By Kim J. Harmon

FAIRFIELD – It was bad enough that the Nighthawks had to start the 2000 season down in Fairfield last week. The ‘Hawks have always had trouble with the Mustangs and fiery coach Rich Allaire.

But what made it worse was the ‘Hawks had go down there with just 16 eligible players. Other than an ankle sprain suffered by Erik Martenson, which kept him on crutches, the rest of the players were ineligible because of procedural matters.

It was tough going.

The ‘Hawks found themselves down 6-0 after the first period and 9-0 at the half before finally being able to slow down the Mustang offense. The ‘Hawks did manage four second-half goals, but still fell 15-4.

“We held our own in the second half,” said coach Brian Henricksen. “I think if we had had our entire team, we could have beaten them.”

JT Tremaglio scored seven goals for Fairfield and Nick Haskard added three.

Matt Saunders, Sean Raby, Matt Lynch and Travis Long all scored for Newtown. Saunders and Lynch provided assists. Goalie Brad Burnstein was under the gun from the opening whistle, facing 35 shots and making 10 saves on the afternoon.

Even though Newtown got most of its players back, a trip up to Newington on Saturday night did not prove any more fruitful. The Indians defeated Nighthawks 9-3 to drop Newtown to 0-2 on the season.

In the loss, Raby, Peter Yemc and John Conlon all scored.

The Nighthawks were looking to get themselves back on track Thursday while hosting rival New Fairfield and then will travel to Glastonbury on Monday, April 17, for a 4 pm game against the Tomahawks (the game was moved from Tuesday, April 11, because of inclement weather). The ‘Hawks will then return home on Tuesday, April 18, for a game against Fitch.

PLAYER           G      A      P

Sean_Raby               2         1        3

Matt Saunders        1         1        2

Matt Lynch             1         0        1

Travis Long             1         0        1

Peter_Yemc              1         0        1

John_Conlon           1         0        1