The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls varsity hockey team entered the 15th annual Nan Rheault Invitational Tournament as defending champions after winning the event for the first time last year.
The Vineyarders failed to repeat at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, but earned three out of a possible four points with a tie and a win to finish third.
Quincy/North Quincy captured the tourney championship without conceding a goal, defeating Dover-Sherborn/Hopkinton 9-0 on Sunday and Scituate 5-0 Monday afternoon.
Martha’s Vineyard began tournament play Sunday night in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd, facing off against the archrival Scituate Sailors.
What started as a stodgy, tentative game finished as an exciting contest full of end-to-end action. After 45 minutes of regulation play, neither team managed to put a puck past Vineyard goalie Jackie Hegarty or Scituate netminder Katey Ferguson.
Officially, the game went in the books as a 0-0 tie, giving each team one point in the Southeast Mass. Girls Hockey League (SEMGHL) standings.
For the purposes of tournament play, however, the game needed a winner. Three minutes into the extra period, the Sailors broke Vineyard hearts. Following a goal-mouth scramble, Emma Chisholm bounced the puck up and over the shoulder of Vineyard goalie Jackie Hegarty to put Scituate into the championship game. Earlier in the overtime, Scituate freshman Sheila Dunn dove to poke the puck away from Belle Dinning after the Vineyard co-captain made an end-to-end rush.
“Both teams had their chances,” Vineyard Coach John Fiorito said. “I couldn’t be prouder of all the kids. Jackie Hegarty deserved a better fate, because she’s a good goalie and a senior, and our other seniors Meg Burke and Belle Dinning, because they’ve come so far. Obviously, you don’t want the game to get away. It’s overtime in your home tournament, there’s a lot of people at the game. You could tell by the ovation [at the end of the game] that people were proud of our effort.”
Belle Dinning, Meghan Sonia, Genny Kent, Meg Burke, Saige Araujo, and Julia Levesque all applied pressure around the Scituate goal, to no avail. Kylie Hatt and Hailey Meader anchored a Vineyard defense that blocked several Sailor shots.
Scituate outshot the Vineyarders 22-19 overall.
Monday morning, Martha’s Vineyard played Dover-Sherborn/Hopkinton in the consolation game. The Vineyarders posted a 3-1 win, improving to 4-5-2 on the season.
The hosts dominated territorially, but never hit their stride in a game that lacked the spark of the dramatic opener.
“It was ugly, but it’s good to get a win we needed,” Coach Fiorito said.
Kylie Hatt opened the scoring at 6:30 of the first period with a wrister from the right circle. Six minutes later, Genny Kent floated a wrist shot through the pads of DSH goalie Caroline Whitaker for her first varsity goal and a 2-0 Vineyard lead. Kylie Hatt and Meghan Sonia picked up assists.
The Raiders struck back 30 seconds before the first intermission as Elizabeth Cooperman slotted a backhander past Jackie Hegarty.
With 5:33 left in the second period, birthday girl Hailey Meader gave herself a present and her team some insurance with her first high school goal. Meghan Sonia and Lacey Dinning assisted.
“Hailey Meader is a rock as a defenseman,” Coach Fiorito said of the freshman. “For her to get rewarded on the other end is huge.”
The girls take to the road for a pair of tough SEMGHL South Division games Saturday, vs. Marshfield, and Monday, vs. Pembroke. The girls return home on Saturday, Jan. 30, to play Brookline. The puck drops at 5 pm.
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