Sports
Vineyarders clinch state tourney berth
The Martha's Vineyard boys varsity hockey team earned its place in the MIAA state tournament with a convincing 6-1 victory over archrival Bourne at the Martha's Vineyard Arena Saturday night.
"That's what it was all about tonight, [making the tournament], especially after the 5-5 tie with them earlier in the season, we had something to settle," coach Matt Mincone said after the game. "They played good...a good effort right from the start."
The coach was alluding to a lackluster performance in Bourne on Dec. 27, when the Canalmen tied M.V on a goal in the final seconds.
Photos by Ralph Stewart
This time, the Vineyarders (9-3-3) took care of business early and were never seriously threatened.
Just 3:31 into the contest, Darren Gazaille stuffed in a rebound at the left post, with assists to Tad Gold and Nick Billingham, giving Martha's Vineyard a 1-0 lead and the Martha's Vineyard Arena cause to unleash its new fog horn on the capacity crowd.
The Islanders made it 2-0 at 7:17, when Colin Hurd put in another rebound at the left post, 16 seconds into the Vineyard's first power play.
Matt Flynn and Henry Smith earned the assists.
Martha's Vineyard rolled up a 14-5 shot advantage and put an exclamation point on period one with a Nick Billingham marker at 14:11.
The second period was tighter in shots (11-11), but not on the scoreboard.
The Canalmen cut the Vineyard lead to 3-1, 51 seconds in, but Chris Davies answered from Colin Hurd and Henry Smith 12 seconds later to make it 4-1.
From there, the Vineyarders spent most of the period in the sin bin, giving their guests ample opportunity to make amends, but nothing would come of it.
Instead, it was Martha's Vineyard which scored on the power play at 11:20, when Nick Billingham got his second of the night from Darren Gazaille.
Billingham turned playmaker and set up Gazaille, who slapped in a shot from the slot for his second tally at 13:54 to complete the rout.
The Purple had their first chance to clinch a playoff spot Friday night in Quincy, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie.
Henry Smith was the hero, scoring late in the third period on the power play.
The jayvee boys followed up a tough 3-0 defeat to Barnstable Friday with a 4-1 home win over Bourne, Saturday.
Alex Bilzerian tallied twice, with one assist and Cody Pachico scored once and assisted thrice to lead Martha's Vineyard (4-4-4). Bobby Perry scored the other Vineyard goal. Tyler Araujo, Charles Goldthwait, and Kevin Galligan had one assist each.
Vineyard girls miss out on first win
Marshfield scored on a fluke goal midway through the third period to win 2-1 at the Martha's Vineyard Arena, Saturday, and dash Vineyard hopes of a first win this season.
Celia Mercier scored on a rebound at 9:52 of the second period, following up Gillian O' Callaghan's shot to give Martha's Vineyard a 1-0 lead at the intermission.
The Rams got even 6:35 into period three when Katie Conlon finished off a two-on-one break with a nifty backhander into the top right corner.
With 6:01 left, Marshfield scored the game-winner when the puck went through a host of bodies, bounced up and over goalie Jaime Forend's head, and dropped in.
Thursday afternoon, the girls dropped a 5-0 decision to visiting Canton.
The first period was well-contested and wide open, until the Bulldogs seemed to flick on a switch and take their game to a higher level, scoring three goals in 90 seconds.
Jaime Forend was brilliant and faced a gauntlet of shots the rest of the way.
Photo courtesy Les Cutler
Masterful Islanders
Three Vineyarders, members of the Mansion House Masters Swim team, have been informed that as a group they posted 11 of the top 20 U.S. fastest times in their age groups during 2008.
Rainy Goodale of Tisbury had the 11th fastest time in the 50-meter and the 200-meter breaststroke in a 50-meter (Olympic sized) pool. In a 25-meter pool, she was 8th in the 100-meter breaststroke, 9th in the 200 and 10th in the 100-meter breaststroke. She also finished 13th in the individual medley, 17th in the 50-meter butterfly and 18th in the mile freestyle in a 25-yard (Mansion House sized) pool.
Leslie Grimm, also of Tisbury, swam the 17th fastest time in the 1,500-meter (mile) freestyle and 18th in the 800-meter freestyle, both in a 50-meter pool. She also posted the 18th fastest time in the 800-meter freestyle in a 25-meter pool.
Les Cutler of West Tisbury swam the 16th fastest 1,500-meter freestyle in a 50 -meter pool and the 15th fastest 800-meter freestyle in a 25-meter pool.
