BOURNE – Nearly a year after falling to Marblehead in the Division 3 state championship, Nauset had no interest in losing in 2025.
Two third-period goals from Colin Ward helped power the top-seeded Warriors to a 5-1 victory over the Magicians to advance to the semifinals of the Division 3 boys hockey tournament.
“They are a hard-working team and I love games like that,” Ward said. “It just comes down to mentality and we got it done.”
The game started with a near goal for Nauset when star forward Logan Poulin stung the post with a blistering wrist shot. This brought up some bad memories of last March’s final, when the Warriors hit several posts but could not score in a 1-0 loss.
“After last year, hitting as many posts as we did, it was like ‘here we go again,’ ” Warriors goalie Zach Coelho said.
Minutes later, Marblehead took the game’s first lead when Kyle Hart finished a rebound in the slot. That was the extent of the scoring in the opening frame, although Nauset carried the overall play.
“We just wanted to get that first one, we needed to see one go by him,” Warriors head coach Connor Brickley said. “We figured that once that happened, we would get a little more confidence.”
Entering the second period, Nauset was desperate to get on the score sheet. That’s exactly what the Warriors did early in the frame, as Ward fired a shot on net and Zach Weiner buried the rebound to tie the game at 1. He credited his linemate’s effort as a key reason for the goal.
“Colin Ward is a great player, I knew he would make the play,” Weiner said. “He’s awesome.”
Marblehead would respond with several strong chances, but Coehlo flashed the glove to keep the score tied.
“I’ve been watching a lot of 2011 Tim Thomas highlights and that’s who I am trying to channel,” Coelho said. “That’s what I am going for.”
The third period featured back and forth action, but Ward blasted home a rebound shot with under seven minutes left to give Nauset their first lead.
“It was a dirty goal to start off,” Ward said. That opened the floodgates in the third and we got shots on net, had great puck movement and strong zone entries.”
Logan Miller made it 3-1 before Ward tallied his second to make it 4-1. In the final minute, Poulin found Jake Eldridge to give the game a 5-1 score.
“We’ll take on any team that wants to take away Logan because we have a lot of other guys with big numbers on our roster,” Brickley said. “If you want to game plan against him, other guys will step up.”
Nauset will now face Scituate or Triton in the semifinals after having defeated both teams in the regular season. Still, the Warriors are taking their approach from this game into their next one.
“They were just another team in the way,” Weiner said. “When it comes down to it, we are just trying to go to the Garden.”