Tewksbury Redmen Mites Hockey Team Wins Saugus Invitational Tourney

The Tewksbury Redmen Mites Hockey Team traveled to Kasabuski Rink in Saugus to compete against 3 of the top Mite teams in the area in a Cross-Ice Tournament and left the rink with 3 outstanding wins against Wakefield, Saugus, and Stoneham.

The Redmen first faced off against a strong skating Wakefield Warrior team and came away with a hard-fought 8-5 win.  The Redmen had lost to Wakefield earlier in the year 6-3 but the Redmen showed how much they have improved as they were clearly the stronger team on the ice.  The Redmen used their quickness & passing prowess to score early & often.  Alex Pescatore, Andrew Grieco, and Jack Griffin combined for the first 2 goals of the game, giving the Redmen the 2-0 lead.  The Warriors were able to battle back to tie the game 2-2.  Brady Chapman, Conor Cremin, and Billy Doherty were able to team up to give the Redmen the lead again at 4-2.  Goalie Benny O'Keefe made a handful of spectacular saves keeping the score 4-2 until Jake McDonough, Andrew Della Piana, and Timmy Sweeney all scored for the 7-2 lead.  The Warriors were able to cut the lead to 7-5 but Jason Cooke scored to give the Redmen the 8-5 win.

The Redmen next played Saugus and came away with a 7-2 win.  Matt Cooke, filling in for a sick Andrew Della Piana and Maci Chapman, got the Redmen on the board quickly with a great move past 2 Saugus defenders, sliding a quick wrist shot under the sliding goalie for the 1-0 lead.  Billy Doherty, Brady Chapman, and Sean Murphy all scored goals to give the Redmen a 4-0 lead. Benny O'Keefe made 2 acrobatic saves on breakaways to keep Saugus off the scoreboard.  Jack Griffin and Andrew Grieco added goals to make the score 6-0 before Saugus was able to finally get one past Benny.  The Redmen closed out the scoring with Jade Owirka's 1st goal of the year.  Jade took a pass from Billy Doherty and sent a low hard wrist shot into the back of the net for the 7-2 Redmen win.

The Redmen closed out the Cross-Ice Tourney against a big, strong Stoneham team.  The Redmen used their speed to stay away from the Stoneham defenders and came away with a 6-3 win.  Alex Pescatore got the Redmen on the board with 2 quick goals on the same shift.  Stoneham battled back to tie the game 2-2 but the Redmen kept firing away at the Stoneham goalie and got goals from Timmy Sweeney and Jake McDonough to take a 4-2 lead.  Brady Chapman and Conor Cremin closed out the scoring to give the Redmen the 6-3 win and a perfect 3-0 record in the tourney.  

Goalie Ben O'Keefe was able to do something not many goalies do, he recorded 3 assists in the tourney.

The Redmen celebrated their tourney win with a team dinner at Fuddruckers where the kids ran wild, caused mayhem, and played video games until their parents ran out of money!!!