Woburn, MA – MassNZ’s second game of the day featured two Middlesex League rivals in the Red and Black of Winchester and the Tanners of Woburn. With the new Power Rankings freshly published on Friday, Winchester checks in at 10th in D1 and Woburn is listed in 4th in D2 so this was a Top 10 matchup that we wanted to get eyes on this afternoon.
The Tanners came to play right from the puck drop. Every line that hopped over the boards played fast, physical and pushed the pace. They had Winchester on their heels early and often and would strike first. With 12:14 to go, senior captain Jack Lee carried the puck into Winchester’s zone, beat the defenseman to the inside and slid a great pass to senior captain Jack McEleney. McEleney one-timed it beating junior goalie Macklin O’Flynn to give the Tanners the 1-0 lead. Two minutes later Woburn would strike again. Junior Dillon Scalesse picked off the puck on the left wall, took a couple of strides and found senior captain Finn Murphy in front of the net. Murphy beat O’Flynn five-hole to give his team the 2-0 lead. With a few minutes left in the period Winchester would go on a power play but come up empty. Woburn controlled most of the play this period and would take the 2-0 lead into the middle frame.
Woburn came out strong again for the first couple minutes of the second period, but Winchester was able to hold them off the board and level the play. Both teams worked hard and the game had a quick pace up and down the ice, but Woburn still created the better of the scoring chances. Each team traded power play opportunities halfway through the period, and both came up empty. With five minutes to go Winchester went on a fast break 2-on-1, but Woburn junior goalie Adam Gerry made a fantastic sliding pad save to keep them off the board. The Red and Black went to the box again with a few minutes left in the period, giving the Tanners a chance to extend their lead. Woburn had some great looks on the power play but O’Flynn made some timely stops to keep the deficit at two. The last minute of the period was all Woburn and they created a turnover in the low slot and O’Flynn made a great point-blank save once again keeping his team in the game. With under 10 seconds to go, Scalesse got a shot to the net and Lee jammed away at the rebound, eventually pushing it past the goalie with one second left on the clock. The Winchester coaches felt it was tied up but the referees didn’t blow the whistle so it counted as a good goal and the third for the Tanners.
Early into the third period both teams once again had back-to-back power play chances, but the penalty kills stood tall and both penalties were killed off. Winchester generated more zone time this period but Woburn’s defense was stingy and took away the prime scoring areas making it tough for the Red and Black to get their first goal. Woburn had multiple odd-man rushes in this game and had one in the middle of the stanza with Lee wide open but the pass was tipped and bounced over his blade. Feeling the time ticking away, Winchester found another gear and was buzzing around Gerry generating some chances, and they would finally get on the board. With just under a minute to go, junior Liam Connelly walked out from behind the net and found junior Jack Burkhart open on the back door. Burkart tapped it in the open net making it a 3-1 game with under a minute to go. That would be our final score as the period ended and the Tanners would get the 3 – 1 victory.
Three Stars:
- F Jack Lee, Woburn
- F Jack McEleney, Woburn
- F Dillon Scalesse, Woburn