SARAH POWERS, a freshman from LHS, will continue her strong season in the state tournament on Wednesday when No. 15 PLNR hosts No. 18 Whitman-Hanson in a D1 first round matchup, 5:15 p.m. at McVann-O’Keefe. (File Photo)

 

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

PEABODY — The Peabody-Lynnfield-North Reading co-op girls’ hockey team ended the regular season on a high note as they edged guest Haverhill-North Andover-Pentucket, 1-0, at the McVann-O’Keefe Rink in Peabody on Feb. 23.

With that win, the Tanners ended the regular season at 15-4-1 while HPNA ended up at 10-8-2.

Penny Spack had the lone goal scoring on the power play with 1:49 left in the first period as Jenna DiNapoli assisted.

Tanner goalie, Alyse Mutti, had her second shutout of the year as she made 22 saves to improve to 8-1 in net.

HPNA outshot the Tanners on net 22-20.

“It was a great win for us,” stated Tanners head coach Michelle Roach. “Beating a team like this was a good statement win heading into the tournament. They have a very strong team.”

 

MIAA DIV. 1 GIRLS’ HOCKEY BRACKET

 

The seedings for the Division 1 state tournament came out over the weekend and PLNR got the 15th-seed. They will host Whitman-Hanson on March 2 at home in the first round. Face-off is at 5:15 p.m.

Whitman-Hanson is the 18th-seed as they enter the game with a record of 11-9.

“I don’t know much about them,” admitted Roach. “It is hard to find things about teams out of the south.”

This is the first year the MIAA is using the power rankings system and the sections are not broken down into the North, South, Central and West like before.

The winner of that game will face the winner of the No. 2 Arlington vs. No. 31 Marblehead game in the round of 16 (date, location at time unknown as of press time).