Tewksbury High Hockey Team Prepares For The Big One

The weather may be warming up, but it's still winter in Tewksbury, at least through Sunday.

The Tewksbury High hockey team ignored Friday's balmy temperatures during an intense mid-day workout at the Breakaway Ice Center in preparation for Sunday afternoon's Division 2 State Championship game against Franklin High, and according to TMHS coach Derek Doherty, maintaining that focus in the face of many other distractions will be critical to the team's success.

The Tewksbury High athletic department has sold more than 2,000 tickets to Sunday's game, and the high school held a pep rally Thursday afternoon in honor of the team. TMHS hockey alumni have been resurfacing in droves, and a convoy of buses and cars will depart from the high school parking lot on Sunday at noon for the 1:30 p.m. game at the TD Garden in Boston.

"It's the biggest (sports event) Tewksbury has seen in probably 15 years, so, obviously, none of these kids have ever played on a stage this big," Doherty said. The Redmen last won a state hockey championship in 1995, back when all of the current team's players were either infants or toddlers.

Life as they know it doesn't usually involve pep rallies, constant media attention and a trip to "the Garden" to play on the same ice as the Boston Bruins.

"It's important that they maintain their focus, and not get caught up in all of the hype," Doherty said.

So far, that hasn't been a problem. Practices this week have been crisp and intense, and the coach is confident that his team is keeping its eye on the big prize.

"The kids are focused," Doherty said. "They're working hard. They know what they've got to do out there.

"It's exciting," the coach added. "But we have a good group of humble kids who know that they have another hockey game left to play and they want to make it a memorable one."

Both teams come into Sunday's game with similar records. Franklin is 17-4-2 on the season, having finished second in the Hockomock League's Rex-Kelly Division this year. Tewksbury is 18-5-1 overall, having won the Division 2 championship in the Merrimack Valley Conference/Dual County League.

Both teams have been stingy defensively. Franklin has allowed just 42 goals against in 23 games while the Redmen have allowed just 41 goals against in 24 games.

According to Doherty, the similarities between the two teams don't stop there.

"They're a lot like us," Doherty said. "They're deep. They have three solid lines and four (defensemen) and a pretty good goalie. They try to do what we try to do to teams. They try to wear you down. So it should be a pretty competitive game."

Offensively, Tewksbury is led by MVC/DCL Division 2 Player of The Year Ryan Doherty, who eclipsed the 50-point mark on the season when he scored an open-net goal to seal the North Sectional championship game win over Saugus last Friday night in Chelmsford. Doherty's linemate Derek Petti, a sophomore, has 10 goals and 22 assists while senior center iceman Frank Mazzei has 14 goals and nine assists.

Senior forward Mark Petti has nine goals on the year, including the game winner against Saugus. Senior defenseman Sean MacLeod has four goals and 12 assists will senior defenseman Rob Pruyne has five goals and 10 assists.

Senior goaltender Niko Cunha has played extremely well in the tournament, posting a 1.00 goals against average. Cunha shut out Boston Latin, 1-0, in a second round game two weeks ago.

Doherty hopes that his defense can come up big on Sunday.

"We've got four good defensemen," the coach said. "And I think that two of them, P.J. Mugford and Sean Taylor, don't get enough credit. We've only given up a few goals in the tournament so far (four in four games) and that's because of the complete effort of all four of our defensemen."

From there, the recipe is simple, according to Doherty. Just play hard and stay focused.

"I just think we need all three lines playing hard every shift out there," he said. "Mentally, this team is fine. They're humble. As far as they're concerned they haven't won anything yet. I know we won the north, but the big game is
Sunday and everybody's focus is on playing hard and leaving everything on the ice."

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