With a season-high eight goals, the Newington co-op hockey team beat Housatonic on Wednesday night, 8-4. (Photo courtesy Newington High hockey)
NEWINGTON, Jan. 19, 2022 – Harrison Ranger had a hat trick while Braeden Humphrey of Canton had a goal and three assists to lead the Newington co-op boys hockey team to an 8-4 win over the Housatonic Valley co-op squad Wednesday night at Newington Arena.
The Nor’Easters (8-1) won their sixth straight game with a season-high eight goals in the non-league contest. Evan Howard of Canton had two goals for Newington while Evan Oliver and Mike Deegan had three assists each for the winners.
The game opened with a jolt at Housatonic right wing Cole Mollica scored on a breakaway just 34 seconds into the game. Just 97 seconds later, Humphrey evened the score at 1-1 with a blast to the upper corner of the net that beat Housatonic goalie David Layer.
The Nor’Easters gained the lead 2½ minutes later as Ranger scored the first of his three goals on assists from Tyler Leavitt and Oliver. Newington extended their lead two minutes later with Howard taking a feed from Deegan and snapping home a power play goal.
Howard has scored goals in three of the last five games. He has four on the year.
But the winless Mountaineers (0-7), a co-op program that includes skaters from Torrington, Wamogo, Wolcott Tech and Northwestern Regional, responded with a goal of their own as Sam Hoyt threaded a shot through several Nor’Easter defenders and past goalie Jeremy Wagner to bring the visitors to within a single goal.
Ranger responded with his second goal to give the Nor’Easters the 4-2 lead after one period.
In the second period, Housatonic hit the ice with energy as Zim McAuliffe scored two goals within the first three minutes of the period to tie the game at 4-4. McAulife had two goals and two assists for the Mountaineers.
However, 28 seconds later Newington’s Josh Grimm skated down the right side of the Housatonic defense and snuck a sharp angle shot over the goalie’s shoulder for a 5-4 lead that the Nor’Easters would not give up.
Tyler Leavitt’s backhand score followed by Ranger’s shorthanded hat-trick goal extended the lead and seemed to take the momentum away from the visitors for good.
Howard wrapped up the scoring with another power play goal early in the third period to produce the final 8-4 score. Layer ended up making 23 saves in net for Housatonic while Jeremy Wagner stopped seven shots to earn the win for Newington, a co-op program with skaters from Canton, Cromwell, Manchester and Berlin.
Newington returns to action on Saturday when they battle CCC South rival Enfield at Enfield Twin Rinks at 4:20 p.m.
Newington co-op 8, Housatonic co-op 4
At Newington
Housatonic co-op (0-7) 2 2 0 — 4
Newington co-op (8-1) 4 3 1 — 8
Goals: Harrison Ranger (N) 3, Evan Howard (N) 2, Josh Grimm (N), Tyler Leavitt (N), Braden Humphrey (N), Cole Mollica (H), Sam Hoyt (H), Zim McAuliffe (H) 2; Assists: Evan Oliver (N) 3, Mike Deegan (N) 3, Humphrey (N) 3, Leavitt (N) 2, Nikolas Giotsas (N), Blake Blackwood (N), Mollica (H) 2, Hoyt (H), McAuliffe (H) 2; Saves: Jeremy Wagner (N) 11, David Layer (H) 31
