Netminder Backstops State Title Run

Newtown hockey goaltender, Markus Paltauf, an eight year old playing up in the Squirt Division with nine and ten year olds, backstopped his Northwestern Icehawks Squirt B team to a state championship victory over the weekend.

Playing in Enfield, in the Norris Division, he led his team to a 4-1 record, while finishing with 98 saves and posting a .882 save percentage over the five tournament games.

In the opening game on February 23, against a favored Yale B team, Icehawks lost a close contest 4-3 with Paltauf making 31 saves.

Then on the morning of February 25, with the Icehawks needing a win against the heavily-favored Northeast Icedogs, the Newtown goalie overcame an own goal that a teammate accidentally put in the net . Paltauf made 16 saves, including eight breakaway stops, to secure the first win of the tournament with a final score of 4-2. Later that evening, playing against the hometown Enfield A team in a game that started after a 40-minute delay, Paltauf made 19 saves in a 3-1 victory, setting up an early morning clash versus Avon. A win would put the Icehawks in the title game for a rematch versus the Yale B squad that handed them the loss earlier in the tournament. The Icehawks dominated the game from beginning to end and Paltauf had 11 saves in the 6-2 victory, setting up a tough rematch in the finals later that same afternoon.

Over the course of the season the Icehawks and Yale have battled to a trio of one-goal games and with the opening round win by Yale the opposition had won two of the three games.

However, in a hard fought, clean and very exciting game, the Icehawks battled hard and were never behind. The first period ended deadlocked at 1-1, the second period at 3-3, and then in the third period the Icehawks scored just three minutes in to take the lead only to see the Yale Bulldogs tie it back up with just four minutes left in the game. In a contest that was very even in scoring chances and shots, the only difference was that three of Yale’s four goals came on their power play. With only 2:10 remaining in the game the Icehawks got a timely goal to put them ahead 5-4. With less than 1 minute remaining and the Yale goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Yale mounted a nerve-racking attempt for a tie which would ultimately fail with some timely saves and blocked shots giving the 5-4 victory and championship title to the Icehawks. Paltauf finished with 21 saves to help his team become the Norris Division State Hockey Champions.