The returning veterans on this year’s Marblehead High boys hockey team, the defending Division 3 state champions, won’t be fazed by anything. They understand the ups and downs of a season. They know as long as they play their best hockey at the right time, they will have a chance to play for the ultimate prize once again at the TD Garden on St. Patrick’s weekend.
Nobody would have predicted last December that the Hockey Headers would be playing Nauset at the Garden in the state championship game. They were languishing at 1-6 throughout that first month of the season. Their lone victory was a 6-0 triumph over non-league Melrose the day before New Year’s Eve. They then defeated Medford, 3-1 on Jan. 3. But they returned to their losing ways against Northeastern Conference (NEC) rivals Winthrop (3-1) and Danvers (3-0). From that point on, however, they won their next seven games, before tying Danvers in a much better effort, 3-3.
Ironically, after losing to Shawsheen Tech in the next game, 4-1 — the Headers defeated the Rams two months later in a state semifinal game at Stoneham Arena, 2-1 — they won their remaining eight games, the last one coming against aforementioned Nauset, 1-0. They ended up with a 17-9-1 overall record, counting the postseason, and were the sixth seed in the power rankings.
Crew Monaco, one of the team’s four captains this year, said that last year’s captains held a team meeting after the 2-8 start to wake them up in a hurry.
Monaco then elaborated before last Thursday’s practice at Salem State University: “(The seniors) sat us down (after the Danvers loss) and told us what we had to do to get back on track. They (specifically) said that we had to work harder in practice to first get back to .500. The coaches also put the pressure on us to reach our capabilities. They knew we were definitely better than our record.”
To that end, the team obviously responded well to their words. “We knew we were playing terrible, but we never gave up on each other,” Monaco said.
Turning the page to a new season, they have carried over that championship feeling with intense practices. “We know we will have a target on our backs, but we have a good young team to get the job done,” said Monaco, who just completed a memorable football season as one of the team’s five captains that ended up leading it to an 8-3 winning record, the last one coming against Thanksgiving rival Swampscott at Fenway Park on Thanksgiving eve, 42-6.
Monaco is not taking these leadership roles lightly. “It’s very special to be a captain of these two teams,” he said. “I’m grateful my (football and hockey) teammates elected me as a captain, and it’s my hope that I was and will continue to be a good role model for the younger kids.”
Mark Marfione is beginning his third year behind the Marblehead bench, and he welcomed around 45 players to the first day of practice on Dec. 2.
Besides Monaco, goalie Leo Burdge, defenseman Kyle Hart and forward Sean Dolan are the other three captains. Burdge is returning after a memorable postseason, where he gave up just five goals in just as many state tournament games to lead his teammates to the Garden party.
Marfione says this year’s varsity roster is far from being finalized, and they should take nothing for granted as the defending state champs. “It’s a brand-new season,” he said. “For the next four months, we are not a state championship team; we’re just one of 50 (Division 3 statewide) teams starting from scratch.
“We are going to take a close look at many players in the upcoming scrimmages, and see who can play minutes for us,” added Marfione.
Marfione continues to set up a formidable non-league schedule, and this year they start the regular season against those Shawsheen Rams on Dec. 12 at Billerica’s Hallenborg Memorial Pavillion, starting at 7:10 p.m.
Their first NEC game will be against Beverly at Endicott College’s Bourque Arena two days later, beginning at 4 p.m. They also have Malden Catholic (Dec. 21 in Malden, 5:30 p.m.), Hopkinton (Jan. 1 at New England Sports Center in Marlboro, 2 p.m.) and Methuen (Jan. 15 in Methuen, 7 p.m.) on the non-league schedule.
“We always try to play a challenging non-league schedule, and we also have some in-season tournaments in order to prepare us for the states,” said Marfione. “But give credit to (assistant athletic director and former hockey coach) Mark Tarmey for building the schedule, as well as the incredible JV schedule that helps develop our future varsity players. Because of him, our JVs probably have the most ice time of any team in the state. They have about 55 ice times for a few hundred dollars per player. It blows my mind when parents waste $10,000 on one season in so-called select hockey leagues, instead of playing for their hometown.”
Marfione admires the Shawsheen approach to the sport, and it’s no accident they are playing them again in the season opener. “Shawsheen has a great program, and they just bring out the truth in our team when we play them. The BS does not work against them. I think the most important (regular season) game that we had last year was the ass-kicking we took against them (a 4-1 loss). (That loss) told the truth about what we were, and where we needed to be. We didn’t lose again after that.”
Tim Kalinowski (power play, faceoff coach, who works primarily with the forwards), Kyle Koopman (defensive coach) and Liam Gillis (another defensive coach who focuses on the penalty kill and conditioning. He’s also the team’s video coordinator) are back as Marfione’s assistants.
“I think we have a very collaborative effort; it’s almost like we have four co-coaches,” Marfione said. “They help me focus on some bigger picture things.”
When it’s all said and done, Marfione is still looking forward to the season. He knows his team is a talented, hard-working and detail-oriented group that learns their lessons in time to compete for championships, just like last year.
“I think last year’s slow start was a learning experience,” said Marfione. “We learned that basically every team had similar talent, where details usually prevail. Small details are the difference between winning and losing. You can go 0-6 with a talented, hard-working and detail-oriented team, and we have some great kids still here that proved it last year.”
