By TYM BROWN
STONEHAM — The Wakefield High boys’ hockey team is now on a two-game heater after starting off the season 0-6. Wakefield’s remarkable 7-2 win over Stoneham at the Stoneham Arena on Wednesday was a laser show offensively with senior Frankie Leone leading the charge with two goals and an assist, as well as five other separate goal scorers for the Warriors.
Defensively, sophomore backstop David Rocca secured his second win with 15 saves on 17 shots as the Wakefield defensive group did a great job of limiting scoring chances and possession time for Stoneham.
The dominance started just 40 seconds into the game for Wakefield as Leone got a takeaway in Stoneham’s defensive zone and charged straight ahead. Goaltender Brendan Cunniff made a left pad save, only to open up the five-hole on the rebound as Leone followed through to find the back of the net.
Two minutes later, a faceoff just outside of Wakefield’s defensive zone was dumped around the boards, allowing freshman Joe Covelluzzi to scoop the puck away and fly up the right boards, leaving four Stoneham players in the dust. Junior defenseman Trevor Veilleux and junior left wing Andrew Nemec trailed in the 3 on 1 opportunity as Covelluzzi drew attention to the right side of the net. Covelluzzi dumped a perfect feed back to Veilleux for a fine wrist-shot finish on a vacant left side of the net.
“I’ve had two posts in the last five games so finally potting one felt really good,” said the junior after scoring his first goal of the season. “Hopefully more are gonna come in the next few.”
The Spartans switched goalies after the second score by Wakefield, but the move did them no good. Soon after, junior Cam DePrizio picked off a pass in his own zone and pushed ahead to Leone who passed the Stoneham blue line while splitting two defenders. Leone forced his trailing defender to go across the front of the net as he stopped behind the net after passing the right post. This led the new goalie Noah Dinan to the left as Leone came back to the right side and set off the Wakefield crowd with his second goal of the game.
With three goals scored in just five minutes, the Warriors had already tied their season-high for goals in a game. Stoneham still didn’t even have a shot on goal to this point as the Wakefield defense was just as dominant as the offense. The physicality from the D-line pair of seniors Liam McNeil and Brian Purcell wasn’t allowing the Spartans to carry the puck into the offensive zone without a beating. Eventually the Spartans would find five opportunities to throw the puck on net in the first, all five turned away by Rocca. The period ended on a sour note for Stoneham as they picked up an interference penalty, giving the Warriors a man advantage for a minute and a half to begin the second.
Apparently this is just what the hosts needed to get themselves going as senior Joe Aronis found his way to a puck that slipped under the stick of Covelluzzi in the Wakefield zone. This left Aronis to beat Rocca with a snipe over his blocker-side to bring the score to 3-1. The power play drained away for Wakefield and one began for Stoneham soon after. A successful penalty kill was necessary for the Warriors to keep momentum in this game and it was delivered as Wakefield did a great job of keeping pressure on the puck. A second power play was then successfully dismissed by Wakefield really showing the gusto of this Warrior defense as they proved to be locked in on perfection after the early slip in the period.
“We pride ourselves on blocking shots and defending our goalie,” said Veilleux, going on to support his backstop. “We’ve gotten good goaltending from David Rocca. Having him behind us has our confidence up.”
This combination of an uber-capable goaltender as well as a long list of defenders willing to put their bodies on the line made the Wakefield defense deadly in this game and hopefully in games to come.
The second period ended with Wakefield finally starting to find themselves again on offense as Veilluex and Roycroft had a 2-on-1 with time running out in the period. Roycroft released the shot on the left side and the rebound hit Veilleux perfectly for the follow, but the horn sounded before he could get the shot off.
That momentum certainly carried its way into the third period for the Warriors as Purcell hucked a shot from the left point that was tipped down and through the five-hole of Noah Dinan by sophomore JP Casey. This made the lead much more comfortable for the Warriors with a three-goal difference.
Stoneham was quickly given an opportunity to get back into an offensive flow with another Wakefield penalty. This power play kill would go different than those prior for Wakefield as the shorthanded puck persistence paid off for a golden opportunity on offense. Covelluzzi cleanly poke-checked Cam Shinnick as he was charging up ice with two trailers. Covelluzzi outpaced all three defenders and froze Dinan with a shot right over his dome into the top shelf to put Wakefield ahead 5-1.
After the full penalty drained away, Stoneham had their best possession in the opposing zone all game. Mike Taranto dumped a pass off the left boards to Jacob Minsk who ripped a shot at Rocca that trickled through his legs and sat at the goal line for Taranto to clean up the loose change. The celebration for this goal was not nearly as enthusiastic as the first from Stoneham as the whole team looked to be hurting, knowing they would be moving to 0-7 on the year when this game concluded. This mental absence continued to hurt Stoneham as the game entered the final seven minutes as they picked up a too many men penalty that set up yet another Wakefield goal. Leone intercepted a Stoneham clearing attempt that was tipped by Purcell. Leone threw a shot on net, creating a rebound and score by DePrizio.
At this point, the Warriors were really rubbing salt in the wound of the Spartans, but they didn’t stop there. The final goal for Wakefield was scored on another power play, this time a shot by Veilleux tipped in by freshman Kevanni Marroquin, chipped off the right pad of Dinan, and into the stick of Roycroft to put the seal on this game with just 1:47 left in the 3rd.
Time trickled down without an issue for either team as the Warriors could now rest after an absolute masterpiece of a game.
This performance from the Warriors was absolutely the peak of their season thus far. Wakefield flat out dominated Stoneham in every facet of the game and continued playing at that level on Saturday when they beat Burlington 2-1 on the road in overtime. A full story will appear at a later date. The Warriors (3-6) will try to make it four in a row today when they host Bedford (7-0-1), 4 p.m. back at the Stoneham Arena.