Lowell, MA – We trekked through the snow this afternoon to catch a rare matchup: the Vineyarders from Martha’s Vineyard made the trip to the North Shore to take on the Red Raiders of Lowell in an intra-divisional matchup. The Vineyarders are ranked 4th in the D4 Power Rankings and the Red Raiders are a .500 squad in D3 – which sets us up a great tilt for this afternoon. From what we heard, the Vineyarders took a 7:00am ferry to make it up to Lowell for a noontime ripper. After mucking through the slush we were able to find our way to our seats and take in this tilt.
In the first period, unfortunately, we missed the opening first couple of minutes due to the slushy roads but it’s almost as if both teams were waiting on us as they had not yet scored a goal. The first 15 minutes were competitive along the walls as both squads battled for possession and looked to gain an edge. Most of the pressure in this period came from the Vineyarders who aggressively threw pucks at the net but junior Lowell goalie Grady Avila stopped everything that came his way. He scrambled quickly in net and made some acrobatic saves to keep this game knotted at 0-0.
In the second period, Lowell threw a couple of counterpunches and the opening shift saw some of their best scoring chances of the game. But, they were unable to slip one past the goalie so on we went. As the period continued, the action favored Martha’s Vineyard and they began to re-tilt the ice in their favor. They continued to create chances in the Lowell end but Avila was up to the task. He was effectively standing on his head making saves and allowing Lowell to stay in this game. The period continued to be a tug-of-war in terms of scoring chances until Martha’s Vineyard finally broke through. With four minutes to go, a netfront scrum ensued and last touch belonged to freshman forward Donnie Gregory: 1-0 Vineyard. After the seal was broken, Vineyard seized on the momentum and added another goal before the end of the period. Lowell’s late penalty led to a slick coast-to-coast power play carry by junior defender Joe Medeiros and his shot squibbed into the slot where senior Hunter Johnson buried it: 2-0 Vineyarders. After the goal, his teammates went berserk, jumping on his back in celebration as the goal represented his 100th career point at the MIAA level. Following that second goal, the Lowell coaching staff took a smart timeout to refocus the troops and they were able to right the ship before the buzzer sounded. The Red Raiders would need to put forth their best effort in the third to climb back into the game.
In the third period, Martha’s Vineyard got out to a quick start just 59 seconds in as senior Sol Donnelly ripped a wrist shot top shelf to give the Vineyarders a 3-0 lead. They would continue to lean into the momentum and just a minute and a half later they would add another tally as Ben Kokosza would feed Teddy Pacheco who shoveled it home at the netfront to make it 4-0. The game felt well in hand at this point and they would add another score for good measure a few minutes later as junior Griff Callahan dished off to Gregory in a 2-on-0 rush and the second tally on the day from Gregory would close the scoring in this one: Martha’s Vineyard pitches the 5-0 shutout over Lowell.
Three Stars:
- G Holden Brew, Martha’s Vineyard
- F Donnie Gregory, Martha’s Vineyard
- F Hunter Johnson, Martha’s Vineyard