Enos Nets Game-Winner, Mustangs are League Champs

SOMERVILLE--One game, winner takes all.

It was always going to come down to this.

The Medford High hockey team retained the Greater Boston League regular season title with a hard-won 4-1 victory over border rival Somerville last night before a packed house at Veterans Memorial Rink in an action-filled contest that was way closer than the final score.

“Was it a 4-1 game? No, it was a 2-1 game,” said Somerville head coach Chuck Allen. “I feel bad for the kids; someone has to lose, but I’m still happy with the way we played.”

Brian Enos gave the Mustangs the 2010-2011 league championship with a magnificent short-handed strike in the second period that, despite a strong push by Somerville, held up as the winning goal.

With the game knotted at 1-1 and the Mustangs in the midst of killing off a penalty, Medford (6-6-1, 5-1 GBL) junior forward Brian Enos (1 goal, 2 assists) came onto the puck near the center of the ice with the intention of dumping it down into the Highlanders’ end.

“Honestly, we were on a penalty, so I was just going to ice the puck,” said Enos, who has been on fire lately, netting six goals in the Mustangs’ last four games. “I hear (my teammates) yelling ‘skate, skate!’ And I looked up and had the open ice ... I just took the shot, and it went in.”

Enos one-timed a shot from the left face-off circle past Somerville goalie Taylor Sutherland-West (21 saves), beating the freshman goalie to the lower right corner of the net, and giving Medford a 2-1 lead with 4:28 left in the second stanza.

Medford secures an automatic berth in the MIAA North Sectionals by winning the GBL, and for Enos, that fact is far more important than potting the winning goal.

“It feels good, but I don’t really care if I’m the one who gets the goal,” he said. “It’s more important that we won the game ... it’s great, going back to the state tournament for the third straight year ... it’s just going to be fun, staying with these kids for at least an extra game.”

The Highlanders (8-5-1, 4-2 GBL), playing with an inexperienced goalie and a back line decimated by injury, had a golden chance to equalize at the start of the third, when they found themselves with a breakaway opportunity. However, their home ice let them down, as a watery playing surface thwarted the shot.

‘We had a breakaway at the start of the third,” said Allen. “The ice was too wet and the puck stuck ... we had a couple of bad breaks.”

The Highlanders are currently playing without the services of starting goalie Mike McMahon and their first, second and fourth defensemen. For Allen, the experienced gained by Sutherland-West in games such as last night’s is crucial

“It was his first game, really,” he said of his young shot-stopper. “We’re going to need him down the end, so these kinds of games are going to help him ... I give him credit.”

The Mustangs drew first blood with 3:34 left in the opening frame when Jonathan Nazzaro beat Sutherland-West to open Medford’s account. The goal was assisted by Enos and Tyler Zizzo (1 goal, 1 assist).

The Highlanders pulled back the equalizer on the power-play with 10:22 left in the second after Medford’s Charlie Carvalho was sent off for slashing. Rob Anderson fired a cracker of a shot from the right face-off spot, and while Medford net-minder Mike Gendreau was able to get in front of the puck, it trickled through his pads and found its way across the goal line.

Gendreau was outstanding between the pipes for the Mustangs. The senior captain collected 19 saves--many of which were of the difficult variety. The stalwart performance in net was nothing new for fans of Medford hockey.

“In my opinion, he’s the best in the state,” said Medford head coach Steve DeBenedictis. “Until I see someone better, that’s my belief ... I’ve been to a lot of games this year, and I haven’t seen anyone better.”

Zizzo and Chris Silva would add goals for Medford in the last four minutes of the final frame, putting the contest and the league crown beyond the reach of the Highlanders.

The Mustangs, not content to enter the tourney through the back door by sneaking in the front, as it were, will still focus on earning the 20 points required for a berth without winning the league title. 

“We’re at 13 (points) right now, so we need seven points with seven games left,” explained DeBenedictis. “The schedule gets very difficult, but I still think that they believe in themselves, and what we’re trying to accomplish, that’s something we can do.”

Meanwhile, the Highlanders are sitting on 17 points, needing to get three out of their final six games to seal a trip to the sectionals. Somerville will welcome former league foe Revere to Veteran’s Memorial Rink on Wednesday.

“Our number one focus is Revere,” said Allen. “If we take care of them, we only need one more point.”

The Highlanders beat Revere 2-1 on the road in the season opener, back on Dec. 15.