Westwood Falls To Pembroke in State Tourney Finals

The Westwood High School boys' varsity hockey team's magical season finally came to an end Sunday night, when they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Pembroke 3-2 in overtime of the Division 3 South Final.

The Gallo Arena in Bourne was jam packed with fans of both teams, who chanted and tried to will their team to a state championship. But something different was in the air, as the Wolverines were without their head coach and star player.

Head Coach Mike Welby’s wife went into labor early on Sunday, leaving him unable to attend the highly-anticipated game. What's more, Kevin Gavin, an all star and one of the team’s most prolific scorers, re-injured his jaw during the .

Westwood Assistant Coach Al Pecararo said that it was a tough day for everyone on the Wolverine squad, and Welby's absence was difficult, but the players adapted as best as they could and played their hearts out like they had all season.

“Not having Mike around was tough, but the kids have persevered through adversity all season and today was no different,” said Pecararo. “We kept telling the kids the only team that could beat us was ourselves. We had some costly penalties and missed opportunities today.”

Still, the Wolverines were able to put the issues aside Sunday, and were all business to start the game.

Both teams had several good scoring opportunities in the opening minutes of the game. Westwood's Brett Egizi got a nice slap shot off within the first two minutes, but was shot right at the goalie’s glove.

Pembroke had a couple breakaway opportunities that were thwarted by the sure-handed goaltender, Chris Treon, who made several glove saves and knocked pucks away.

Westwood got on the board first with 7:36 left in the first period, when Brendan Skehill put in a rebounded shot. The play was assisted by Brendan Dalton.

Things were looking good for Westwood when Pembroke’s Matt Sheehan was called for a high stick penalty with about four minutes remaining in the first period. However, while they had several chances, the Wolverines couldn’t score on the power play opportunity.

Senior Connor Murphy had a decent scoring opportunity, but couldn’t get the puck in the net. Pembroke’s defense was able to capitalize on the power play, even with the puck in its own zone much of the time.

The second period started off with things looking great for Westwood. Only 39 seconds into the period, Egizi scored an unassisted goal to make it a 2-0 game. The Wolverines looked amped up and were flying around the ice during the period.

Pembroke had several opportunities throughout the opening minutes of the period, but then started to hurt themselves with penalties. Pembroke’s Paul Tower was called for a penalty when he hit a player from behind. Only moments later Jack Reardon was called for a tripping penalty to give Westwood a five-on-three power play.

However, during the five-on-three, Westwood couldn’t get a good shot off. There were several opportunities for the team to take advantage of open shots, but did not pass. Other times, the shot deflected off a Pembroke player’s skate or was saved by Goalie Kyle Jacobs.

While the team didn’t score in the rest of the period, Pembroke's players became energized and intensity shifted immensely.

The third period was a whole different game. Westwood's defense had been intense up to that point; Treon had been lights out with 12 saves. However, within the first five minutes of the third period, the Wolverines goaltender gave up two goals to tie up the game 2-2.

The first goal came about a minute into the period by Chris Waterfield and all of a sudden Westwood looked frustrated. After the goal, Egizi got a quick shot off by Jacobs saved it to negate the opportunity. Moments later, Westwood found themselves in another bind when Sean Condrick was called for tripping.

Pembroke took quick advantage of the power play, with a goal by Paul Tower that was assisted by Matt Allen and Tom Cahill.

Westwood’s frustration continued with more penalties, including one for tripping by Theo Treon with six minutes left. Things started to get very chippy at this point, when Westwood felt that their goalie was being threatened. Several times, Treon was bumped into by Pembroke players. Other times, players were getting wrapped up away from the puck which led to pushing and shoving, as well as some jawing back and forth.

Neither team could wrap it up in regulation, prompting the game to go into overtime. It didn’t last long. Pembroke got one shot off, which was the nail in the coffin for Westwood. Chris Waterfield scored with assists by Tower and Allen.

The Westwood side of the stands went quiet as Pembroke’s erupted with joy. Pembroke players charged the ice in celebration after putting an end to a strong season and even stronger post season by the Wolverines.

Even with a loss in the finals, the entire season was quite a run, as was pointed out by Westwood Athletic Director Karl Fogel.

“It was especially frustrating with that 2-0 lead,” said Fogel.

Likewise, Pecararo said that the 2-0 lead is a tough one to swallow. He noted that with a score like that, especially in a final, one goal can change how everything plays out. In this case, it shifted the momentum and led to an overtime win.

“When you get into overtime, anything can happen,” said Pecararo. “And, unfortunately, it did.”

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