Hall-Southington let a one-goal lead slip away in the third period, allowing North Haven to score two late goals in a losing effort.

By Marlon Pitter

The Hall-Southington boys’ hockey team fell to the North Haven Indians 2-1 on a last-second goal at Veterans Memorial Rink in West Hartford on Saturday afternoon.

North Haven senior Kyle Spring found the back of the net with two seconds left, as he poked a loose puck between the legs of Hall-Southington goalie Harrison Freda for the game-winning goal.

“They were moving quicker than us,” said Hall-Southington head coach Brian Cannon. “We were leaving them a few too many holes, and again, we took too many penalties, so we’re playing a man down too much. We started the first four out of five minutes of the third period down. We lose all our momentum. You’re tiring out your better players. It’s too bad it went that way.”

Hall-Southington entered the third period leading 1-0, but the Warrior-Knights were forced to kill two penalties by Andrew Booth in the final frame, the first of which carried over 1:58 of penalty time from the second period.

North Haven tied the score at 1-1 with a goal on the rush from freshman Andrew Carmody that beat Freda glove side from the right faceoff circle, which came on a delayed penalty on Nate Zmarlicki for elbowing with 4:43 to play.

Hall-Southington senior Jacob Albert scored the first goal of the contest with 4:48 left in the second period as the puck made its way from below the goal line to the high slot. Freshman Robert Allan and senior Graham Kennedy earned the assists on the goal.

The two teams banged bodies from the onset of the game, but only Hall-Southington saw the penalty box. Brendan Moore took a minor penalty for boarding in the first period, but the team killed it off without much difficulty on the way to a 0-0 first period.

The team went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill on the afternoon.

With the loss, Hall-Southington falls to 4-3, and its four-game winning streak comes to an end. The team will host Norwich Free Academy on Monday night in West Hartford.

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