LYNN — Coach Mike Roberts says his Lynn Jets are more like a family than a hockey team.
His sentiment was proven true Friday afternoon at Connery Rink, when former Jets gathered for the program’s annual alumni game.
“It’s a good feeling as a coach when you come down and you’ve got guys from even the early 1990’s,” Roberts, an English graduate, said. “We have a guy from Lynn Tech from the 1980’s. We have a couple guys from the inaugural 2007 Jets team. When you have 30-plus guys coming back it definitely shows the type of environment we have here with family first. It makes me smile as a coach, for sure.”
Planning the game wasn’t much of a challenge. Roberts starts doing so a few weeks in advance, spreads the word as best he can and receives a positive response shortly after.
“We throw a Facebook invite out,” Roberts said. “We do a $20 donation, we all get pizzas and water after. It’s a good fundraising event. Everyone’s usually home for Thanksgiving weekend. That’s why we do it the Friday after Thanksgiving. It always draws a good crowd.”
Roberts splits the alumni into two teams, pinning current Jets coaches and recent alumni against the older graduates. They battle it out for two 45-minute periods.
Friday’s game was a wire-to-wire battle, with the coaches and recent graduates, donning white jerseys, pulling out a hard-earned 20-17 win.
“It’s a good time,” Roberts said. “It’s a great two-hour skate for the guys. We have guys from their mid 40s all the way down to early 20s skating in this game. It’s a fun time.”
Roberts scored the game’s first goal just three minutes into the opening period. Behind solid play from Brian Clougherty, John DiFilippo and Jack Gallant, the coaches/recent alumni sprinted out to a 6-1 lead. They watched that lead whittle down through the middle of the period but led 14-11 at intermission.
Both offenses slowed down in the second period but the coaches/recent alumni had done enough for the win.
“It looked like it might be a rout,” Roberts said, “but the old guys beared down and saved their legs for the end. We were in a battle there until the end. We had pretty good goaltending on both sides from Jack Gallant and Anthony Baio. It was awesome.”
This year’s Jets open tryouts next Monday. Lynn went 12-4-4 last season and earned the No. 3 in the Division 3 North state tournament. The Jets outlasted No. 6 Shawsheen in the sectional quarterfinal before falling to No. 2 Lowell in the semifinal.
“This is the kick-start to our season,” Roberts said. “We do canning in Wyoma Square Friday and Saturday. It’s a good time of year. You go see the Thanksgiving game on Thursday. You come to this game and that only means one thing- hockey’s right around the corner.
“We hit the ice Monday. It’s a short preseason. We only have two weeks to prepare. We have the jamboree (Dec. 7) and then our home opener (Dec. 14). We lost eight seniors last year. We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.”
