The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls varsity hockey team hosted the 26th annual Nan Rheault tournament this past weekend on the Island, inviting teams from as far as southern Rhode Island.
The Vineyard girls faced off against Milton High School on Saturday, falling short in a mostly back and forth battle for a final score of 3-0. But the girls bounced back on Sunday to take on the Burrillville High School Broncos, defeating them with a final score of 6-0.
The girls are now 5 and 4 on the season.
Against Milton on Saturday the girls came out ready in the first, both teams battling to find solid scoring opportunities with the Vineyard team holding a slight 6-5 advantage in shots at the period’s end. The Island girls had several key chances late in the first but were unable to finish.
For the first five minutes of the second period, Milton could not get the Vineyard offense out of their zone, until Milton’s Abby Coughlin (No. 19) skated it down with exhausted Island backcheckers trailing and tucked in a wrap-around for the first goal of the night.
Shortly after, Milton freshman, Grace Kenney (No. 14) tacked another one on for the visiting team, shooting from just inside the tops of the Vineyard offensive zone circles for a far low side goal. Then, the final nail in the coffin came with 23.6 seconds remaining in the period, Milton’s Megan Carew (No. 9) struck one more, taking a 3-0 lead going into the third.
“Our goalie did a standup job, making some really great saves, but that third goal kind of hammered it for us,” said head coach Mallory Watts.
Despite the Vineyard girls showing signs of life in the third, holding Milton scoreless in the final frame, they were unable to recover.
“I thought we played well in the first period. It was a good matchup,” said Watts. “But in the second period we took a dive and our effort trailed off, and in the third we came back a bit but we ran out of time.”
Despite the loss, the Vineyard team’s defense was solid, getting the majority of their shot opportunities through from the point.
“Our defense as a whole played well and we got good shots from the point. We have been working on that,” said coach Watts.
The girls bounced back on Sunday for the consolation game against the Burrillville High School Broncos, winning with a final score of 6-0.
“We want them to just be working hard on and off the ice, learn the sport and learn to improve, realize it’s a team sport and that we should celebrate each other’s wins and losses,” Watts said. “And above all else, we want them to learn to be good people.”