a goal in the opening period but the team was in for a battle, not unlike the season on the whole. Overcoming injuries has become an important part of the Nighthawks’ game this winter and, fittingly, one of the many players who had been sidelined for five weeks after sustaining a knee injury in the middle of the campaign, Blake Ballard, made a huge impact in the team’s victory.

Ballard scored a goal and assisted on the other two tallies as the No. 7 Nighthawks built a 2-0 lead and twice saw No. 10 Newington climb to within a goal before hanging on.

“It feels great. We’ve come a long way this season,” said Ballard, noting that several players have stepped up and contributed when called upon.

Between illness and injuries over the course of the season only two of the 25 players to see ice time have made all of the practices and games, making this truly a collective effort and season of adjustment for the Hawks.

Ballard won a faceoff to set up Andrew Sanchez’s first-period goal, then made it 2-0 in the second with a wrister from the high slot after some hard work by Ashton Albert helped make the goal possible. Newington struck late in the middle stanza and trailed 2-1 going to the third thanks, in large part, to a strong backcheck after a defensive zone clear off the boards by Sanchez sprung Ballard on a breakaway in the final seconds of the period.

Ryan Anderson restored the two-goal lead, assisted by Ballard and Sanchez with 9:06 remaining in the third, shortly after NNF goaltender Garrett McCollam thwarted a good Newington chance. Newington kept clawing, and piling up shots on goal. After being turned aside several more times by McCollam the visitors finally got back to within a goal with 4:45 left.

A few more important saves by the Hawk netminder and key defensive zone faceoff win by Ballard in the final half minute helped NNF escape despite being outshot 29-15 in the game.

“It’s stressful but it’s also really fun,” Anderson said of tightly-contested games. “Close games are always fun.”

The Hawks know a thing or two about evenly-matched tilts. They were on the winning end of all four regular-season contests decided by just one goal and had a record of 3-3 in two-goal games.

McCollam was a major factor in the team advancing in the playoffs for the first time in a few years with his 27 saves, including a dozen in the first period to keep the Hawks in front.

“It really is special just to be able to get to the second round — we’ll see where it takes us,” the goaltender said.

The win takes NNF on the road for a visit to No. 2 Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks at Wesleyan University in Middletown for a quarterfinal battle on Thursday, March 7 at 6 pm.

The Hawks were coming off a 4-2 loss to New Milford in the South-West Conference Championship, also in Danbury, on February 27. In that tourney, the Nighthawks were the No. 4 seed and the Green Wave was the top seed.

Both teams got out to quick starts trading shots in front of a big crowd. New Milford struck first by capitalizing on an NNF mistake behind its own net.

NNF defenseman Colby Cheneski scored on a deflection off a defensemen for the sophomore’s first high school goal. Jared Ku picked up an assist on the play as he disrupted a breakout that led to Cheneski’s net-finder. The period ended with a tie game and New Milford holding an 8-7 shot advantage.

During the middle frame the bigger and faster Green Wave group began to use its size advantage around the net getting some point-blank opportunities only to be turned back on several occasions by McCollam. With the pressure mounting NNF was unable to hold off the Wave, however, and was outmuscled in the corner leading to a breakdown in front of the net and a one-time chip-in goal off a quick pass. Shortly thereafter, a similar play occurred from the other side of the rink and the Green Wave extended to a 3-1 advantage New Milford carried into the second intermission.

As the third and final period began the Nighthawks adjusted in an attempt to get more offensive opportunities and moved defenseman Albert to offense to aid in the physical aspect of the game. The move paid off with about nine minutes remaining in the contest as Albert chased down a defender in the offensive zone leading to a turnover. The puck popped in front allowing both Ballard and Alex Schmidt to take a few cracks at it as the New Milford defense desperately tried to get back in the play. The tenacious attack paid off as Ballard muscled one past the New Milford goalie, assisted by Schmidt.

As the momentum was building it seemed that the Hawks might be able to get the equalizer but were unable to get pucks through to the New Milford net. Then, in the blink of an eye the game turned. With two Hawks jumping in deep fighting for a loose puck it was freed up and came back up through the middle leading to a two-on-one Green Wave rush through center ice and into the Hawk defensive zone. The Wave cashed in with an insurance marker.

As the Hawks tried to pull the goalie in favor of a sixth attacker late, the Green Wave would have none of it as the players simply continued to dump the puck in deep. McCollam kept things close and made 28 saves. Schmidt picked up his team-leading 42nd point of the season.

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