By JENNIFER GENTILE
SAUGUS—The Melrose High boys’ varsity hockey team is readying for playoffs as they close out their regular season schedule and, at press time, have improved to 10-9-1 as they now await MIAA Div. 3 Playoff pairings to be announced on Saturday. Melrose is currently power ranked #8 in the division and could be poised to host an opening round game (or two).
Melrose head coach Joe Ciccarello is glad to be returning to playoffs, and this is a consecutive appearance for Melrose after several postseason appearances. This year they enter playoffs with Melrose’s best record since 2020.
“I think it’s great,” the coach said of a home playoff game. “Kasabuski [rink] can have an electric atmosphere when packed. Melrose is the original Hockey Town, the city comes out for big hockey games. I hope we keep giving them reason to come out.”
Melrose recently had the opportunity to celebrate their seven seniors on Senior Night: Aiden Barber, Anders Guiliano, Brendan Doyle, Justin D’Antona, Matt Fuccione, Quinn Haggerty and Griffin Brady. They are a group who has been key to Melrose’s winning season.
“We have a great group of kids lead by an extremely top shelf senior class,” says Ciccarello. “They are a tribute to their families, their school, community, and our program. They are getting accepted to great colleges and have truly grown to great young men right over the time in our program. So, it starts with them.”
A recent 2-1 win over Wilmington helped Melrose’s playoff cause. Melrose hosted the Wildcats on February 12 and skated away with a narrow win thanks to an early goal from Declan McLean on assists from Brendan Doyle and Justin D’Antona, and a game-winning game from Justin D’Antona on assists from McLean and Ray Willis IV. Goalie Matt Fuccione got the job done defensively for Melrose.
“He answered the call and played great,” says the coach. “Our defensemen have been playing really well all year. They go unnoticed because they don’t get a ton of points, but Aiden Ryan, Andrew Giuliano, Nick Burke, Brendan Doyle, and Griffin Brady have been rocks all year.”
Melrose bounced back despite Wilmington scoring first in this contest. “It’s tough to beat a Middlesex team twice, let alone by more than a few goals,” says the coach. “Every team is well coached. I was proud of our resiliency. They scored first, but we never panicked.”
Melrose felt the burn of Stoneham a few days later, however. They battled the Spartans on February 15 and fell, 5-4. It was Melrose’s second, one-goal loss to Stoneham this season. Melrose let a 4-1 lead slip with nine minutes to go after scores from Justin D’Antona, Ray Willis, Declan McLean and Brendan Doyle. Says Ciccarello, “We played great first half of game and had the lead but panicked. We lost our rules and structure and allowed them to storm back for the loss. Whenever we give up more than 2 goals we have breakdowns from many different players. In this game that’s what happened.”
Now as they focus on playoffs, Melrose enters with something of a target on their backs. As a possible #8 seed, Melrose will be expected to launch a playoff run against top Div. 3 seeds like Nauset, Scituate and Marblehead. There is a chance they could open against a team such as Bedford or Dracut. Tournament play is expected to open by Monday, Feb. 24. “The tourney is tough,” says Ciccarello. “As we showed last year, anyone can beat anyone on any given day.”
That said, Melrose has shown they can they play with—and beat—anyone and their deep Middlesex League experience this season is reflected in their power rankings.
“We need to focus on consistency and maintaining our focus on what we do,” says the coach. “When we do it well, we hold teams down. Belmont, Reading and Woburn, top teams in the state, we held to 2 goals a game.”
Come what may, the improvement of this team in his tenure is a mark of pride for Coach Ciccarello. “This is our third year. The coaches on staff are some of the most committed and caring coaches I’ve been around. Jim Mosca, Marc Cirrone (CO ’90), Robert Courtney, Dan Macaron, and Branden Pezzuto are the foundation of this program. We know it takes time, and sometimes I have no patience but it’s only because we have had such great kids come through this program. Maybe the wins weren’t there in the past, but we are trying to develop a program that feels like a part of a family, even after you graduate. We want to do well and keep doing well to make the alumni and the city proud and bring back Hockey Town.”