Lynnfield gets solid effort, tops Danvers

SAUGUS – It seems hard to fathom, but it had been eight years since the Danvers and Lynnfield hockey teams had met.Not since the 2001 Division 2 North finals, won by the Falcons at BU’s Walter Brown Arena, had two of the North Shore’s perennial powers locked horns. But on Wednesday at Kasabuski Arena, the two got together in the Division 2 finals of the Kasabuski Arena Holiday Hockey Classic.Led by a standout performance in net from senior Craig Cataldo and goals by Andy Garbeno, Sam Oliveri and Steve Corcoran, the Pioneers snagged a 3-1 win over a hot Danvers team.Click here for a photo gallery.”The kids should be proud of the way that they played (Wednesday),” Lynnfield coach Vin Mirasolo said. “They played three real good periods and a complete game. It was one of our best efforts of the season.”After struggling in a 6-4 win over Saugus on Tuesday, Cataldo was back in his usual form on Wednesday. The senior made several critical saves in the second period when the Falcons were swarming in a one-goal game and then slammed the door on them again in the third.”Craig really played tremendous. When’s he’s on his game like that, he is really hard to beat,” Mirasolo said.Danvers (2-2-1) actually outshot Lynnfield, 22-18, in the game but saw the Pioneers score a goal late in the first period and again early in the second to steal away all the momentum.”We had plenty of chances,” Danvers coach Kevin Brown said. “But credit to (Cataldo). He did his job and made the saves he had to.”The teams played nearly the entire first period before Lynnfield broke the ice when Andy Garbeno shoveled a Greg Meiniger rebound past Mike Allain with nine seconds left to send the Pioneers off with a 1-0 lead after one.Riding that momentum, Lynnfield doubled the lead 95 seconds into the middle period when Sam Oliveri fired home a Craig Anderson feed to make it 2-0.”That first period was probably our best one of the season and then we were able to come out great in the second,” Mirasolo said.Danvers clawed back as D.J. Yost fired a Kyle Larson feed past Cataldo to make it 2-1 just past the four-minute mark. That, however, would be the last blemish on Cataldo as he stopped the last 13 shots he faced in the game.It was still a one-goal game late in the third when fourth-line winger Steve Corcoran fired home a Tyler Smith pass with 4:54 remaining to give the Pioneers some much-needed breathing room.”It’s going to be a test for these kids all year long,” Mirasolo said. “But to come here and win two games and this tournament for the first time in a while is something they should be happy about.”In the consolation game, Boston Latin’s Conal Lynch had a hat trick and two assists in the Wolfpack’s 7-2 win over Saugus.Saugus got goals from Saige Tait and Kurt Rodrigues. Tait and Rodrigues also had an assist each.