Published in the February 4, 2021 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WATERTOWN — The Wakefield High boys’ hockey team extended their winning streak to four games last night with an emphatic 7-2 win over Watertown, bringing their record to 5-3-1 overall. The Warriors have won five of their last six games.
Wakefield was led by a hat trick from junior Joey O’Brien who pulled even with senior captain Brendan Vacca for the team lead in goals (four). Senior captain Matthew Moniz joined that group as well with his third and fourth goals of the season last night. Senior captain Oliver Miller tallied his first goal of 2021 and sophomore Bobby DeFeo got his second of the campaign to round out the scoring for Wakefield. Junior Jon Guida got the win in net with 15 saves.
The victory came on the heels of Wakefield’s 5-2 win against Wilmington on Saturday. Trailing 2-1 after one period, the Warriors scored four unanswered in the second to take that one. Wakefield got two goals from sophomore Matt Elwell and one from Moniz, senior John DeFeo and junior Dan Mailhoit. Senior Jacob Barrett earned his fourth win of the season and his third in a row against the Wildcats.
Wakefield completed the season sweep against Burlington – something the program hasn’t done in over a decade – with a close 2-1 win on Jan. 27. Vacca and senior Cal Tryder scored the goals for Wakefield in that one.
“We are playing well and getting great leadership from our captains,” said head coach Mike Geary. “The players’ goal from the start of the season has been to win the Freedom Division so we have put ourselves in a good position to do that.”
The Warriors were locked in from the first puck drop against Watertown last night. Wakefield’s top line of Vacca, O’Brien and Elwell didn’t take their first shift to warm up – they were there to score, which O’Brien did about 35 seconds into the game on a sharp wrister from the high slot.
After Wakefield killed an early penalty, Bobby DeFeo cleaned up a rebound to make it 2-0 with an assist to Tryder.
The Warriors got a power play with 10:30 remaining and though they couldn’t score, it was expertly run with strong cycling and plenty of opportunities with five shots on net. Moniz made an under the radar play of the game when he stole the puck on a stick lift as the man advantage was expiring to break up a pass and surefire breakaway to the Raider coming out of the penalty box.
The Raiders scored on the power play with 4:18 left in the first to make it 2-1.
Wakefield’s immediate response would determine the rest of the game. Allow the momentum to stick with Watertown and the Warriors may have been looking at a tie game after one. Instead, Wakefield decided to use that Raider goal as fuel when on the very next shift, O’Brien got his second on a two-on-one, patiently waiting for the Raider defender to make a decision before confidently uncoiling an open shot top shelf, popping a water bottle that would be battered by the end of this one.
The Warriors were off from there, with Moniz placing a bid for goal of the year just seconds later to give Wakefield a 4-1 lead. The captain took the puck deep and faked to go around the net, stopping short in Gretzky’s office just as the Watertown goalie turned his head and moved to the left side of the cage. Moniz brought the puck back to the right side for a wide open wrap around.
The Warriors outshot Watertown 21-9 in the first period alone. The final shot total was 34-17 Wakefield.
Wakefield picked up where they left off in the second. The Warriors scored goals five-on-five, on the power play and even shorthanded in this one. Wakefield’s penalty kill has been especially effective this season thanks in part to the effort of the two forwards who create pressure and read passes well. Those two forwards are often Miller and Moniz. Miller picked the pocket of a Raider defender trying to skate it out of his own zone, creating a one-on-one with the goalie. The captain deked twice to open up the stick side and finished on the backhand for a shorthanded goal and 5-1 lead.
It wasn’t quite a Gordon Bombay triple deke, but it was just as effective.
Much of Wakefield’s success in this game could be found at the faceoff dot. The Warriors won the vast majority of faceoffs, often creating scoring chances.
Wakefield’s power play benefited from the that advantage and their man-up goal was scored by Moniz. Right after a Vacca tip from a shot by junior defenseman Evan Simoneau just missed, Moniz toe dragged around a sliding defender and finished top shelf for a 6-1 lead.
Watertown’s second goal also came on the power play but the Warriors made sure to end the night on a good note as Elwell found O’Brien in the slot again, a place no team wants to see the junior with the puck on his stick. “OB” again roofed a laser into the net. There weren’t any hats at the empty John Ryan Arena but it was still a memory O’Brien and the Warriors won’t soon forget as they stormed out of town with 7-2 win.
Wakefield’s Freedom dreams were kept alive, first with their sweep over Burlington, then with their comeback win over Wilmington. They will have a chance to beat every Freedom team with Melrose and Stoneham still on the schedule. Wakefield and Stoneham meet this Saturday, 5 p.m. at the Stoneham Arena and again on Feb. 11 before wrapping up the season with two games against Melrose.
