Girls’ hockey bounced from D2 state tourney
By Jay TurnerAfter cruising through the regular season with 16 wins in 20 games, the Canton High girls’ ice hockey team had its postseason dreams dashed at the hands of 20th seeded Tewksbury/Methuen, which shocked the Bulldogs 7-3 on their home ice last Wednesday, February 27.
Junior Casey Considine (Mike Barucci photo)
The loss certainly qualified as an upset — Tewksbury/Methuen (8-7-3) had barely squeaked into the Division 2 tournament while Canton owned the fourth seed and was considered one of the top contenders alongside teams such as No. 1 Duxbury and No. 2 Falmouth.
However, despite the disparity in overall win-loss records, Canton head coach Dennis Aldrich was quick to label his first-round opponent a “very good” team, led by an “unbelievable” hockey talent in sophomore Amanda Conway.
“She was probably the most talented girl we’ve ever seen,” said Aldrich of the high-scoring Conway, who had a hat trick and three assists to give her 61 points on the season. “We outshot them as a team 33-22, but whenever [Conway] got the puck in open space, she was just too fast and too talented.”
Canton’s Meaghan McKenna, herself one of the state’s premier goal scorers, struck first in the opening period to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead. But a couple of Canton penalties put the visitors on the power play, and they promptly took advantage, scoring back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 advantage into the second period.
“It was exactly the opposite of what we wanted to do,” noted Aldrich, while later lamenting that his team “lost this game in transition,” mostly owing to the individual brilliance of Conway.
The two squads would trade goals in an action-packed second period, with Canton getting goals from Julie Nagel and Meghan Lennon. Aldrich said the Bulldogs were still very much in the game until Tewksbury/Methuen netted a back-breaking goal late in the frame to make it 5-3. “You could just feel the wind come out of our sails at that point,” he said.
The visitors went on to add two more goals in the third to make it a 7-3 final, thus eliminating the Bulldogs from the tournament after just one game.
Despite the painful defeat, Aldrich said the girls still deserve a ton of credit for the season they put together — a season in which they ran away with the SEMGHL West Division title and strung together several quality wins.
“This is a team that won 16 games,” he said, “and that’s a rare thing for a team to get to that many. It’s not something we’re going to forget. And while certainly the season ended abruptly, I do feel we lost to a good team.”
Aldrich said he will dearly miss his three talented senior captains — McKenna, Lennon and Bethany Kelly — but he’s also excited about the future and he’s already looking forward to the start of next season.
“If we put in the effort,” he said, “I see no reason why we can’t come right back and make a run at it next year.”
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=19369
Posted by Jay Turner
on Mar 7 2013. Filed under High School, Sports.
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