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Boys begin Middlesex League season with three straight wins
Winchester High boys hockey coach Gino Khachadourian couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. His Red & Black squad won its first three games against Stoneham (3-2, in overtime), Melrose (2-0) and Wakefield (3-2, in overtime), before dropping a close 2-1 decision to non-league Xaverian, 2-1 on Dec. 23.
On Dec. 13, in the home opener at Woburn’s O’Brien Rink, Caiden Brady, Ben Wright and Liam Connelly scored the goals in the overtime game against the Spartans, with assists going to Thomas Lisy, Eli Krogmeier, Joey Vaccari, Jack Burkart and Wright. Junior Graham Emerick made the saves count to give his teammates the opportunity to pull out the win in the extra period.
“After a tight, back-and-forth game through regulation, we stayed composed to win it in overtime,” said Khachadourian. “It was a strong start to the year, while passing the early test with great grit and teamwork. I was proud of how our team played a complete game, and battled through adversity.”
On Dec. 17 in Saugus, Melrose became victim No. 2. Axel Osborn and Jack Burkart were credited with the goals in this shutout win. Max Vozzella, Joey Vaccari and Brady setup the scores. Senior Macklin O’Flynn was between the pipes in this game, turning away the Melrose shots on goal to record the shutout.
“We took control of this game early,” said Khachadourian. “Our (fast start) set the tone, while strong, physical play helped maintain momentum throughout the rest of the game. We won the battles all over the ice, and limited Melrose’s quality chances on net, before closing out the solid shutout win. (O’Flynn) was outstanding in net, which helped preserve the early lead.”
The Winchester boys were then involved in another overtime battle, this time against Wakefield at the Stoneham Arena on Dec. 20, and once again they persevered with a 3-2 victory.
Connelly, Burkart and Brady netted the goals. Brett Daniels, Joey Vaccari and Vozzella picked up the assists. Emerick was back in net to do his part to account for another two points for his teammates. That’s six points in three games; you can’t get much better than that.
“After a slow start, we showed resilience as the game went on,” said Khachadourian. “We picked up the pace in the second and third periods, creating more chances, while tightening up defensively to force overtime. I was proud of the way our team stuck together to establish the game plan that resulted in another overtime win, but we also know that we still have a lot of things to clean up.”
Girls take two to head into Christmas break with winning record
The Winchester High girls hockey team won its first two regular season games against Stoneham (7-2) and Melrose (4-0), before dropping a bitter 4-3 battle to the upstart Wakefield co-op squad at the Stoneham Arena on Dec. 20.
Against Melrose, goalie Riley Pimentel recorded her first career varsity shutout to lead the Red & Black to victory. Josie Chang paced the attack with two goals. Both goals were assisted by Chloe Goldberg, who also set up a Junie McCabe lamplighter.
Cate Sheehan lit the lamp for the second time in the young season to account for another goal against the Red Hawks. Courtney Fisher and Millie McDonald collected the assists on that goal, and also in this game, Caroline McGowan was credited with her first career varsity goal from Maddy Napolitano and Libby Jackson. This complete team effort helped avenge a loss to Melrose last year.
But it was a different story, however, against the Wakefield co-op.
“With the addition of the Wilmington girls, Wakefield is fielding a more competitive team this year,” said Coach Tommy Scarpa, who says that Wakefield’s previous co-op partner Stoneham left to be on its own.
“Unfortunately, our lack of preparation and poor play in this game showed that we can’t just show up and beat teams,” added the Winchester coach. “As deep as we are, we still lost to a team that was playing with less than two lines. We just couldn’t get our system together, despite the fact that we scored three goals.”
McCabe notched one of those goals from her linemates Goldberg and Chang. Sheehan netted her third goal in as many games with assists going to her linemates Courtney Fisher and McDonald, who also scored her first career varsity goal on a solo effort to round out the team’s scoring against the Warriors.
Freshman Gracyn Walsh shared the goaltending chores with Pimentel, who once again started the game. Wakefield’s winning goal was scored on a deflection off a player, no fault of Gracyn’s, according to Scarpa.
“We now hope to regroup over the holidays, before we play a tough Methuen / Tewksbury co-op team on Dec. 27 in Woburn at noon,” said Scarpa.
Non-league Nantucket will then come off the island to take on the Winchester girls at Woburn’s O’Brien Rink on Dec. 29, also at noon.
The Red & Black will follow up that game with a trip to Springfield to close out 2025 on New Year’s Eve against non-league host Pope Francis at Smead Arena, starting at 12:30 p.m.
The team will return to the Middlesex League schedule to take on Arlington in Woburn on Jan. 3 at noon.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News last November.
