Peewee A State Champions
NEWINGTON - The Newington Ice Arena, located just southwest of the CT capital of Hartford, is home to a pair of rinks whose colors are red, white, and blue. The central location of the Arena makes it a rink most CT hockey families are familiar with and is likely one of the key reasons it was purchased, for better or worse depending on who you ask, by the Black Bear Sports Group, Inc. in December of 2022. That purchase continued a growing trend on the US’s east coast towards the privatization of youth hockey & the move to a for profit model.
Approximately 30 miles south of the Newington Ice Arena lies the Louis Astorino Ice Arena in Hamden, home of the Hamden Youth Hockey Association (HYHA). The colors there are green and gold and the ceiling there is covered in banners. On Sunday March 16th 2025 HYHA’s Peewee A team added to those banners with a 6-1 championship win.
“It’s been a fun year.” Said Coach Ray Mirando. “These kids worked hard all year. It’s been pretty amazing.” In the championship game HYHA faced a strong Southeastern, both teams came into the game undefeated in tournament play. And in front of a packed crowd that leaned heavily towards Hamden the HYHA Peewee’s put together a championship performance. “It’s one of the best games they played all year.” Said Coach Chris Catalioto. “You almost can’t believe they did it in a championship game.”
While the championship game was a highlight of the season, the road to that championship was a harder path. The Peewees started the tournament on Friday night with a 3-2 victory over New Canaan after starting that 1st game down 0-1 in the first period. “This team hasn’t quit all season.” Said Coach Derek Bohan. “I can’t remember another team I’ve coached with as many come from behind wins.” Game 2 of the tournament, against GSC, saw the Peewee’s down 0-1 with 2 minutes left in the third period until a late short handed goal by Joseph Robert evened the game at 1-1. Then, with 21 seconds left in the game, Luca Toro won an offensive zone faceoff and buried what would be the game winner. Toro would end the tournament with 6 goals through 5 games. Game 3 saw HYHA again down, this time 1-4 against the CT Clippers. And again they stormed back, winning 8-5 on the backs of a hat trick from Jeffrey Lightfoot. “Not a defensive masterpiece for sure. But in the tournament you’ll take a win anyway you can.” Said Coach Bohan.
The semifinals pitted HYHA against longtime rival West Haven. West Haven came out flying and jumped out to an early lead, by the end of the first period of play HYHA was down 0-3. “The bench was still all positive. The team never gave up, even for a shift.” Said Coach James Sharples. “When we got the 1st 2 goals you could feel the momentum change.” HYHA stormed back to start the second with goals from Lightfoot, Toro, and Owen Loveland. What followed was 6 unanswered goals and a 6-3 HYHA win that landed the team a chance for the championship.
The final game was a HYHA masterpiece. Anchored by a defensive core that held Southeastern to 1 goal (after averaging 4 a game for the tournament) and a hat trick from Benedict Machado (who passed the 100 goal mark for the year in the process) HYHA sealed a 6-1 championship win. Toro added 2 of his own and Robert netted 1 to round out the scoring. “Hen was lights out. What a game he played and what a playoff he had.” Said Coach Sharples. “Hen” is goalie Henry Smith-Wyckoff, who was stellar in the team's championship win.
“This was a special team, all year. We had an ambitious plan for the year, especially around practices, and the kids all bought in. It was a fun team to coach.” Said Coach Bohan. “And now I can tell Nols we're even”.
HYHA’s 24-25 State Champions:
Derek Bohan
Logan Carney
Benjamin Catalioto
Dashiell Kaye
Theodore Kaye
Hunter Lapp
Jeffrey Lightfoot
Owen Loveland
Benedict Machado
Sawyer Mirando
Sebastian Pupello
Joseph Robert
Michael Saraceni
Bruin Sharples
Henry Smith-Wyckoff
Luca Toro
Team Staff
Derek W Bohan
Lindsey Bohan
Ray Mirando
James Sharples
James Carney
Heather Carney
Christopher Catalioto