Also hold their own in Woburn loss, 4-2
After press time:
Melrose defeats Burlington 5-4 (Jan. 11)
Melrose defeats Wakefield 2-0 (Jan. 8)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
WOBURN—The Melrose High girls’ hockey team split play last week when they battled two non-league games. On Monday night, Melrose was doubled up by host Woburn, 4-2, at the O’Brien Rink but it followed an impressive 8-0 shutout over Cambridge Rindge and Latin on New Years Day. With that loss and win, Melrose’s remains 4-3 on the season while the Tanners improve to 4-2.
“They [Woburn] have a very good team with a lot of speed and strong skaters,” said Melrose head coach Frank Sorrenti. “I like the effort we had and we were able to hang with them the first two periods.”
The Woburn game was tied at one after the first and second periods before the host then pulled away in the third. Mia Basile scored the game’s first goal 2:09 in to give the Tanners the early lead. Melrose’s Julia McNeely tied it with 1:36 remaining in the first, assisted by Anna Mathews. After a scoreless second stanza, Juliana Ferragamo made it 2-1, 1:38 into the third. Kelsi Grimes then beat Melrose goalie Ruby Hansen to give the Tanners a 3-1 lead with 9:56 left in the game. Ella Spinazola had the final Woburn tally with 1:35 left. But Melrose would respond once more. On the power play, Melrose forward Ella Daniels scored with 40 seconds left assisted by her sister, Grace, and Zoe Blackburn. Melrose was out-shot on goal, 34-22, as Hansen made 30 stops to go to 4-3 in net.
The news was much better on New Year’s night as Melrose blanked Cambridge Rindge and Latin, 8-0, at Flynn Rink.
With that non-league victory, Melrose was able to compete the season sweep over the Falcons as they beat them, 6-2, back on Dec. 16 in Cambridge. “In the first game we played against them we let them hang around for two periods,” recalled Sorrenti. “This time we got off to a quick start that didn’t allow them to get back into the game.”
Melrose led 5-0 after the first period and 7-0 after the second. The scoring was balanced as the Daniels sisters and defenseman Martha Murray all scored twice. Both of Murray’s goals came on the power play. Murray’s sister, Nora, lit the lamp once while Mathews had the other tally.
Hansen recorded her first shutout of the winter with 17 stops as Melrose had 29 shots on net.
On Jan. 11, Melrose visits Burlington at the Ice Palace at 2:00 p.m. They then host non-league Medford on Jan. 15. Face-off for that contest is at 6 pm.