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03/28/2021 12:00 AMThe North Haven boys’ ice hockey team set its sights on winning a conference title in 2021 after advancing to the championship game for the first time last season. On March 27, Head Coach Chris Avena’s squad accomplished its mission by earning a 3-0 victory versus Cheshire in the final of the SCC-SWC Division II Tournament at Bennett Rink in West Haven, giving North Haven its first conference crown in program history.
No. 3 seed North Haven advanced to the title game by claiming a 3-2 win over No. 2 seed Sheehan in a semifinal contest on March 24. Three days later, North Haven faced off against 5th-seeded Cheshire in the final and blanked the Rams by a 3-0 score to stake its claim to conference supremacy. Coach Avena’s team finished its season with an overall record of 8-2.
“It’s just great for the program. It’s great for the school to get back to winning ways. It has been a while from a hockey standpoint,” Coach Avena said. “It’s pretty significant, and it’s a great way for our seniors to leave a legacy, being the first ones to accomplish it. It felt great.”
North Haven stormed out to a 4-1 start to its season before going into a three-week quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19. When North Haven returned to ice, the team took a loss to Sheehan, but then defeated Watertown-Pomperaug in its regular-season finale and again in the quarterfinals of the SCC-SWC Division II Tournament to advance to a matchup with Sheehan in the semis at Northford Ice Pavilion.
Sheehan took an early 1-0 lead over North Haven by scoring the opening goal of the game at the 8:02 mark of the first period. Sheehan held on to its one-goal edge until junior Jake Hines scored on a penalty shot at the 10:29 mark of the second, tying the game at 1-1.
Hines’s penalty shot gave North Haven a boost of momentum and, with 6:14 to play in the second period, sophomore Tommy Guidone scored a goal on an assist from fellow sophomore Will Sullivan to put their club up 2-1. Just 27 seconds later, senior Mason Sullivan netted a goal from sophomore Joey Taft to make it 3-1.
Sheehan scored a goal to the cut the deficit to 3-2 with 11:42 left in the game, but North Haven’s smothering defense, coupled with some solid goaltending from senior alternate captain Andrew Sacco, kept the Titans at bay for the majority of the final frame. In the end, North Haven held the fort to secure the one-goal victory and move on to the final.
“I thought we played very well. I thought we were pretty disciplined in what we were doing,” said Avena. “We knew that they were probably the better team, pound for pound. But we thought that if we put a good game-plan together, we stood a chance, especially when your goaltender is Andrew Sacco.”
Coach Avena felt that Hines’s penalty shot proved a crucial turning point for North Haven in the win. North Haven had been held scoreless up until that point, but received a big jolt from Hines’s goal, and scored two more shortly thereafter. Avena was pleased to see North Haven’s offense wake up after Hines converted the penalty shot.
“It was certainly a big moment and a big swing. We talked a lot about momentum in games and how to win games in certain situations. Jake took advantage, shot it in, and got us rolling,” Avena said. “We got a few more in after that, played good defensive hockey, and came out with the win.”
After defeating Sheehan, North Haven took on Cheshire with the conference title on the line. Following a scoreless first period, senior Aaron Racino scored on a wrist shot into the upper corner of the net on an assist by Hines with 3:04 remaining in the second period. Then with just six seconds left, junior Justin Pniewski slammed one home on assists from Racino and Hines to extend North Haven’s lead to 2-0 through two.
“It isn’t just the best period you’ve played all year. For some of them, it needed to be the best period you’ve ever played,” said Avena of North Haven’s performance in the second stanza. “You grow up through youth hockey, and you watch the high school game, and you dream about moments like what we put ourselves in. These moments don’t happen all the time. It was a lot of fun to see the kids come out for the third period and get after it.”
Hines salted the game away when he scored from Racino to give North Haven a 3-0 lead with 8:59 to play. North Haven maintained its three-goal advantage the rest of the way to walk off the ice with the conference title in its clutches. Sacco posted a shutout by making 20 saves in net for North Haven and was subsequently named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament on behalf of Coach Avena’s club.
“The kid wins big games, period. If you have him in net, you always have an opportunity to win,” Avena said of Sacco. “He has proven that over the last two years. He has a chance to win every game that he steps on the ice. It was a pleasure to have him. I’m thankful he moved to North Haven.”
Sacco has been with North Haven for the past two years after transferring from Coginchaug, where he helped the Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug co-op team win the Division III state title as a sophomore in 2019. With North Haven’s win against Cheshire being his final high school game, Sacco said that it was “the cherry on top” to earn a shutout victory with his teammates in the SCC-SWC final.
“It really put the cherry on top for me. I won a state championship my sophomore year, but I wasn’t really satisfied with that. I wanted more,” said Sacco, who also made the All-Conference Division II Second Team. “I’m just proud we did it as a team, and we did it for the school. We’ll be in the history books. That’s all I wanted.”
Prior to the season, Coach Avena and his seniors got together to play street hockey shortly before Thanksgiving. At the time, Avena wasn’t even sure if North Haven would be able to play at all this winter. Although North Haven had to quarantine during the regular season, Avena said that his seniors—led by captains Will Fiore and Nick Howlett, along with alternate captains Sacco and Eli Brubacher—were able to keep everyone together through the tough times. Avena feels plenty proud that this year’s senior class ended its time in North Haven by winning a conference championship.
“Not only did we get a chance to play, they made the most of it. They got to the pinnacle of what this year offered, and they took it home,” Avena said. “It’s very satisfying to watch that group leave the program with a title and set the program up for success in the future. I’m so happy for them, and it’s so gratifying that they were able to do that.”
This year marked Avena’s third season as head coach of the North Haven boys’ ice hockey program. As he continues his tenure behind the bench, Avena said that he will always remember this year’s team for its resilience and an ability to battle through every obstacle on a golden road to history.
“They stayed the course. They bought into what we were trying to do from a culture standpoint. They brought the team together,” said Avena. “We weren’t there four years ago, and I’ll remember this group’s resiliency to get us there. They should be very, very proud. They turned the program around.”
The North Haven boys’ ice hockey team’s roster includes senior captains Will Fiore and Nick Howlett; senior alternate captains Eli Brubacher and Andrew Sacco; seniors Mason Sullivan, Justin Marks, and Aaron Racino; juniors Jared Anderson, Michael Anquillare, Justin Pniewski, Jake Hines, Brian Jooss, Nick Tonaldo, and Ayden Mindlin; sophomores Owen Quick, Andre Ohanyan, Will Sullivan, Alex Petersen, Tommy Guidone, Ethan Buck, Joey Taft, and Bryce Petersen; and freshmen Jake Donovan and Kevin Lawlor.
Coach Avena’s coaching staff features assistant coaches Mike Tantorski, Dennis Mastriano, and Don Funaro.