Watertown-Pomperaug overwhelms Guilford

WEST HAVEN — The Guilford boys hockey team had to wait a few extra weeks to get the regular season started. Watertown-Pomperaug was all too eager to show the Grizzlies what they were missing.

Scoring four times in the opening period, including one 11 seconds in and three in a span of 1:11, Watertown-Pomperaug rolled past Guilford 10-2 at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven Thursday afternoon.

“It was not the outcome we wanted, but it is great to be back on the ice,” Guilford coach Ralph Russo said. “We had some moments where we looked like we would get it going and we had some moments where we were not in synch. We had some great individual efforts, but I think today we learned we need to play with more teamwork.”

Ten different players scored for WatertownPomperaug, with junior Matthew Christina leading the way with three goals and an assist. Junior Aidan Kane had three assists, senior Ryan Magee finished with two goals and two assists, and junior Aiden Moaddel had a goal and two assists.

“We wanted to get on them right away today and put pucks and bodies to the net,” Watertown-Pomperaug coach Vic Vicenzi III said. “All of the lines contributed today. We had plenty of opportunities. Sometimes you don’t capitalize. Today we did. It was good to get going like that.”

Watertownn-Pomperaug wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Christina scored 11 seconds into the contest from in front on an assist from Magee.

Watertown-Pomperaug controlled play in the opening 15 minutes with a 12-2 shot advantage, and also controlled the scoreboard, taking a 4-0 lead in the final 2:52 of the opening period.

Magee’s shot went off the leg of a Guilford defenseman past goaltender Gavyn Litvyn for a 2-0 advantage with 2:52 left in the period, before Jackson Hitchcock scored 43 seconds later off an assist from Moaddel.

Watertown-Pomperaug wasn’t done. Coming in on a partial breakaway, Jack Mulhall used his backhand to beat Litvyn for a 4-0 lead. Moaddel also assisted on the tally by Mulhall.

“We always try to get off to a good start,” Christina said. “We wanted to get pucks on net and crash the net. We were able to do that.”

The second period saw more of the same from Watertown-Pomperaug, who needed just one minute to respond to a Guilford goal.

The Grizzlies scored their first goal of the year when Michael Torre beat Watertown-Pomperaug goalie Carly Bokina 1:51 into the second. WatertownPomperaug had an immediate answer when Christina capitalized on a two-on-one break to beat Litvyn for a 5-1 advantage.

“The kids were tremendously excited to get back on the ice,” Russo said. “It was not the outcome we wanted, but each kid is excited to get back on the ice to practice for our next game.”

Thomas Leonard scored on a rebound of a shot by Kane, and Christina completed the hat trick off an assist from Spencer Ances with 4:45 left in the middle period.

Guilford got as close as 7-2 in the second when William Petrick scored off a rebound in front with 1:39 remaining.

“We preach defense first,” Vicenzi III said. “We always want to be as tough as we can in the defensive zone. We want to keep everyone to the outside. I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

Watertown-Pomperaug capped the scoring with three tallies in the third period off the sticks of Magee, Moaddel, and Joseph Meglio.

Bokina picked up the win for Watertown-Pomperaug with 12 saves. Litvyn made 22 saves in the loss for Guilford.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Matthew Christina — Watertown-Pomperaug: Junior scored three goals and added an assist in the 10-2 win.

QUOTABLE

“The kids were tremendously excited to get back on the ice. It was not the outcome we wanted, but each kid is excited to get back on the ice to practice for our next game.”

— Guilford coach Ralph Russo