Evan Howard and the Nor’easters won their eighth game on Wednesday night with a win over Staples. (Photo courtesy Newington High Booster Club)
NEWINGTON, Jan. 18, 2023 – The Newington co-op ice hockey team saw some familiar sweaters on the opposite side of the blue line Wednesday night for a non-league game at Newington Arena.
The Nor’easters were facing Staples, a team that Newington outlasted in last year’s CIAC Division III semifinals to get an opportunity to play for a state championship.
Evan Oliver had two goals while Mike Deegan had a goal and two assists to lead Newington to a 4-1 decision. The Nor’easters gave up just 11 shots on net in the victory with goalie Jeremy Wagner making 10 saves to earn the win.
After a scoreless first period, the second period opened with flurries of activity at both ends of the rink. Wagner had to stop several difficult shots while his counterpart in net, the Wreckers’ Aaron Kail matched Wagner save for save.
But at the 9:27 mark of the period, the Nor’easter’s Mason Buckley, a sophomore from Canton, wristed a centering pass from Deegan past a partially-screened Kail to give Newington the 1-0 lead. The goal energized the home team and they continued to press their attack until Oliver knocked in the puck off a goal crease scramble to increase the Nor’Easter lead to 2-0. Deegan and linemate Harrison Ranger assisted Oliver’s goal.
Newington (8-1) seemed to have the game in hand – until they didn’t. Just seven seconds into the third period, Staples forward Tyler Dimaio broke away from the faceoff and cut in on Wagner and took a shot that Wagner stopped with his right pad.
The rebound, however, to Staples’ Derek Wolgast who buried the puck past Wagner to cut the lead to one goal, 2-1.
The goal energized the Wreckers (5-5) and they spent the next five minutes furiously attempting to tie the score. But solid defense from Canton’s Evan Howard and Ben Fialkievicz along with several key saves from Wagner helped the Nor’Easters weather the storm.
With just 3:30 minutes remaining in the game, Howard’s dump in was chased down by Canton ‘s Cole Brandon, who backhanded a sleek pass to Deegan, who in turn backhanded the puck past the Staples goaltender to give the Nor’Easters an insurance goal and a 3-1 advantage. Oliver closed out the scoring 70 seconds later on a breakaway to create the final 4-1 score.
Newington co-op returns to the ice on Friday when the Southington/Coginchaug/Westbrook co-op at Cromwell’s Champions Skating Center at 8 p.m.
Newington co-op 4, Staples 1
At Newington
Staples (5-5) 0 0 1 — 1
Newington co-op (8-1) 0 2 2 — 4
Goals: Evan Oliver (N) 2, Mason Buckley (N), Mike Deegan (N), Derek Wolgast (S); Assists: Tyler Dimaio (S), Deegan 2, David Andrews (N), Cole Brandon (N) 2, Harrison Ranger (N), Andrew Stribling (N), Evan Howard; Saves: Jeremy Wagner (N) 10, Aaron Kail (S) 27. Shots: Newington co-op 31-11
Paul Helenski contributed to this story.
