METHUEN — With the first undefeated regular season in program history within reach, the Methuen/Tewksbury girls hockey team delivered a dominant final period.
Hockey fortunes, however, were not on the Red Rangers’ side.
Methuen/Tewksbury unleashed a barrage of pressure over the final frame, including a particularly ferocious final six minutes — firing 12 shots on net and now allowing a shot — but could not crack Reading goalie Rylee Middleton, and the Red Rangers suffered their first loss in their regular season finale, falling to the Rockets 2-1 in the Brianna McCarthy Memorial Hockey Tournament championship game on Wednesday.
“We just came up a little bit short,” said Rangers head coach Dave O’Hearn. “We played a very good Reading team. We definitely had our opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize when we had those chances. Their goalie played great. She was the MVP of the tournament. We had a few chances to bury pucks, and she came out on top.”
With the loss, the Red Rangers — the No. 4 team in the most recent MIAA Power Rankings — closed out the regular season 16-1-3. Reading (13-6-1) is ranked No. 11 in the rankings.
The MIAA is scheduled to release its official girls hockey state tournament pairings on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“It stinks to make it this far without any blemishes on your record,” said O’Hearn. “You want this one to be the one. But if this has to be our first loss, lets hope it’s our only one. The undefeated season never came up until we got close to this point. It wasn’t a big point of emphasis. We didn’t really talk about it. But we knew it was there. We just wanted to finish the regular season strong. Even though we lost, I still feel like we finished strong.”
Methuen/Tewksbury outshot the Rockets 33-12 for the game, including a 17-2 margin in the third period.
But Reading was the aggressor early, dominating a scoreless first period, then taking the lead on a Gianna Bonfilio goal 3:36 into the second period.
The Red Rangers tied it up with 5:45 left in the second. MJ Petisce fired a pass up ice to Sammy Ryan, who attacked the net and fired a shot that was stopped. But the rebound deflected directly to Sarah Marano, who buried it to make it 1-1.
But Reading retook the lead for good with 1:26 left in the second, on another goal from Bonfilio.
Methuen/Tewksbury dominated the third, but could not find a way to beat a scorching hot Middleton.
“We’re going to get every team’s best,” said O’Hearn. “The first round of the playoffs is always the toughest, and that’s what we have coming up. We’re not going to surprise anyone. We’ve been a top-6 team in the state all season, so we have to be ready. We just have to score more goals. This loss will just fuel the fire.”
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