Hockey: St. Mary’s boys even the score against Cathedral

Earlier this month, the St. Mary’s High boys hockey team was on the losing end of a 7-1 pounding courtesy of Springfield Cathedral. The Spartans returned the favor Wednesday with a 4-2 win at Connery Rink.”This was the biggest win of the year for us,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “This is one of the toughest teams in the entire state. Our kids didn’t take a shift off all game. I ‘m so proud of them.”John Baldwin got things going for the Spartans (8-5-2) in the first period when he picked off the puck in the neutral zone and scored a shorthanded goal. Springfield Cathedral’s Ryan Fernandez tied the game late in the period, but Corey Bartlett scored (unassisted) midway through the second period to put the Spartans back on top. Fernandez came up with the equalizer two minutes later, but St. Mary’s pulled away in the final period on goals by Zack Borowski and Baldwin. Frank McCormick (26 saves) was in net.Lee said one of the differences between the first meeting with Springfield Cathedral and the second was discipline.”We’ve become a much more disciplined team than earlier in the season and good things happen because of it. This is probably the best team we’ve faced this year,” Lee said.Lee said his team played extremely well in its own zone and did a nice job limiting Springfield Cathedral’s scoring chances. Although Springfield’s first line did the bulk of the damage last time they met, Lee said there really isn’t a big dropoff.”They’re such a quality team. It’s really hard to see any difference in the lines. They’re a tremendously talented team. We just got in their way,” Lee said.Salem 2, Lynn 1At Rockett Arena in Salem, Mike Day’s power play goal, assisted by Chris Smith and Kyle Silva, with four minutes left in the third period was the difference as the Jets fell to 6-6-2 despite having a 23-16 shots on goal advantage.Lynn’s goal came in the second period off the stick of Eric Bransfield, assisted by Billy MacDaniel and Tim Shirley, to tie the game at 1-1. Craig MacDaniel made 16 saves in goal while Stan Goodwin stopped all 10 shots he faced to get the win in relief of Cody Grondin.Lynnfield 8, No. Andover 3At Peabody, Ryan Smith had a first-period hat trick on his way to a four-goal and two- assist night. John Connolly (2 goals, 2 assists) and John Lee (2 goals) also found the net on a regular basis. Lynnfield led 4-2 after the first period and 7-2 after two. The Pioneers are 9-2-4, 8-2-2 Cape Ann League.Peabody 3, Beverly 1At Peabody, the Tanners (10-4) qualified for the state tournament for the seventh time in eight years. -Andrew Bucci put Peabody on the board 1:52 into the game, but Beverly’s Tom Berube tied things up a little over four minutes later. The Tanners added goals in the second, from James Noftle, and in the third, from A.J. Parker, to put the game away. Jonathan Camara (14 saves) was in net for Peabody and C. J. Cacciatore (24 saves) was between the pipes for Beverly.Danvers 3, Revere 2At Rockett Arena in Salem, the Falcons (7-5-2) avenged an early season loss to the Patriots (6-5-3) as Steve Kontos scored twice and assisted on a third goal to lead the Danvers offense.Troy Thibodeau had a goal and two assists for the Falcons. Jonathan Tran and Chris Mastropietro, his conference leading 21st of the season, scored for the Patriots.In other action, Gloucester and Winthrop tied 5-5 at Winthrop.GIRLS HOCKEYChelmsford 4, English 0At Chelmsford, a two game winning streak came to a halt for the Bulldogs (4-7) while traveling to play a strong Lions squad. In the loss for English, Alicia Gespres made 30 saves.Andover 2, Marblehead 1At Andover, despite a third period effort to tie the score, the Magicians still walked away with a loss. Kelsey Maguire tied the game at one for Marblehead (7-4-2) in the third period. However, with roughly a minute and a half remaining, Andover potted the winner for the home crowd.Marblehead travels to Salem State on Saturday to take on Waltham.St. Mary’s 16, Matignon 2At Connery Rink,