Hopkinton takes Fairleigh-Dickinson title

Topping MVRHS 8-1 for championship.

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Powerhouse Hopkinton High School (18-1) used a four-goal outburst in the third period to trim Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) 8-1 and take the 23rd annual Fairleigh-Dickinson high school hockey tournament championship at the MV Ice Arena on Sunday.

The Vineyarders made it to the championship round by virtue of a 4-2 win over Attleboro High School, and stand at 11-6-2, with the Senior Night season finale against Newton South High School set for 4:30 on Wednesday at home.

MVRHS Coach Matt Mincone knew what he was getting in the season-ending schedule of top-quality teams in advance of the state tourney: “No one likes to lose 8-1, but our kids gave good effort. Hopkinton is basically returning a team that went to the state finals last year. They are talented, deep, and fast, and we skated with them for much of the game.

“Hopkinton is the best team I saw this year, but Sunday didn’t feel like an 8-1 game. It was 2-0 after one, 4-1 after two periods, then we got tired and they got four in the third. Graham Sterns had a good game. They had 39 shots, and 25 of them were legitimate scoring chances,” he said.

On Saturday, the Purple dispatched Attleboro on two goals by senior Colby Zarba and singletons from Jackson Pachico and Hunter Meader on Saturday. Young defenseman Elias Gunderson was the Player of the Game.

On Sunday, Cam Geary lit the lamp for the Vineyarders on a power play against Hopkinton on a feed from Zarba and Gunderson. Now they cinch their belts for Newton South, a top North division team.