Medford, MA – MassNZ made another snowy drive on this Martin Luther King Jr Day out to LoConte Rink in Medford to catch the hometown Mustangs taking on the Abington Green Wave. Both teams come in sporting winning records (8-3 vs 7-4, respectively) and despite this being a D1 team taking on a D4 team, the game was destined to be quite competitive. This was also our first time checking out LoConte and what a great venue for HS hockey with so much history on display through the building. But, in any event, we had a hockey game to watch.
In the first period, Abington took control and the opening shifts were controlled by their puck possession. It would only take a couple minutes for them to get on the scoreboard as well. A nice play by senior Matthew Grafton cutting to the slot led to an open rebound for senior scoring machine Sam McDonald who buried on his second attempt at the 3:01 mark. The Green Wave were not done as they added another three minutes later off a beautiful three-line pass by McDonald who fed junior Sean Duggan on the breakaway who buried to make it 2-0 Abington. Things were looking good for them early, but that’s when Medford made a strong push back. The subsequent two shifts were their best of the game and they would cut the lead in half two minutes later on the power play. A nice play by junior Nolan O’Keefe fed a wide open junior Colin Lee who let loose a quick wrist shot to make it 2-1. The Mustangs had all the momentum and they would tie it up less than a minute later as O’Keefe worked a nice give and go with his brother (we assume) Colin O’Keefe to knot us up at 2-2. From there, the play was decidedly even and neither team was able to gain the upper hand, we went to the locker rooms tied at 2.
In the second period, Abington came out of the locker room looking to set the tone and the first couple of shifts were both physical and set a quick pace. As the period took shape, though, Medford would tilt the ice in their favor. They were connecting on more passes, finding soft ice and creating better scoring chances. Full credit to senior Abington goalie Nicholas Harris though, he stepped his game up in this frame as well, making a couple of point-blank stops to shut down the Mustangs. We were deep into the period and despite a couple of power plays neither team had added any tallies on the scoreboard, until the 11 minute mark. In a heads up play by Medford sophomore Cam Lind, he walked down the wall and grabbed the puck and fired it to the slot on the tape of senior captain Diego Menes. He fired a twisted wrister at close range and buried to make it 3-2 Mustangs. Following the goal, the Green Wave had a strong push back and created a couple of sparkling looks at the netfront but neither would cross the goal line. We went to the third period with Medford up by 1 with 15 minutes remaining.
In the third period, Medford came out guns blazing and they would establish a two-goal cushion early as a steal by Colin O’Keefe led to a 2-on-0 breakaway and a finish by his liney Menes to make it 4-2 Mustangs. All was looking good as the Mustangs were winning many of the territorial and speed battles but it was McDonald who kept his team in the game. Three minutes after the fourth Medford goal it was a slick passing play from Duggan to Grafton back to McDonald who would finish with a quick wrister from the dot to make it 4-3. Even with this goal, Medford had the upper hand and was owning a lot of the possession, until a big hit on McDonald sent a Mustangs player to the locker room early for a 5-minute major. The balance of momentum began to shift during the ensuing 5-on-4 and later 5-on-3 power play. The Mustangs killed off the first four minutes and then Abington called their timeout. Seconds later they would find the equalizer as McDonald teed up Duggan for a shot from the faceoff circle that found the back of the net and we were all square at 4-4 with under five minutes to go. The remaining minutes were back-and-forth firewagon-style hockey with the teams trading chances but neither were able to convert…this game would go on to 4-on-4 overtime.
In overtime, both teams took their turns with possession, each team utilized the extra ice available and created Grade A looks, but both goalies stood tall. As the clock wound down to the final minute, a rush was brewing as McDonald found junior Amani DeJesus with plenty of open space on the right wing. He held the puck for a few seconds and waited for the defender to dive before skating around him and finding a streaking McDonald with the return pass in front of the net. A quick flick of the wrist and that was the ballgame: McDonald registered a hat trick, totalling five points altogether on the day. 5-4 in OT was your final.
Three Stars:
- F Sam McDonald, Abington
- D Diego Menes, Medford
- F Sean Duggan, Abington