Not even the winter storm could keep the Vineyard Mites and the Falmouth Mite A team from facing off on Friday night at Martha’s Vineyard Arena.
As an added bonus, the youngsters, who are used to playing three-on-three on half the ice surface, got to test their skills on a full sheet of 200 x 85 feet ice with six players a side.
After a tight-checking, scoreless first period, the Vineyard Mites took advantage of the extra room to roam, and skated to a 5-0 win. Griffin Callaghan notched a hat trick, and goalie Bailen Darack tended the twine to perfection.
The Vineyard opened the scoring with 4:19 left in the second period. Reese Malowski broke in alone from her own blueline and fired a shot on Falmouth goalie Maeve Turner, who made a fine save, but Griffin Callaghan poked in the rebound.
The hosts broke the game open in the third period with three goals in 75 seconds.
Joe Medeiros put the Vineyard up 2-0 at the three-minute mark by stealing the puck at center ice, skating to the right circle and whistling a 15-foot wrister into the top left corner.
Griffin Callaghan tallied his second of the night 40 seconds later, stickhandling around two Falmouth players and snapping in a wrister from the deep slot.
MV needed just 35 more ticks on the clock to up the lead to 4-0. Reese Malowski led Gus Lambert with a backhanded feed over the center stripe. Gus deked one defenseman, skated in from the blueline, and beat Falmouth goalie Finn Overacker low to the stick side.
Griffin Callaghan completed his hat trick with 1:44 left to play, capping off an end-to-end rush with a wrist shot from the right circle.
In a superb team effort, Donnie Gregory and Emily Coogan were other Vineyard standouts on the night. Reese Malowski made the defensive play of the game early in the second period, by thwarting a Falmouth breakaway with a perfectly timed sweep check.
The Vineyard Mites end their season at next weekend’s Lobster Pot Tournament in Hyannis.