BOSTON--Six games, five of which were decided by one goal, and two overtime games. Per usual, not a bad Championship Sunday at TD Garden!
Four new champions were crowned in all, with two champions repeat winners.
In the Division 1 Girls State Championship Game, the Woburn Tanners held on to its title with a 1-0 win over the Tewksbury/Methuen Red Rangers. Katie Delaney scored at 6:31 of the second period for Woburn on a feed from Marissa Gregory, while Amanda Essigmann made 17 saves for the Tanners in net. It's the fifth title in program history for Woburn, along with titles in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2017. The win made the Tanners the lone team in the state without a loss this season (24-0-2), in both boys and girls hockey.
The Shrewsbury Colonials retained its crown in the Division 3 Boys State Championship Game, winning its third title in the last five seasons in the process. Jack Tepper broke a 1-1 tie in the third period for the Colonials, which wound up being the championship clincher as Shrewsbury handed the previously-unbeaten Hanover Indians (24-1-1) its first loss of the season. Tyler Borys also scored for the Colonials, while Zach Taylor scored the lone goal for Hanover -- his 38th of the season. Shrewsbury now has five state championships, its previous wins coming in 1999, 2009, 2014 and 2017.
After three straight years of losing at the Garden, followed by a year of not making it at all, the Wellesley Raiders finally got over the hump with a 1-0 win in the Division 2 Girls State Championship Game. Jenna Harrison scored with just 4.7 seconds left in the first period for Wellesley, which won its first title since 2006 and second overall. Liddy Schulz only needed to make four saves in net for the Raiders in denying the Canton Bulldogs back-to-back state championships.
Anyone who'd caught a Plymouth South Panthers game during its tournament run knew that whatever trick it had up its sleeve for the finale would be memorable. Sure enough, South's flare for the dramatic resulted in a 4-3 overtime win over the Stoneham Spartans in the Division 2 Boys State Championship Game. Alex Hayward scored a game-tying goal 27 seconds into the third period, as well as the OT winner, to deliver the Panthers their first title in team history. Jake Worrick and Joey Van Winkle also scored for Plymouth South, while Joe Carroll, Nick Feliciano and Jake Burridge scored for Stoneham.
For the first time since 2007, the BC High Eagles captured the Super Eight title with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Pope Francis Cardinals. Things looked bleak for the Eagles, down a goal with less than a minute to go in regulation. But Joe Dragon tied it with the extra attacker on and Mav Woods took care of the rest in the extra session, giving BC High its fifth Super Eight title (sixth championship overall), matching Malden Catholic for the second-most titles in the tournament's history. Makem Demers had the lone goal for the Cardinals, at 12:08 of the second period.
To cap off the day, the Waltham Hawks received four goals from four different players to beat the Marshfield Rams, 4-1, in the Division 1 Boys State Championship Game. Waltham never trailed, scoring once each in the first two periods and twice in the third behind tallies from Chris Egan, Andrew Miller, Declan Reynolds and J.T. Logue. Kyle Penton made 33 saves in net for the Hawks, which won its second title in program history and first since 2002. Max Burum scored the lone goal for Marshfield.
Thank you all so much to everyone who's tuned in along the way this season, and we can't wait for the last week of November to start all over again!