Jets recover from sluggish start, beat Swampscott

LYNN – Lynn boys hockey coach Joe Conlon was in attendance yesterday when Peabody came out sluggish in the first period before a four-goal second sent them to a victory over Bishop Fenwick in Saugus.On Friday evening at Connery Rink, Conlon’s Jets met a similar fate, sleepwalking through most of the opening 15 minutes before exploding for four tallies in the middle period of an eventual 6-1 victory over Swampscott. The win puts the hosts in the championship of the Lynn Christmas tournament on Saturday night (8:30) against Northeast.”It really was kind of the same outcome,” said Conlon of the similarities to the Peabody game. “I thought we were fortunate to have a lead after one, but in the second period we started to move our feet and it created some success.”The aforementioned Jets lead came late in the opening period on just the Jets second shot of the game. Tony Uva banged home a rebound at the left post after Brett Erelli’s shot from the point ricocheted off of teammate Dan Rustani in front.A different Jets team seemed to show up for the second period as they came out fast and physical. Just 4:38 in, Uva scored his second of the night with a laser of a wrist shot just under the crossbar. Rustani picked up his second helper.A little over two minutes later, Corey Wojewodzic (two assists) tripled the lead, putting home a rebound off the glass following a chance from Mark Brazell. Ryan MacDonald added a secondary assist.Lynn (3-0-1) would score two more goals in a span of 46 seconds to close out the period.Kyle Morrill got into the scoring action at the 3:46 action, scoring off a face off win from Uva before MacDonald scored on a tap-in after Erelli’s shot forced a rebound.”It really was just a matter of skating,” explained Conlon of the turnaround. “We regrouped a bit in the room after the first period and played our game the rest of the way. This was a good win for us and I’m looking forward to coming back tomorrow.”The teams would swap goals in the final frame, the first coming from Morrill who scored unassisted on a short-handed bid 2:33 into play.The Big Blue finally broke through at the 10:29 mark, as Ryan Donnelly beat Jets goalie Jack Stafford with a nice backhand. Mike Johnson and Louis Olivieri added assists.Besides the one late blemish, Stafford played well, making 20 saves total.”Jack made the saves when he needed to tonight as he has been all year,” explained Conlon. “The guys started to play with some confidence in front of him and he responded with a nice game tonight.”Swampscott (1-2-1) will play in the consolation game against Everett (6:30).In Friday evening’s consolation game at Connery Rink, Northeast defeated Everett 4-3 behind a hat-trick performance from Steve Czarnota.The game was tied 3-3 through two periods with both teams having scored a goal apiece in the opening 15 minutes before adding two each in the second. Czarnota scored both Knights goals in the middle frame before finishing off the hat trick at the 11:18 mark of the third.Northeast got a goal and an assist from Gino Lancian as well as two helpers from Anthony Aresco while the Crimson Tide got two goals from Ray Suppa in the loss.