Orange Live

The Spartans were fired up for Thursday night’s game

On Thursday, Jan. 31, the Amity Boys Hockey Team took on the Yellow Jackets from East Haven at the Edward L. Bennett Rink in West Haven.

Both sides showed plenty of spirit and drive from the moment they skated onto the ice. The game was scoreless until 1:50 in the second period when the Easties Mike Falanga, assisted by Matt Longobardi and Nick Latella slapped in the first goal.

Amity quickly answered with two of their own, the first an unassisted goal by Keating Seymour at 3:11; soon followed by Adam Shea, assisted by Brett McNeil and Zach Shelnitz at 4:38.

Not to be outdone in the second period, The Easties Tristan Goodwin assisted by Longobardi, tied up the score 2-2 at 13:59.

Both teams came out for the third period on fire, Amity’s Dane Simone, assisted by Seymour brought the Spartans up one at 2:36; then rocketed his team ahead 4-2 at 5:54, assisted by Patch Flynn and Seymour.

A little more than 2 minutes later Longobardi, assisted by Marty Lendroth and Cory Smith, scored again for the Easties at 8:00 and moments later he tied the game 4-4 assisted by Joe DiAlbero at 9:28.

In the 4th period overtime it was anyone’s game, and obvious that both teams were hungry for the win. The goalies worked hard and the puck went from one end of the rink to the other but it was Longobardi, again assisted by DiAlbero who got one into the net at 3:04.

Final Score 5-4.

Afterward, Coach Gary Lindgren said, “It was a great game, well played, we wanted it bad, the kids worked hard and you can’t ask for more than that. My goalie Nick Nuzzolo played outstanding and I give East Haven a lot of credit — they played late last night and lost, they came back hard and they gave us a great game.

“We had our chances to put them away in the third period, Dane Simone scored two nice goals and we were looking to close them out and this is the first time a team has come back to beat us,” he said. “It’s a heartbreaker, but it’s ok. We win together, we lose together. The kids played hard tonight.”

Amity is now 9-3 for the season and it’s their first loss in Division 1 — to this point they were undefeated 4-0 in the division.

“Losing in overtime — it hurts, but we take a lot with us from this game. The kids showed a lot of character and composure, they hung tough. Both goalies played well. It was a nice game,” Lindgren said.

This was a tight game, nearly blow for blow with both teams making 34 shots each.

Amity’s Goalie Nick Nuzzolo had 29 saves and the Easties’ Zak Bouve’ had 30.

Records Amity 9-3; East Haven 7-4-1

Amity is off to Enfield to play tri-town at the Enfield Twin Rinks Saturday night at 6:10 p.m.

AMITY FUND-RAISER:

On Thursday, Feb. 7 the Amity boys hockey team will host a fund-raising game against Cheshire to support the Martino family from Orange who lost their house and all of their belongings in a fire on Jan.21.

The parents, Eddie and Kellie, are Amity graduates and their children, Eddie, 11, Emily, 13 and Mary-Kate, 15, all are in the Amity school system.  Mary-Kate is on the Amity Girls Hockey Team.

Raffle tickets will be sold in advance and the winner need not be present.

Tickets are $5 each or $20 for five. Donations also may be made. Checks should be made out to the Amity Hockey Parent’s Association and be sent to Amity High School 25 Newton Rd., Woodbridge, Ct. 06525 attn: Hockey Parent’s Association.

All proceeds will be going to the Martino family to help rebuild their lives.

For more information contact Gary Lindgren at Gary.Lindgren@reg5.k12.ct.us.

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