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01/12/2019 11:00 PMThe North Haven boys’ ice hockey team picked up a pivotal point when the Indians rallied for a 2-2 tie against the East Haven co-op squad in a road game on Jan. 9. North Haven trailed the Yellowjackets 2-0 heading into the third period, but battled back to even the score on goals from seniors Ian Crowther and Alex Kirtland. Following a scoreless overtime period, both clubs walked off the ice with a point after playing to the stalemate.
North Haven snapped a four-game losing streak and moved to 1-5-2 on the year by tying the Yellowjackets. First-year Head Coach Chris Avena was pleased to see the Indians shake off their recent struggles and earn a point in the standings that could prove huge in their quest to qualify for the playoffs. The Indians outshot East Haven by a 38-18 differential in the draw.
“Even though it wasn’t a win, with where we are, it felt like a win. We’re trying to turn the corner, so it was absolutely critical for us,” said Avena. “It gave us a standard of how we can play. Now, we want to play like that for the rest of the season. There are no cakewalks on our schedule. Every game is a challenge. So, we have to keep working hard and keep raising the bar as we go forward.”
North Haven hit the road to square off against the East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-East Hampton-Morgan-Valley Regional co-op team in a Southern Connecticut Conference/South-West Conference Division II matchup at DiLungo Rink. Following a scoreless first period, East Haven scored the first goal of the day just 51 seconds into the second period to take a 1-0 lead. The Yellowjackets made it 2-0 by scoring another goal with 8:39 remaining in the frame.
In the third period, senior defenseman Crowther got North Haven on the board when he scored a goal on a one-timer off an assist by Simon Brubacher, a senior captain forward, to cut it to 2-1 with 8:17 to play. Then with 7:13 remaining, senior Kirtland, who recently moved to defense, found the back of the net for the Indians by netting an unassisted goal to knot the game at 2. The score stayed that way through the rest of regulation and the OT period, resulting in the 2-2 tie. Senior Danny Godlewski made 16 saves in net for North Haven.
“As the game wore on, they were running two lines, and we ran three lines with six defensemen, so we had fresh legs in the third period and started beating them to the puck,” Avena said. “We were forechecking well and didn’t give them breathing room. For 45 minutes, we executed what we work on in practice every day. We stayed positive through the rough patch and were rewarded with the come-from-behind tie.”
Coach Avena decided to put three of his senior forwards on the first line when the Indians faced East Haven. Senior Dom Biondi centered the line, with fellow seniors Brubacher and Sean Quinn playing on the flank at the wing positions. Avena said his three senior veterans meshed effectively in the game.
“They looked good. All three have great hockey minds. They all feel like the clock is ticking, and they played well,” said Avena. “East Haven didn’t play much hockey in our zone. We were in their offensive zone for a lot of the night. So, those guys will be together the rest of the year and, hopefully, the younger guys will take grasp of what they do and follow suit every time they go on the ice.”
Brubacher is serving as North Haven’s lone senior captain this season. Starting goalie Godlewski is a senior alternate captain. Defenseman Donny Funaro and forward Jake Wentworth are junior assistant captains for Coach Avena’s club. Avena said that his captains are helping the Indians unify as a group as they work their way into the heart of the campaign. While he wanted his squad to get off to a better start, Coach Avena said that North Haven is improving every day, and he believes his team’s comeback effort against East Haven serves as evidence of that fact.
“East Haven was a prime example of where we really started to see the things that we work on in practice take place in the game,” Avena said. “When things started to get rocky, we stayed true to what we were trying to do. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we started working harder, adjusted our practices to an elevated competitive level, and broke it down in a more simple way, so the kids could start to get it better. To watch that come to fruition against East Haven was very satisfying as a coach.”
From the Sidelines
The North Haven boys’ ice hockey team’s varsity roster is comprised of senior captain Simon Brubacher, senior alternate captain Danny Godlewski, fellow seniors Dom Biondi, Ian Crowther, Andrew Johnson, Alex Kirtland, Aidan Lillis, and Sean Quinn; junior alternate captains Donny Funaro and Jake Wentworth, fellow junior Alan Tancreti III, sophomores Justin Marks, Eli Brubacher, Will Fiore, Nick Howlett, Aaron Racino, and Mason Sullivan; and freshmen Jared Anderson, Mike Anquillare, Brian Joossir, Ayden Mindlin, and Nick Tondalo.
First-year Head Coach Chris Avena was previously the head coach of the boys’ ice hockey team at St. Bernard High School in Norwich for 12 years, an assistant at East Haven for two seasons, and the head coach at Staples High School in Westport for two years. Avena is assisted by Lloyd Jacques, a former assistant coach at Lyman Hall in Wallingford who is currently an assistant with the club hockey team at Fairfield University; and Mike Tantorski, an alum of the North Haven boys’ ice hockey program who graduated in 2014.
Thus far this year, North Haven has earned a 4-2 win against Hall-Southington, a 2-2 tie against Branford, and a 2-2 tie with the East Haven co-op team. The Indians have also taken defeats against Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug (5-4), Westhill-Stamford (5-1), Hand (5-1), Trumbull (4-3), and Amity (4-1).
For the rest of the season, North Haven has home games against Conard, Cheshire, the Eastern CT Eagles, New Fairfield-Immaculate, Branford, Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe, and Guilford on the schedule. The Indians also have road games versus North Branford, Wethersfield-Middletown-Rocky Hill-Plainville, Watertown-Pomperaug, West Haven, and Sheehan.