PEABODY — The Peabody/Lynnfield girls hockey team came into Wednesday night shorthanded and up against red-hot Bishop Fenwick.
But the Tanners rose to the occasion.
After being outplayed in the first period, Peabody coach Michelle Roach made adjustments and the Tanners handed the Crusaders their first loss of the season with a 4-1 Peabody win at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink.
“We started slow,” Roach said. “We have Catherine Sweeney (defense) and Hannah Gromko (forward) out. When we first went out there we didn’t get the look that we wanted so we shuffled some things around.
“The mark of a good team is when we’re down players, when the game maybe is not going our way and we’re not play our best how do we respond. We recognize that it wasn’t our best effort but we figured it out and we were able to pull through. I think that’s a very good message for the night.”
Jen Flynn scored a goal and dished an assist to lead Peabody. Sammie Mirasolo, Lily Piscatelli and Reilly Ganter each scored a goal while Penelope Spack dished two assists.
Fenwick started the night with its foot on the gas pedal but costly penalties helped the Tanners take back control.
“I thought we got a little undisciplined,” Crusaders coach John Kasle said. “We took penalties that we usually don’t. Prior to the game that was the last thing I said, ‘you can’t play this team a man down.’ It came to be true at the end. Even if we stop them on the powerplay, they’re still controlling the game and wearing out our players.”
Lauren Diranian scored Fenwick’s lone goal before leaving the game in the second period with minor signs of a concussion. The loss was a big blow for the Crusaders
“We don’t have a lot of depth,” Kasle said. “That impacted our forward lines. We had to change things up, especially on the penalty kill.”
It didn’t take long for the Crusaders to set the tone. Diranian ripped a shot that deflected off a stick and beat Peabody goalie Jeny Collins to her right to put Fenwick ahead 1-0.
The Crusaders kept peppering shots before a cross check penalty started to shift momentum in the Tanners’ favor. A shot from Flynn hit the post and Peabody didn’t score on the man-advantage but the Tanners kept coming.
A minute later, Flynn had another chance and this time found the back of the net to tie things up at 1-1 before the second.
The second period was evenly matched before the Tanners went to the power play again. A few minutes after the man-advantage, Mirasolo skated to a breakaway and made a nice move to her backhand to beat Fenwick goalie Cailyn Wesley for the go-ahead goal.
The Tanners added to their lead early in the third period. Flynn ripped a shot that was initially saved by Wesley but Piscatelli was there to bury the rebound and stretch Peabody’s lead to 3-1.
Late in the third, Ganter scored during a 5-on-3 advantage to cap off the scoring for the Tanners.
“I think one of the biggest positives for (Wednesday) was our puck movement on the power play,” Roach said. “It’s something that we’ve been really working on. That’s not the normal power play that we run. We shifted and the kids were able to make that shift. I was very impressed with that. I know the first (power play) we hit the post and they were frustrated. But they kept coming and it paid off.”
“Overall I’m really proud,” Kasle said. “We played hard right to the end. There was no quit on that team. We’ve already got a few things to work on for (Thursday) and get ready for Saturday.”
Fenwick (6-1-2) is on the road at Matignon Saturday (8) while the Tanners (7-2) host Norwell Friday (5:15).
