Newburyport upsets top seeded Winthrop

Neither the luxury of being the top-seed nor the comfort of having of extra rest proved to be beneficial to the Winthrop hockey squad last night.The Vikings, in the words of head coach Dale Dunbar, “dug a hole too deep for us to get out of,” falling to Newburyport, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of Division 2 North tourney at Rockett Arena.The eighth-seeded Clippers will face Tewksbury, 1-0 winners over reigning North champions Wilmington, Monday in the semis.Winthrop (16-2-3) had several power play opportunities throughout the contest, and looked like it would use one midway through the opening stanza to take the lead. Unfortunately, a Vikings skater slipped in the Clippers end, with winger Gaven LaValley taking advantage.He brought the puck down the right side of the ice into the Winthrop zone, firing a wrist shot at goalie Pat Feeley. LaValley’s shot was tipped home by teammate Derek Freeman for the game’s first score.”All week long, we practiced our penalty killing, after having given up three powerplay goals to Fenwick (on Tuesday),” said Clippers coach Paul Yameen. “We didn’t sit back, played aggressively, and came out with the shorthanded goal.”The Clippers entered the second period with a 1:27 power play. Seconds after it ended, Newburyport (15-4-4) increased its lead with winger Corey Ruane firing a 30-footer from the right side. Feeley made the initial stop, yet forward Ryan Cutter was positioned in front to redirect the puck into the net.”We had some bounces like that (in the regular season) that didn’t go like that,” Dunbar said. “(Friday) they went against us.”Vikings forward George Costa was robbed twice by Clippers goalie Chris Eiserman midway through the period. His 25-foot slap from the right side was gloved by the goalie. Moments later, he fired low with a 15-foot wrist shot, but the goalie made the pad save.Newburyport netted a late goal for a 3-0 edge as Dave Freeman fired on net, with the stop made by Feeley. Brother Derek, positioned in front, flicked the rebound home to help pad the margin.The Vikings went on the powerplay midway through the final period, and scored 30 seconds later when Dan Shannon received a pass from teammate Joe Scarfo and wheeled home a 12-footer to break the shutout.Feeley was pulled for an extra skater with 1:40 to go, but Newburyport’s Kyle McElroy netted an empty-netter for the final score of the contest.”I thought we beat ourselves, especially giving up that goal when we were on the powerplay,” Dunbar said. “We didn’t play the way we had been all year, but you have to give credit where it’s due. We hadn’t been behind like that (3-0) entering the final period all year long, but we just beat ourselves.”