Game Summary @ Southern Connecticut Storm 2/18/24
By John Smith (#70 Liam's Dad)
A group of Dare Devil players took a leisurely Sunday drive to Bridgeport Connecticut to take on the Southern Connecticut Storm. This was a makeup of a scheduled January matchup which was postponed due to snow. The players involved must have had this date circled on their calendar since then as all of them seemed locked-in and focused on the task at hand. The result was a 9-5 Dare Devil victory that was not as close as the final score might suggest. Much of the game was spent in the Dare Devils offensive zone as they peppered the Connecticut Storm goalie with a multitude of high danger scoring chances. The Storm goaltender was superb, making great save after great save. He received some help from the goalpost as well as at least a half dozen Dare Devil shots rang off the post.
Dare Devil goalie Aria Berlin did not see a high volume of shots but the ones she did face were grade A chances, and she was more than up to the challenge as the Dare Devil lead was never in question aside from a brief 2-2 tie score. Aria also got on the scoresheet with an assist. Will Milazzo scored a hat trick. His third goal coming on a neat backhand from the goal front. In what might have been a first, Team Manager Bernard Cooney got in on the scoring without lacing up the skates, picking up an assist on Milazzo’s 2nd goal. We are awaiting league ruling on whether Bernard will receive official credit for the assist, but after a puck deflected into the bench area, Bernard flipped the puck into the corner to keep play moving. Milazzo then skated the puck end to end and beat the Storm goaltender for his second goal of the game.
Original Dare Devil Will Trampota scored a milestone goal. League scoring records are a little unreliable, but this is believed to be Trampota’s 299th point in his Dare Devils career. We'll see if Will can reach 300 this season! Ryan Griffin and Kory Wadleigh continued the chemistry they showed in Saturday's American Dream Mall game, each with two goals and an assist. Patrick Hung had two assists and numerous scoring chances. Aaron Quintana got on the scoresheet with an assist. James Cooney, who was setting up his teammates with nice passes all day, got a well-earned goal as he followed up his own rebound. Liam Smith, Owen Silverstein, and Ayden Duran each had multiple shots on goal, and all would have scored if not for the excellent goaltending of the Storm. Duran was stopped on a clear breakaway. Connor Hung, Sean Glassett and Kevin Plunkett were all engaged and involved making this a true team victory.