Grimm’s third goal lifts Nor’easters past Hall in OT

Newington co-op’s Josh Grimm had three goals in Monday night’s win over Hall.

WEST HARTFORD, Feb. 13, 2023 – Josh Grimm scored with just 1:56 gone in overtime to lift the Newington co-op ice hockey team to a 4-3 win over Hall in a CCC South contest Monday night at Veteran’s Memorial Arena.

The win gives the Nor’easters a two-game sweep over the Titans. Newington whipped Hall on Saturday night, 7-1.

The victory keeps Newington (14-2, 11-1 CCC South) one game ahead of Conard (14-3, 10-2) in the race for the CCC South title. Newington has two CCC South games remaining in the regular season against Rocky Hill on Feb. 18 and the Northeastern co-op program on Feb. 25.

Only two days after winning by six goals on Saturday, the Nor’easters expected a snarling Hall High squad and were not disappointed.

The tense, physical, tight checking Titans, behind the goaltending of senior Ethan DeGrego, matched the Nor’Easters hit for hit and shot for shot for the first 15 minutes of the game. Both teams had power play opportunities in the first period but it 0-0 after one period.

Newington co-op, which consists of players from Newington, Canton, Cromwell, Berlin and Manchester, jumped out quickly in the second period. Grimm scored the first of three goals with just 1:30 gone.

Grimm skated into the offensive zone with the puck. His turn-around shot caught DelGrego by surprise and gave Newington a 1-0 lead. Gavyn Munson and Mike Deegan were credited with assists on the play.

But less than three minutes later, the gritty Titans tied the game on a power play goal when Owen Campbell managed to chip the puck over Nor’easter goaltender Jeremy Wagner.

Newington continued to pressure the Hall defenders and were rewarded minutes later when Canton sophomore Cole Brandon continued his goal scoring tear by rifling a shot over DelGrego’s right shoulder and into the top of the net for a 2-1 lead.

However, off the ensuing faceoff, Hall’s Declan Stone converted a rebound off of a Hudson Hollander shot and punched it pass Wagner to tie the score at 2-2.

With just 1.9 seconds remaining in the period, Grimm took Evan Howard’s pass, threaded his way past two Hall defenders and back-handed the puck over a surprised DelGrego to give Newington the 3-2 lead.

That lead only lasted for 30 seconds into the third period when Hollander converted Miller’s pass out of the corner and whipped the puck past Wagner to knot the contest again, this time at 3-3.

A cautious opening to overtime resulted in several icing calls until Grimm completed his heroics taking a nifty drop pass from linemate Andrew Stribling and wristed a shot that deflected off a Titan defender and into the net for the game winner just 1:56 into the extra period.

Newington returns to action on Wednesday at 4 p.m. when they host Division II power South Windsor in a non-conference game at Newington Arena.

Newington co-op 4, Hall 3, OT
At West Hartford
Newington co-op (14-2)            0  3  0  1  — 4
Hall (10-5)                                   0  2  1  0  — 3
Goals: Josh Grimm (N) 3, Cole Brandon (N), Hudson Hollander (H), Owen Campbell (H), Declan Stone (H); Assists: Evan Oliver (N), Mike Deegan (N) 2, Gavyn Munson (N), Andrew Stribling (N), Harrison Ranger (N) 2, Evan Howard (N); Hollander (H) 2, Owen Miller (H) 3; Saves: Jeremy Wagner (N) 15, Ethan Delgrego (H) 24

Newington 7, Hall 1
At Newington (Feb. 11)
Hall (10-4)                                   0  1  0  — 1
Newington co-op (13-2)            2  3  2  — 7
Goals: Cole Brandon (N) 2, Evan Oliver (N) 2, Mike Deegan (N), Gavyn Munson (N), Andrew Stribling (N), Hudson Hollander (H); Assists: Josh Grimm (N) 3, Deegan (N) 2, Harrison Ranger (N) 2; Saves: Jeremy Wagner (N) 16, Aeden Mallet (H) 29

Paul Helenski contributed to this report.