METHUEN — When Methuen and Tewksbury made history seven years ago, combining to become the first co-op team – the Red Rangers – to win a state title, then-head coach Sarah Oteri was asked about the difficulty of winning with two different towns supplying talent.
Oteri turned the question around, implying it was a blessing and learning experience.
“The co-op is such a great thing, especially in girls hockey, because it keeps it so competitive and so strong,” she said. “Now we have more girls in both Methuen and Tewksbury who want to play hockey. They grow up and want to be like these girls and that’s what you want.
“Some people get upset because it’s two towns, but it brings Methuen kids together, it brings Tewksbury kids together and it helps grow the sport, so how can you not want that? That’s what it’s all about with high school athletics,” she added.
One of the players on the 2025-25 Red Rangers team, which plays in the Division 1 state final on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at the T.D. Garden, can attest to co-op team successes.
Sammy Ryan, of Tewksbury, was in the stands in 2019 when the Red Rangers’ Carolyn Curley scored in double OT, to clinch the epic, 2-1, title game at the T.D. Garden.
The Red Rangers will meet No. 5 seed Archbishop Williams with the passionate sports fans from Methuen and Tewksbury expected to fill their side of the stands.
“I was 10 years old watching them win that (2019 state championship) game,” Ryan said. “Ever since then that was always my goal; to be part of this (co-op) team and to play in the Garden.”
That goal has become a reality after the six-seeded Rangers (22-0-2) defeated Winthrop, Woburn and No. 2 seed St. Mary’s of Lynn, thanks to another overtime hero, eighth-grader Annalise Blais.
Blais is one of 10 middle school players on roster, which consists of 17 Tewksbury residents and six from Methuen (there were only five Tewksbury skaters the first year).
Getting 23 players from four different schools to practice and games and, more importantly, become a team and “family,” sounds like a difficult task.
In Red Rangers’ country, it’s quite the contrary.
“Tewksbury and Methuen are two completely different towns and two completely different sizes when it comes to schools,” the team’s goalie, Lydia Barnes, said. “But having the atmosphere and the experience that we have as a co-op hockey team is hard to come by. We do a very good job of coming together and being one.
“There’s not as many Methuen girls as there are Tewksbury girls on the team, but we ignore that and just say two communities and one family,” Barnes noted.
Former athletic directors Brian Hickey (Tewksbury) and Jim Weymouth (Methuen) were instrumental in making this all happen back in 2012.
There’s been different leadership since, but the solidarity of the different teams year after year has remained the same.
“We always see other teams separated with their head phones on, doing their own thing before games,” Ella Duffy of Methuen said. “All of us are always together. No one has their headphones on.
“We’re all dancing together and getting each other hyped up with high-fives all-around, jumping, dancing and singing together. It’s just a whole different environment than other teams.”
Red Rangers players meet up two hours before each game, and go through an extensive pregame routine.
Before they lace up the skates, they blare the music and belt out “Don’t Stop Believin,” and “Cotton Eye Joe,” among other feel-good songs.
Sometimes, the coaches join the locker room show.
Between periods, winning or losing, the dancing continues to songs from Adele.
“The girls that won the championship were the ones who started the goofiness,” Ryan said. “We just have so much fun. It helps take the nerves and the anxiousness away.”
But it’s not just a hockey thing.
The close relationships between the Methuen and Tewksbury players extends well beyond the four months together with practices and games, spaghetti dinners and the singing and dancing.
“We just have a special bond,” Barnes said. “We can bond over hockey and be a family, but after the season we continue to support each other.”
That support from the Red Rangers shifts to fundraisers, community events and other athletic events. Just last week, the players from the two towns came together commemorating the Tewksbury Boys’ hockey team’s own punched ticket to the Division 2 title game against Canton at 3:30 p.m.
And the fun times don’t stop there.
It’s usually capped off by a trip to their favorite local hangout when in Methuen, Chick-fil-A.
“We also hang out throughout the summer,” Barnes said. “Last summer we vacationed together a couple of times. It’s definitely special and it’s definitely not just a hockey thing. It’s a year-round thing which makes it so special.”
Sunday will mark the last time this particular group of Methuen and Tewksbury girls are together on the ice, the last game for the four seniors: Emily Barbosa, Meghan Petrone, Barnes and Duffy.
“We like being with each other,” Duffy said. “It’s just been so enjoyable to be next to these girls all the time.
“We’re a family and we know that after the season ends, we’re still going to be a family.”