Hockey: English girls cruise past Medford, win sixth straight

Since losing to Shrewsbury, 2-1, to begin this season, the Lynn English girls hockey team has been a team on a roll. Entering Saturday’s game against Medford, the Bulldogs had won five straight times and had surrendered only four goals in the process.By the time they left LoConte Rink, the win streak had reached six in a row as five different players recorded goals and Katie Burt had 22 saves in a 5-1 Bulldog win.”We’ve played really well since the first game of the year,” English coach Anthony Martucci said. “We were trying to find our chemistry in that first game but the girls have really played well from then on.”English (6-1) took an early 1-0 lead on Amanda Cordes’ goal, assisted by Caroline McKinnon, before the Mustangs tied it up a minute later. Taylor Brown’s goal at 11:33 of the period, assisted by Courtney McTague and Burt, sent the Bulldogs to the first intermission up a goal.They fed off that momentum as MacKenzie Clark scored 50 seconds into the middle period, off McTague and Casey Harris helpers, to make it 3-1. English then put the game away in the third as Kara Donati and McKinnon scored goals.BOYS HOCKEYWilliams 3, St. Mary’s 3At Connery Rink in Lynn, the Spartans (3-1-3, 2-0-2) shook off a shaky start and picked up a point for the sixth time in seven games.Williams ran out to a 2-0 lead before Bucky Surette scored late in the first, assisted by Andrew Markham and Bobby Mullins. Cam Kennedy tied the game for St. Mary’s early in the second with a power play goal assisted by Derek Stella and Cam O’Neill.The Bishops went back in front late in the second but eighth grader Jake Witkowski tied the game at 3:50 of the third, again assisted by O’Neill.”Early on we have come out with the habit of being behind in a lot of these games and that’s a problem,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “But we’ve also done a good job of fighting back against good teams.”Saugus 12, Salem 4At Rockett Arena in Salem, the Sachems (3-1-3) saw 16 different players record a point, led by Kurt Rodrigues’ six point effort, in blitzing the Witches.Rodrigues had a hat trick and three assists while Tyler Stretton had two goals and two assists. Drew Oxley added a pair of goals and an assist while Guy Capillo had a goal and two assists.Mike Kotowski, Ralph Paglucca, Nick DeSimone and Saige Tait also scored goals. Salem got a hat trick from Zach Holt.Beverly 6, Swampscott 1At Rockett Arena in Salem, the Panthers (6-2-1) continued their torrid play as Brendan Mitchell had a two goal game and Connor Irving added a goal and two assists during a five goal second period.Swampscott (2-5) got its goal from Gino Cresta, assisted by Matt Videtta, late in the second to make it 3-1 before the Panthers scored twice in the final 28 ticks of the middle period.Lynnfield 3, Newburyport 1At McVann-O’Keefe Rink in Peabody, the Pioneers (4-3) pulled one of the stunners of the early season as John Festa recorded a hat trick to help knock off the previously unbeaten Clippers (6-1).”We are very happy with how we executed and our effort,” Lynnfield coach Vin Mirasolo said. “We played great team defense and kept them to the perimeter for the most part.”Festa’s first period goal gave Lynnfield a 1-0 lead that stayed that way until Nate Hickman tied it in the third for the Clippers. Festa, though, scored twice in a little over four minutes to give his team the win.Fenwick 9, Trinity Cath. 1At Ryan Skating Arena in Watertown, the Crusaders (5-2) got two goals each from Bret Kidik and Joe Shea as they simply overwhelmed the hosts.St. John’s 6, BC High 3At Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, St. John’s was down 3-1 in the second period before storming back for the game’s final five goals as Colin Blackwell and Sam Kurker each scored twice.Winthrop 3, Springfield Cathedral 2At the Olympia Center in Springfield, Chris LeBlanc scored twice and Joe Scarfo also had a goal as the Vikings knocked off a perennial Division 1 power.Danvers 4, Revere 0At Rockett Arena in Salem, Joe Strangie sc