By Jake Burg

DANBURY — The Newtown hockey team overcame a 3-1 deficit, coming to life against the Watertown/Pomperaug co-op team and skating away with a 5-4 win at Danbury Ice Arena on January 23. After two lethargic performances against Bethel-Brookfield and St Joseph’s, the Nighthawks looked like a new team. For every physical hit by the Watertown-Pomperaug Indians, Newtown came back with two of their own. The combination of an explosive offense and some great defensive play helped the locals rally to beat Indians and improve to 3-7 this season.

The Nighthawks will try to make it two straight wins over Watertown/Pomperaug. The teams skate again in a rematch on Saturday at Taft Rink at 7:30 pm.

The first meeting between the teams started off with each squad having trouble controlling the puck before Newtown junior Christian Beitel made a nice move to score the game’s first goal. Watertown/Pomperaug’s Chad Boulier spun around and slipped the puck in-between goalie Mitch Bloomberg’s legs to knot the game up at one a piece and the physical first period ended with the 1-1 tie.

In the beginning of the second period, the Indians outskated the Nighthawks. After controlling the puck for most of the opening minutes, the visitors scored a couple of quick goals for a 3-1 lead.

Then the Nighthawks offense exploded.

Senior Matt Wright took a pass from fellow senior Peter Griffiths, got on a breakaway and scored to pull Newtown within one goal. Before the second period was over, senior captain Francis Oggeri ripped a shot into the net from nearly 20 feet away to tie the game at three.

The second period ended, but the Nighthawks were just getting started on offense. After coming out flat in third periods for most of the year, Newtown skated out of the locker room for the final period with purpose in this game. Despite a roughing penalty on Bloomberg and skating shorthanded, senior forward Francis Oggeri stole the puck and broke away for a big goal to give Newtown the lead, 4-3.

When the locals needed an insurance goal, Beitel came through, slipping the puck into the net on a backhanded shot for a 5-3 lead. From that point on Newtown controlled the game.

Despite a little buildup of tension when Watertown/Pomperaug scored with 21 seconds left, the Nighthawks kept their composure and got the win. The team was led by solid performances from seniors Graham Moller and Peter Griffiths, as well as Bloomberg.

After visiting Watertown/ Pomperaug this weekend, the Nighthawks return home on February 6 to play Masuk, which defeated them 3-1 in the second game of the season. The Hawks are contending for a spot in the Division III State Tournament and still have eight games remaining.