Updated Dec. 24
The Vineyarder boys varsity hockey team enters play in the Cape and Island League on Jan. 8 with a sense of team purpose sharpened in a 5-2 home win recently against powerhouse Hanover High School.
After a dawdling start, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School icemen caught fire against Hanover, the No. 1 seed Division 3 South team. Coach Matt Mincome sensed something special about his 2019–20 from the get-go.
Now, Coach Mincone in his 22 years on the job has never been accused in this space of being an overcomplimentary guy, but right from the season preview, he saw the makings. After beating Hanover, Mincone was, well, a tad lyrical. “As a coach, those are the moments you live for. It’s tough to explain what happens, but when you watch it happen, that’s what makes it special,” he said.
“The offense hasn’t clicked this year, but they made that decision to go into the corners and boards with bodies, not sticks. That’s the commitment they made. The body beats the stick in those tough areas, and you get rewarded when you make the decision to commit.
“Hanover plays that way, all four lines are good. Our guys on all three lines made the decision to battle every shift,” he said.
The Vineyarders put it all together at both ends of the ice in the final two periods, rebounding from a two-goal deficit behind a Hunter Meader hat trick, two goals from Colby Zarba, out-of-his-mind goaltending by Graham Stearns, and for the first time this season, a complete-game, grinding effort by all the Vineyarder players.
We’ll get to the details in a minute, but the Hanover game was a pure example of a group of players becoming a team before your eyes. If you were there, and the stands were full, you saw it happen. Pretty wild and cool, and it happened for the Vineyarders in the second period from jump street.
Lots of Vineyarder story lines among the five defenders, three lines, and keeper. Stearns with 27 saves and five or six web gems, Meader breaking out with his first three goals of the season, including a penalty-shot goal; the Marek brothers, junior Aiden and frosh Liam; Pete Gillis making Hanover worry and pursue him all night; Jackson Pachico switching from defense to become a savvy offensive force; Eli Gundersen as a ninja on both sides of the puck; the veterans Colby Zarba, Lagon Araujo, and Cam Geary bringing their usual A games.
But the game story is that these kids stopped waiting for individuals to lead them, and chose to become a team in the moment.
OK, so here’s what happened. An 80 percent capacity crowd that eschewed watching the Patriots in the warm room was clearly concerned before the puck dropped. “This could be a tough one,” and “Could be a long night,” were pregame mutterings.
The Vineyarders skated with the Indians for the first six or seven minutes of the first period, then the relentless Hanover pressure paid off. A Vineyarder with space along the boards in the defensive end made an iffy decision to put the puck behind the net to begin the clearing process. That pass became a turnover, puck sent in front and, boom, 1-0 Hanover with 5:18 left.
Seventeen seconds later, a Hanover forward scooped up a loose puck at his blueline, raced down the left side, and scored a step ahead of a Vineyarder defender, 2-0 with 5:01 left in the first. Uh-oh. Memories of Attleboro’s three-goal outburst in four minutes earlier this week, danced, not like sugarplums, in the heads of Vineyarder faithful.
Honestly, the Island skaters were on their heels, but Stearns bailed ’em out a couple times, and big boy defender Hoffie Hearn handed out some thunder on the boards and at the blueline that had Indians skating with heads up a bit more. Vineyarders survived and began to thrive, killing off a penalty late in the first.
Then it happened. The Vineyarders took over, Meader and Arrujo setting up Colby Zarba for his fourth of the season with 3:55 played, then Zarba scored again less than two minutes later from Meader and Gundersen.
Hockey has its subtleties. Momentum shift is the most powerful, gives you a man extra or puts you a man down. With fewer than five minutes left in the second, the Vineyarders cashed in on that extra man. A Hanover defenseman gloved the puck in front to shut down a dominating Purple flurry in front.
Penalty shot. Mincone picked Meader (“best hands on the team”), who picked up the puck at center ice, kept it in the middle of his body, shifted the puck to the forehand side, and shot it just under the crossbar to put the Vineyarders ahead 3-2.
Meader notched his second goal after he took a pass on the Vineyard side of the blueline, turned on the jets, created a one-on-one with a Hanover defenseman, deked him out at top speed, and beat the goalie to the glove side. 4-2 Purple at the second intermission.
Hanover is not used to playing from behind, and had some rough play, but most important, began chasing the Vineyarders. The third period began with a furious five-minute Indian assault that failed only because of Stearns and outstanding team defense. For example, Kenny Hat blocked an initial shot from inside the blueline, then blocked second and third rebounds before collecting the puck and clearing it. That kind of stuff.
Up-and-down skating all period, no scoring until Meader scored an empty netter off a Stearns clear with 2:12 left. 5-2. Game over. The Vineyarders improve to 2-1-1, while Hanover took its first loss and fell to 1-1-1.
“The kids have set a high bar for themselves, but they also know how well they can play,” Mincone said. His skaters traveled to the University of New Hampshire Dec. 27-29 for an annual four-team tourney before beginning Cape & Islands League Lighthouse Division play on Jan. 8 at Dennis-Yarmouth.
Updated to add more details. — Ed.
Perhaps the head should read “whoopin’”
Go Vineyarders!