Methuen, MA – MassNZ made the trip to the border town of Methuen to catch a top-shelf D3 matchup between the 14-ranked Methuen Rangers and the 3-ranked Marblehead Headers. It was a cold night outside and a cold night inside the rink so we were bundled up and the ice was in great condition as we got ready for the start of this one. Of note, this game was Methuen’s annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night with 80 cents of every dollar from ticket sales being donated postgame to the American Cancer Society. If you too would like to donate, head over here to help defeat cancer once and for all: https://donate.cancer.org/.
In the first period, this game was a track meet heading in both directions. These are two of the best skating teams we’ve seen at any level and they both play a similar style. The Headers were aggressive as their defenders jumped into the rush and stepped up quickly to zip pucks out of the zone. Methuen played equally as fast but they played a heavier and more physical style, leaving it all out on the ice and finishing every check. There were few shots on goal because both teams were trading possessions and there was a battle in the neutral zone for possession on every rush. The team that could dump and chase more effectively and chase pucks down would leave with the lead and the Headers earned that distinction. Eight minutes into the first period, junior forward London McDonald dug out a puck from the corner and made a slick backhand feed up the wall to an open classmate Avin Rodovsky who fired a bullet top shelf just under the bar to give Marblehead a 1-0 lead. Following that goal, Methuen pushed back with a couple of scoring chances as they punished the Headers on the end boards. They were ultimately unable to solve senior Headers captain Leo Burdge and the score after one was 1-0.
In the middle frame, once again the pace was off the charts as both teams came out of the locker room flying. Methuen was looking to make an early push and did create a couple of nice chances, but there would not be many more in this frame as the possession belonged mostly to Marblehead. They were uber-aggressive at both ends and their skating legs were always engaged which gave them an edge to win races to loose pucks and get in on the forecheck. Full credit to Methuen’s defense as many of the Header chances in this period were outside of the house, but eventually the dam broke eleven minutes into the frame as senior captain Kyle Hart put a shot on net from the top of the circle on the power play and on the doorstep to clean up the rebound was fellow senior Crew Monaco: the score was now 2-0 Headers. The remainder of the period would feature more of the same swarming attack and we went to the room with the score 2-0 Marblehead.
In the third period, Methuen started strong by dumping the puck into the zone over the heads of the Marblehead D, forcing them to chase it early. They were aggressive below the goal line and won physical battles which led to many of their best chances of the night but Burdge thwarted them at every turn. As the period wore on, Marblehead was able to regain possession and drove the puck deeper into the attacking zone with more regularity. The play between both teams was more even in this period, but ultimately Marblehead was able to limit the Grade A looks which allowed them to carry the shutout to the final minute when Methuen called time out. After the huddle, they pulled their goalie and looked to cut the lead in half, but they were unable to muster the look they wanted and our final score would be Marblehead 2, Methuen 0.
Three Stars:
- G Leo Burdge, Marblehead
- F Avin Rodovsky, Marblehead
- F London McDonald, Marblehead