Four Youth Hockey Squads Capture Tournament Championship

On a snowy weekend, the Agawam Youth Hockey Program, the town hockey program of Hamilton, Wenham, Ipswich, Manchester and Essex, once again participated in the annual Larry Fournier hockey tournament held in Newburyport, MA.  In its 26^th year, this year’s tournament spanned 11 days and three rinks, with more than 1,000 young players from across 67 teams and 13 divisions participating in the event.

As a program, Agawam Youth Hockey entered nine teams into tournament play in this year’s tournament, the most ever.  Even more impressive than the number of teams participating, however, is the success the program had in tournament play.  Specifically, of the nine teams, 7 advanced to the Finals of their divisions, with four of the teams capturing championships.

“The Fournier Tournament is an excellent event that we as a program – and especially the kids-- look forward to each year, “said Matt Cann, president, Agawam Youth Hockey.  “To have such strong representation and success from our program overall really is a testament to the communities we serve, the talented players that continually come out and the committed group of coaches who give a great deal of their time, not only during the season, but throughout the year. “

With the Fournier Tournament now complete, the Agawam teams are preparing for a final couple of weeks of regular season play prior to the commencement of the Valley League Playoffs later this month.  Information on tryouts for next year’s teams can be found below.

Photo Caption:

• Kneeling...Danny Leff, Ricky Calvani, Ben Brophey and Gavin Cann.
• Standing:  Jack Gourdeau, Patrick Meaney, Kieran McKay, Robbie Shepard, Nick McLane, Michael Gillis, Alex Apgar, Mark Turner, Danny Frey and James Turner
• Coaches: Mark Meaney, Jim Turner and Lee Apgar

Game Summaries:

Bantam 1s Capture Fournier Title in Overtime, 1-0

The Agawam Bantam 1 team was crowned champions of the Bantam A division of the Larry Fournier Tournament on Sunday with a stunning last-minute overtime victory over a very tough Triton Maples Bantam 1 team.  Having lost to the Maples 3-1 in the preliminary round of the tournament, the Chiefs looked to avenge their only defeat of the tournament.

The Maples came out flying and dominated play for the first half of the first few minutes of the game, only to be stymied by Agawam goalie Ben Brophy.  Slowly, the Chiefs began to skate with the Maples and, led by defensive pairings Ricky Calvani and Robbie Shepard and James Turner and Alex Apgar, started to turn the tide of the contest.  Agawam's first line, centered by Michael Gillis with wingers Gavin Cann and Danny Leff, started to generate some scoring opportunities in the second period with Cann coming close on two good scoring chances.  Aggressive fore-checking by Agawam winger Patrick Meaney, with linemates Dan Frey and Jack Gordeau, continued to ramp up the pressure on Maples.  Frey's "Hail Mary" pass sprung Meaney on a breakaway only to see the Maples goaltender make a crucial save.

With both teams trading bodychecks, the game see-sawed into the third period at 0-0.  Agawam's third line, consisting of  center Nick McLane with wingers Mark Turner and Kieran McKay, made its presence felt with aggressive play at both ends of the rink as the tide of the game started to turn in Agawam's favor.  With time winding down in the third period, both teams generated decent scoring opportunities but could not break through the strong goaltending.  

It would take a five-minute overtime to decide the contest.  With less than a minute to play in overtime, and the puck loose at center ice after the ensuing face off, Mikey Gillis corralled the puck, evaded one defenseman, broke in over the blue line and loaded up a quick wrist shot over the glove of the Maples goaltender into the upper right corner of the net.  With the clock showing 25 seconds to go in overtime, the Chiefs stormed the ice in celebration a hard fought overtime victory.

Agawam Bantam 2’s Win Fournier Tournament 4-0

Having won their three initial tournament games, the Chiefs faced off against the N.S. Ice Hawks in the finals and won by a score of 4-0.  Playing a solid game in goal, Robert Carter fought throughout the game to secure his first shutout of the tournament.  Playing on defense and keeping the Ice Hawks at bay where Sam Cabot,  Brynne O’Connor,  Jake Greenwald and Tommy Cressey.  Throughout the game, the Chief’s defense kept the Ice-Hawks at bay by forwarding the puck and controlling their blue-line.  Offensively, the Chiefs Ned Werner, Chad Mareschalchi, and Maddy Werner started the game.  Also playing forward were John Mondello, Tim Minot, Jake Kivekas, and Drew Beaulieu.

The Chiefs took a fairly early lead in the first period as Minot fed his point, Tommy Cressey, who fired a hard wrist shot that was deflected and finally settled in the back of the Ice Hawks net.  Jake Kivekas made his presence felt during the second period by scoring back-to-back goals, both of which resulted from precision feeds from center Chad Mareschalchi.  Throughout the game, the Chief’s played their positions well and moved the puck around with accurate passes.  As the game moved into the third period, the Ice Hawks pressured the Chiefs trying to narrow the lead.  The Chief’s defense stood strong and controlled most of the rebounds with the help of backchecking forwards.  John Mondello finished off the game and the scoring for the Chiefs as he fired the puck into the empty net.  Both teams skated hard, and there were only two penalties.

Agawam Mite 1's Win Fournier Memorial Tournament

Looking to avenge a loss in round robin play, the Agawam Mite AA team faced rival Andover in the Larry Fournier Memorial tournament final Saturday afternoon at Newburyport Graf Arena.  The game was a back and forth affair highlighted by excellent defense and goaltending. 

The Chiefs struck first 2 minutes in the first period when William Moroney found Jack Erdmann for a 1-0 lead.  After another Erdmann strike in the second, solid defense by Max Almeida, Deuce Morton and goaltender Sam York kept Andover off the scoreboard until late in the period.  The Chiefs added to the lead with 7 seconds left and, after a scoreless third, took home the Championship. 

Outstanding ofensive pressure by Luke Demaso (1 assist), Michael Deoreo, Nate Ingelfinger and Harlan Graber made it a true team effort by the Chiefs.

Mite Instructional Cross-Ice

For the first time in 15 years, The Agawam Chiefs Mite Instructional team won Fournier Tournament on Saturday afternoon. They beat Newburyport 3-2 in a contest that saw three lead changes, great goaltending and a lot of action. Max Consolazio scored a pair of goals, Luke Twomey scored the game winner with 8:20 left and goaltender Graham Ellis made several key stops with minutes remaining.

The team went unbeaten for the tournament lead by Graham Ellis and Evan Haughey in net. The two way play of Andrew Cutter, Kara O'Shea, Ryan Meaney and Hudson Wood was a key ingredient to the victory.

Nicholas Van Alen was a defensive stopper and also played a great game in net. The offensive effort was lead by Luke Twomey, Ryan Dolaher, Evan Haughey , Graham Ellis, Calvin Guay, Max Consolazio and Isabel Smail, who scored the winning goal of the first game with 1 Min left.

The cross-ice team was coached to victory by Keith Haughey, Michael Dolaher, Mark Meaney and assisted by Brian Cutter, Jared Guay and David Smail.