A week’s worth of good practices put the Joel Barlow High/Weston/Abbott Tech (JBWA) hockey team in the right mindset for its game against Housatonic Co-op last week.
Right from the first face-off the Knights were ready to play. They controlled the puck for the majority of the time for a 5-1 win on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at the Danbury Ice Arena.
“It was definitely a feel-good night for us,” said JBWA head coach Bob Stearns. “The kids were in a good mindset coming into this game.”
The Knights created a number of scoring chances early and it did not take long for them to capitalize. Just 4:24 into the action Wes Arees took the rebound off the board and redirected it past Mountaineer goalie Neaco DiNicola for the unassisted goal.
Although Housatonic did not have as many scoring chances it did make good on one later in the period. Sean Mercogliano’s initial shot was blocked but the rebound found the stick of Joey Wootten, whose shot got past Connor Thomas to tie it at 1-1 with 5:44 left.
There was still plenty of time left for the Knights to get the upper hand again and they would not waste it. DiNicola managed to slow down a shot by Dylan Hilario but the momentum was still enough for the puck to cross the goal line. Arees got the assist and the Knights were ahead to stay with 3:27 to go.
A roughing call put the Knights down a skater in the last minute but they killed off the penalty as the first period ended.
When play resumed, Housatonic held off the hosts for most of the second frame despite the Knights taking a number of shots. But with 5:26 left Arees scored his second goal, taking a pass from Theo Spitzer to make it 3-1.
It was the first of two quick JBWA goals in less than half a minute. With 5:02 to go Spitzer scored a goal of his own, this time with Connor Sencen assisting. After killing off a two-minute penalty for tripping, the Mountaineers went into the second break trailing 4-1.
Despite being up by three goals, the Knights did not let up offensively as the final period got underway, taking repeated shots. DiNicola turned most of them away until 3:02 remained when Arees found the net once again to complete his hat trick. His brother Emmet got the assist to seal the victory for the Knights.
JBWA dominated in shots on goal with a 45-17 advantage.
“Everyone was feeling good,” said Stearns. “Everyone was happy and it transferred to the ice tonight.”
JBWA, which defeated Masuk 2-1 three days later, visits Watertown/Pomperaug on Saturday at the Taft School at 7:30 p.m.
