Strong Start Propels Winchester to Victory

Host Winchester jumped out to a commanding early lead with three first period goals and never looked back as they defeated the Melrose Red Raiders, 4-0, on Wednesday Night at O’Brien Rink in Woburn.

“The first period was good. We came out ready to play. It’s getting to that time of year with the tournament coming up that you have to come out strong every night and we did that tonight,” said Winchester head coach Mike Spang.

The Sachems controlled the action all night. They outshot the Red Raiders 35-12 in the contest. Winchester won the crucial one-on-one battles along the boards and dominated the action in the faceoff circle. Melrose struggled to mount any sustained pressure ion the offense end. The Winchester defense swarmed the Red Raiders forwards and never let Melrose get set on the attack.

The Red Raiders offense finally came to life in the third period peppering Winchester goaltender Jed Robinson with a few quality scoring chances, but it was too little too late. The Sachems goalie turned all of the shots aside and kept the shutout intact.

“He put a donut up tonight,” said Spang. “Anytime you see a zero at the end of the game, you know that Jed’s done his job well.”

Senior forward Evan Eaton put Winchester on the board in the opening minutes of play with a backhand shot off of a rebound. Freshman forward Dan Durgin and Senior forward Eddie Dorr collected the assists on the play.

Five minutes later Winchester capitalized on another long rebound. This time it was Freshman forward Brendan Greene who scored on a wrist shot from the slot. Junior defensemen Scott Carson got the play going with a perfect pass that sprang Senior forward Colin Edwards into the Melrose end. Edwards’ hard slap shot set up Greene’s tally and both he and Carson picked up assists on the play.

The Sachems closed on the first period scoring just minutes later in a flurry of activity in front of the Red Raiders net. Freshman forward Nolan Redler got the goal with assists from junior forward Alex Sharp and Senior defensemen Ryan McGoff.

Redler’s line with pick up the night’s only other goal on the power play at 5:56 in the final period. McGoff once again made Melrose pay for not controlling the rebound as he collected the final score. Redler and Junior defensemen Mark Martignetti were credited with the assists.

“We played four lines tonight and all four lines played really well,” said Spang. “That’s important for everyone to contribute and they did tonight. “It was a good effort, but we still need to work hard to get better every game.”

Winchester will be back in action on Monday night at 8:45 when they visit Austin Prep. Melrose heads to Lexington on Saturday for a 7:30 faceoff with the Minutemen.