Heartbreaking Finish Leaves NHS Skaters Stunned
Heartbreaking Finish Leaves NHS Skaters Stunned
By Jake Burg
DANBURY â All it took was 51.3 seconds. In that time, the Newtown High School ice hockey team went from being on the way to winning, and keeping their Division III state playoff chances alive, to having the door shut in their hopes. Leading 2-1 with time running out on the clock, Newtown allowed a Joel Barlow goal to tie up the game and send it to overtime. Barlow won 3-2 at Danbury Ice Area on Saturday night when the Falcons scored 51 seconds into OT. The heartbreaking loss left the Nighthawks with a record of 5-12 heading into their final game of the season, Wednesday against Housatonic.
Newtown came out skating hard in the first period of the Barlow game. Seniors Braeden Conlan and Max Beitel played extremely well on defense and, together, they helped the Nighthawks keep the Joel Barlow offense stagnant.
Halfway through the first period, junior Christian Beitel skated around the Barlow net and put a shot on goal and senior Matt Wright was there for the second effort, but his shot was rejected.
Sophomore goaltender Dylan Deslin kept the game scoreless until the Hawks found the net first. Junior Tucker Grose set up senior captain Francis Oggeri for a 1-0 lead. The first period came to a close with the momentum swinging in the Hawksâ favor. The second period continued with that trend. While the tough Joel Barlow team continued to fight back, Newtown continued to hold the Falcons in check.
Newtown failed to build on its lead in the second period but the defense remained strong. The third period began just as the second and first had ended: with the locals playing well. Only a minute into the period Oggeri broke away from the pack to score his second goal of the night for a 2-0 advantage.
The Falcons, however, came out determined to break the shutout and scored on a power play to cut the Newtown lead to 2-1.
Newtown successfully killed another penalty at the midpoint of the third period, but couldnât score on a late power play and Barlow came from behind for the win.