Most high school athletes usually have a signature moment – team or individual – which stands out as something that they will long remember well into the future. But Marblehead High’s boys hockey senior captain Crew Monaco is certainly not a part of that norm. His memorable achievements are listed in bullet points, not just in one declarative sentence.
Start off with Crew’s two-sport status as captain of both the football and hockey teams. You then have to accelerate that up a couple of notches, when he played and won at TD Garden and Fenway Park, all in the same calendar year.
Last March, Monaco helped secure the program’s second-ever state championship after the Hockey Headers as a team shutdown Nauset, 1-0 on the Bruins home ice.
Eight months later, he suited to play in the annual Thanksgiving Day game against rival Swampscott, but not at Piper Field. It was under the bright lights of America’s Most Beloved Ballpark on Thanksgiving Eve, where his Magicians blew out the Big Blue to the tune of 42-6.
Monaco factored into the offense with two catches for 51 yards on the Fenway turf, including a 42-yard scoring strike from junior quarterback Finn Gallup. He also intercepted one pass, and as he admitted afterwards, while pointing to the exact spots where those plays took place, he’s been to Fenway many times over the years, but only as a spectator to Sox games and concerts. But he knows the next time he goes there he can say he too played on the field that’s been deemed a national treasure.
That’s enough for any scholastic athlete’s memoirs, but Crew added to his last Wednesday night at Salem State’s O’Keefe Complex to begin the Division 3 state tournament against Blackstone Valley Regional Tech, the 25th seed, in the Round of 32. The Headers, the eighth seed, won the game, 3-2, but it was the way they had won it that will be recalled for years to come. With exactly 6.9-seconds left in regulation and overtime looming over the ice, Crew wasn’t accepting the inevitable. After taking a clean pass from his classmate and fellow captain Kyle Hart off the faceoff, he rifled a shot past Blackstone junior goalie Finn Lozeau that sent his teammates to the Sweet 16.
Notwithstanding the TD Garden and Fenway Park triumphs, Monaco mentioned after the game that he puts this goal way ahead of his other achievements. “I don’t think I’ve had a bigger goal in my career,” he said.
The senior captain did remember the championship game-winning goal that he scored way back when he was a Squirt in the Marblehead Youth Hockey Association (MYHA). But then, he added in a matter-of-fact manner, “this one against Blackstone is definitely special. I knew before the shot that Kyle (Hart) would win the draw back to me, and I just shot it on net, where it found some space.”
All three Marblehead goals against the Beavers were scored by Monaco’s line. Junior forward Hayden Gallo notched the first goal in the opening stanza from sophomore Kellen Laramie. Hart then gave his teammates a short-lived 2-1 lead in the middle frame, setting the stage for Monaco’s clutch blast. All three also picked up assists, along with sophomore Noah Feingold.
“That line played a great game,” said coach Mark Marfione after the thrilling win over Blackstone Valley. “Kyle always shows up for the big games, Crew is reliable to put the puck in the back of the net and Hayden has stepped up this year after seeing limited varsity action last season to balance out that line very well.
“This team proved once again (its) resiliency,” added Marfione. “That was a good team over there, but we were able to take advantage of the rebounds and bounces to keep the puck away from them in order to beat them.”
Senior captain and goalie Leo Burdge once again came up with the necessary saves – 19, according to Marfione – that made Monaco’s late game-winner possible. The Magicians unofficially outshot Blackstone, 35-21.
“We knew obviously that this was a do or die game, and understood we needed just one goal to get us going again,” said Monaco. “This (goal) will definitely keep the boys motivated and focused, for sure. But we still have to work on everything, because you have to get better in all aspects of the game (against that next opponent).”
