By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Reporter
An early surge had the Wolverines giving the undefeated Medfield Warriors a run for their money Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the Wolverines’ ultimately were not able to get the job done in a 5-1 loss; falling to 5-4 on the season.
The score is no indication of how much of a fight Westwood put up against the Warriors. They were first to crack the scoreboard on a power play goal from captain Sean Blomquist.
“We noticed their defense was getting a little aggressive, so we were trying to take advantage of that with some stretch plays,” said Blomquist. “I passed it to my teammate and noticed there was no defender in the middle so I cut as hard as I could and my teammate, Brian Sullivan, found me up front for a breakaway goal.”
Several minutes later, Westwood’s defensive efforts could not halt Medfield’s offense. They tied the game up with just over five minutes remaining in the first period. Despite the Warriors goal, the start of the game looked promising.
“We were getting all over their defensemen in the zone,” said Blomquist. “I think we kind of strayed away from that in the second period, but I think the first period was a good start.”
“We came out, we were getting pucks deep and we were putting pucks on [goal],” head coach Matt Sebet tacked on. “That was what we were looking to do tonight - take some opportunities… We got rewarded with that lead and then kind of got away from it, unfortunately.”
Medfield tallied another goal five minutes into the second period on a shot from just inside their offensive zone. Westwood responded with a threatening attack but was not able to find the back of the net.
“I think we started to do a little too much with the puck instead of putting it on like we were at the beginning,” said Sebet. “I thought the first period was solid from us – one of our best, I would say, of the season. In the second, we got away from those things.”
Things got away from the Wolverines as they let up another goal at the 9:45 mark in the third period. Later in the period, they had an opportunity to make it a one-score game with a power play but could not execute well enough to get the puck past the goalie. Medfield netted two late empty net goals, killing all chances of a comeback.
The Wolverines have a chance to get back in the win column against Bellingham, who stands at 2-8 currently.
“What we’re trying to do is get through that complete 45 minute game [by] doing the little details and making sure we’re playing the game like it’s zero-zero… we want that response of playing even-keeled, so that’s what we’ll be looking for [versus Bellingham].”
Westwood will look to start hot and carry momentum for the whole game as their match with the Blackhawks was set for January 18.
