Shrewsbury girls hockey head coach Frank Panarelli was ecstatic when his program switched leagues to join the vaunted MVC/DCL Large in 2021, knowing how important the challenge was on its way to eventually winning its first Div. 1 state title a couple years later.
It’s a similar excitement that Paul Hardy felt when Lincoln-Sudbury moved up from the Small division to join the loaded pack in 2023. That goes for Tommy McGrath, too, when Boston Latin made the same jump last year. It’s no secret how cutthroat the league is; it’s talked about far too much for it to be.
But the proof is in the pudding with a revolving door of league champions most years. Players can see its difficulty on a nightly basis. And aside from the Catholic Central League, no conference/league has produced as many state semifinalists in girls hockey than the MVC/DCL over the last 10 years. They’re tied for the most with 13 appearances.
It’s for all those reasons that Methuen/Tewksbury felt both shock and joy last year when it went unbeaten in league play to win its first MVC/DCL Large title since 2019. Players and coaches felt its magnitude after navigating a stressful schedule that had 14 one-goal finishes.
There have been far fewer of those games this year. But the wins have been the same, and Wednesday night, with a 4-1 win over Shrewsbury in its last league matchup of the regular season, Methuen/Tewksbury (16-0-2) – somehow – went unbeaten again for a rare repeat league crown.
“We play against so many good teams,” said Red Rangers interim head coach Ryan Sheehy. “To be able to come out on top and not have a (league) loss in those two years is just incredible. … Looking back, it’s like, ‘How did we do that?’ ”
In short – camaraderie, a relentless effort, and a suffocating defense.
Star junior defender Lyla Chapman and senior Dream-Team goalie Lydia Barnes smiled at each other and laughed at the reference of just how good Methuen/Tewksbury has been this year against opposing attacks. Both out of humility, and their awareness of its value.
The Red Rangers lead the state in goals allowed with just two games left in the regular season, surrendering just eight so far for a stunning 0.44 GAA. Barnes has a case as the state’s top goalie once again with 11 shutouts, and Methuen/Tewksbury has posted several games allowing less than 10 shots on her to add to that dominance.
“We don’t talk about (leading the state in goals allowed), but everyone knows,” Chapman said. “Our two coaches say it, we are a defensive team. We’ve known that. … We take so much pride in our defense and (in Barnes).”
“The backbone is the defense,” Barnes added. “You can’t win a game without defense. That’s kind of our mentality.”
What goes into that dominance is layered, but the Red Rangers’ approach is at the heart of it.
Chapman, eighth-grader Kenzie Dunnet, and freshmen Lauren Ryan and Maeve Burns lead a blue line that aggressively works to deny the defensive zone. A litany of hard-working two-way forwards help them suffocate attacks when they do gain it, and breakouts are extremely quick. And whatever doesn’t get cleared right away, Barnes is both talented and composed in net to make sure little gets by her.
“It’s all effort,” Sheehy said. “Both ends of the ice, all three zones, are all effort. If they do break in, we break out pretty quick. We don’t allow too many shots. … When you look at us play, we just suffocate people in the defensive zone, break that puck out and go to work in the offensive zone.”
So far, only Waltham has scored more than one goal against Methuen/Tewksbury.
Sheehy, Barnes and Chapman all gave different answers on which game this year felt like the best “Red Rangers performance” that will help them return to the Div. 1 state semifinals for a second straight year – but all three (1-0 win over HPNA, 2-0 win over Billerica/Chelmsford and a 4-1 win over Shrewsbury) featured that defense firing on all cylinders.
As Chapman and Barnes say, a defensive emphasis has been instilled in them by the coaching staff since Day 1 with the program. It started with former head coach Dave O’Hearn, who inspiringly coached through a rigorous fight with cancer last year up until the Red Rangers fell in the state semifinals. He would always tell the defense not to allow opponents past their blue line.
This whole season has been dedicated to O’Hearn after he passed away over the offseason, which has been another major driver in the Red Rangers’ success.
“(Winning the league) definitely feels more special this year too with everything we’ve gone through together,” Chapman said. “If I’m tired or something, or if I don’t feel good, I’m still going to try my hardest on the ice because (O’Hearn) would be down our necks, saying ‘bear down, keep it up.’ So I always keep him in the back of my head, that’s my reason for playing.”
“I come out every day, playing as hard as I can because I know if he were here, he’d be wanting us to do that,” Barnes added. “The juniors and seniors that were here, coming back this year, we were one goal short. So, I think definitely that sits in the back of our mind a little bit and keeps us going. And we definitely want to do it for coach Dave as well, so we’ve just got to keep working.”
Sheehy spoke glowingly of Barnes and Chapman’s impact on the team, as leaders and performers. Chapman has been a vital piece on the attack, too, which has been the main focus of improvement over the last couple years with goals hard to come by.
So far, Methuen/Tewksbury has just four games with under two goals scored, though. Sammy Ryan, Ella Duffy and Emily Barbosa are the veterans up top leading the way, while Sarah Marano and Sophia Barbosa have also delivered some big goals for major signs of growth.
Paired with the defense and a strong leadership group, Sheehy is plenty confident in another run in search of their first state title since 2019.
“We have so many great defensemen and forwards that play two-way,” he said. “Just being able to lock down the defensive zone, we squeak one goal in, we think we’re pretty good. (Holding) that defense to a high standard is a key for us and it’s been working so far.”
Snapping droughts
It’s been a memorable season for many boys programs that have been banging on the door over the last few years, snapping long league title droughts as they gear up for the state tournament. Arlington Catholic went unbeaten in the Catholic Central League for its first crown since 2008. Reading won its first Middlesex League Liberty title since 2014, and Dracut/Tyngsboro dethroned four-time reigning champion Methuen in the MVC/DCL 3 race.
Loose pucks
The last set of MIAA power rankings will be released Tuesday before the regular season cutoff on Thursday. Tournament pairings will be released Saturday at 10 a.m. … With Canton’s win over Tewksbury in the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament, there are no more unbeaten teams in MIAA boys hockey. Nauset’s 24-0-1 run to the Div. 3 state title remains the only unbeaten season in the power rankings era.
