Jr Colonials Pee Wee A Hockey Team Splits Weekend Games

The Western Connecticut Jr Colonials Pee Wee A team split their final two regular season Connecticut Hockey Conference games this past weekend to finish the CHC season with a record of 17-6-1.

Despite out- shooting their opponents by a margin of 25-19, the Jr Colonials dropped a 6-3 decision to the Wonderland Wizards in Bridgeport on Saturday.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the Jr Colonials came out strong in period two and continued to pressure the Wizards. Newtown defenseman Owen Sandercox overpowered the Wizards’ goaltender with a hard, rising shot that hit the goalie’s glove and landed inside the cage to tie the game 1-1. The Jr Colonials then took the lead on a goal by forward Frank Haklits who went hard to the net, found a loose puck and quickly buried it. Things were looking good for the Jr Colonials, but with only 32 seconds left in the period, the Wizards scored to knot the score at 2-2.

Things only got worse for the Jr Colonials in the third period, with the Wizards scoring three unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the period, two of the goals on uncontested breakaways. The Jr Colonials finally answered on a goal by Steven Almeida, but the Wizards finished off the game by scoring into an empty net after Newtown goalie Patrick McLoughlin had been pulled for an extra attacker.

On Sunday, the Jr. Colonials took out their frustrations on the East Haven Hornets in a 9-1 win at the Danbury Ice Arena.

Newtown forward Cooper McLean started things off with a nice goal on a rebound, assisted by Sandercox and Haklits. Forward Tyler Trombetta then hustled into the offensive zone, pounced on a loose puck to the side of the Hornets net and banked a nice shot off of the goalie’s skate for a 2-0 lead.

Frank Haklits followed with two straight goals, both of which he scored on hard wrist shots after swooping around several Hornets’ players. One of his goals was unassisted and the other assisted by McLean.

In period two, Newtown forward Hayden Savoia did what he does so well, positioning himself perfectly in front of the opposing goal, where he redirected a hard shot into the net, with the assists going to Newtown defenseman Jake Ryan and forward Dan Harrison. Ryan then joined in on the fun by wristing a blazing shot into the net and fellow defenseman Kevin Keiser did the same off of another assist by McLean to make the score 7-0 after two periods.

The Hornets finally broke through in the third on call-up goaltender Calvin Bouchard, who played well after spelling McLoughlin halfway through the second period. The Newtown contingent then finished off the Hornets when forward Justin Corsello scored a pretty breakaway goal, assisted by Savoia and defenseman Brian Gregory. Gregory got one of his own on a nice shot from the point, assisted by Harrison to make the final score 9-1.

The Jr Colonials will spend the rest of February practicing twice per week and playing tune-up games in preparation for the CHC playoffs, March 6-8.