More recently, Les and Leslie swam in the USMS one hour swim (how far can you swim in an hour), results to be published within a month.
The Mansion House Masters aim to improve their marks in the current year beginning at the New England Short Course Yards championships at Harvard's Blodgett pool in late March.
Reversal of form
The previously winless RCBL Lakers (0-3) took on the erstwhile unbeaten Warriors (3-0) Monday evening at the Boys and Girls Club and finished on the bright side of a 100-95 final score.
After the first 12 minutes of play the Lakers led 25-21, but at the half they trailed by three, 52-49. Matt Rivers (10) and Jade Cash (9) led the Warrior attack. Jeff Labell (14) and Adam Rebello (9) paced the Lakers.
The Lakers took the lead back in the third period, 82-79, and held on in the fourth. Laker Nate Scott scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. Five other Lakers finished the game in double figures: Adam Rebello 17, Karl Kallinich 14, Jeff LaBell 14, Heath Estrella 13, and Jared Silvia 10. Together, Estrella and Kallinich pulled down 31 rebounds.
Tim Scott (23) and Matt Rivers (22) led the Warriors to the hoop. Both Brant Silvia and Jade Cash made it to double digits, each with 13 points, mostly in the first half.
All told during the game 20 baskets were from long range, 13 by the Warriors.
In the Monday twin bill the Heat cooled the Knicks, 106-74 despite James Holenko's game high 45 points. But James was the only Knick in double figures. The Heat got two-column scoring from Sterlin Bishop (32), Jason Dyer (23), Sandy Fisher (18), Damon Mello, who left the game early with an injured eye, (13) and Vic Cruz (10).
The Heat's lead at the half was 51-41.
The Bulls had a bye.
RCBL Standings
Heat 3-1
Warriors 3-1
Bulls 2-2
Knicks 1-3
Lakers 1-3
Sports Highlights
Eric Maclean Memorial Tournament
The annual memorial tourney begins Friday at 5:50 pm with the Vineyard NVL team taking on Concord Carlisle. At 7 pm it's SWS vs. Providence. At 8:10 pm Groton, Conn. takes on Concord Carlisle.
Tournament games continue on Saturday and finish Sunday.
For more tournament information see mvyh.org.
Youth Hockey action
In Martha's Vineyard Youth hockey action, Friday, the Vineyard Junior High team played to a 3-3 tie with Mansfield at Raynham.
On Saturday, the Martha's Vineyard PeeWees lost a tight one to Bourne at the Martha's Vineyard Arena, 2-1. The Island Jr. Highs shut out Bourne, 4-0.
On Sunday, the Martha's Vineyard Mites had a field day trouncing YD, 10-0. Scoring were Jack Creighton, Sean Hegarty, Cabot Thurber, Jack Murray, Addy Hayman, Ian Trance and Hudson Simmons, each with one. Willson Slayton had a hat trick. Assisting were Hayman, Simmons, Trance, Hegarty, Meader, Creighton, Hunter Ponte, Murray, and Slayton. Addy Hayman was awarded the game puck as player of the game.
Also at the Arena, the Martha's Vineyard Squirts got by rTri-County, 4-3 and the Martha's Vineyard Bantams bested the BC Eagles, 4-2 on goals by Shay Hill (2), Brian Hurley, and Harrison Rodrigues. Zolie Clarke was outstanding in goal.
The Island PeeWee teams played each other with PW 1 surprising the PW 2 team, 6-0. Goals were by Dorian Johnson (2), Jack Slayton (2), Nicklas Kent and Austin Morley. Assists were credited to Brian Fraser, Mac Sashin, Andrew Wiley, Mike Mazza, Marco Petricone, and Barry Fielder.
An error in last week's account of the Squirt NVL team's game with Barnstable failed to credit Tristan Araujo with a goal.
Joe Davies' hat trick powered the Martha's Vineyard NVL Squirts over Tri County, 4-3. The fourth Martha's Vineyard gal was by Josh Forend. James Sashin assisted from the point.
Water Safety
Sixteen students are currently enrolled in the Red Cross Swimming and Water Safety course at the Mansion House pool with instructor Jennifer Fragosa.
This year's class includes Robert Osmers, Griffin Gardner, Conor Estes, Ian Brew, Nicole Alexander, Leif Iversen, Madeleine Penicaud, Larissa Cacique, Ashley Medeiros, Michaela Gaines, Charles Goldthwaite, Emily Goldthwaite, Willy Nevin, Bennet Schwab, Luke Sederholm, and Beach White.
