Printer Friendly Version - North Haven Boys’ Hockey Wins States Opener, Loses to Guilford

Jason St. Peter scored the game-winning goal when North Haven boys’ hockey beat Hand 3-2 in the first round of the Division II State Tournament. It was also recently announced that St. Peter and Indians’ goalie Justin Daddio were both named to the All-SCC Division II Team for their performances in the ice this season.

North Haven edged out Hand for a 3-2 win in its first game of the Division II State Tournament, but was then eliminated by taking a 2-1 loss to Guilford in the quarterfinals. The Indians finished the campaign with a record of 10-11-2.

Mike Silengo’s club was the No. 6 in the state bracket and opened play by hosting conference foe and No. 11 seed Hand in first round action at Northford Ice Pavilion on March 8. North Haven fell into an early hole by allowing a pair of power play goals and trailed 2-0 around 10 minutes into the game. Nineteen seconds later, Jason St. Peter got the Indians on the board and the goal made it 2-1 after one. North Haven then scored twice on the power play in the second period to take a 3-2 lead that held up as the final. First, JJ Jensen scored from Pasquale Liuzzi and St. Peter 9:15 into the period to tie it at 2. Only 48 seconds after that, St. Peter put home the go-ahead goal on Kyle Spring’s assist to put the Indians ahead and they hung on for their first postseason win in Coach Silengo’s second season behind the bench. Justin Daddio made 26 saves for the Indians, who outshot the Tigers 37 to 28.

The victory sent North Haven to the quarterfinals and a showdown with another division rival in 3rd-seeded Guilford, which came away with the 2-1 win at Bennett Rink in West Haven on March 11. Guilford struck first in the opening period and held a 1-0 advantage following the first two frames. Liuzzi scored from CJ Kenny to make it 1-1 with 12:49 left in the contest, but Guilford retook the lead at 2-1 by scoring 1:46 later and went on to get the win and advance to the semifinal round. Daddio made 21 saves in net for the Indians, who were outshot 36-23.

“Season definitely didn’t end the way we wanted it to. That’s for sure. We planned all along to be playing for the DII championship at Ingalls Rink. We fell short of that, but you have to tip your cap to Guilford. They had our number this year and that continued tonight. They pretty much tied up Jason St. Peter all night,” said Coach Silengo, whose team was 0-2-1 versus Guilford this season. “We finished 7-2-1 in the SCC and we take pride in that, but our goal was the SCC and DII championships, so we are a little disappointed. We wish our seniors well. They gave us all they had this entire year and [Pasquale] Liuzzi put it all on the table for us tonight, scoring our lone goal. We’ll be back at it again in December.”

The Indians traveled to Southbury to take on No. 6 seed Pomperaug in the first round of the Class L State Tournament on March 7 and dropped a 90-53 decision. The Indians, who were the No. 27 seed, finished their campaign with a record of 10-12.

Junior Kyle Duby scored a 306.75 to finish 11th among 22 competitors at the Class M Diving State Championship at Bulkeley High School on March 10. Duby had previously posted a seventh-place finish with a score of 296.75 at the SCC Championship.