Tough Year for Melrose Hockey, Optimism for Next Winter

Samuel Johnson once wrote: “It is generally known, that he who expects much will often be disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation ...”

This quote is especially apt to describe the season the hockey team suffered through in 2010-11.

With expectations running high along the Lynn Fells Parkway for a second consecutive trip to the MIAA Division 1 North Sectionals, the situation on the ground didn’t exactly follow the script. That being said, another well known quote states something along the lines of whatever doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger, and that’s the attitude of Red Raider head coach Jason Shipulski coming out of the trying 5-13-1 campaign.

He hopes the feeling of disappointment experienced by Melrose on the ice this past season will only serve to paint a vivid picture, in memory, of a place to which they don’t want to return.

“After the last game, I said to them: ‘look at the position that we’re in,’” recalled the Red Raiders coach, who took the helm in 2007, after serving as an assistant in Woburn. “‘You guys coming back, remember this feeling; remember how you feel right now, you don’t want to feel that way again.’”

With only four graduating seniors, expectations will again be present heading into next year, but Shipulski isn’t worried about his returning players being able to meet them.

“They’ve seen both sides of it now,” he said. “They like winning better than the other side.”

The hard times hit the Red Raiders quickly this year, as they lost their first four games by a combined 26-9 margin. In a league like the Middlesex League, boasting teams like Woburn, who qualified to play in the private school dominated Super 8 Tournament this year, and Wakefield, playing Sunday for the Division 1 State Championship at TD Garden, there is little-to-zero margin for error. The Red Raiders never really recovered from losing the first four—three which came against Middlesex League opponents. Woburn, the eventual league champion, finished the regular season 14-2 in conference play, by comparison.

“The (Middlesex League) is a tough league from top to bottom,” Shipulski said. “There are no easy games, you’ve really got to be consistent.”

The slow start, as one would expect, had a palpable impact on the team’s confidence. This did not go unnoticed by the Red Raider coaching staff.

“We, as coaches, were trying to stress the attitude coming to the rink,” Shipulski said. “We were trying to get them to realize that they were a pretty good team.”

After a 1-0 win over Stoneham on New Year’s Day, Melrose won two of its next three, including a 6-1 whipping of Wakefield—the eventual North Sectional Champions—on Jan. 15. Following the win, the Red Raiders were sitting at 3-5, and still in the hunt for an at-large tournament berth.

A key injury around this time—to senior captain Matt Burton, a strong defenseman who also added a strong offensive threat, and according to Shipulski, was instrumental in driving the Red Raiders’ power play—severely hampered efforts towards extending the season.

Melrose would win just twice more. A 6-2 thumping of Cambridge Rindge & Latin on Dec. 31, and a 3-1 victory over ML rivals Lexington on Feb. 12. 

“Matt (Burton) was a great kid, and a good hockey player,” Shipulski said of his graduating captain. “He was basically our quarterback. When you lose a guy like that, it costs you.”

Burton suffered a dislocated shoulder against Belmont on Jan. 22 and missed the remainder of the season.

“It’s tough, losing a senior like that,” Shipulski said. “He brought a lot to the team. He was the guy our power play revolved around. When he went down, it didn’t really go anymore.”

Despite the struggles, there were moments this past year when Melrose put it all together on the ice, and displayed the type of team they easily could have been, had a few pucks bounced a bit differently.

When asked what he thought the best game his team played all year was, Shipulski didn’t need to think about it at all.

“Against Reading,” he said, with no hesitation, referring to a 6-3 loss to the Rockets in February. “I’ve never seen a team play so hard and not win. We were doing everything, we were taking the body, we were breaking out, we were getting shots at the net ... I thought that was a huge game for us.”

That said, Shipulski and his staff know that there is work to be done, if they are going to get the Red Raiders back where they want to be.

“Our goal this past year was to make the tournament,” Shipulski said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen. We didn’t reach our goal ... we didn’t reach our goal as a team, or as a coaching staff.”

With almost the entire team returning, the Melrose coaching staff is not letting any precious time that could be used to prepare for next year go to waste.

“Obviously, we didn’t prepare the kids in time, so we’ve got to do it now,” Shipulski said. “Our season just ended a week ago, we’re already preparing for next year.

“We have the majority of our kids coming back," he added. “We’re keeping a good nucleus.”