The West Haven Blue Devils went up against Fairfield Co-op last night with pick drop being at 6:18pm. This was West Haven's second game of the season and Fairfield's first. The scoring would start early as Fairfield got one in the net and would end up going to put up 3 in the 1st period. The Blue Devils would respond in the second with a goal by Nico Bruno just over five minutes into the period, this was his first goal of the season. Going into the third and final period the Devils were losing 6-1 and would end up allowing three more goal and lose 9-1, this marks one of the biggest West Haven Blue Devils lost in franchise history.
Even with that said I cannot say anything negative on how they played, I was there watching and analyzing each moment and I could not find anything wrong. The Devils defense was there and did their best to protect the net. Goalie Charlie Miller allowed 8 out of the 9 goals, he had the puck flying at him every second it seemed and made very impressive saves that you would see an NHL goalie make, of course though if you are under constant pressure you are going to have a few slip in, that goes for any goalie. With that said I am not saying in any way that the defense was not there, it was very well there and they did impress me.
The offense was there as well making shots at the Co-op goalie, but just did not get enough time on the other side of the ice to pressure him. At one point they did score avoiding the shutout with the Bruno goal.
West Haven will go 1-1 with Fairfield going 1-0 at nights end. I think the biggest thing that contributed to the lost was rest, West Haven did not play any hockey due to the COVID-19 virus with the season being delayed, when it finally started they won their first game, they had all the rest in the world. Last night's game was their second game in a three day span, we have seen in the NHL many times that when a team plays back to back nights or within a three game span they struggle due to not having enough rest. Fairfield had all the rest possible with this being their first game.
The Blue Devils are set to play their first game on the 17th vs Fairfield Prep at home. They are coming back with a vengeance.
West Haven is a truly great team with players you can very well see in the NHL, this was a one off game so expect a big winning streak to come!
Player of the game will go to Nico Bruno.