By CYHA Board
Miceala Sindoris leads the offensive charge for the Under 10 Lady Townies.
This year marked the tenth Annual Dan McGoff Christmas Classic Hockey Tournament hosted by Charlestown Youth Hockey and there were plenty on hand to watch some very talented teams compete all weekend long in over 20 games. The tournament was held in December at the Emmons, O’Neill, Horrigan Rink the home of Charlestown Youth Hockey. This tournament is held in honor and in memory of Dan McGoff whom spent many years mentoring young hockey players, coaches and parents about the finer points of youth hockey and he exemplified how one person can make a big difference by giving back to such an important non-profit community based youth program.
Dan not only worked tirelessly during his many years as a board member, coach and hockey parent while involved with CYHA but he also recruited the entire McGoff family and many friends over the years to become a crucial part of the continued success that Charlestown Youth Hockey has seen since its inception.
Thank you to all of the McGoff family members whom visited throughout the tournament and special thanks goes out to Meghan McGoff, Dan’s daughter, for her presence and part in awarding the Girl’s division trophies and Laurel McGoff, Dan’s niece, for her spectacular singing performance of the National Anthem for all of the championship games. We would also like to thank Lisa McGoff Collins for her donation of a handmade holiday basket for the raffle and Kevin McGoff and family and Joe McGonagle, Dan’s close friend of many years, for their donations of a flat panel TV and team autographed Coyotes hockey jersey for the raffle. Thanks also goes out to the following for their generous donations to our successful raffle, Bill Cantin from Ironside Grill for the gift certificate, John Conforti whom donated a Gargoyles Restaurant gift certificate as well as two Red Sox tickets, Chris Tuite for the autographed Bruins sticks and photos, the Girls U10 team, J’s skate shack, and all those that donated baked goods for the bake sale. Thank you to Jack and Mike Kelly for their DJ services and a special thank you to all of the board members, coaches, parents as well as all the other volunteers whom dedicated their time to help make this year’s tournament another great success.
The Charlestown Pee Wee B team competed against Brookline, Winchester and Everett, along with the Under 10 Girls team going up against Arlington, Melrose and the Boston Junior Eagles and the Mite A boys team battled with South Boston, Quincy and Wellesley. There was a great showing for every game, as plenty of fans were on hand for the local match ups.
The Girls Under 10 went 3-0 beating the Junior Eagles, Melrose and Arlington to make it to the championship round. On a cold weekend in December, four U10 girls’ teams gathered at the rink in Charlestown for the Annual Dan McGoff Christmas Classic. Arlington, Melrose, Boston Jr. Eagles and the Charlestown Townies came to do battle on the ice. The Townies first opponent was Melrose. The Townies came away with a 3-0 victory. The Charlestown team out skated Melrose for 3 periods and got the win. The next opponent was the Boston Jr. Eagles, which is a select hockey team. The Townies showed town hockey pride by handing the Jr. Eagles a 3-1 loss. This team gave Charlestown a competitive game and it was closer than the score showed. The last game of the round robin was against Arlington. The Townies came out blazing and scored a few quick goals. Arlington fought back with all they had but the Townies proved again to be the better team and won the game 7-4.
With a 3-0 record, the Townies headed into the Championship game against their toughest opponent, the Boston Jr. Eagles. Both teams battled back and forth for 3 solid periods but the Jr. Eagles proved to be too much for the tired Townies this time. The final score was 5-3. The Townies stormed the Eagles net for the last 8 minutes of the game, ringing the post more than once. It was a well-fought battle for both teams. That was the first loss of the season for the Charlestown girls.
The Charlestown U10 girl’s team is currently 15-0 in the Middlesex Yankee Conference Girls League. They have a few of the league’s top scorers and future stars on their roster in Charisse Flanagan, Ciara Wall and Miceala Sindoris. The well- rounded offense is also comprised of Kaley Kyle, Caitlyn Killoran, Leah Fama, Riley Cote and Megan Sheehan. The solid defense is made up of Aisling Newhall, Leslie Schwartz, Brigh Cote and Katherine Porter all very experienced players. Their solid goaltending comes from Kasey Libby whom is a budding net minder doing great things between the pipes. Jack Sindoris, Mark Wall, Peter Cote and Tim Libby coach the Lady Townies. If you want to see the future of women’s hockey, come down the Rink, visit Edie at the Snack Shack and check out the Lady Townies.
The Boys Pee Wee B team, while having a great regular season, was not as fortunate having lost to Brookline 3 to 0 and Winchester 5 to 3 as well as a very talented Everett team 8 to 1 whom went on to win the championship game. For Charlestown there were a number of standout offensive plays led by Jake “Slapshot” Scanlon, Danny Settipani, Eddie “The Eagle” Evers, with a talented second line offensive threat led by the towering Nick Killoran and nifty Mike Ward. The fierce Bruin-like defense on the blue line was led by the classy “Ray Bourque” like Ryan Arbuckle, Mark Williamson, Danny Murray and Chris “The Enforcer” Tucker. Other players pitching in wherever possible were Andrew McLaughlin, Brendan O’Brien and Gus “Out Front” Viveiros. Brennan “The Wall” Carrier played an outstanding series between the pipes but the fierce competition and heavy schedule of games played that weekend took its toll on the entire Pee Wee B squad.
The Boy’s Mite A team started out strong but was not victorious against Quincy in their first game. After allowing a strong Quincy team to get out to an 8 to 1 lead Charlestown mounted a furious comeback led by Colin DelValle and Eddie Pistorino netting 5 goals only to come up a little bit short on the scoreboard losing 9 to 6. Other players notably contributing were Brady McKinley, Andrew McDonald and James “The Jet” Kenneally. Going up against their arch rivals for the second game they managed to keep a talented but young South Boston team in check with tough Townie defense led by Will Killoran and a standout “Tim Thomas” like performance in the net by Tommy Williamson. They were assisted by their own young up and coming offensive stars Aidan Fitz, Jessica Pistorino and Owen DelValle but to no avail the South Boston mites were victorious in a 7 to 4 battle. The final game proved to be a back breaker for the Charlestown Mites losing to Wellesley in their third game that day. They hit the wall and couldn’t muster a win in an 8 to 1 loss to Wellesley but some bright spots were Townie players Noel Gallagher, Colin “Scoring Machine” DelValle and Uriah Weaver whom gave their all to finish out the day.
In the Mite Division championship game Southie did battle against a strong Quincy team but the South Boston team overpowered their defense with a relentless offensive threat centering around the young, “Charlestown born”, Landyn Greatorex, son of James Greatorex and Janelle Ortiz Greatorex, whom is only 7 years old and who put on a show for the audience with his puck handling and shooting skills. Charlestown scouts hope to see young Landyn Greatorex on the waiver wire for next season.