Tewksbury Redmen Mites dominate Cape Ann, skate away with a 5-1 win

The Tewksbury Redmen Mites Hockey hit the road on Saturday December 1st for a game against Cape Ann at Valley Forum in Haverhill and skated away with a dominating 5-1 win, running their season record to 15-3.

Cape Ann came out flying and immediately put pressure on the Redmen but goalie Ben O’Keefe made 2 great saves 1 minute into the game to keep the game scoreless.  The Redmen got their legs going and were able to take the early 1-0 lead with 8:24 to play in the 1st period. Matt Cooke and Conor Cremin combined to make a nice defensive play deep in their own zone and worked the puck out to center ice.  Brady Chapman used his speed to win the race to the loose puck, skated in alone on a breakaway, and fired a hard wrist shot past the Cape Ann goalie.  The Redmen continued to pressure the Cape Ann goalie getting great scoring chances by Nick Calouro and Andrew Della Piana.  Cape Ann battled back but great defensive plays from Andrew Grieco, Jack Griffin, Danny Kierce, and Jason Cooke kept Cape Ann away from the Redmen net. 

The Redmen completely dominated the 2nd period, scoring 4 goals and just missing on several other scoring chances.  Billy Doherty increased the Redmen lead to 2-0 just 32 seconds into the 2nd period when he took a great pass from Andrew Della Piana and beat the Cape Ann goalie through the 5-hole.  Just 1 minute later Redmen star defenseman Jason Cooke (playing despite battling through Strep Throat) nearly made the score 3-0 when he took control of the puck behind his own net, skated around and through all 5 Cape Ann players, deked around the goalie, but his shot hit the post.  With 6 minutes to play in the 2nd period Brady Chapman scored his second goal of the game on a nice wrap-around shot, assist going to Matt Cooke.  Just 55 seconds later the Redmen increased the lead to 4-0 when Conor Cremin scored a highlight reel goal with assists going to Jason Cooke and Brady Chapman.  Cape Ann was able to get on the scoreboard to cut the Redmen lead to 4-1 but Billy Doherty scored his second goal of the game with 33 seconds to play in the 2nd period, assist going to Andrew
Della Piana. 

The Redmen controlled the 3rd period, getting great scoring chances from Jack Griffin, Andrew Grieco, and Nick Calouro.  Cape Ann kept fighting but any hope they had of getting back into the game was turned away by Redmen goalie Ben O’Keefe, who made 2 great saves on breakaways and an acrobatic left pad save to secure the 5-1 win for the Redmen.