Although ice hockey is not a popular sport at Malden High School, a few students are up to the task of the toughness and grit seen in one of Boston’s most iconic pastimes.
Since the school is unable to field an entire team of players, they have combined with a few neighboring schools: Revere High School, Everett High School, and the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School.
Known as Team REMM (Revere, Everett, Mystic Valley, Malden), they also go by Everett/Revere and play their home games at the Allied Veterans Memorial Rink in Everett. Only four players on the team are from Malden: forward captain Jake Simpson, defenseman John “Jacky” Summers, and the team’s only two goaltenders: Benjamin “Ben” Rosa and Aaron Al-Marayati.
The team has won four of their first seven games, three coming in blowouts against Lynn and one against Timberlane Regional. They dropped close games to Medford and Somerville before barely falling in overtime to Bridgewater. For their eighth game of the year, Malden went on the road for a rematch with the Somerville Highlanders at Veterans Memorial Rink.
In their first matchup on January 4th, which was also at Somerville, Team REMM looked sluggish on the ice. It was their first game in three weeks and it showed as the Highlanders dominated puck possession and won the game 4-1 despite a solid performance from Rosa in the crease. This game should be a different story, however, as they are riding a two-game win streak into the matchup.
The game began similarly to the last contest with Somerville controlling the puck very nicely. Still, Team REMM looked slightly better and was able to keep the Highlanders from scoring for the first 6 minutes. Then, a penalty was called to put Somerville on the power play that they ended up capitalizing on with 8:46 left in the first period. After the goal, REMM was called for a hook and immediately went back on the penalty kill. Once again, the Highlanders capitalized and brought the score to 2-0 just under seven minutes into the game.
With the momentum roaring in the other direction, something big needed to happen for REMM to get back in the game. Just 42 seconds later, Malden’s Summers took a slapshot from the point that found the top corner to narrow the lead. It was an immediate momentum shift that may have just saved the game for the team. During the rest of the period, the teams exchanged power plays but no shots were between the iron and the first period ended with Somerville holding a 2-1 advantage. While Somerville dominated the first 8 minutes, Team REMM responded in the last half of the period and looked solid.
During the first intermission, members of the Somerville Youth Hockey program played a quick five-minute exhibition game. The crowd was very entertained by the play as the young kids put on a great show.
The second period started in the same way the first ended with great REMM control. After three minutes, Everett forward and captain David Saia netted a backhander into the left side of the goal to tie the game. The rest of the period would be dominated by the REMM side, but they never ended up finding the net. Rosa made a few good saves to hold the score at 2-2 heading into the second intermission. The score was 2-1 entering the third period in these teams' first matchup, but Somerville scored 2 goals in a dominant final period.
It began in favor of the home crowd. Saia was called for a questionable interference penalty just two minutes into the period. Soon after, a beautiful screening by three Highlanders left Rosa unable to see the slapshot that deflected off his arm into the net. Somerville had scored all three goals on the power play so far.
Once again, Team REMM responded. They dominated puck possession after the goal before Revere captain and defenseman Chris Cecca came through with a huge wrist shot to tie the game with 10:58 remaining in the game. The team’s energy was through the roof as they jumped into the boards in celebration.
Unfortunately, a penalty left the REMM side on a penalty kill once again. This time, however, Rosa made some big saves and they fought off the penalty. The clock continued to wind down and only four minutes remained.
With just under three minutes to go, it looked like the away side would pull off the upset. After driving into the corner, Saia received a wide-open pass in front of the net. A quick wrister just sailed wide left and Somerville took a counter-attack back down the ice. The deflected puck just missed the net for them as well. With just ten seconds left in the game, Somerville took a hard shot but Rosa made a huge save to force overtime.
Overtime was short-lived. Team REMM took one possession down the ice but did not get a shot on the net. Then, Highlander Richie Gaskin made a few great moves down the ice including one on Rosa to open up the net allowing for an easy game-winner only 27 seconds into overtime. For the second time this year, Somerville took down Team REMM.
Overall, it was a solid performance from the away crowd. While the first game was a struggle all the way through, this contest was a dogfight between the two teams. This game would have ended differently if it were not for the many penalties that Somerville capitalized on. Discipline wins games and tonight, it won for the Highlanders.
Summers was watching tape from the game the next day, saying, “there is so much that we could do better. We should have won last night.” He was quite disappointed by the loss knowing how close they came to victory.
“I disagreed with a lot of calls,” he mentioned. “I put some of the blame on the referees for that game.” Three out of four Somerville goals came on the power play with some of them being on extremely questionable plays, including the aforementioned Saia interference that gave the Highlanders their third goal.
Simpson was also disappointed. “We need to score on more of our chances and stop more of theirs,” he mentioned. One thing that he wants the team to work on is controlling the puck in front of the net. He feels that “half of the time” a good pass goes through the slot they “mishandle or whiff on the puck.”
While it was not the best result for the Malden players on Team REMM tonight, they are always improving and are looking to bounce back this season. Now sitting at 4-4, they have a serious chance of earning a spot in the state tournament.
