The Hamden girls hockey team has had a solid start to their season, despite a heartbreaking overtime loss last time out.
The Green Dragons notched a pair of blowout shutouts over Wilton (6-0) and Hand (8-0) before losing 1-0 in overtime to New Canaan despite goalie Megan DeCresente’s 33 saves.
Depth and a solid work ethic have combined for the early-season success.
“We have a young, but deep team that has shown a tremendous work ethic and works very well together,” coach Mike Callan said. “The team continues to improve each week with every player contributing to our team’s early success.
“I really like the character of this year’s team, particularly their work ethic and team-first mentality. We also have outstanding leadership from all four of our seniors (DeCrescente, Lindsey Hiebert, Tiler Thompson and Brianna MacDonald). This is a great group of girls who have their goals set high for this season and are off to a good start.”
As the final scores of the first three games can attest, defense is a strong suit for Hamden.
The Green Dragons’ D is led by DeCrescente and Hiebert, a defenseman. Callan also said Hamden features balanced scoring from all three lines.
The leading scorers include Thompson, juniors Samantha Cozzolino and Caraline Kennedy, all forwards, and sophomore defensemen Samantha Talmadge and Emma Smyth. Freshman Kelly Dolan has also contributed at both forward and defenseman.
The Southern Connecticut Conference is extremely competitive this season with some Northern teams expected to make an impact throughout the season, including defending SCC tournament champion Simsbury and co-op teams Hall/Conard and East Catholic/Glastonbury/South Windsor.
“Simsbury and Hall/Conard are well-coached with a deep pool of talent and they are always competitive in the SCC,” Callan said. “East Catholic/Glastonbury/South Windsor is a young, good skating team to watch in the SCC this season. But I feel if we continue to work hard and improve as a team, we have the potential to challenge for the league title as well.”
One team that has had to overcome a small roster (17 players) is Notre Dame-Fairfield, which has started 2-5-1. Its strength has been between the pipes with goalie Brooke Bonetti, along with a strong competitive spirit, according to coach Kerri Rowland.
“Our senior goalie and captain has come up huge for us time and time again,” Rowland said. “The most impressive thing with our team is we never give up, no matter what, and give it our all every shift. Our team is performing as well as expected at this stage of the season. Our goal is to reach the SCC Division II playoffs.”
The Lancers’ top scorer is Becky Stefanatos with six goals.
East Haven Milestone
East Haven boys goalie Tom DeLucia set the school record for most consecutive shutout periods with 11. The streak includes shutout wins over Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe, Greenwich and Wilton. DeLucia and a dynamic offense add up to a 5-0 record and a 27-5 scoring advantage for the Easties so far this season.
Dan Nowak can be reached at dnowak@nhregister.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @NHRDanNowak.
Boys/Girls hockey notebook: Hamden girls off to quick start
