The action-filled matchup between East Haven and North Haven's boys' ice hockey teams had the fans' eyes glued to the ice as it came down to the last seconds to determine a winner. Momentum was constantly changing as both teams had a lead in the second period after scoring three goals each, but it came down to defense in the third for East Haven to hold its lead for a 6-5 win.

With under a minute to go, there was a minor hiccup when East Haven goalie Zak Bouve lost his stick, allowing North Haven sophomore forward Tyler Luedee to score and possibly bring the game to overtime. However, East Haven's determination led to a responsive game-winning goal in the last 30 seconds by sophomore Mike Falanga, giving the Yellowjackets the victory on Jan. 2 at DiLungo Rink.

North Haven recorded 24 shots on goal and saw sophomore keeper Andrew Graziano make 28 saves on the night.

"I think we're better 5-on-5 and the penalties killed us. We couldn't catch a break tonight with the refs," said Indians' Head Coach Tom Roche of his squad, which had five of the seven penalties of the night.

The competition began with North Haven junior forward Vin Fasulo racing down the ice to score the first goal unassisted at 11:14 in the first period. This goal set the tone for a high-scoring hockey game. East Haven got on the board with freshman defenseman Nick Latella's goal, which found the back of the net right above Graziano's shoulder. Even with one second left, the period was not over as Yellowjacket junior forward Tristen Goodwin was set up from the front of the goal by junior captain Matt Longobardi to secure a 2-1 lead going into the second.

North Haven came out strong in the second period as it scored three goals all within one minute of each other. It began at 10:38 when senior forward Karl Anderson tied it 2-2 with a rebound goal and, 23 seconds later, Fasulo scored his second goal assisted by Philip Gauvin and Matt Bogart. Lastly for North Haven, senior forward Alec Rizzo increased the lead to 4-2, shooting the puck right through Bouve's legs as he kneeled for the missed save.

After this big surge, it was then that the Indians got into penalty trouble. Senior defenseman Jason Petrillo started the trend, going in the box for four minutes due to an elbow and unsportsmanlike conduct call. East Haven took advantage of its power play and Goodwin scored two goals with assists by Longobardi, Falanga, Latella, and Jake DelGiudice in order to tie the game at 4-4. As North Haven's penalty just ended to bring it back to 5-on-5, East Haven's Dylan Butler found the left side of the net to bring the lead to 5-4 into the third period.

In the last period, all the Yellowjackets needed to do was defensively fight off the Indians to win this hockey game. As the clock ticked down, East Haven was closer to the victory until North Haven pulled its goalie and Luedee scored to tie it at 5. On the next play, East Haven decided that it was going to finish this game in regulation time when Falanga scored the rebound goal with 32.5 seconds left on the clock, handing North Haven a 6-5 defeat.

Later in the week, the Indians dropped a 4-3 decision at Hamden to stand at 1-4-1 on the campaign.