Monomoy-Mashpee Hockey Tops Quincy In OT After Celebrating Seniors

SOUTH DENNIS – The Monomoy-Mashpee boys hockey team is one victory away from clinching a trip to the Division 4 state tournament. 

 The Sharks inched closer to securing a postseason berth on Saturday after Monomoy sophomore Owen Cloney scored with 1:17 remaining in overtime to lift Monomoy-Mashpee to a 4-3 victory over Quincy at Tony Kent Arena. 

 It marked the second goal of the night for Cloney, who capped off a celebratory night that saw the team honor seniors Cameron McCutcheon, Aidan Stone, Casey Huse, Declan Smith and Dylan Chase during a pregame senior night ceremony. 

 “We dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole, but it’s always great when we can work to get out of it,” Monomoy-Mashpee first-year coach Chris Harlow said. 

 Monomoy-Mashpee (9-7-0) relinquished a 2-1 lead late in the second period after Quincy senior Cole Quigley netted a pair of power-play goals during a 30-second span. Quigley’s second goal came with 41.4 seconds remaining in the middle period and gave the Presidents (3-12-1) a 3-2 lead. 

 The Sharks rallied to tie the game 3-3 with 7:38 remaining after Monomoy sophomore Max Cronen netted a wrist shot to force 5 minutes of 4-on-4 overtime. 

Late in the extra frame, a blocked shot by Monomoy junior defenseman Luke Raftery led to a Monomoy-Mashpee rush up the ice. Cloney buried a rebound after Quincy goaltender Brayden O’Connell stopped an initial shot by Raftery.

“That overtime goal is an example of the things we harp on all the time,” Harlow said. “You’ve got to be willing to block shots for your team and you’ve got to be willing to get to the front of the net to dirty areas. Those are the hard things in hockey that help a team win.”

Cloney, a Harwich resident, said the Sharks were motivated to complete a comeback. 

“We knew what we needed to do,” Cloney said. “We’ve played them before, so we knew what we were up against. We‘ve come back in a lot of our games this season, so we just got energized and rallied to battle back.”

Huse opened the scoring to give Monomoy-Mashpee a 1-0 lead with 10:47 remaining in the first period. Although the Presidents battled back to tie the game following a wrist shot by junior defenseman Joe MacNeil with 8:20 left in the second period, the Sharks quickly answered to go in front 2-1 after Cloney netted a wrist shot with 5:51 remaining in the period. 

It was a celebratory night for Monomoy-Mashpee and its five seniors, who have helped spearhead the program’s culture shift during Harlow’s debut season. 

“It’s about grit,” said Huse, a Harwich resident. “We decided to wake up and work as a team and not do it ourselves. There’s a purpose to being here, wanting to play and wanting to win. We want to make a deep run in the playoffs.”

Harlow said the seniors have each provided the team with reliable leadership. 

“They are all solid voices in the locker room,” the coach said. “A lot of them play difficult roles and do the things we need from them day in and day out to win.”

The Sharks were ranked No. 30 in the MIAA power rankings released Friday. The team can clinch a postseason berth with a victory in one of its final four regular season games or by finishing with a .500 record or better. 

As the team sets its sights on clinching a spot in the state tournament, Harlow said he’s proud that his players have approached each game with a competitive spirit. 

“It’s awesome because every night is competitive,” Harlow said. “Just like tonight, we have to show up and play our best to win. It’s a cool thing when you can come out on the winning side of it. The attitude is great right now — these guys are going into every game believing that they can win.”