The Vineyarder girls hockey team closed out the regular season Sunday afternoon in Nantucket, and skated to a 3-3 tie with the rival Whalers.
Six days before, Nantucket scored with 24 seconds remaining to win 5-4 on Vineyard ice, but this time, MV returned home with a hard-earned point. Maria Frangos made several fine saves in the Vineyard net.
After a scoreless first period, MV took the lead 5:48 into the second when Ava BenDavid put in her own rebound in front of the crease. Paige Anderson got the assist with a feed from behind the Nantucket net.
The Whalers fought back to take the lead, scoring two goals in 39 seconds midway through the period. The first goal came on a redirected wrister from the blueline, and the second was another wrist shot that nestled inside the left post.
With 2:28 left in the period, Ava BenDavid scored her second goal of the game, taking a backhand pass from Maia Donnelly, skating over the blueline, stickhandling around a Whaler defender, and skipping a shot into the bottom left corner.
The third period got off to an exciting start, with the teams exchanging power-play goals 23 seconds apart in the opening 1:02 of play. Nantucket struck first with one second remaining on a Vineyard penalty that carried over from the second intermission, but the Whalers went to the sin bin for crosschecking 10 seconds later. Ava BenDavid won the ensuing face-off, and fed Lily Moran, who shot the puck through the crease. Caroline Kelleher gathered the puck in the left corner, played catch with Lila Mikos, and rifled a wrister high into the net.
“It was a crazy game, a fun game,” Vineyard Coach John Fiorito said. “It was perfect for both schools. We’re very similar to each other.”
The previous day, the Vineyarders played well in a 3-2 loss to Dennis-Yarmouth at the MV Ice Arena. Paige Anderson scored both goals for the hosts, one late in the first period, assisted by Caroline Kelleher, and the other early in the third from Ava BenDavid.
“We carried the play for so much of the game, and we just got hemmed in a couple of times and made some bad turnovers, but it was a good game. We played a good game,” Coach Fiorito said.
