The action-filled matchup between East Haven and North Haven’s boys’ hockey teams had the fans’ eyes glued to the ice as it came down to the last seconds to determine a winner. Momentum was constantly changing as both teams had a lead in the second period after scoring three goals each, but it came down to defense in the third for East Haven to hold its lead for the win. With under a minute to go, there was a minor hiccup when East Haven goalie Zak Bouve lost his stick, allowing North Haven sophomore forward Tyler Luedee to score and possibly bring the game to overtime. However, East Haven’s determination led to a responsive game-winning goal in the last 30 seconds by sophomore Mike Falanga, giving the Yellowjackets the 6-5 victory on Jan. 2 at DiLungo Rink.

“Going into the game, we were 46 percent on our power play. Tonight we scored 3-for-5 on our power play goals and we were 3-for-3 in that second period, said Coach Lou Pane. “[North Haven’s] penalties really gave us a chance to get back into the game; we took a 5-4 lead going into the third period, that is pretty tough to do in a period where you already gave up three goals, and we came back to score three ourselves. Then we made some adjustments in the third period to shut down some of their scoring.  When they tied it, our team showed the desire to win and came right back in the next shift to put in a rebound goal of our own. It was a real nice win.”

The Indians (1-3-1) brought their energy to the ice playing the Yellowjackets (5-0) en route to win. This young Yellowjacket team was noted to have a rebuilding year due to the fact that they have no seniors, but this does not seem to be the case so far, as the underclassmen have stepped up to the challenge. Junior Tristen Goodwin scored three of the six goals along with two assists and junior keeper Zak Bouve had 25 saves.

“I thought we played really well. We just need to keep working hard in practice and keep up the good work,” stated sophomore forward Falanga, who netted the game-winning goal. “They gave it to Jake, he shot it, and I got the rebound. I was like ‘I know we’re going to get this one’ and it felt really good to get the winning goal.”

The competition began with North Haven junior forward Vin Fasulo racing down the ice to score the first goal unassisted at 11:14 in the first period. This goal set the tone for a high-scoring hockey game. East Haven got on the board with freshman defenseman Nick Latella’s goal which found the back of the net right above Graziano’s shoulder. Even with one second left, the period was not over as Yellowjacket junior forward Tristen Goodwin was set up from the front of the goal by junior captain Matt Longobardi to secure a 2-1 lead going into the second.

North Haven came out strong in the second period as it scored three goals all within one minute of each other. It began at 10:38 when senior forward Karl Anderson tied it 2-2 with a rebound goal, and 23 seconds later Fasulo scored his second goal assisted by Philip Gauvin and Matt Bogart. Lastly for North Haven, senior forward Alec Rizzo increased the lead to 4-2, shooting the puck right through Bouve’s legs as he kneeled for the missed save. After this big comeback, it was then that the Indians got into penalty trouble. Senior defenseman Jason Petrillo started the trend, going in the box for four minutes due to an elbow and unsportsmanlike conduct call.  East Haven took advantage of their power play and Goodwin scored two goals with assists by Longobardi, Falanga, Latella, and Jake DelGiudice in order to tie the game at 4-4. As North Haven’s penalty just ended to bring it back to five on five, East Haven’s Dylan Butler found the left side of the net to bring the lead to 5-4 into the third period.

In the last period, all the Yellowjackets needed to do was defensively fight off the Indians to win this hockey game. As the clock ticked down, East Haven was closer to the victory until North Haven pulled its goalie and Luedee scored to tie it at five. On the next play, East Haven concluded that it was going to finish this game in regulation time when Falanga scored the rebound goal with 32.5 seconds left on the clock making the loss for North Haven at 6-5.

“We played excellent; I thought the third period was our best period, defensively,” said Goodwin. “All in all I think we have to pick it up defensively because we’re scoring the goals.”

Coach Pane—whose squad is ranked eighth in the New Haven Register poll—shared they are happy to be where they are.

“We’re really surprised and delighted to be 5-0.  This is our 20th straight year being ranked in the top 10 and we’re proud of that. So there are a lot of good things happening here in a year that we were supposed to have a down year. I think we’re gaining valuable experience in early, I’m not saying we won’t hit bumps going forward, but we’re working hard on it every day and I’m so proud of these guys and I can’t say enough about what they’re doing out here.”