Martlets Open Season with a Win

The Martlets opened the 2025-6 campaign with the traditional spirited tilt against the Eaglebrook Eagles. The JVs skated to a 4-2 victory, but it must be said that the Eagles were a strong team and pressed the Black & Gold all over the rink throughout the contest. Netminder Teddy Pemberton ‘29 was the difference-maker tonight, turning aside 34 of 36 Eaglebrook shots and bailing his teammates out on more than one occasion—and that’s an understatement. As this was the first game of the season for the Martlets and the team has had only a few practices together, there is still some work to be done to nail down our defensive zone coverage and forechecking scheme. We’ll get there, but tonight was a bit of a rough debut for the team on both fronts—something the coaches knew would be the case from past experience. The Martlets opened the scoring and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, with the first tally coming on a Soren Techet ‘28 tip of a Lester Gu ‘27 shot from the high slot. Gu picked up the puck along the near wall and wheeled around the face off circle before firing a wrist shot on net; Techet, screening in front, tipped the waist-high shot past the Eagle keeper. That goal came only 2 minutes into the game, and energized the home bench. Sam McGarvey ‘28 doubled the Westminster lead 5 minutes later when he gathered a loose puck in the slot and cooly went bar-down. Patrick Saxe ‘26 assisted on McGarvey’s goal, digging the puck out of the corner and taking a low, hard shot that the capable Eagle keeper saved but couldn’t quite control the rebound of. With that 2-0 lead in hand, the Martlets seemed to take control of the game. But this old coach knows well that a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey, and the Eaglebrook side would not be denied. Redoubling their efforts, the Eagles began to press the Martlets. That hard work soon bore fruit as the Eagles were able to sneak one by Pemberton on the rebound to make it 2-1. That goal was a good testament to the old adage that puck-watching is no way to play defense; Pemberton made the first save but no Martlet picked up the Eagle who hammered the puck home. Both teams regrouped in preparation for the 2nd period, but it was the Eagles who came soaring out of their locker room and earned the next goal right as a Martlet penalty expired to make it 2-2. The momentum of the game clearly shifted after that in favor of the Eagles, and the Martlets were back on their heels a bit. Well, more than a bit. During that span, the Martlets successfully killed off a major penalty for almost four minutes, which produced several good scoring chances for the Eagles. Led by Pemberton, the team held the line, and the 2nd period ended knotted at 2 a piece. The 3rd was more of the same, as the Black & Gold tried to play with some defensive zone structure and commitment in the face of a strong Eagle attack. The hard work, albeit scrambling some times on defense,  paid off when Gu forced a turnover in the Eagle end, and Drew Doering ‘29 picked up the puck around the near face-off dot. After a nifty outside-inside move around the Eaglebrook defensemen, Doering slid a backhand pass to a crashing Jack Pickett ‘26 in the low slot, and Pickett made no mistake, giving the Martlets a 3-2 lead with what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Pickett’s lighting of the lamp came with what turned out to be a long 13 minutes to go in the game. The Eagles renewed their efforts, but Pemberton, and some desperation defense by the blueline corps of Thomas Merrill ‘28, Mikey Wang ‘28, Benji Hanson ‘27, Grayson Augsberger ‘29, and Carsten Matthews ‘28, managed to keep the puck out of the Martlet net. The balance of the game was played in the Martlet end, but with 21 seconds to play and the Eagle goalie on the bench, Xavier Kahn ‘27 grabbed a loose puck just inside the Westminster blueline, stepped neatly around an Eagle defender, and found the gaping net from just over the red line. Dylan Zapata ‘28 started that opportunity by forcing an Eagle turnover that proved to be fatal. And that’s how the game ended, with the Black & Gold on top, 4-2. The Martlets will count themselves lucky, as Eaglebrook was a talented and hard-working opponent. Pemberton earned the JV hockey hard hat by acclamation in the locker room after the game. Well deserved. The team will pocket the win, certainly, but the coaches and the team know there’s still work to be done on our systems and commitment to playing good team hockey with structure and balance. Not unexpected at this early stage of the season. The team will have little time to rest and regroup, as the Martlets host the always-tough Cardigan Cougars in fewer than 24 hours. It’s the marquee event on the Westminster athletic calendar, but there are select seats available at Jackson Rink. Secure yours as soon as you can. See you at the rink!