For more information about this course and other Red Cross classes offered by the Mansion House, call Aquatics Director Jennifer Fragosa at 693-2200 ext 123.
Sailor & surfer Solvig
Solvig Sayre, a junior at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School and a member of the school's sailing team, has been chosen to represent the U.S. at the Youth World Sailing Championships in Buzios, Brazil, July 9.
Last summer, Solvig won the East Coast Windsurfing Championships. She recently completed a term at the Olympic Sailing Team training camp in Miami.
Tisbury girls win
The Tisbury girls varsity basketball team traveled to West Tisbury, Monday, to take on the Hawks in their home perch. They came away with a 32-20 win.
The game started slowly; only four points were posted in the first eight minutes, both by the visiting Tigers. Eight minutes later, at the half, the Tigers led 15-6.
The Hawks pretty much kept pace with their guests in the second half, but could not gain ground. Final score: Tisbury Tigers 32, West Tisbury Hawks 20.
Maggie Riseborough had the game-high 14 points for Tisbury. Hailee McCarthy contributed eight more. Carter D'Angelo's 7 was high for the Hawks. Lucy Hackney added five.
Friday the WesTiz boys ran off 75 points against their down-Island Tisbury cousins and held the Tigers to 32.
Players in twin columns were Jack Roberts (28), Kane Araujo (21), Jacob Lawrence (12), and Harry West (11).
The West Tisbury girls took it on the chin versus Oak Bluffs, 56-15.
Now hear this
There will be a tennis exhibition today, Thursday, February 5, at the Vineyard Youth Tennis Center at 5 pm featuring two top New England juniors. Thomas Darling, ranked 9th in the boys under 18 class will play Christian Schultz ranked second among boys of 18 years in New England. Tom will be attending Elon College this fall and Chris will be playing for Harvard.
A silent auction will be held in the evening. For a list of auction items see vineyardyouth tennis.org
20-miler
The 12th annual Martha's Vineyard 20-miler will be run Saturday, Feb. 14, beginning at 11 am from the Tisbury Steamship Authority parking lot and finishing at the Oak Bluffs school.
Last year, 362 runners completed the course. The largest field was in 2003, when 447 made the run.
For more information, call Martha's Vineyard Multisport, the race sponsor, at 508-627-8303
Harlem Rockets return
The Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Hoop Club is sponsoring a return visit of the Harlem Rockets Showtime Basketball team tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 6, at 7 pm in the Sancy Pachico gym at the high school. The Rockets will take on a dream team of Islanders, including members of the school faculty and players in the RCBL.
Tickets are available at all Martha's Vineyard schools: Students $8; Adults $10; at the door $12.
Dart League
Sign up for the winter-spring Martha's Vineyard Dart League season at the P.A. Club today, Thursday, from 5 to 6 pm.
If you cannot make it to the PA Club in time, call Charlene Alley, 508-693-9875 or Linda Wood, 508-939-8499.
League play begins Thursday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 sharp.
A winning weekend
The Martha's Vineyard sixth-grade boys travel basketball team closed out its regular season of CCYBL play with three weekend victories, improving their record to 11 wins and 3 losses and securing the second seed in the playoffs of the 16-team league. Saturday, at Lakeville, the team started sluggishly but found its stride in the second half to close out a 46-25 win. Tim Roberts had the team high 11 points. Colin Cameron added 10 and Alex Beck had nine.
Also Saturday, just down route 140, the Islanders handed Dartmouth a 45-35 pasting, taking control of the game early with a suffocating full court press together with good perimeter shooting. Cameron's 16 points were the game high. Beck and Roberts each had 11. Brandon Dwane and Mike Mussell keyed the defensive effort.
Sunday the Vineyard was host to Middleboro in a contest to decide playoff seedings. Using the proven effective full court press defense, the Vineyarders earned a convincing 42-22 win. Cameron was high again with 15 points. Roberts chipped in 11.
The number two seed gives the Vineyarders a double bye into the tournament quarterfinals this Sunday. All playoff games will be at South Plymouth.
Baseball benefit
"A Night at the Races" to benefit Vineyard Baseball, Inc. will be held at the Harbor View Hotel this Friday from 6 to 10 pm. Entry fee is $50 per person, $500 per table of eight.
Kentucky Derby attire is suggested.
For more information and/or tickets, call 508-696-3704.
