Senior captain MJ Petisce revels in the shock and bliss of it.

When time ran out in the Methuen/Tewksbury girls hockey team’s 4-0 win over Shrewsbury on Feb. 5, the Red Rangers could smile over producing the insurance goals they’ve craved. Shutouts and wins have stacked aplenty in what’s been an incredible 15-0-3 season, but 13 one-goal finishes makes any margin above it feel like another victory in its own right.

This win was different, though. Petisce’s smile grew when she learned over the public address announcement that Methuen/Tewksbury had just won the cutthroat MVC/DCL Large for the first time since 2019. She and fellow senior captain Breena Lawrence couldn’t believe it. With a team picture to cap it off, the moment felt nearly perfect.

The only thing missing was head coach Dave O’Hearn, who had been hospitalized two days earlier for a health setback in his aggressive fight against pancreatic cancer. But even so, he watched on LiveBarn from his hospital bed and texted his thoughts to assistants Ryan Sheehy and Kelly Golini.

“He definitely is (with us), even when he can’t be there in person,” Petisce said. “The energy is not as much there when he’s not there, but everyone just definitely steps up.”

Overcoming adversity has become synonymous with the Red Rangers.

Senior defenseman Sarah Doherty is set to play collegiate hockey despite needing three different brain surgeries since the sixth grade. The Methuen/Tewksbury roster has just 15 players, but somehow produces enough late in games to remain unbeaten through seven overtime finishes. And the Red Rangers’ leader, who’s been a beloved coach in the program since 2016, is in the middle of a fight for his life.

Never once in the months between his diagnosis in August to the start of the season did O’Hearn think he wouldn’t be head coach. But chemotherapy and 28 days of radiation — which he finally wrapped up this week — has been debilitating.

“It’s been a rough go since the beginning of the season,” O’Hearn said. “Unfortunately it’s been so debilitating that I can’t even pick up my phone to text somebody sometimes. It’s just that much.”

Despite crashes in-between chemo treatments that have wiped him out for days at a time, he’s only missed about 10 practices and a couple games. O’Hearn says Sheehy and Golini have been “instrumental” for the team’s success to step up in those moments, but he’s made every effort to be behind the bench.

“Coaching, being behind the bench, is the best time I feel throughout my day,” he said. “It’s just hockey. It brings out — I don’t know, it’s just a good feeling. I feel my strongest when I’m at the rink.”

As much as an impact as being with the team has on him, his passion and determination has the same impact on his players.

“He’s such an amazing person,” Petisce said. “Not many people have the personality that he has, he really is so selfless. When he is struggling, sometimes you can tell. Some practices he goes to, he is not feeling the greatest. But he took the time that he had, which he probably should’ve rested, but he still comes to our practices.”

“He’s just so dedicated to our team and cares so much about us,” she continued. “It’s so nice to see, for us, that someone cares that much.”

O’Hearn can’t say enough about the quality of people his players are, too, with how they’ve handled the situation and supported him.

Captains Petisce, Lawrence and Lydia Barnes made sure the team was prepared for it entering the year. Several players have reached out to O’Hearn to check in on him, which he says isn’t easy to do as a teenager. They’ve laced their skates with purple, and joined with the boys to host a Hockey Fights Cancer doubleheader fundraiser.

It’s that unity, along with a wild, unbeaten ride, that made it so conflicting for O’Hearn to have his tumor removal initially scheduled for March 7 — amid the height of the state tournament.

Thankfully, his treatment has gone according to plan and his tumor has shrunk for the procedure. Even more thankfully, his medical team is comfortable with a surgery on March 20 instead.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but the potential of having to miss hockey (put) a dark cloud over me,” O’Hearn said. “You don’t run into this very often, these years. You look to see how you got here, what it took to get there — it’s a lot. You want to see it out. Win or lose, you want to make sure you’re there for your team. … Being a part of a team — it’s something special.”

Special is the theme for Methuen/Tewksbury, ranking at No. 6 in the latest Div. 1 power rankings. It’s motivated by last year’s second-round loss, and its vaunted defense — anchored by Barnes in net — is among the best in the state.

And thankfully, its head coach gets to be a part of it.

Small but mighty

Methuen/Tewksbury’s latest thriller — a scoreless tie on Wednesday — came to a Boston Latin team that’s also impressed despite adversity.

Head coach Tommy McGrath is skating about nine to 10 players, and has often missed a couple — injured or sick. And yet, in their first year playing in the MVC/DCL Large, the Wolfpack (5-10-4) have won, tied or lost by one goal in nine of its past 10 games. The only outlier was a 2-0 loss to Andover that had an empty-netter.

Senior defenseman Ava Enright, junior defenseman Phoebe Niese, and sophomore forwards Angela Wells and Estelle Corbitt, have anchored the grit to compete despite the challenge.

“There’s a core group of girls that have experience that can kind of figure it out to get us deep into games,” McGrath said. “(They) wouldn’t come off the ice if I let them stay on there. … The other girls are looking up to them and hopefully trying to emulate them.”

While Boston Latin seems fine enough to potentially turn heads in the Div. 1 state tournament, the program’s trajectory over the last few years is notable.

Three years into McGrath’s tenure, he had a full junior varsity team. Now, with admissions difficult and the entry exam’s results posted after potential new students’ families put deposits on private schools, McGrath says the program isn’t getting players from the traditional avenues it used to.

The JV season is only three games now, and new players have been scarce.

With hockey’s noted decimation within Boston Public Schools over the last few decades, Boston Latin’s numbers deserve attention.