The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity hockey team took down the Monomoy High School Sharks in their home opener at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena. It was a tight game, but the Vineyard hockey players pulled off a 4-3 victory.
It was senior Joseph Medeiros (No. 15) who tapped in the game-winning goal with 43 seconds left in four-on-four overtime. Sophomore Donnie Gregory (No. 12) assisted the goal, winning a battle on the left wing for puck possession before sending a pass to Monomoy’s far-side post, where he found Medeiros crashing the net for the final goal.
“I knew he was going to be there, so I just threw it there,” said Gregory of his game-winning assist.
Asked about how he felt after scoring the goal, Madeiros said, “I kinda blacked out.”
The Vineyard boys were thrilled about their win in the first game of the season.
“I think this win is going to bring us together even more and set the tone for the season,” added Medeiros after the game.
The win spoiled Monomoy’s comeback in the third period, where they scored two goals to tie the game 3-3 with 17 seconds left in the game.
In the first period, sophomore Jason Alton (No. 24) opened the scores for the Vineyarders just minutes into the game after sophomore Ryan Heidt (No. 9) made a pass to him; Alton streaked through the neutral zone as a badly timed Monomoy’s line change left Monomoy’s goalie defenseless. Alton walked into the slot and buried a shot with poise for the Vineyard’s 1-0 lead.
Monomoy tied it up with seven minutes and 27 seconds to go in the first period, scoring a top-right shelf goal from the Vineyard’s slot.
The Vineyarders took the lead again after a scrum in front of Monomoy’s net left the puck trickling along the goal line for the Vineyard’s senior captain, Griffin Callahan (No. 2), to bury a gritty goal, bringing the score to 2-1 in favor of the Vineyard, with one minute and 45 seconds left in the first period.
The Vineyard hockey team built on its lead with eight minutes and 26 seconds to go in the period, when Junior Maximus Metell (No. 17) scored after Gregory sent a low, hard shot that left a rebound in front of Monomoy’s net for Metell to bury.
In the third period, Monomoy came out hard as the Vineyarders grew comfortable with their two-goal lead. Monomoy scored with 10 minutes and 25 seconds left in the third period, and tied the game in spectacular fashion with 17 seconds remaining.
The game moved to five minutes, four-on-four overtime, and Monomoy had all the momentum. After some back-and-forth between the two teams, the Vineyarders started dominating puck possession in Monomoy offensive zone, where Medeiros and Gregory’s chemistry put to bed Monomoy comeback.
“The overtime win shows how hard we have been working in the preseason,” said Callahan.
The Vineyarders are headed to Nantucket on Sunday to take on the Whalers at 2 pm for their second game of the season.
With only a few days of practice to prepare for the rivalry game, Head Coach Mike Snowden said they would keep it simple. “We are going to keep things the same and work on our base systems a little bit, and keep building our team chemistry; that’s what this program is all about, supporting one another.”