No. 3 Lynnfield vs. No. 2 Newburyport in semifinals Wednesday
Published February 17, 2021
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
PEABODY — In their Cape Ann League playoff opener on Presidents Day afternoon, the Lynnfield High boys’ hockey team blanked visiting Hamilton-Wenham 3-0 at the McVann O’Keefe Rink in Peabody.
The third-seeded Pioneers improved to 6-4-3 with the win over the sixth-seeded Generals, who they have faced an unprecedented four times this winter.
Lynnfield went 2-0-2 against them.
The first goal came on the power play just 2:12 into the game as Drew Damiani scored on a shot from the point assisted by Tyler Scoppettuolo and Aidan Burke.
At the 7:47 mark of the first, Chase Carney made it 2-0 with Scoppettuolo picking up his second assist.
The third goal came with only 18 seconds remaining in the second period as Pat Barrett scored assisted by Burke and Damiani .
“We struggled a little in the second period but were able to finish,” said Pioneers head coach Jon Gardner.
Freshman goalie Nick Hubbard notched his second shutout of the year making 22 saves as the Pioneers outshot the Generals 27-22.
In their final game of the regular season on Feb. 13, the Pioneers tied visiting Pentucket 4-4 on Senior Day.
“The game felt like a loss,” admitted Gardner as the Pioneers lost a three-goal lead in the final period.
With Lynnfield up 4-1, a five-minute major penalty opened the door for the Sachems.
Pentucket scored on a power play with 1:23 left. Then, after another Lynnfield penalty, they cut the lead to one on a six-on-three advantage as the Sachems pulled their goalie as well with 1:14 left.
Pentucket then scored the game-tying goal on a 6-on-4 advantage with 25 seconds left.
“Our player called for the five-minute penalty was sticking up for a teammate who got a cheap shot that wasn’t called,” explained Gardner.
Pentucket struck first 1:32 into the game. Burke tied it on the power play at the 5:23 mark of the first assisted by Damiani and Alex Buonopane.
Janssen Sperling gave the locals their first lead of the afternoon 1:49 into the second assisted by Scoppettuolo and Carney.
At the 2:04 mark into the third, Damiani scored a shorthanded tally unassisted to make it 3-1.
Damiani, who finished the day with three points, then scored the fourth goal with 7:31 left in the game. Sperling and Carney were credited with the assists.
Lynnfield outshot Pentucket 28-24 as Pioneers goalie Jake DeBenedictis made 20 stops.
Before the game, the four Lynnfield seniors were honored: Buonopane, DeBenedictis, Brenden Henehan and John Berquist.
On Feb. 10, the Pioneers lost 3-1 to Triton at home.
“They have a good team but we played right with them,” said Gardner.
Aided by a weird bounce off the backboards, the Vikings scored the first goal of the night at the 10:04 mark of the second period.
“The puck took a bad bounce,” said Gardner. “It was like, what just happened.”
Lynnfield tied it 1:04 into the third as Carney scored assisted by Damiani.
The Vikings scored the game-winning goal with 5:54 left.
Hubbard was pulled for the extra attacker with a little over a minute left but the guest closed the door with an empty-net tally with 14 seconds remaining.
Triton outshot the Pioneers 25-21 as Hubbard made 18 saves.
On Feb. 17, the Pioneers go to the Graf Rink to take on second-seeded Newburyport in the CAL semifinals at 7 p.m. The Clippers went 2-0 against the Pioneers this year.
The winner of that game will take on the winner of the Triton-North Reading game in the Cape Ann League final on Feb. 19 (location and time unknown as of press time).
