Benoit, Hawk Skaters Trick Barlow; NHS Up To D-II Task

By Andy Hutchison

DANBURY — Newtown High School’s hockey team, in its first year in Division II, has proven it belongs there thus far — although Coach Paul Esposito is looking for some more consistency if his team is going to have postseason success once late February and March roll around. The Nighthawks have faired well against fellow D-II schools and, on January 11, toppled D-III South-West Conference foe Joel Barlow of Redding 8-1 at Danbury Ice Arena.

Ted Benoit lit the lamp three times and added and assist, and Brett Klein assisted each of those tallies and tacked on a pair of goals to send the Nighthawks to their most lopsided win of the young campaign as the Hawks improved to 5-3 overall.

Then came two straight defeats, which dropped Newtown back to .500. NHS fell 2-0 to New Milford in South Kent on January 14 and was beaten 7-2 by East Catholic in Cromwell on Monday. Klein and Hayden Savoia both scored in the defeat to East Catholic. Newtown trailed only 3-2 after two periods before the game got away.

Esposito believed his team came out flat in both of those defeats. “Hopefully some people will take charge and step up,” the coach said. “We definitely need to get back on track.”

Newtown was on track during most of the night in the Barlow game last week. The Nighthawks took a 3-1 lead into the second period behind goals by Christian Blais, Brian Gregory, and Benoit. Blais found the net with an unassisted tally, Evan Isaacs set up Gregory, and Klein and Jake Solomons both earned assists on Benoit’s first net-finder.

In the second period, Klein and Solomons assisted Benoit’s one-timer from the right faceoff circle for a 4-1 advantage. Newtown put the game away with four goals in the third. Klein jammed home a loose puck after a strong forecheck by the Hawks kept the puck in the zone. Barlow couldn’t get the puck out and defenseman Matt Sabia sent a shot toward the goal which deflected off Benoit, leading to Klein’s deposit. Isaacs scored unassisted on a breakaway for a 6-1 cushion. Klein also scored on a breakaway, and later set up Benoit’s hat-trick goal.

“Hopefully, this is going to spark his offensive production the next couple of games,” said Esposito, adding that Benoit came into the game without any points before stamping his presence all over the score sheet.

“I think having no points was my motivation,” Benoit noted.

The Nighthawks were happy to skate away with an easy win after back-to-back overtime contests — a loss followed by a win. “It feels great. We’ve been on and off at the beginning of the season,” Klein said of the Hawks, who lost two close games to start the year before winning three in a row, then falling to Guilford in overtime, before winning the next pair.

Newtown was more on than off in the Barlow game but, Esposito believes, there is still plenty of room for improvement. The coach wants to see his team show more consistent discipline on the ice — moving the puck, executing faster breakouts from the defensive zone, and transitioning through the neutral zone sans turnovers. NHS coughed up the puck to Barlow skaters between the blue lines a few times in the middle period, something Esposito notes his team can’t afford to do when the games really become important.

“The second period, if we were playing in a tournament game, we would have been in big trouble right there — a lot of odd-man rushes,” said Esposito, adding that defensemen can’t pinch in and get caught out of position.

All in all, Newtown has enjoyed the D-II life. The team edged D-II Wilton for its first win of the campaign and took fellow D-II squad Guilford to overtime before falling.

“We’re very happy with it. I like the speed of some of the games that we’re playing,” Esposito said. “We need to stay consistent at that speed. That’s the only way our program’s going to get better is by playing faster teams and playing that way when we’re not playing faster teams.” 

“I think it gets us more prepared for big games,” Benoit said of the Hawks facing tougher competition in the nonconference games.

“It’s always good to be challenged,” Klein added. “It gives us motivation — always knowing you’re playing a harder team.”