The MVRHS boys hockey team dropped the puck on the regular season Tuesday afternoon at home against Nauset, and edged the Warriors, 2-1.
The teams played out a 0-0 stalemate through two periods, but the Vineyarders took the lead 1:27 into the third. Jake Scott tallied on the power play from Nick Ben David with a pass from behind the net that deflected off the Nauset goalie into the cage.
Freshman Frankie Paciello doubled the Vineyard lead with 4:11 remaining, scoring his first career goal in his first varsity game as the hosts clogged the Warriors goal and scrapped out a score.
“And then things got interesting,” Vineyard Coach Matt Mincone said.
Nauset pulled the goaltender with two minutes left, and scored 49 seconds later, but the Vineyarders survived an anxious ending and secured the two points.
“We just looked very inexperienced, puck watching, at that point, but we can fix that in a hurry,” Mincone said of the Nauset goal. “Then we held on. We held on until the end. They ended up pulling their goalie again, so we got away with a 2-1 win, which was as ugly as I can say it was. It was a win and they deserved it.”
Graham Stearns had a solid night between the pipes, and got the win in net. “Graham had some really good saves, he was focused the whole game,” Mincone said. “Did he steal us the game? No, but he made some timely saves.”
The Vineyarders play at Mashpee/Monomoy on Thursday in the first Cape and Islands League Lighthouse Division game of the season, and host the Nantucket Whalers at the MV Ice Arena in another divisional clash on Sunday at 12:20 pm.
