Medfield Boys' Hockey Falls Short of Westwood, TVL Title

CANTON – Medfield fell to its league rival and Tri-Valley League leader, Westwood, Wednesday night, and with that loss came a celebration from the Wolverines' bench as Westwood clinched the TVL title Medfield had been chasing all season. 

It is Westwood's first TVL championship in eight seasons, and came on Senior Night after knocking off the Warriors, 4-2.

The game was as intense and physical as many would expect with two TVL foes clashing with a title on the line. There were plenty of big hits on both sides mixed in with plenty of shots as Westwood fired off 26 attempts and Medfield peppered Westwood's goalie 34 times.

 Medfield open the game with early momentum, firing plenty of shots on net in the opening period. MHS senior Jim MaGrath had a nice shot that was thwarted due to outstanding goaltending from Westwood’s Chris Treon, who had 32 saves in the win.

The Wolverines answered right back with a couple shots of their own, but couldn’t put the puck in the net thanks to some nice work between the pipes from Medfield goalie Connor Roddy.

But with 6:42 left in the first, Westwood struck first with a nice one-timer by Brendan Skehill. The assist came from Brendan Dalton, who passed it from behind the net to set up the great shot by Skehill.

Medfield stayed aggressive after the Westwood goal and had a couple of missed opportunities. One came on a wild, off-balanced breakaway shot that sailed wide by Patrick Lawler.

Another shot by Medfield was saved by Treon that bounced around a bit and ended up going up over the net. That was the best scoring opportunity for Medfield, but due to some outstanding work in the net by Treon and a bit of luck, Westwood escaped the situation unscathed.

The second period was all Westwood. While Medfield never seemed to lose its spark and got plenty of shots off, they couldn’t capitalize on opportunities. Westwood’s Brett Egizi was called for cross-checking a minute into the period, but the Wolverines killed the power play in outstanding fashion, thanks to some great defense and a fantastic save by Treon off a shot by Medfield’s Mike Brown.

Westwood was called for another penalty soon after. With 10:47, Theo Treon was called for a tripping penalty that unfolded in front of the referee. Westwood once again killed the penalty with some great defense and a huge hit by defenseman Jake Drew.

Brendan Dalton then put the Wolverines up 2-0 when he took a pass from Jimmy Curtin and ripped it from the blueline.

Soon after, with 6:31 remaining, Mike Brown of Medfield was called for a holding penalty and gave an already surging Westwood squad a power play. Westwood promptly took advantage of the situation and scored with 5:03 remaining in the period. The power play goal was by Brett Egizi and assisted by Brendan Skehill and Andreas Nicolos and made the score 3-0.

The third period again opened with plenty of big hits, including a hard open ice hit by Medfield’s Matt Testa on Westwood’s Sean Condrick, who was rushing toward the net with the puck. It saved a possible goal and gave Medfield a bit of extra momentum.

With 10:32 left in the game, MaGrath scored to make it a 3-1 game. The goal was assisted by Ben Cox and John Buchanan. Most of the first five minutes of the third period was played in Medfield’s zone with plenty of shots being fired off.

With 8:44 left, Westwood’s Kevin Sennott was charged with a tripping penalty. Once again, the power play was killed masterfully by Westwood. But with 5:55 left, they were called for another penalty. This time it was for roughing.

The power play was killed by Westwood again and with 2:13 seconds left in the game, Andreas Nicolos scored his sixth goal of the season to make it a 4-1 game. It was assisted by Brett Egizi and Sean Condrick.

In a last ditch effort, Medfield scored with 30 seconds remaining in the game on a goal by Patrick Lawler that was assisted by Magrath and John O’Driscoll.

Medfield head coach Toby Carlow took pride in the fact his team never stopped skating and said a positive note in the game was they kept getting shots off.

“We had some chances,” said Carlow. “We just couldn’t capitalize on chances when we had them. They have a great goalie, that’s for sure.”

With the win, the Wolverines secured the first TVL Title for Westwood hockey since 2003. As the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, the Westwood players raised their sticks in triumphant fashion and took in the loud cheers coming from their adoring parents, friends and fans.

Head coach Mike Welby was all smiles after the game and said the championship was a long time coming and hasn’t come without a bit of adversity. This year, he said, they had to tackle plenty of issues with injuries, suspensions and academic problems. However, everyone on the team chipped in to get this title.

“You know, we had a lot of adversity,” said Welby. “But no matter who we plugged into whatever spot, they knew their role and got the job done.”

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