Tewksbury Redmen Mites Hockey Team continued their winning ways by sweeping weekend action..

On Saturday November 17th the Redmen traveled to Conway Arena in Nashua NH to take on a talented P.A.T. team that features a high-powered offensive.  The Redmen came out flying, using their speed and quickness to put pressure on the P.A.T. defense getting an early scoring chance when Nick Calouro sent a nice pass to Billy Doherty, but Doherty's quick shot was saved by the P.A.T. goalie.  P.A.T. scored 1st with 9 minutes to play in the 1st period but the Redmen battled back and tied the game when Brady Chapman made a great play on the backcheck, stealing the puck from a P.A.T. forward and sending a nice cross-ice pass to Matt Cooke.  Matt then fired a great pass to a Conor Cremin along the right wing boards, Cremin used his speed to beat the P.A.T. defenseman, made a great deke move past the goalie, and slid the puck into the back of the net for the 1-1 tie.  The rest of the 1st period was back-and-forth with both teams getting scoring chances.  The Redmen defensive crew of Danny Kierce, Jason Cooke, Jack Griffin, and Andrew Grieco did a great job keeping the speedy P.A.T. forwards away from Redmen goalie Ben O'Keefe.  The Redmen took a 2-1 lead just 1 minute into the 2nd period when Andrew Della Piana scored on a breakaway beating the P.A.T. goalie with a hard wrist shot, assists going to Billy Doherty and Nick Calouro.  P.A.T. battled back but Redmen goalie Ben O'Keefe made save after save to keep the lead for the Redmen.  The Redmen increased their lead to 3-1 with just over 3 minutes left in the 2nd period when Jason Cooke made a great play back on the blue line breaking up a P.A.T. 2-on-1.  Jay stole the puck, skated up ice and sent a great pass to Andrew Della Piana at the far blue line.  Della Piana skated in, deked pass the defender and slid a great shot through the 5-hole.  The 3rd period started with P.A.T. battling back and cutting the Redmen lead to 3-2.  With 7 minutes left in the game Andrew Grieco made a great play using his speed to track down a P.A.T. forward, breaking up a potential scoring chance.  Matt Cooke picked up the loose puck, skated thru center ice, fighting his way thru 2 P.A.T. defenseman, and beat the goalie with a great wrist shot over the glove for the 4-2 Redmen lead.  P.A.T. once again battle back scoring 2 consecutive goals to knot the game at 4 with just over 3 minutes to play in the game.  P.A.T. threatened to take the lead with 1:27 left in the game but Redmen goalie Ben O'Keefe made a glove save on a high-hard wrist shot that was heading for the top corner of the net.  Redmen fans went crazy chanting "OKIE OKIE" and the save sparked the Redmen to fight back.  Jason Cooke made a great play to keep the puck in the offensive zone sending the puck to the left corner where Brady Chapman gathered the loose puck and sent a pass to Matt Cooke on the left hash mark.  Matt skated thru a maze of P.A.T. forwards and sent a hard wrist shot into the back of the net with 46 seconds left in the game for his 2nd goal of the game and the 5-4 win for the Redmen.

The Redmen arrived at the Valley Forum in Malden on Sunday morning November 18th still flying high from their impressive 5-4 win against P.A.T.  The Redmen set the tone early against Medford, getting offensive zone pressure early which resulted in shots by Conor Cremin and Brady Chapman.  The Redmen continued to dominate play as Billy Doherty worked the puck down low behind the Medford net and sent a nice pass to Nick Calouro in the slot but the Medford goalie made a great save on Calouro's wrist shot.  The Redmen once again got great play from their "Steel Curtain" defense of Andrew Grieco, Jack Griffin, Dan Kierce, and Jason Cooke.  The Redmen were finally able to get on the scoreboard with 1 minute to play in the 1st period when Matt Cooke scored the 1st of his 3 goals on the day, assist to Brady Chapman.  The Redmen dominated the 2nd period as they scored 5 goals.  Andrew Della Piana scored on a nice wrist shot with 9 minutes to play in the 2nd period for a 2-0 lead.  Just 1 minute later Matt Cooke scored on a great individual effort for the 3-0 lead.  Matt used his speed and toughness to fight thru 2 defenders and beat the goalie with a great deke move.  With 4 minutes to play in the 2nd period Danny "Crusher" Kierce made a great play at his own blue line and Brady Chapman picked up the loose puck, skated in, and beat the goalie through the 5-hole for the 4-0 lead.  Just 35 seconds later the Redmen increased their lead to 5-0 as Matt Cooke scored his 3rd goal of the game for the "Hat Trick".  The Redmen closed out the 2nd period when Billy Doherty took a nice pass from Andrew Della Piana and sent a hard wrist shot over the Medford goalie's glove for the 6-0 lead.  Medford opened the 3rd period getting pressure in the Redmen zone but Redmen goalie Ben O'Keefe was up to the challenge making a handful of outstanding saves.  Brady Chapman scored his 2nd goal of the game with 6 minutes to play in the game on a nice wrist shot over the goalie's blocker.  The Redmen closed out the scoring with just over 2 minutes to play in the game when Nick Calouro and Jack Griffin worked the cycle down low and found Billy Doherty in the high slot.  Billy made no mistake firing a hard wrist shot into the back of the net for his 2nd goal of the game and the 8-1 win for the Redmen.