SWAMPSCOTT— A quick start in the opening period made the difference in Thursday’s Division 3 North first round game between the No. 11 Swampscott boys hockey team and No. 6 Shawsheen. The Rams scored twice in a 8-second span, grabbed a swift 3-goal lead in the opening period and ended the Big Blue’s season with a 5-3 win at Stoneham Arena.
“That’s obviously not the way we want to start a game, down 3-0,” Swampscott coach Gino Faia said. “But guys battled back. We won the second period, got ourselves in the game. In the end we didn’t make enough plays to win. There were too many mistakes that cost us. The effort was there.”
Casey Williamson, Chris Barnes and Drew Olivieri scored one goal each. Conor Donovan distributed three assists, Zach Elwell logged two assists and Barnes logged one assist. Big Blue goalie Victor Kratik made 20 saves.
Shawsheen freshman Dylan Timmons paced the Rams with two goals. Brady McFadden, Owen Sullivan and Sean Murphy each scored once.
With the win, Shawsheen advanced to Saturday’s (1) quarterfinal against No. 3 Lynn at Woburn’s O’Brien Rink.
The first period belonged to the Rams, who made the most of a sluggish Big Blue start and skated out to a fast lead. After three minutes of scoreless play, Timmons lit the lamp to give Shawsheen its first goal of the night. And in the blink of an eye, McFadden found an opening and pushed Shawsheen’s lead to 2-0 (eight seconds after Timmons scored).
Swampscott settled down through the next few minutes and started to get back to playing its brand. Olivieri had a nice look at the net but Rams goalie Kameron Neault (25 saves) made an outstretched pad save.
With 3:53 left in the period, Sullivan beat Kratik on a slapshot and made it a 3-0 game. Shawsheen took two penalties in the closing seconds but carried a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
“After the first period I just told them, ‘it’s not football, we can’t get a field goal for three,'” Faia said. “We had to start by trying to get one and work our way back into it, and we did. We started putting pressure on them. In the end we just couldn’t make enough plays.”
Swampscott’s 5-on-3 came and went without anything doing. Another Rams penalty allowed Williamson to put Swampscott on the board halfway through the second period. Timmons netted his second goal a minute later, making it a 3-goal lead again at 4-1. That lit a fire under Swampscott and the Big Blue turned the tables for the next six minutes. Barnes trimmed the deficit to 4-2. With 3:12 to go in the period, Olivieri made it a 1-goal game at 4-3. Swampscott, back in the swing of things, trailed 4-3 at the second intermission.
“That’s what we wanted going into the game,” Faia said. “We wanted guys contributing so we didn’t have to rely on our first line. They could feel the pressure. They were kind of pressing out there. You can’t expect them to do it every game.”
The Big Blue had to sustain their momentum in the third period. Instead, Shawsheen took a 5-3 lead on Murphy’s one-timer from the circle with 7:53 to play.
Shawsheen went on the defensive the rest of the way. Neault made a couple key saves down the stretch to help seal the 5-3 win.
Swampscott ends the season at 8-9-3. Faia said he’s looking forward to next season with Swampscott returning the majority of this year’s roster.
“We only had six returners with actual playing experience out of this whole group,” Faia said. “For this group to make the tournament, I’m really proud of the way they battled all season. They accomplished the main goal and that was to get into the tournament.
“Coming in we lost a ton,” Faia said. “The main goal was to get in the tournament, with a young team like this. We accomplished that so I was proud of that. We were a little inconsistent but toward the end we started playing better hockey, got into the tournament and hopefully these guys can take this and build from it next year.”
