Boys JV Hockey Wraps up Solid Season

The Medford high junior varsity hockey team squeaked out a recent 4-3 victory versus Greater Boston League opponent Everett High. Domenic Ramasci got the Mustangs on the board with a first period goal thanks to hard work from his line mates Paul Howard and Dan Cangiano. Michael Baruffaldi kept the scoring going in the second period with two rebound goals. The Mustangs hung onto a three goal lead until midway through the second period when Everett scored to cut the lead to two. Paul Howard’s third period goal put the Mustangs up 4-1 and proved to be the eventual game winning goal, as Everett was able to score two power play goals late in the game. The final 1:19 seconds saw Everett trailing by one and the Mustangs shorthanded, but Mustang goalie Matt Santos and the Mustang defense did a great job keeping Everett from scoring in the final seconds.

The JV Mustangs came up on the short end of the scoreboard against the Winchester Sachems. Medford scored the only goal of the first period when defenseman Joe Vienneau’s wrist shot from the blue line beat the Sachems’ goalie’s top corner. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the lead was short lived, as Winchester struck for three quick goals to start the second period. Later in the second period Medford’s Cangiano scored a great goal by batting the puck out of midair. Medford’s Andrew Modugno also added a highlight type goal by stealing the puck from a Winchester defenseman and scoring on a breakaway. Winchester entered the third period with a 4-3 lead and added three late goals to win 7-3.

Next up for Medford was a match up with GBL opponent Somerville. The Highlanders started the scoring eight minutes into the first period, but Medford struck right back about a minute later. Mustang Alex Smith scored two goals a minute apart to put the JV Mustangs up 2-1 entering the second period. The second period saw Ramasci score on a rebound from a shot from defenseman Brendan Sheehey to put MHS up 3-1. Smith also added his third goal of the game. Somerville managed two third period goals to cut the lead to 5-4, but Medford’s Matt MacDonald scored his second goal of the game with 0:59 seconds left to ice the game at 6-4 for the Mustangs.

Medford closed out its busy week with their fourth game in eight days when they traveled to Pope John two Saturdays ago. Pope John scored eight minutes into the first period, but Medford rebounded with the next two goals with Sheehey scoring both. Both of Sheehey’s goals came off of rebounds from shots by defensemen Vienneau and Michael Cecchini. The second period saw Pope John tie the game 2-2 and the game stayed tied until eight minutes left in the third period when Medford’s Modugno cut across the slot and beat the Pope John goalie to put MHS 3-2. The lead didn’t last long as Pope John scored the next minute and added three more goals in the final three minutes to win 6-3.

The junior varsity team wrapped up the season with a 9-0 home shut-out of Somerville on Thursday and a 4-2 loss to Melrose on the road on Sunday. Goalies Jonathan Haley and Matt Santos combined for the Somerville shut-out.

The JV team finished the season 9-7.

Goalie Matt Santos, Joe Vienneau and Andrew Modugno

Cam Riley

Paul Howard

Michael Cecchini

– Submitted by Coach Glionna