[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]
By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
On Sunday afternoon, the Medfield High boys’ hockey team found its scoring touch with a 7-1 victory over Smithfield (R.I.) at the Blackstone Valley IcePlex in Hopedale. Matt Treiber scored a hat trick for the Warriors and John MacLean added a pair of goals in just his second game back from injury.
The Warriors will be heading this week to the Joe Quinn Tourney in Raynham and will face off against some of the top Div. 2 teams in the state including Boston Latin and the winner of Canton and Coyle-Cassidy.
All of this is to prepare Medfield for the ultra-competitive Div. 2 South bracket, as the Tri-Valley League champions go in search of a second trip to the Boston Garden in three seasons.
Last Wednesday, the Warriors hosted TVL rival, and defending state champion, Westwood at Pirelli Veterans Memorial Rink in Franklin. The Warriors started well and took the lead in a dominant second period when Treiber skated across and flicked his shot over the shoulder of Wolverines goalie Ned Murphy.
But the Warriors did not carry that momentum into the third and Westwood tied it with a blast from the point that caromed in off the post leaving Medfield goalie Matt Malvese no chance. The Wolverines carried the play through most of the period, although Medfield did get a late surge with MacLean having several chances denied by Murphy in the closing seconds of the 1-1 tie.
Medfield coach Toby Carlow said. “In the third period, [Westwood] came out and played at another level. That’s a very well-coached team and they’re coming off a state championship…they know how to win hockey games and they just showed it.”
“They came out to win. They don’t care who we are. They came out to establish their game and they did it in the third period.”
Until Sunday, the Warriors had been finding it tough to hit the back of the net, although the return of MacLean to the first line should give Medfield a boost - once he knocks off the rust.
“You can practice all you want but it’s not game speed,” said Carlow about the need to get MacLean back on the ice before the playoffs. “It’s not another team that doesn’t like you coming to hit you.”
Carlow was frustrated after the Westwood tie because the Warriors had largely controlled the game up until the third period, when the Wolverines found another gear.
He said, “It was just wanting it 100 percent more than our guys did. That’s it right there.”
With the playoffs around the corner and the likes of TVL rivals Westwood and Medway (which Medfield tied 0-0 last weekend, the second tie in three games between the teams this season) potentially waiting in the tournament, Carlow said that his team needs to find a way to grind out wins and score the “ugly” goals.
“Hey, we’ve got four left,” he explained. “It’s playoff hockey now. We could see that team, we could see Medway, and it’s not going to be 6-5, we know that.”
The Warriors (13-1-3) got back on track on Sunday and will look to carry that into the Quinn Tournament on Tuesday and Thursday before closing the regular season with Marshfield on Feb. 24.
(Ed. Note - The Warriors beat Boston Latin 4-1 on Tuesday night to advance to the Joe Quinn Tourney and will face Canton in a rematch of last year's sectional semifinal and the 2014 sectional final.)
Click HERE for more photos from the Westwood game.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
