The man in black, from his boots to bejewelled beret, was impeccably groomed on Tuesday as he stroked he neatly trimmed white beard and lamented how he’d been type-cast. He is usually the guy who gets beaten up — “the biker, the trucker, the redneck,” in his words. This experience in taking fake fisticuffs was what Broadway combat choreographer David Brimmer was passing on to an enthusiastic group of Vineyard students.

Matt Mincone, coach of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ hockey team, wasn’t disappointed by his team’s crushing 3-2 loss last Friday against Coyle Cassidy in the Division 2 South Sectional semifinals, a game decided by the largely unfamiliar format of a shoot-out.

Nor was the coach sad, or enraged by the shoot-out loss. Instead it left him, as it did many players and parents, feeling simply numb.

The juggernaut Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ hockey team easily defeated two powerful opponents this week to advance to the quarterfinals of the division 2 south state tournament, setting up an epic showdown tonight against old rival Coyle-Cassidy, the team that has knocked the Vineyarders out of the playoffs for two out of the last three years.

Tonight’s game against Coyle-Cassidy faces-off at 5:15 p.m. at the Gallo Arena in Bourne.