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Melrose Youth Hockey
Mite A Team Write-up
March 10, 2008
Melrose Mite As Win Silver at Lake Placid
The Melrose Youth Hockey Mite A team traveled to Lake Placid over the
weekend for the CHE American Cup Tournament at Lake Placid, New York, home
of the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Melrose team competed in the Mite division
against teams from New Jersey and Ontario, Canada. The Melrose Mite As
will remember this tournament mostly for the hard-earned Silver medal they
won, but also will recall fondly the camaraderie, the late night (and
early morning) knee-hockey games, the Olympic experience and numerous
other fabulous memories.
To begin the tournament, Melrose played the NJ Devils from West Orange New
Jersey on Friday, 2/29 in the 1980 Rink where the US Olympic Team had
beaten Russia to earn the gold medal in 1980. Melrose dominated play and
kept the pressure on the Devils throughout the contest but found
themselves behind 1 -0 early in the second period. Matt McKenzie evened
the scored at 1 -1 with a pretty breakaway goal and McKenzie outworked
several Devil players to add another clutch goal late in the 3rd period to
knot the game at 2. The game ended in a tie at 2, thanks mainly to the
strong goaltending of Calvin MacDonald and a stout defense led by Jack
Aylward, David Witkowski, Patrick Rossetti and Michael Saracco. McKenzie
earned Player of the Game honors for his 2 goal and all-around effort.
Later on 2/29, the Melrose Mites faced off against the Lawrence Flames
from Lawrence, NJ. The Melrose team again dominated play and earned a 4
1 victory. Scoring for Melrose were Greg McGuinigle, Calvin MacDonald and
Matt McKenzie who scored twice. McGuinigle also added 2 assists while
McKenzie and MacDonald also picked up an assist. David Witkowski played a
stellar game in goal while the Melrose offense kept the pressure on
Lawrence all game long with the majority of play taking place in the
Lawrence zone. Leading the Melrose offense were the lines of Jack Wells,
Ryan Sheft and Jared Crowell as well as the line of Justin Crowley,
Donovan Smith and Corbin White. Ryan Christensen led a Melrose defense
that smothered the Lawrence attack.
Next up for Melrose on 3/1 was the elite Select team from Leaside, Ontario
that had a strong NHL pedigree and which had allowed only 1 goal against
in their previous 2 games. Melrose fell behind 2 -0 early before Matt
McKenzie scored midway through the 1st period on a pretty breakaway goal.
The score would remain at 2 -1 until late in the second period.
Witkowski played an
unbelievable game in net to deny a number of Leaside scoring opportunities
while the offense generated some of their own scoring chances with the
lines of McKenzie, McGuinigle and McDonald; Crowell, Wells and Sheft; and
Smith, Crowley and White applying pressure. However, the Leaside team
proved to be too strong, tallying 4 goals in the 3rd period to walk away
with a 7 1 victory, notwithstanding a great effort by Witkowski and
equally strong efforts by the defense led by Ryan Christensen, Michael
Saracco, Jack Aylward and Patrick Rossetti. Witkowski and Crowell shared
Player of the Game honors for Melrose.
The good news is that the 1 1 -1 record and goal differential notched by
Melrose during the Round Robin portion of the tournament propelled them to
the Finals against Leaside on Sunday, March 2nd.
On Sunday, March 2nd, the Melrose Mites faced off against the powerful and
heavily favored Leaside Flames. An inspired Melrose team came out strong
and struck first. Jared Crowell fed a pass to Ryan Sheft who skated with
speed through center ice into the Leaside zone where he and Jack Wells
exchanged passes before Sheft scored on a shot that beat the Leaside
goaltender low to the stickside. Not to be outdone, the line of Matt
McKenzie, Greg McGuinigle and Calvin MacDonald struck next when McKenzie
fed a pass to McGuingle who beat the Leaside goalie up high. Midway
through the first period the Melrose team was up 2 -0 against a stunned
Leaside team. Backstopping Melrose was David Witkowski who again played an
unbelievable game, frustrating Leaside on numerous occasions with
acrobatic saves.
The Melrose defense also held
firm, led by Jack Aylward, Michael Saracco, Patrick Rosetti and a limping
Ryan Christensen while the line of Donovan Smith, Justin Crowley and
Corbin White generated some strong opportunities. Unfortunately, there was
not a mini-miracle on this day as Leaside scored twice late in the first
period to tie the game at 2 -2 where it stayed until late in the second
period when Leaside scored 3 more times. The Melrose Mites tired in the
third and went on to lose by 8 2 with 3 Leaside goals coming at the very
end of the third period. For his all-around strong game, Ryan Sheft earned
Player of the Game honors. For making it to the Finals, the Melrose Mite A
team earned the Silver Medal.
The Mite A Team would like to thank Head Coach Glen Crowell for
spearheading this trip to Lake Plaid as well as assistant coaches Joe
Crowley, Bill McGuinigle and Dan Rossetti as well as Team Manager Laurie
Sheft for their time in organizing and managing this trip. Most of all,
the Team would like to thank all of their parents for supporting this trip
and making it a hugely successful and enjoyable experience for everyone
involved.
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