Vineyard skates past Island rivals

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Martha’s Vineyard varsity hockey came out hot against their rivals, the Nantucket Whalers, on Saturday at home, winning in commanding fashion, 4-1. 

Despite spending significant time killing penalties and being down their top goal scorer, the Vineyard team battled in a game that honored the alumni of the 2000 Martha’s Vineyard state champion team. The Vineyard hockey team also took on Barnstable on Monday, falling just shy of victory with a final score of 2-3. Their record is now 8-5-2 on the season, with playoffs on the horizon, and two more tough games scheduled this week against Nauset and Falmouth.

The first goal of the game came shortly after puck drop. Captain Hunter Johnson, No. 7, was moving through the neutral zone from the right wing when he caught a pass from Adrian Alberghini, No. 11, from across the ice. Already on his horse, Johnson had enough speed to split Nantucket defenseman, and still enough poise to move to his backhand as he made it to the net, opening the Nantucket goaltender’s five-hole and lightly tapping the puck in as he skated by. 

The Vineyard dominated for the remainder of the first period, denying the Whalers any significant time on attack. 

Then, with nine minutes remaining in the first, Johnson walked a Nantucket defenseman at the blue line with a toe drag before he ripped a shot off the far post. Alberghini was creeping into the slot, and was ready for the juicy rebound, which he buried into the net to put the Vineyard up 2-0. 

Senior captain and point leader Nate Averill was out with a lower-body injury, but the Vineyard were able to adjust by shifting lines around. After the first period, the shots were 13-2 in favor of the Vineyard. 

“The lines are kind of shifted up a little, No. 7 [Hunter Johnson] played the wing, which gives him a lot more room to skate,” said Head Coach Matt Mincone after the game. 

The second period wasn’t as smooth. With 10 seconds of a penalty to kill to start already, it wasn’t too long before another Vineyard player was called for a tripping penalty.  

Despite some crowd-worrying scoring opportunities by the Whalers, the Vineyards goaltender, Henry Wansiewicz, No. 30, remained calm between the pipes, quelling all Whaler opportunities. 

The Vineyard’s penalty kill held strong in the face of extended Whaler power plays, forcing  mistakes and turnovers on their breakout, even getting scoring opportunities of their own. Then Johnson, with the puck, took a body to make an advancing play through the neutral zone, handing off a short pass to Alberghini, who picked the puck up with enough speed to make it past Nantucket defenders for a top-left-shelf goal, bringing the score to 3-0 after almost four consecutive minutes of killing penalties. 

But a roughing penalty was called on a Vineyard player with just two minutes remaining in the period. The Vineyarder was pinned against the boards behind the play by a Whaler winger, and the whistle was blown when the Vineyarder urgently tried to pry himself from the Whaler-board sandwich and get back in the play.  Then, with 13 seconds remaining in the second, a Vineyard player was called for a major misconduct, in what the referees said was a deliberate hit from behind. The Vineyard were killing a three-on-five for the last nine seconds of the 13 seconds remaining in the period when Nantucket scored their first goal of the night.

The Vineyard headed into the locker room with an almost-full five-minute major to kill in the third, but still ahead 3-1. 

While the referees tacked two more penalties on the Vineyard throughout the third period, the team successfully killed every single one, making it hard for Nantucket’s power play to get properly set up, until they were five-on-five again. And Griff Calahan, No. 2, responded with a nightcap, the fourth and final Vineyard goal of the night. 

Despite being on the penalty kill for almost the entire third period, the Vineyard outshot Nantucket 8-6 in the third, and the final score was 4-1. 

Mincone said the Vineyarders came out flying, “partly because we haven’t played in longer than a week, so we have been practicing, and it has not been an off week at all,” he said. “But also, it’s Nantucket at home, we are going to have energy regardless.

“They [Nantucket] always play hard over there, talent or not, they just come at you hard, and I respect that,” added Mincone.  

The Vineyarders’ next matchup is on Wednesday against Nauset after our print deadline, at the Charles Moore Ice Arena, and then Falmouth High School on Friday, at the Falmouth Ice Arena.