The Mashpee/Monomoy Monarchs outlasted Cape and Islands League rival Martha’s Vineyard in a seesaw contest at the Ice Arena on Thursday. The game was not decided until Monarch senior Cam Coomber scored his fourth goal of the game in an empty net moments before the final horn.
Freshman Jake Scott gave the hosts a 1-0 lead midway through period one. Cam Coomber evened the score minutes later, then gave his team the lead when he poked home a rebound early in the middle frame. The Vineyarders knotted the score when senior Ian Trance, clearing the puck into the Monarchs’ zone from mid-ice, managed to skip the puck into the net on a bounce. The 2-2 tie held up until late in the period, when Coomber tallied again with one second on the clock.
The Vineyarders carried the play for much of the final period, but to no avail. Fittingly, Coomber clinched the game with his fourth goal as time ran out.
The loss dropped the Vineyarders to 8-4-2 overall and 4-1 in the league; they still need two more points to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in three years. They will host Brookline High School on Saturday at 5 pm. Mashpee/Monomoy improved to 7-6-1.