Boys hockey team wins Mulloy Tournament
The Everett High boys hockey team concluded its season in thrilling fashion with a pair of exciting, down-to-the wire-and-beyond victories to capture the James F. Mulloy Tournament held last week at Allied Veterans Rink.
Both triumphs could not have been scripted any better for high drama by a Hollywood fiction screenplay than the reality that the Crimson Tide made happen against rivals Northeast Regional Vocational School and Somerville.
Monday’s encounter with Northeast saw the teams trade goals from the outset, leaving matters tied at 4-4 at the end of regulation and sending the game into a shootout. After Northeast took a 1-0 lead early in the opening period, Shawn Doyle (who had two goals and five assists in the two tourney games) lit the lamp to even matters before the end of the frame, assisted by Stephen Faia and J.J. McLaughlin.
Reardan Sweeney gave Everett a 2-1 advantage to start the second period and ignited a scoring flurry by both teams within a three minute span. Northeast struck back with two markers to take a 3-2 edge, but Crimson Tide lamplighters by James Liberge (assisted by Chris Roderick) and Faia (assisted by Doyle and McLaughlin) regained the lead for Everett, 4-3, after two stanzas.
However, with about five minutes to play, Northeast notched the equalizer, leaving matters knotted for the fourth time in the contest, 4-4, when the final horn sounded.
That set the stage for the always-dramatic, 5 v. 5 shootout, which in ice hockey is much less predictable than soccer. After EHS netminder Vin Sotosanti stopped the first two Northeast skaters (Northeast went first), Doyle (who was the second Crimson Tide shooter) beat the Northeast netminder for a 1-0 Everett advantage.
That left matters in the pads, stick, and glove of Sotosanti, who proceeded to thwart the final three Northeast shooters to give the Tide the dramatic triumph.
The tourney title game with Somerville (who also had advanced via a shootout win over Mystic Valley in its opening round game) proved to be even more intense and climactic. Everett had lost both of its previous contests this season to a Somerville sextet that claimed the Greater Boston League championship, but the Crimson Tide came out skating fast and furious from the opening face-off.
After spotting Somerville an early 1-0 lead, Everett tied the count before the first period ended on a goal by Liberge. Chris Roderick boosted Everett’s momentum even further in the second frame, assisted by Sweeney and Doyle, for a 2-1 Tide lead, but Somerville got that one back before the second horn to leave matters deadlocked at 2-2 after two.
Somerville seized the advantage at the start of the final period, but a heads-up play by Doyle, who took advantage of an errant clearing pass by the Somerville goalie, tied the contest with five minutes to play.
As the clock ticked down and the minutes turned into seconds-to-go, both the teams and their fans certainly were anticipating the prospect of another shootout. But hockey is a fast sport where the bounce or the roll of the puck one way or another can change the flow of the game in a flash. That flash moment happened for Everett, as Doyle and Faia broke out of their zone and headed toward the Somerville blue line with a 2-on-1 break. Shawn neatly slid the puck over to his teammate and Steven let rip a hard shot from the top of the circle that zinged past the Somerville goalie, top-shelf style, with just 15 seconds showing on the clock.
There was pandemonium on the ice as the Everett players went over the boards and erupted in a joyous celebration. The final 15 seconds proved uneventful and the Tide had claimed their first-ever crown in the Mulloy Tournament, which Everett has been hosting for the past few years.
“It was a great way to end the season,” said EHS head coach Alex Naumann. “It has been an up and down year for us, but we definitely finished on the upswing. It was an exciting way to end the year and I was both very proud of, and happy for, the boys.”
Seniors who played in their final game in an EHS uniform were Doyle, Sweeney, Sotosanti, Stephen Chaves, and Derek Bankus.
Girls hockey ends with two wins, tie
The Everett High girls hockey team ended its season on a highly-superb note, winning two of its last three games and tying the other this past week.
This past Saturday was Senior Day at Allied Veterans Rink and fittingly, the members of the senior class scored all of the goals for the Lady Crimson Tide in an 8-6 win over Peabody. Captain Gabby Ramunno, who has been a stalwart for the Everett girls’ program since she was in the eighth grade, notched a hat trick in the opening period and fellow captain Alea Martinelli (who had five assists on the day) lit the lamp once for a 4-1 Everett lead after one period.
The second frame was the Lauren Mahoney Show, as the senior captain and defenseman reminded the grandparents in the stands of the artistry of Boston Bruin great Bobby Orr, who was known for his end-to-end rushes with the puck. Lauren did it not once, not twice, but thrice, lighting the lamp on three occasions for a natural hat trick (which is when a player scores three consecutive goals for his or her team) to leave Everett in command, 7-4, after two stanzas.
Senior Rebecca Westgate (who also had three assists) finished off the scoring for Everett in the final period to keep Peabody at arms-length as EHS head coach Erin Reilly used all of the girls on her bench in the last 15 minutes, giving her seniors a well-deserved bow in their final skate off the ice in an Everett uniform. Michaela Considine earned two assists on the day.
The triumph was the second straight for Everett because the day before, the Lady Crimson Tide took the measure of St. Joseph’s Prep, 4-1. Once again, the senior quartet of Ramunno, Mahoney, Martinelli, and Westgate shared the scoring honors with a goal apiece. In addition to the first three of that group, Alison Ambrogne and Caitlyn Winsor were credited with assists on the goals. The Lady Crimson Tide yielded a marker in the opening frame for a 1-0 margin for St. Joseph’s that held up through the first two periods. But a four-goal splurge by Everett over the final 15 minutes claimed the victory.
Two days earlier, Everett tied Cambridge, 2-2. Martinelli potted both goals for Everett in the first period.
“It was a nice way for the girls to end the season and I was very happy for our seniors,” said Reilly. “The girls worked hard throughout the season and they level of improvement really showed in the last week.”
In addition to Ramunno, Martinelli, Mahoney, and Westgate, other Lady Crimson Tide seniors who bade farewell to their high school careers were Meghan McNeil and Alea Tame.
Martinelli was named to the Northeast Division all-star team of the Eastern Mass. Girls Ice Hockey League.
Fundraiser for EHS boys hockey March 28
The Everett High boys hockey team will be holding a Comedy Night fundraiser on March 28 at the Kowloon Restaurant. Tickets are $30.00. For more information and to purchase tickets, please call EHS head coach Alex Naumann at 617-394-2490 or send him an e-mail at [email protected]