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Nantucket Mites win tournament trophy
Organized by Chris Young, the Scallop Cup featured youth teams of 15, played in B Level Mites (8 years old and under), Squirts (up to 10 years old) and Pee Wees (up to 12 years old), in a roundrobin format with total points deciding who advanced to the championship round. In the Mites Division, Plymouth, Cape Cod Canal, Waltham and Nantucket fielded teams. Tewksbury, Walpole, Medfield and Nantucket had teams in the Squirts Division. The Pee Wee Division contained teams from Medfield, Southern Connecticut Stars, Tewksbury and Nantucket. Twenty one games were played from noon on Friday through Sunday morning, culminating in back-to-back championship games. Nantucket was the only town that placed a team in each division and put two teams into the finals. Charlie Gibson refereed the Pee Wee match of the day Saturday between Nantucket and the Southern Connecticut Stars. Nantucket's Ryan Holdgate scored first within four minutes of the opening face-off, with the Stars answering a little over a minute later. The teams stayed knotted at 1-1 for the remainder of that period. The Stars managed to slide by Nantucket's defense to send the puck into the net to take the narrow lead 2-1 in the second. The teams dueled back and forth for the remainder of the game with no further scoring. The loss eliminated Nantucket from the championship round and set up the Stars versus Medfield, with Medfield taking the trophy on Sunday. On Sunday morning, Nantucket's Squirts were first up against a strong Medfield team in the middle game of the trifecta. Action was fast and furious with the teams evenly matched. With less than two minutes gone, Ethan Wing gave Nantucket the early lead. Off the ensuing face-off, Medfield drew even. Nantucket answered a minute and a half later when Simon Johnson wove through the defense to fire the puck into the corner of the net putting Nantucket up again. The first period ended with Nantucket up 2-1. In the second, Medfield scored two more times to put Nantucket behind 3-2. Nantucket stepped it up in the third, tying the game with five left when Ethan Fey snaked past a defender to place the puck between the posts. Both teams tried to get the upper stick, but regulation ended with a 3-3 deadlock. The teams were forced into an immediate shoot-out. Five players for each team would go one-on-one with the goalie from the spot. Unfortunately for Nantucket, Medfield was able to net two to Nantucket's one, with Max Duce the only player to beat the keeper out. Next up in the last game of the tournament were the Nantucket Mites versus Plymouth. Though this is the youngest level, most of Nantucket's players have played together for four years, having started skating at age three. It showed on the ice in an amazing display of stick handling and understanding of the game in general, not to mention the ability to use the boards in passing and working as a team. Nantucket controlled the puck for most of the game and at one point kept the action in Plymouth's end for over four minutes in the third. Gavin Fey was solid in the net, and helped keep Nantucket in the lead from the first whistle. The teams traded goals in the first period, with Cammie Jones scoring within 19 seconds of the face-off. Nantucket rattled off five goals in the second thanks to James Lester off an assist by Robbie Hickman, two by Cole Campbell, assisted by Hunter MacEachern, Tyler O'Keefe assisted by Cammie Jones, and with the final goal off the stick of Jones again. Medfield scored three but was never able to overtake Nantucket, which fittingly won the inaugural tournament 6-4 and hoisted the championship trophy. I |
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