By DAN PAWLOWSKI
BURLINGTON — “Just keep working hard and stay positive; don’t be scared. Play your game.”
That’s what Wakefield High boys’ hockey senior captain Joey O’Brien and his group of seniors have been preaching to their younger Warrior teammates during a winning streak that went to five games after a 5-1 victory over Burlington at the Burlington Ice Palace on Saturday night.
A three-goal 2nd period, led by a team-high 11th and 12th of the season from O’Brien, catapulted the Warriors to a 3-1 lead.
Senior goalie Gabe Brissette (16 saves) and a collective defensive effort did the rest as Wakefield improved to 9-8, one win away from automatically qualifying for the Div. 2 state tournament.
“We did a good job sticking with the process,” said Wakefield head coach Mike Geary. “It was a tight game but we were able to get a couple goals in the third to separate things. I thought our senior class played really well tonight. Joey O’Brien had a couple goals to get us going. Gabe Brissette, we’re just getting high-level goaltending from him which makes everything look better. The defensive corps is playing really well: Evan Simoneau, Joe Colliton, Matt Burns, just really happy for the older guys in the group.”
O’Brien’s second, a tap-in on a rolling puck sent in front on a no-look chop from junior captain Matt Elwell from behind the net and also assisted by Jack Curran, reclaimed the lead at 2-1 and ended up being the game winner after Burlington’s Ryan Kane tied it.
Wakefield’s third of the period came from Frankie Leone assisted by captain Simoneau and Andrew Nemec.
The final two in the third period were scored by Ryan Rossini assisted by O’Brien and Elwell and Colliton assisted by Dan Mailhoit.
Coach Geary was especially proud of the defense played by all, a theme and a focus that has served them well during their current winning streak.
“During this stretch, on defense we’ve been focusing on keeping it simple and not turning it over in the D zone which has helped us out obviously along with great goaltending,” said Geary.
Led by the top pairing of Simoneau and Colliton, Wakefield’s blue line also features a great mix of steady experience like Burns and Mike Parent and younger talent like Brian Purcell, Trevor Veilleux and Liam McNeil. They played well as a unit against a hard-hitting Red Devils squad.
A tense, physical first period ended scoreless after some great work by the Warrior penalty kill with about five minutes left and a couple of great stop by Brissette including a sprawling pad saved immediately followed by a glove snag on the rebound.
O’Brien made a decision as a leader after a dangerous hit on Elwell into the boards that resulted in a penalty. O’Brien’s matching roughing was a penalty that most coaches don’t mind and all teammates appreciate. It was a message to the Red Devils that sunk in.
“If you’re close off the ice, it reflects on the ice too,” said O’Brien when asked about the cohesiveness of a group that was evident to Warrior fans cheering on their team’s fifth straight win.
That togetherness paid off early in the second when O’Brien struck just 13 seconds in on an unassisted power play goal.
O’Brien’s second was scored after seven minutes of more tense hockey in a 1-1 game, a stretch that included another couple of great stops from Brissette.
Leone’s insurance tally came on his own rebound after he followed his shot, certainly much to the delight of the Warrior coaching staff.
Wakefield outworked Burlington in the third, Rossini finishing on a one timer after Elwell chipped the puck from his own zone and O’Brien out-skated multiple Red Devils to get to it deep on the left wing before sending across a perfect pass to Rossini who finished.
The Warriors endured two different 5-on-3 Burlington power plays and when the home team pulled the goalie with 1:36 left to make it a 6-on-3 Brissette stood tall with more impressive saves in traffic and Colliton finished it off with an empty-netter.
The victory came three days after Wakefield beat Stoneham in an identical 5-1 win. O’Brien had two goals as well in that game. Nate Brissette, Bobby DeFeo and Tylor Roycroft also had goals. Brissette stood on his head for 29 saves to lock down the Spartans.
“We played really good team defense,” said Geary. “We were down 1-0 early in the game but we stuck with it. I think earlier in the season we might have gone away from things if we weren’t immediately successful but now we are sticking with it which is good.”
These last two wins were especially meaningful for Wakefield as they had previously lost to both teams during a stretch that included a 2-8 start in league play. Wakefield is 5-0 since then.
“It’s just really good to keep buzzing and keep the win streak going,” said O’Brien after the win over Burlington. “We’re trying to make a statement after the rough start that we had.”
That statement and getting that 10th win is more important to the Warriors than resting on the fact that they are essentially in to the Div. 2 tournament, ranked 13th in the MIAA’s latest power rankings. They will look to keep it going against Cape Ann League champion Lynnfield on Wednesday night, 8 p.m. at McVann-O’Keefe Rink.