Watertown/Wayland gave up two goals 39 seconds apart early in the first period Saturday afternoon against the visiting Stoneham Spartans, and that early deficit turned out to be too hard a mountain to climb as Watertown/Wayland fell to 1-8 on the season (0-6 in the league) in a 5-2 loss at the JAR.
Both teams came into the game wanting and needing a Middlesex League win, as Stoneham entered the game 1-5 in league play. Two shifts in, it looked like both teams came ready to play, as skating was fast and determination strong. But, in a blink of an eye Watertown broke down in their own end, forcing Watertown/Wayland goalie Findlay MacDonald to face unstoppable challenges at 2:01 and 2:40 to give Stoneham a 2-0 lead.
Watertown/Wayland was given two power play opportunities down 2-zip, but they couldn’t cash in. Three minutes after the second power play, Watertown gave Stoneham their first of the afternoon and they did cash in 43 seconds into the power play to make it 3-0 after one period of play.
Team sports provides such wonderful opportunities to young athletes to experience so many great things. Every experience is made better by winning, of course, but not everyone is meant to — win, that is. Watertown/Wayland has a record that says they are a bad team at 1-8. From my vantage point, that’s not the case. But, the truth in sports is not always fair. Watertown/Wayland has good players, they play hard, and they never give up. The problem is they are young, somewhat undersized and still developing their skills.
All that is a way of saying there is very little room for error, and quite often it requires extraordinary feats to compete. Saturday, for example, MacDonald in net had an excellent game by any standards. He made any number of saves where he had to stand on his head, and if he hadn’t the game would not have been close. But, he was a little loose with some of his rebounds, and the squad in front of him was a tick late a few times trying to clear the puck, and those rebounds led to goals.
Offensively, Watertown/Wayland couldn’t match the physical play of bigger Stoneham, but they never backed down. But, it made it challenging to win the battle of zone time. Therefore, on this day, it was going to require some sharpshooting to muster goals off the Stoneham goaltender, who was giving up no rebounds at all. At 11:35 of the second period, and 20 seconds into their third power play of the afternoon, Watertown/Wayland scored to make it 3-1. Junior Isaac Maillis drilled a wrister to the back of the net, and by period’s end it remained just a two-goal deficit heading into the third.
After a quiet start to the period, three goals were scored in a five-minute span. Unfortunately, two were by Stoneham. In-between, Senior Griffin Wood scored a beauty, also on a wrister, but Watertown/Wayland just couldn’t close the gap beyond a two-goal deficit all afternoon long. At 5-2 Stoneham, the Spartans got sloppy and gave Watertown/Wayland a couple of late power plays, but Watertown/Wayland had just about run out of steam.
Watertown/Wayland has every reason to be proud of their effort on this Saturday afternoon. The record says the season is a difficult one to date, and it is. Losing isn’t fun. The schedule provides eleven more opportunities though, and if Watertown/Wayland can stick together and keep working hard, team sports has a way of rewarding those who do just that. Watertown/Wayland next faces Wakefield on the road Tuesday January 13.
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1 2 3 – F
Stoneham 3 0 2 – 5
Watertown 0 1 1 – 2
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Scoring Summary
1st Period
Watertown/Wayland 0 Stoneham 1… Guarino @ 2:01
Watertown/Wayland 0 Stoneham 2… Ciccarello @ 2:40
Penalty, Stoneham… Crosschecking @ 4:26
Penalty, Stoneham… Tripping @ 10:34
Penalty, Matching… Roughing @ 11:31
Penalty, Watertown/Wayland… hooking, Capello @ 13:36
Watertown/Wayland 0 Stoneham 3… Guarino @ 14:19, PPG
2nd Period
Penalty, Stoneham… Crosschecking @ 11:15
Watertown/Wayland 1 Stoneham 3… Isaac Maillis from Wood & Fijux @ 11:35, PPG
3rd Period
Watertown/Wayland 1 Stoneham 4… Carpentieri @ 4:28
Watertown/Wayland 2 Stoneham 4… Griffin Wood @ 5:15
Watertown/Wayland 2 Stoneham 5… Ciccarello @ 9:26
Penalty, Stoneham… Roughing @ 11:32
Penalty, Stoneham… Holding @ 13:25
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Upcoming Schedule
Tuesday January 13 @ Wakefield
Saturday January 17 versus Melrose at John A. Ryan Arena, 12:20 pm
Wednesday January 21 versus Winchester at John A. Ryan Arena, 4 pm
Saturday January 24 versus Arlington at John A. Ryan Arena, 4:20 pm