WINTHROP– Saturday afternoon’s game at Lawrence Larsen Rink between the Winthrop and Masconomet girls hockey teams was a frustrating one for the Vikings. Winthrop logged 35 shots on goal and kept Masconomet goalie Molly Elmore on her toes all game. But the Vikings couldn’t do much to put the puck in the net and fell short in a 2-1 loss.
“I don’t think we played well,” Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said. “They were missing one of their better players and it should’ve been an advantage for us. Instead we end up losing the game. I’m not very happy with the way we played.”
All goals were scored in the second period.
Senior forward Emma Carleton (her eighth goal of the season) scored Winthrop’s lone goal. Freshman goalie Summer Tallent tallied 22 saves.
For the Chieftains, forwards Abby Gendron (senior) and Fiona Dunphy (freshman) each scored one goal. Junior Ellmore made 34 saves.
“(Ellmore) was great,” Martucci said. “She was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. We knew that but we knew it going in. We needed to do what we needed to do and we didn’t do it.”
Both teams couldn’t get much going in a slow first period. Winthrop earned two power plays, yet the Vikings couldn’t cash in on either. The first period ended scoreless.
Carleton lit the lamp for the game’s first goal when when she beat Ellmore with a nifty move to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead with 12:15 to play in the second period. Senior defenseman Olivia Holmes dished the assist on Carleton’s goal.
Ellmore stood tall in net the rest of the way and the Vikings couldn’t extend their lead. Gendron took advantage of a 2-on-1 and fired a shot into the back of the net with 2:00 remaining in the period, knotting the score at 1-1. Dunphy scored the eventual game-winner when she picked up a rebound and turned it into a 2-1 Masconomet lead with 11.5 seconds left in the period. The Chieftains carried a 2-1 advantage into the second intermission.
Chasing the equalizer, Winthrop took the intensity up a notch in the third period. The Vikings were granted another power play, with 9:30 on the clock, but again the let 5-on-4 slide without cashing in.
“We have three new players on the power play right now,” Martucci said. “In particular, two of them are in spots that I think we’re going to have to change because it’s not working right now. We might have to change that and tweak that a little bit. Something we can look forward to coming down stretch is tweaking that.”
Masconomet (3-2-2) held on for the 2-1 win, handing Winthrop (6-2) its second loss of the season.
The Vikings host Haverhill (HPNA) Wednesday evening (6:10) at Larsen Rink.
“I’m just hoping to see us score a couple goals and hope the players that are supposed to lead the team will lead the team,” Martucci said. “Right now, in the two games we’ve needed them they haven’t been able to get that job done. Hopefully they can change that.”
