WINTHROP — In a game that featured just a few goals and very few whistles, the Peabody/Lynnfield girls hockey team nipped host Winthrop 2-1 to take the Northeastern Hockey League title Wednesday night at Larsen Rink.
Peabody had beaten Winthrop 7-1 earlier in the season, but Monday night’s game was not going to go that way.
The first period of play zipped by with over six minutes of uninterrupted action, but neither team could get the puck in the back of the net. Peabody’s Jeny Collins and Winthrop freshman Summer Tallent were strong between the pipes.
The second period was a replay of the first period, seven minutes ticked off the clock before there was even a whistle. Peabody kept the puck in the Winthrop zone for the final 30 seconds of the second, putting a rebound past Tallent, but the goal was immediately waved off. Peabody was one second too late with a shot as time expired.
The Tanners finally broke through in the third period. Sammie Mirasolo popped one in from the slot, assisted by Ella McTeague and Catherine Sweeney.
But the goal did not deflate the Vikings, who attacked the Peabody zone until Emma Holmes slid a forehand shot past Collins with 3:52 left in the third to tie it up. Mia Martucci set up Holmes, one of the Holmes freshman triplets along with sister Abby on defense and Julia lining up at center.
The Vikings (8-6-2) had to win the game to grab the title, so they pulled Tallent with two minutes left in the third. Mirasolo scored her second of the game with 42 seconds left, taking a pass from Carolyn Garofoli and burying it from five feet inside the blue line.
Peabody (13-5-1) coach Michelle Roach was very pleased by her team’s effort, playing three strong periods.
“I’m very proud of the way my team came out,” Roach said. “We talked before the game, and we knew it was going to be a battle, Winthrop is a good team, they’re very well-coached, my team knew they were in for a challenge, and they came ready to play. We responded to every challenge whether it was a bad pass, a bad shift, or missing the net.”
Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said his team was down, but they’ll be better off in their final two games, and heading then into the playoffs after playing so well against Peabody.
“The thing about this game is earlier in the year we took a beating from those guys, we weren’t happy about it and we wanted to come out and play well this time around,” Martucci said. “We responded really well every time we had to, and we played very well, which will certainly help us in the games coming up.”
Peabody will wrap up its regular season Monday morning (11) at home in the annual Carlin Cup game against Bishop Fenwick.
Winthrop hosts Billerica/Chelmsford Saturday (1:30).
