Lynn Jets drop opener on scary night

LYNN – The Lynn Jets, a combine team of Classical and English, made their debut on Wednesday at Connery Rink against a very tough Beverly team. And despite playing well in stretches, the Lynners couldn’t come up with a win on opening night.Jack Leathersich had two goals and an assist and Chris Bushey added a 3-point night en route to a 5-2 win. The win came at a price, though, as forward Ryan Gilligan was taken off the ice on a stretcher early in the second period after being knocked out momentarily after a hit from the Jets’ Jeff Porter. Gilligan had a concussion, but his father, Beverly coach Bob Gilligan, said that Ryan Gilligan would be all right.”I think that we can play a lot better than that and I’m sure that as time goes on, we will,” Jets coach Al Melanson said.The game started with both teams playing conservatively for the opening minutes. But things began to open up, with the Panthers being the first to find their stride.Leathersich opened the scoring at the 8:37 mark with an unassisted goal that went off the stick of goaltender Craig MacDaniel. Just over three minutes later, Leathersich made it 2-0 Beverly when he one-timed home a Ryan Karp centering pass.The Jets got that one back with 1:04 left in the period as Billy MacDaniel will forever be known as the first to light the lamp for the Lynn team. His shot glanced off the glove of C.J. Cacciatore and trickled across the goal line to cut the gap to 2-1 after one.The second period would be marred by the injury to Gilligan, which resulted in a major penalty and Porter getting the gate for the rest of the contest. But the Jets showed great resilience and were able to kill off the major thanks to good penalty killing and an interference minor against Beverly’s Mike Boches.Despite the solid defense, Lynn simply couldn’t get anything started against the Panther defense, which held the Jets to one shot for the period.Beverly finally found the mark with 1:02 left when Boches picked up a power play goal, assisted by Mitch Hamor and Bushey, that made it 3-1 after two.The Jets came out charging to start the third period and cut the lead back to a goal when MacDaniel scored on a rebound at the 54-second mark. But Beverly would have none of that comeback.Bushey put the dagger in the Jets’ chances when he scored with 4:10 remaining. Boches closed out the scoring with 1:49 remaining.