Nighthawk Skaters Close In On Playoff Spots

By Andy Hutchison

DANBURY — The Newtown High School hockey team won two of three games last week and, in doing so, moved to within one win of qualifying for the Division III state tournament and bolstered its conference playoff hopes.

The Nighthawks also need one more win against a South-West Conference opponent to have a good shot at qualifying for the SWC Division II playoffs, Coach Paul Esposito said.

Against SWC rival Joel Barlow on January 20, Newtown rolled to a 6-2 win behind a four-goal outburst by Josh Branchflower. Two nights later, the Hawks were on the wrong end of a 6-2 final, dropping a decision to Masuk in Shelton. But the next night, January 23, Newtown blanked Windsor-East Granby 7-0 in the game rescheduled from December 19.

Newtown improved to 7-3 overall heading into Wednesday’s nonconference game with Sheehan (after The Bee sports section went to press).

Newtown stands in fifth place in the SWC and could slide into the fourth and final SWC postseason slot with a win over either the Bethel-Brookfield-Danbury tri-team on January 30 or Barlow in a rematch on February 3.

If the first meeting is any indication of what is to come, yes, Newtown should win, but the Hawks are hoping they come out of the game a little less banged up.

In the clash on January 20, Alex Kelly took a hard hit from behind and temporarily left the game but managed to return to the ice and help the Hawks to victory. Barlow was charged with a five-minute major penalty for boarding and, following yet another Barlow penalty, Newtown capitalized with a 5-on-3 power play goal and a 5-on-4 man advantage tally.

Brett Klein took a puck to the face shield and, after several minutes on the ice, left the game. He returned for limited action against Masuk in the next game and was back for his regular shift for the 7-0 win on Saturday. Matt Vitti played the entire game against Barlow and contributed a couple of points, but it was discovered after the fact that he had sustained a concussion on a hit. Vitti sat out the next game.

“We were a little battered up for Friday night,” Esposito said of the Masuk game.

The Nighthawks had a sluggish start defensively in that tilt and fell behind 4-0. David Landau and Evan Isaacs had the NHS goals.

Newtown — the Masuk game and the scary head injuries aside — had a good week beginning with the triumph over Barlow. The game was scoreless until the waning seconds of the first period when Hunter Dolyak crashed the net and cashed in by stuffing home a rebound from a sharp goal-line angle. Kelly and Landau assisted the goal, which came with just five seconds left in the first period.

In the second period, Newtown seized control of the game by taking advantage of its power play opportunities. Branchflower took a centering feed from Dolyak and scored his first goal by banking a shot off the post. The Dolyak-to-Branchflower power play connection struck again for a 3-0 lead. Immaculate High transfer Rob Norling, in his second game since the upperclassman 30-day sit-out-rule, scored his first NHS goal when his centering feed from just behind the goal line caromed off Barlow goaltender Trevor Hirst and into the net. It was 4-0 after two periods. Branchflower added two third period goals to offset a pair of late-game Barlow tallies.

“The team played really well. I got the points because I got the opportunities,” Branchflower said.

Norling did not take long in terms of game action to register his first goal, but noted that it was a long time coming given the month of practices only.

“I felt like I got a monkey off my back,” he said.

Esposito said he was pleased with his team’s efforts in applying what the team had worked on in practices leading up to the Barlow game. The coach said his Hawks carried through in the plan to cycle the puck and draw Barlow’s players out of position. Another goal for this game was to hold Barlow to seven or eight shots per period and it was mission accomplished for the Hawks as they outshot Barlow 41-21 in the game. Esposito was also pleased that his team took advantage of its scoring chances.

“They capitalized on the opportunities tonight,” he said.

Esposito was happy with the defensive effort, particularly that of Kelly, Tyler Hanley, Landau and Sean Kennedy.

In the win over Windsor-East Granby, Newtown built a 5-0 lead through one period and cruised to victory. Dolyak and Landau each had two goals and NHS got a net-finder each from Klein, Parker Rodbell and Norling. Sophomore goaltender Michael Allwein got his second varsity start (and win) and earned his first shutout. Esposito noted that the junior varsity players got some ice time after Newtown built a comfortable lead.

“We tried to mix it up — just to keep everybody out there skating,” the coach said.

The Nighthawks, pending the outcome of the January 27 game with Sheehan, will still have nine games in which to win just once to qualify for states. The way things are going against D-III foes, Newtown stands to do well in the state tourney.

“We play pretty good as a team. It looks like we can go far in the playoffs,” Norling said.