SALEM– Defense and goaltending were certainly there for the Swampscott boys hockey team in Saturday’s Northeastern Conference bout against Winthrop at Rockett Arena. But a lackluster offensive performance doomed the Big Blue in a 2-0 loss.
Simply put, Swampscott couldn’t develop its rhythm and struggled to generate quality looks.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” Big Blue coach Gino Faia said. “A lot of our shots were high and easy saves. We’re getting nothing off them. We need to get more rebounds and more traffic to the net but we just weren’t able to get anything going.
“I thought the team played hard,” Faia said in acknowledging the positive takeaways. “Winthrop’s a good Division 2 team. That’s a tough team for us. But I thought the guys responded well. They didn’t back down and played hard. Offensively, any good opportunity we had missed the net or it was a high, easy save. We have to work on that a little bit.”
Jack Russo kept Swampscott within striking distance with a 33-save performance.
“Jack’s been playing great hockey for us,” Faia said. “He gave us a great chance to win there, we just couldn’t score. If you don’t score, you’re not going to win many.
“Defensively, Griffin Bruhm, Chris Barnes and Liam Locke all played strong back there.”
Winthrop’s Ari Hain and Noah Evangelista scored one goal each. Jack Sicurella and Robbie Tarantino each recorded an assist.
A quiet first period, on both sides, saw Winthrop hold a slight edge in shots but the Vikings didn’t have anything to show for it.
That changed three minutes into the second period, when Hain broke the scoreless tie and gave his Vikings a 1-0 lead. A 5-minute major penalty assessed on Swampscott gave Winthrop a golden opportunity to extend its lead.
Russo stepped up to the challenge, denying a handful of solid looks over the first few minutes of the man advantage. Winthrop used a timeout but Russo maintained his momentum and guided Swampscott through the penalty kill.
“That was a huge kill for us,” Faia said. “Jack was huge for us on that as well as the penalty killers. In a 5-minute major they can score as many as they want. Luckily we were able to keep them scoreless. Unfortunately it keeps us from playing 5-on-5 hockey. We spent a lot of energy killing that but it was a big kill.”
It remained a 1-0 game at the second intermission.
Winthrop’s push to add a clutch insurance goal came to fruition halfway through the third period. A slim opening was all Evangelista needed to find the back of the net with a picture-perfect shot from the circle, giving Winthrop a 2-0 lead.
Swampscott used a timeout in the closing stages and emptied its net but nothing found its way through Vikings goalie Ryan Hovermale (23 saves).
Swampscott, now 7-5 on the season, travels to Hamilton-Wenham for a non-conference tilt Monday (12). The Big Blue need six points to qualify for the Division 3 North state tournament.
“We have lead in the (Northeastern Conference) South, which is good,” Faia said. “We have to take it one game at a time. Hopefully we can string a few together and get to the (state) tournament.”
Winthrop (6-3-3) visits Danvers Wednesday (4).
