Newtown Skaters Bounce Back In State Tourney After SWC Loss

By Andy Hutchison

Down to 11 skaters because of injuries and illness sidelining a handful of players, and behind by two goals in the second period, Newtown High School’s hockey team rebounded for a rewarding 4-3 win over Rocky Hill-RHAM-Middletown in the first round of the Division III State Tournament at Danbury Ice Arena on March 7.

The No. 6 Nighthawks scored with three seconds left in the middle period to tie the game, and less than a minute into the third to advance past their 11th-seeded opponent.

Goals came in pairings on this night as Christian Blais and Parker Rodbell scored 34 seconds apart late in the second period to even the game at two goals apiece. Blais’s tally came unassisted on the power play, and Rodbell’s even-strength goal was assisted by Matt Vitti. After Rocky Hill-RHAM-Middletown regained the lead late in the period, Newtown again answered. Three was the magic number — Ted Benoit deadlocked the score at 3-3 when he skated across the blue line and fired a shot into the net with just three seconds showing on the scoreboard clock. Benoit then set up Vitti for what proved to be the decisive tally, just 55 seconds into the third.

Newtown goaltender Mike Allwein stopped 27 shots. Newtown had just three defensemen — Owen Sandercox, Tyler Hanley, and Alex Kelly. Vitti dropped back and played some D when Newtown needed help because of penalties. In addition to some key players out of the lineup, Blais and Kelly played despite being under the weather.

“Those guys really stepped up to the plate,” Esposito said of his small defensive corps. The coach was also pleased with the efforts of freshman Justin Corsello and junior Jake Solomons.

“I got a little nervous when we were behind two-zero,” Esposito said, but he was thrilled to see his team step up in the playoffs. Newtown, with the win, earned a quarterfinal-round game against No. 3 Windsor-East Granby-Avon, which had a first round bye, on Thursday (after The Bee went to press. Check NewtownBee.com for highlights) at the Trinity Community Sports Complex in Hartford.

The Nighthawks entered into the state tournament coming off of an early exit in conference tourney play. Newtown’s late-game magic didn’t strike twice against Watertown-Pomperaug.

The Nighthawks had overcome a late 4-2 deficit, with two goals in the final 1:18 to force overtime — only to lose 5-4 — back in the second game of the season, on December 23. The Nighthawks found themselves in a similar waning-moments-in-regulation predicament, but couldn’t overcome their familiar foes in the South-West Conference Division II-III semifinals, falling 5-2 at Danbury Ice Arena on March 3.

The second-seeded Indians saw the No. 3 Nighthawks trim a 4-1 deficit to 4-2 with a goal with five-plus minutes remaining, and Newtown kept pushing, pulled Allwein for an extra attacker, but couldn’t pull off a dramatic comeback. The Indians iced the game with an empty-net tally with 1:28 remaining and advanced to the championship game.

Trailing 1-0 late in the first period, the Nighthawks evened the score when Kelly skated in from the blue line to pick up a loose puck, and whip home a shot into the upper part of the net from the high slot with just 8 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Watertown-Pomperaug scored the only goal of the second to reclaim the lead, and added two goals 5:30 into the third period — one on a shorthanded breakaway, the other on a two-on-one rush for a 4-1 cushion.

The Nighthawks made things interesting with a late-period goal by Blais, assisted by Evan Isaacs and Hanley to make it 4-2 — but got no closer.

“We really weren’t happy with how we played. We weren’t on — we didn’t step up,” said Esposito, adding that he is looking forward to seeing his team carry over its first-round state tourney success.

With a win in the quarters, Newtown would earn a trip to Yale’s Ingalls Rink to take on the Staples-Weston-Shelton/St Bernard-Bacon-NFA game in the semifinals on Tuesday, March 15. Newtown is one of two remaining teams, which is not a co-op, to remain standing after the opening round of the tourney. The only other, Northwest Catholic — as a private school — draws students from multiple towns.