Medfield's Tourney Run Ends in 6-2 Loss to Rockland

BOURNE – wild run through the MIAA Division 3 South Sectional boys' hockey state tournament came to an abrupt and disappointing end Wednesday following a 6-2 loss to Rockland.

"It was a fun run but when it ends like this and way earlier than it should have ... those [tournament wins] aren’t as fun right now," said Medfield head coach Toby Carlow. ... "We picked a bad time to have a letdown."

Wednesday's letdown came after Medfield, the bracket's number one seed, advanced to the semifinal round with back-to-back shootout victories over and .

"I’m sure when we look back it’ll be great," Carlow said. "Those wins just aren't as fun right now."

Rockland, the tournament's fifth seed, ended Medfield's season by jumping on the scoreboard early in each period, putting the Warriors on their heels.

"That’s what they do," Carlow said of Rockland's quick scoring. "We never played them, we never saw them or knew anything about them and it’s tough to come in blind and play a team. When they jump on you quick, you get back on your heels and try to get established."

Rockland (17-5-1) took a 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game Wednesday on John Mulready's goal.

"They’re a fast-paced team that works on fast-break stuff and they jumped us on right away," Carlow said. "We were back on our heels, I thought we got back into it and got into a flow and then … sometimes goals go in, there’s nothing you can do about that."

The goal Carlow is referring to came midway through the first period with Medfield on the power play. Rockland cleared the puck hard and on net from its own end of the ice and as it came in on Medfield goaltender Conor Roddy, it took a bad bounce and snuck behind him to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

Rockland lasted little time adding to its lead in the second period as Kevin Sheehan scored just 10 seconds after the first intermission to put Medfield in a 3-0 hole. A little over five minutes later, Sheehan netted his second of three goals to send the Warriors into the locker room after two periods down 4-0.

"They live and die on the fast-break play and we just weren’t ready for it," Carlow said.

Rockland took longer to score in the third period, but not by much as Sheehan tallied the hat trick 1:40 into the final frame. Trailing 5-0, Medfield showed tremendous mental toughness in the last 15 minutes of the season, refusing to give up and the hard work resulted in two goals.

Cam Donnelly got Medfield on the board at 5:52 into the period and captain John Buchanan scored on the power play with 3:31 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 5-2. Rockland's Mulready netted the empty netter with 15 seconds left to end the game's scoring and give the Bulldogs a 6-2 win. Medfield outshot Rockland 32-21 in the game.

"They’re goalie was outstanding," Carlow said. "We didn’t make it hard enough for him and when we finally did make it hard enough, it was just too late."

Medfield (18-4-1) ends its season in the semifinal round of the MIAA Division 3 South Sectional State Tournament for the second straight season. Last year, the in the semifinal round. Despite the sooner-than-expected exit from the state tournament, Carlow said he was proud of a season in which his team and earned the number one overall seed in this year's bracket.

"I’m proud of them and what they’ve accomplished and how far we’ve come together," Carlow said. ... "They have nothing to be ashamed of … part of this game can do that to you. It can be very generous and take it all away at the same time."

Carlow Proud of Seniors

Carlow took time to reflect on four years of hard work and dedication to the program his seniors put in and what it has done for Medfield hockey.

"For the seniors, we’ve been together for four years and we’ve come a real long way with this team and what’s expected of us each and every time we show up," Carlow said. "We are expected to be good, we are expected to get far in the playoffs and that’s the culture they’ve brought to this town and this team. We are expected to do that now."

Carlow 'Feels Good' About Players Expected Back

While losing senior leadership and skill is always tough, and the turnover from this year's roster will be no different, Carlow said he "feels good about" the players expected to return next season.

"We got a lot of kids who played a lot of quality time and kids that are young sophomore level," said Carlow. "Our juniors, we don’t really have a big junior class in terms of our numbers but that’s fine because the guys who are coming back have played a lot of quality hockey in every situation. I think we will bring strong."

Rockland moves on to the MIAA Division 3 South Sectional finals where it will play the winner of Pembroke and Medway on Sunday, March 11 at Gallo Arena.