ABBY BOUDREAU, a sophomore playing in her third season as the starting goalie, picked up a shutout over state powerhouse Reading on Saturday to help the Warriors earn a 2-0 win to start the season.(Beth Boudreau Photography)
Published in the December 17, 2019 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
READING—Saturday night was an exciting opening night on the ice for the Wakefield High girls’ ice hockey team as they hosted Reading as the home team, albeit on Reading’s home ice at the Burbank Ice Arena.
The Reading crowd may have been larger, but home ice advantage worked in the Warriors’ favor as they were able to down the Rockets by a 2-0 score.
Warrior head coach Chrissy Weeden knew her team had an uphill battle as they faced off with a much bigger, Liberty Division opponent.
“They wanted this win,” said Weeden of her Warriors. “They’ve been talking about it since last week. We’ve never beat Reading before so this is a huge win for this group.”
Things started out a bit tentatively, as both sides were vying for the opening goal. About midway through the first period, Wakefield caught lightning in a bottle as senior Carestin Stewart let one rip from the blue line, her shot beating Reading goalie Casey Machera’s glove and lighting the lamp at the 8:13 mark of the 1st period. Grace Seabury picked up the assist on the Warriors’ opening goal of the season.
Coach Weeden reflected on what it was like to see her team pull ahead.
“Seeing Carestin score, and to watch her take a shot from the blue line and seeing it go in, I’m sure was one of the most exciting moments of her life, and it was awesome to watch that be our first goal of the season, it was great.”
About Stewart, Weeden said, “She works so hard every single day, she wants to be here, and just works hard.
“We have a great senior class. The seniors are full of a lot of leadership, and it was awesome seeing them on the ice and playing well tonight.”
Wakefield went on the defensive after scoring, and for the remaining time, Warrior sophomore goalie Abby Boudreau made a half dozen saves. Starting her third year net, Boudreau made a half dozen more saves throughout the 2nd period, as Wakefield packed it in, keeping Reading off the board.
In fact, through much of the 2nd, Wakefield didn’t look like they would score, until a flash of brilliance, and a moment of greatness from an exciting freshman. With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Caroline Melanson gathered the puck near center ice, brought it along the far boards blazing past two defenders, made a fake to completely bamboozle the Reading goalie and fired a shot off the side of her helmet that went ricocheting into the net to make it 2-0. Freshman Charlotte Rossicone picked up the assist.
“Caroline Melanson is a great addition to this team,” Weeden said, “We changed her into a forward and she just works hard and doesn’t stop – she wants to be on the ice, she wants to have the puck on her stick, and that’s what she did and that’s how she got her goal.”
Comfortable insurance the second goal may have been, it only served to ignite the Reading offense’s attack. As the period ended, the Rockets forced Boudreau and the Warriors’ defense to scramble to keep the two-goal lead. As the siren sounded, Wakefield got some much needed respite.
However, as the third period began, the Rockets attack resumed. It was a scrappy, physical period that saw Reading creating chances to score, and Wakefield opening up opportunities on the counter attack as their defense held firm.
In the end, Wakefield was able to stabilize and control the puck enough to wind down the clock. When it read triple zeros, this group had an opening night shutout victory and a win over Reading for the first time in recent memory and potentially in program history with research pending.
It was a complete night for the Warriors: a senior and a freshman scored from the defense and forward spots, while Abby Boudreau stopped around two dozen shots and the defense blocked about a dozen more before they got to the goalie, en route to the 2-0 victory.
“I think one of the best parts about the game was we didn’t stop,” the coach observed. “We kept going and I think we collectively played well for all three periods and it’s very nice to start the season that way.
“It’s a statement win for us. A small school beating a Liberty team, it’s just amazing that we did as well as we did. We’re happy that’s for sure.”
A statement win such as this sends a warning to the rest of the Middlesex League that the Warriors are not to be trifled with, and coach Weeden made it clear she was happy to put the league on notice.
“It sends a good message to the league,” she said, “Because we’re a young team that lost a lot to graduation last year, and I think it’s important that the league now knows we’re still going to be a tough team to play.”
Tomorrow night, 8:30 p.m. at Bentley University against Lexington is the next time the Warriors hit the ice, and there is no doubting the Minutemen will have received the message and taken note of the way things went against Reading.
