For a moment, the Watertown-Wayland boys hockey team’s season ended Wednesday at John A. Ryan Arena, but then the sudden death tally by Pembroke was ruled “no goal” by the referees. The Raiders used their new lease on life to score the winner in the 4-3 double overtime and propel the team to the Round of 16 of the MIAA Div. 3 State Tournament.
Watertown-Wayland (8-12-1) won what was a back and fourth Round of 32 game, with both teams holding the lead in the game. Watertown Head Coach John Vlachos said his team earned a hard-fought victory.
“I’m proud of my boys, you know,” he said. “I’m proud of our coaching staff, and our administration at Watertown just does a great job.”
He still worried when regulation time ended with the teams knotted 3-3.
“One bad bounce, or one outstanding play — I mean, they had some talented players on that team, and we knew that. They had some goal scorers,” Vlachos said. “So, we’re just happy that we got that ‘W’ and it’s great. So I’m so happy for the boys, happy for our program, and you know, I’m happy for our student body, that was outstanding.”
The visitors from Pembroke (6-13-2), the 22nd seed, announced their presence early, when Michael Shagnessey scored in the first minute of the game. The Raiders tied it up with 1:12 left in the first when Luke Galizio, a senior from Wayland, scored. Watertown sophomore Isaac Maillis got the assist.
Vlachos said his team fell behind “too early,” but he liked how they fought back to tie and go ahead.
Maillis added two more helpers in the second period. First on the goal by Jack Gavron, a senior from Wayland, about 6.5 minutes into the period. The second came a minute-and-a-half later when Wayland senior Shane Desmond hit the top of the net on his shot.
The two-goal cushion did not last long. Less than two minutes later, Pembroke’s Kevin Murrin scored, assisted by Frederick Casavant.
In the third period, Pembroke made the Raiders pay for having too many players on the ice. The Titans’ Brandon Bedrosian scored a power play goal with less than six minutes remaining. Ryan Conway got the assist.
“I thought we played really good during the game,” Vlachos said. “I mean, we outshot them. We outplayed them. We did everything right, but they ended up tying it up to make it 3-3.”
Neither team could score during the remainder of the third period, nor the eight minutes of the first overtime, during which the teams skated four-on-four.
With the teams skating just three players each in the second extra period, Pembroke appeared to score the game winner just over a minute into the second overtime. However, the referee ruled that they had interfered with Watertown goalie Patrick Johnson-Ciano.
Gavron ended the game with 3:28 left in the second OT when he grabbed the puck, avoided a defender, and got the puck past goalie Cameron Curtis.
“Pembroke played great, you know, it was two teams that played competitively, that wanted to go on,” Vlachos said. “Fortunately, we were got that winner at the end, it’s great.”
Watertown and Wayland have had a co-operative team for three years, and this year the squad is about half from each town.
“I think this year has been one of the better years that we’ve had that connection between the two towns,” Vlachos said.
Next up for the Raiders is fifth-seeded Triton (14-5-2) which defeated Diman 6-3 on Wednesday. The game will be played Sunday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at Graf Rink in Newburyport.