PEABODY — The Lynnfield boys hockey team celebrated its senior night in style with a 6-0 win over visiting Saugus at McVann-O’Keefe Rink.
Fittingly, this one was highlighted by some great play by Lynnfield’s seniors, especially Anthony Magwood, who got his first varsity start in net and notched his first shutout of his career with 16 saves.
“This is my 19th year of coaching and I can maybe count on one hand count the times that I’ve been this proud of a kid,” Lynnfield coach Jon Gardner said. “A great teammate, a battler gets his shot and let’s face it, early on he made four or five spectacular saves. His first shot as a varsity goaltender was a breakaway from their captain. Just phenomenal. Such a good story and I’m so proud of him.”
Sam Pifko also had a game to remember with three goals and an assist. Jack Hammersley, Phil Berquist scored one goal each for Lynnfield. Danny Mack dished one assist.
“Pifko has just been pouring in the goals,” Gardner said. “He’s honing in on 20, he’s at 19 now. He likes to score in bunches, has a couple hat tricks and a four-goal game. He’s going pretty good.”
The Sachems competed well in the first 22 minutes before things started to snowball in the second. Saugus failed to capitalize on four power play chances.
“I think the second goal was huge,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said. “We came down and had a chance to tie things up but couldn’t get a rebound. Then it comes back the other way and bang it’s 2-0. Then the third one seconds later was a back-breaker. We just got too soft in front of our own net. Jack Deveraux (goalie) played really well again (Wednesday). We just keep giving up those second and third chances in dangerous areas.”
Lynnfield dominated possession time from the start but didn’t have anything to show for it in the first 10 minutes.
The Pioneers special teams stepped up midway through the first. After killing off a Saugus power play, Lynnfield went on the man advantage themselves. Mack made the most of it with a cross-ice pass right to Hammersley, who found the back of the net to put the Pioneers ahead 1-0.
The penalty kill remained to be one of Lynnfields strengths, with the Pioneers killing off two penalties, including a brief 5-on-3 chance in the second.
Midway through the period, Pifko started to heat up, putting away a rebound for a goal and just 13 seconds later Pifko assisting Simonetti’s tally to stretch the Lynnfield lead to 3-0.
Pifko continued his great second period later, scoring just before the buzzer to bump the lead to 4-0 before the third period.
The third period was more of the same. Berquist scored early on and Pifko capped off his hat trick to end the night.
Lynnfield (10-5-2) now starts a gauntlet of three tough road games to end its season before the state tournament, starting at Newburyport Friday (5).
“All of them are tough tasks,” Gardner said. “The (Henry Graf Skating Rink) is a rink that’s a tough place to play in I don’t care who’s on the other team. It’s a house of horrors. Newburyport will be gunning for us too because we gave it to them here. Then we go to Kasabuski to play our rival (North Reading) and are at Gloucester.”
The Sachems (2-13-1) host Watertown Saturday (4).
