The Martha’s Vineyard girls’ varsity hockey team hosted the 2026 Nan Rheault Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, welcoming the Milton High School Wildcats, the Burrillville High School Yetis, and the South County Storm to face off at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena.
The Vineyard girls finished as runner-ups in the annual Island tournament, defeating Burrillville 5–2 on Saturday before falling to a skilled Milton team on Sunday in the championship, 4–2.
At the Vineyard girls’ game against Burrillville High School on Saturday, the girls came back from a 1–0 deficit in the first period to earn the win.
Senior captain Elle Mone (No. 16) opened the Vineyard scoring early in the second period, receiving a pass in the slot from Abby Geary (No. 15) before taking a quick shot to tie it up 1–1. Mone scored from the slot again with four minutes, 43 seconds left in the second period, shooting the puck past the goalkeeper’s shoulder. She was assisted by Geary and Mackenna Metell (No. 9).
The Vineyarders held onto their one-goal lead throughout the third period, until Mone completed her hat trick with seven minutes remaining. A shot from the point rebounded to the front of Burrillville’s net, where Mone was positioned to bury it for a 3–1 lead.
The Vineyarders scored again minutes later. Reese Malowski (No. 7) got ahold of the puck during a scrum in front of Burrillville’s net, taking the lead to 4–1. With overwhelming momentum in the Vineyard’s favor and 38 seconds left in the game, Burrillville found the back of the net, but Mone wanted one more goal as assurance. She scored with 13 seconds left, again in the slot, to earn the Vineyard the 5–2 win and a chance at the championship on Sunday.
Head Coach Mallory Watts said she was happy that the Vineyard team played the higher-tempo hockey they have been aiming for against Burrillville on Saturday.
“Our effort was off the charts,” she said. “They played like they wanted to win today … Our biggest thing — our hurdle right now — has been coming out flat, and so we needed to come out hot, and I feel like we’ve been on the road a lot; being home gave us that edge.”
Milton High School took down South County 4–0 at 4 pm on Saturday to move on to the championship and face off against Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday.
While the Vineyarders ultimately lost to Milton 4–2 in the championship game, the game wasn’t just about winning for the Island team. It was also a rematch against one of the strongest teams on the Vineyard’s schedule, and was a good gauge for how the Vineyard girls have grown since facing them in December, when they lost 4–1.
The championship game started at 1 pm on Sunday, and Milton opened the scoring in the first period, taking the lead on a power play with six minutes left in the period, before scoring again minutes later for a 2–0 lead. The Vineyard’s Metell responded with two goals, one with two minutes and 41 seconds left in the period and another with 54 seconds left. She was assisted by Mone. But Milton was able to squeeze one more goal in with 2.3 seconds left in the period to take the lead 3–2 going into the second period.
Milton scored again with 10 minutes left in the second to bring the lead to 4–2. After multiple calls by the referees against the Vineyarders throughout the second and third periods, the Vineyarders finally earned themselves a two-minute power play with one minute and 45 seconds left in the third. Down two goals, it felt like a golden opportunity to bring the deficit to one, which would’ve opened the door to a last-second goal to tie the game. But Milton’s penalty kill was disciplined, holding off the Vineyard power play successfully to win the 2026 Nan Rheault Tournament, 4–2 over the Vineyard.
Watts said the team was frustrated with some of the calls made by referees throughout the game. The Vineyard saw three tripping calls through the second and third period, and one where a Vineyard skater was even ahead of the player she was penalized for tripping.
“It was really frustrating for me,” she said. “It’s hard for us to keep momentum on the bench in those situations.”
Still, Watts commended the Vineyard team’s performance and said overall, “It was a great weekend.”
“They were grinding,” Watts said. “[Milton’s] got three lines deep. We were tired, but we grinded through it, so I’m proud of them regardless of the score.”
Watts said that based on the Vineyard’s performance in the rematch against Milton on Sunday, she felt the Vineyard team showed improvement in its conditioning, mental strength, offensive creativity, and defense in front of the net.
“We’ve been conditioning pretty routinely, so our girls coming through the third period aren’t as tired. They still got gas. That’s a big one,” she said. “We’ve been working a lot on picking our heads up in the neutral zone or anywhere on the ice, and then our defense is being really aggressive in front of the net, tying players up, getting the puck out.”
She added that the Vineyard’s forwards “continue to impress.”
“They’re creative with the puck. They are finding the back of the net. They’re getting in the rebounds and being creative in the neutral zone,” she said. “Overall, as a team, I think we’ve gotten mentally stronger. If we get scored on, we’re able to recover from it and reset.”
The Vineyarders also hosted a skills competition at 7:30 pm on Saturday at the Island rink, welcoming each team to nominate its six most skilled players plus its goalies. The remainder of the players took to the stands in costumes and team colors, flying banners and cheering for their teammates who were competing. Competitions included fastest skater, hardest shot, shot accuracy, a relay, and team spirit.
The fastest skater event kicked things off, where skaters started at the blue line and skated in a loop around the ice, going behind each net before finishing back at the same spot. Milton High School’s Gracy Kenney took first place with a time of 15.89 seconds. In the hardest shot event, skaters started in the neutral zone and skated up to a puck set up 15 feet in front of the net before unloading their hardest slap shot at a speed gun positioned behind the net. Burrillville’s Victoria Steele shot the hardest, with a speed of 63 miles per hour. Geary took the win in the accuracy competition for the Vineyard, hitting three of four targets with puck shots in under 30 seconds. In the relay, teams skated around a series of cones before picking up a puck and skating back to tag the next in line. Milton’s relay team, made up of Noelle Gorham, Maeve Lovett, Sabrina Stone, and Caera Hart, won the event with a time of one minute and 8.82 seconds. And in the team spirit category, the Burrillville’s vocal and animated fan section took first place.
Prior to the tournament this weekend, the Vineyard girls were on a four-game losing streak. Their current record is 3–7–0, and their next game is scheduled against Barnstable High School on Saturday at 2 pm at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena.
“I thought it was a great weekend,” said Watts. “Our girls were having a blast. That’s what it’s all about, having fun, of course. Of course I want to win, but we were competitive all weekend, and we broke the curse of our losing streak, so that felt really good.”
Following the Vineyarders’ games this weekend, senior captain Mone is also one point away from 100 career points.