Four Melrose Girls Earn State Champion Hockey Title

This past weekend, Massachusetts Hockey hosted the Tier 1
& 2 state tournament in Marlborough, Mass. and is attended by the top girls
hockey teams in the state.

Capturing the 2012-2013 state tournament title and representing Melrose in this tournament for their Middlesex Islanders U12 Major hockey team (located out of Hockeytown) were Hannah Aveni (goalie), Samantha Kroon (defense), Hannah Walsh (forward) and Linnea Kelley (defense). 

The Islanders opened the series off on Thursday, March 7 with a 2-1 loss to
the Spitfires but from then on it was a five-game win with three games going
into overtime. 

The second game out in Marlborough against the East Coast Wizards was a back and forth battle with the Islanders coming out on top with Hannah Walsh netting the only goal in a 1-0 win over the Wizards starting her way to being named the top scorer of the weekend tournament (five goals, three assists). 

On Saturday morning the Islanders then played the New England Pride and easily won 6-0 with Hannah Walsh once again leading the scoring with two goals and two assists. Skating into the quarterfinals that evening against the Shamrocks the Melrose girls and their team ended regulation game time in a tie 1-1 and then subsequently played six consecutive six-minute overtime periods to finally win and secured their spot in the semi-finals against Assabet Valley on Sunday morning. 

Once again the Islanders would go into overtime but beat Assabet with a win 2-1 setting the stage for a rematch with the East Coast Wizards later in the day. In another thrilling, hard fought overtime game the Middlesex Islanders U12 Major would capture their first U12 Tier 2 State Champion title with a 2-1 victory. This is the second year the Melrose girls have played the Islanders and are looking for a repeat on March 21 as they vie for the State Champion Tier 3 title with the Melrose Youth Hockey Girls U12-1 team.