Sports

Hockey Team Skates To Hard-Fought Victories, Moves Into Playoff Picture

By Andy Hutchison

Published: Feb 26, 2022 07:30 AM

The Newtown-New Fairfield high school hockey team earned consecutive 2-1 victories in mid-February, then posted a 2-0 shutout to move into Division III State Playoff positioning as the season winds down.

The Nighthawks got two goals from Alex Schmidt in a 2-1 win over the host Shepaug co-op team, at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, on February 16. Celentano assisted one goal and, along with Ronan McAllister, also assisted the other. The Shepaug co-op had beaten the Hawks 2-1 in overtime earlier this campaign.

Newtown-New Fairfield edged Division I school Immaculate of Danbury 2-1 at Danbury Ice Arena on February 19. Cam Gouveia and Jared Ku, assisted by Schmidt, scored for the Hawks. It was Ku’s first career high school tally. Goaltender Markus Paltauf made 44 saves.

“The team is really starting to see the value in playing systems and sticking to the game plan. Markus is really playing well as we near the finish line — stood on his head, making timely saves. Cam Gouveia and Alex Schmidt are beginning to spark at the right time. John O’Sullivan has been playing solid defense for the team,” said Coach Paul Esposito, adding that O’Sullivan’s plus-minus numbers have been solid.

Newtown blanked host Amity of Woodbridge 2-0, in West Haven, in a makeup game on February 22. Paltauf made 34 saves for the shutout; Newtown was outshot 34-25. Celentano was assisted by Ku to break a scoreless tie in the second period. Schmidt was set up by McAllister for an insurance tally midway through the third.

The Nighthawks (5-12-2 overall) close out the regular season with a contest against the McMahon-Norwalk co-op in Danbury on Saturday, February 26; faceoff is at 4 pm. The top 16 teams qualify for the D-III bracket. NHS came out of the Immaculate game with nine points (six for beating a D-I team plus three more for Immaculate being a playoff qualifier), then picked up four points for besting D-II Amity, giving Newtown 21 points this season, and pushing the team into 11th in the D-III rankings.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.

Jared Ku goes for the puck during action this winter. Ku had his first high school goal in a 2-1 win over Immaculate on February 19. —Bee Photos, Hutchison

Alex Schmidt skates into the offensive zone during a game this season. Schmidt had both goals in a 2-1 win over the Shepaug co-op team on February 16.

Reminder: Lower Flags Tomorrow For Peace Officers Memorial Day

Music Inspired By Shakespeare’s Plays, Sunday At The Meeting House

BOE Referendum, Round Two, UnderwayRegistered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.Registered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.All voting is again taking place at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street. Polls opened at 6 am and will remain open until 8 pm.Following a rejection of the school budget by 507 votes at a referendum on April 23, the Legislative Council at its April 29 meeting slashed $1,408,307 from the Board of Education’s proposed 2024-25 budget.The reduction was unanimously approved by all 12 councilmen, in contrast to a previous, pre-referendum meeting on March 27, where no bottom line for the school budget drew more than a simple majority of seven votes.The new bottom line of $87,409,066 is a $2,339,415 or 2.75% spending increase over the 2023-24 budget, which places it in line with the municipal budget, which was passed by voters.The previous proposed 2024-25 BOE budget rejected by voters was $88,817,373, which would have been a $3,747,722 or 4.4% spending increase.The education budget failed, 1,701 No votes to 1,194 Yes votes.On the secondary question to the education budget — If the proposed sum for the Board of Education is not approved, should the revised budget be higher? — the responses were 727 Yes and 2,071 No.The Registrar of Voters reported 15.1% of Newtown’s registered voters participated in the April 23 referendum, with 2,952 people showing up at the middle school to vote and another 47 turning in absentee ballots.

Dozens Attend Friends Of Edmond Town Hall’s First Annual Gala

Walker On ‘Water Conservation,’ Next Garden Club Meeting

It is a shame but yes, we are so broke... The NIMBY crowd will not allow any new development so there is no ability to add to the tax base... got to hire strangers to park at our schools, and grocery stores and sneak around on our property to ensure our kindergartners Spanish class doesn't get canceled.

Council Approves Money For Vehicle TaxRecovery

I was the recipient of such a invasion of my privacy when my daughter was visiting her boyfriend in Waterbury. They tried to get me to pay them taxes instead of Newtown. They were rude, offensive and threatening and I had to call the mayor of Waterbury to finally get it cleared up after being threatened. It was a long drawn out process to get this overturned. Are we that broke that we have to turn our residents over to these mercenaries? This is beyond belief. How dare you hire these rent a cops to harass and threaten us?

Thanks for the quote, many people don’t realize Newtown does not exist in a silo and we have peers to benchmark against. For example Trumbull also spends less per student and outperforms us. ALL students benefit from consistent policies and quality education. Affordability matters, especially to less affluent families which tend to skew more heavily minority based on census data.

Newtown Cares About Its Students, Not Just The Numbers

Why should it be a town decision? The town does not own the land. This town is not one big HOA.

Development Of Unprotected Land Could Permanently Change Character Of The Borough

Spot on, tomj. One's personal life, family and/or business will be targeted if they're an outspoken R in this town.

<< May 2024 >>
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
28	29	30	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31	1

Log In

Hockey Team Skates To Hard-Fought Victories, Moves Into Playoff Picture

Leave a Reply Cancel reply